Professor

Wumaier Maimaitiyiming

AD
3.6
Overall Ratings
Based on 58 Users
Easiness 3.4 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.5 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 3.5 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 3.6 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (58)

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MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 22, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: C

This class was incredibly difficult. If you have no prior knowledge to calculus or you aren't well versed in the topics, do not take this class. I worked so hard to understand the material but it was no use. I attended all of his lectures and most of his office hours, I watched YouTube tutorials, I used khan academy and it was still not enough. The class moves way too fast for someone who doesn't have any knowledge on calculus and its especially hard when the professors lectures aren't helpful in any way. The professor teaches and explains in a way that only suits those who already know calculus and have a strong foundation in it. He offers no explanation on what calculus is and what the terminology he uses means. I only ended up passing because he curved the grades up which turned my D into a C. I will give him that, he allows students extra credit opportunities so that was helpful in boosting up grades. If you're good at calculus this class will be easy for you. If you don't know calculus I recommend you find another professor or a realllyyyy good tutor.

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MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 19, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: B

Math 31AL: A nonbias, very LONG so if you have all the time in the world, and detailed summary of my experience/class.
_
NOT an easy A--whoever said it was is either a mathematical genius or likes messing with people just like all the other bruin reviews where they say it's an easy A. When has a math class ever been an easy A--especially when it's calculus?! You have to put in the work, pay attention to lectures, and study. The class is basically Calc AB but college level.
_
Overall - He's a funny, sassy, sarcastic but comes off mean professor. At the end of the quarter, he hit us with a very nice Christmas gift of (1) Dropping 2 lowest discussion worksheets - in Syllabus (2) Dropping lowest Achieve homework - in Syllabus (3) Comparing our grades to his two schemes where the weight of the midterm + final was different and chose the best grade - very unexpected (4) Curved our grade - he said he would if our class average was a C or lower (5) Applying our extra credit to our midterms or final. With that said, my grade was bumped by 6%.
_
Homework/Textbook: A waste of money. $100+ for a textbook but we only use the access code that comes along with it(there's also an Ebook). Rarely touched the textbook unless I wanted to feel like a mathematical genius at some point of my life and find use in the book one random day. The achieve homework was okay. It's simple questions and you get 4 tries for each. It doesn't prepare you for the midterms/final but it does help you review the basic concept of the lessons. Make sure you check Achieve EVERYDAY because he can add another homework the day the assignments are due. (Trust when I say find a friend in the class and work on the homework together.)
_
Discussion: Since I was in AL, I got two discussions per week and more worksheets. Honestly felt like it boosted my grade with the extra weight. Not a harsh grader on the worksheets but they do count points for each steps you include so make sure you add everything (like mentioning what rule you used since the professor wanted that). The worksheets aren't that bad but he used to have them due on the same day at FIVE pm but changed it to 11:59PM. Just pray that you get a TA that goes over the worksheet during class instead of reviewing.
_
Extra Credit Opportunity: Offered extra credit after the first half of the quarter by going to his office hours and solving problems. It's usually 1 point each time you go. He also sometimes ask the class if someone can solve a problem/explain how a solution is the way it is for extra credit (not often so go to office hours if he does offer extra credit). (Also if you stay for the whole two hours, he'll let you have the point even if you don't solve it | You can also solve it with a TA).
_
Midterms/Exam: The first midterm, he gave us set practice problems to prepare for the test. Honestly, didn't think it helped me prepare for the midterm because it was a lot of problems and most of them didn't appear. The second midterm, he gave us set practice problems AND a practice exam which was similar to the midterm but of course different (tell me why I did better on the first midterm and worst on the second even though there was a practice test exam and a cheat sheet?!). The cheat sheets were a huge plus because they were size 8.5x11, back and front not like index cards. (He let us have a cheat sheet for the second midterm and exam because the other math 31a classes were doing the same thing and he wanted to be fair. Although I did hear that he said if he was the head of the department, he would NOT allow cheat sheets at all).
_
Since class was only 50 minutes long, the midterm was 5 questions which abcs. The final exam was 3 hours long, 9 questions with abcs and mostly everyone stayed for the entirety of 3 hours even though the professor was like it'll take us around 2 hours.
_
Final exam was much harder than I thought -- my fault for making stupid mistakes and stupid related rates <3 -- but the prof said he'd make it harder because he only wanted certain 10% getting A's, yaddi ya. (He hosts 1-2 hour review sessions where he goes over the practice sets and answer questions. He also posts the answers afterwards online but not for all the questions which sucks but LOOK AT THE SOLUTIONS because it shows what details and steps he's looking for on the exam). The final is cumulative but very heavy on the second part of the quarter (I relied on the practice exam).
_
Professor Wumaier: In the beginning of the quarter, he said he was going to go at a nice pace for everyone because everyone is at a different pace when it comes to calculus so equilibrium but because we only have a few months to learn, he started *s p e e d i n g* towards the end. Ngl, he lowkey treats students like math lab rats but like understandable since research university. I like his humor and the way he uses a lot of "!!!!" in his emails. He's highkey mean to the students but I would say that he cares(???) to a certain degree though. He once asked a student if she even comes to lecture because she didn't know critical points during a discussion (he could have said that in private...). And he tends to reply to students with a disbelief laugh, a not nice "what do you think", etc.
_
Special mention because I find it SO funny - Before our midterm he said that it took him 30 minutes to solve it so solving it in 50 minutes should be enough time for us (like which one of us has a phd in math?!)
_
tl;dr | in conclusion - Was a decent class that made me very stressed, 1/2 recommend, 1/2 not recommend but if you're smart, go for it. Just make sure to make friends in your discussion + lecture so you don't feel like dropping the class. Midterms + finals kicked my butt.

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MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 24, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A

Professor was very helpful, especially in explaining the steps for example problems. Even further along the course, he explained steps that included material from earlier on. This made it easier for me to follow along, especially because I had not taken Calc before. The professor also held review sessions before midterms and finals, which was very kind from him. Quizzes were mostly easy as they were based on examples covered in class. Midterms and finals required more critical thinking and application of the material.

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2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 31, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: C

I am way too lazy to write my full experience in this course but just know that the other reviews are 100% accurate! Do not recommend unless you want mental breakdowns : )

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MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 21, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: NP

If you did not take Calc BC or did not do decent at Calculus in High School, do not take this class. Professor Wumaier is unhelpful and straight-up rude. He teaches as if the students already understand calculus, and teaches in a way that is difficult to understand. After realizing that the class was going to be harder than I anticipated, I began to attend office hours, here, Professor Wumaier was condescending when someone asked a question he believed to be too basic. The office hours were unhelpful, and I ended up becoming more confused afterward. This whole class was a total nightmare, and I would highly recommend you take it with another professor. I know so many other students who failed the class, and it is really frustrating when it is an entry-level math class.

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6 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 19, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: C+

Terrible class. The professor tries to be very nice, but his teaching skills are not the best. He is not very organized in the sense that his writing on the iPad is very messy and hard to understand. It is a fast paced class and at the end of every lecture I left with some confusion. He only shows sample problems that are very easy and in the midterms he includes much harder problems. For midterm 2 and the final he let us use a cheat sheet and a non graphing calculator. He expects you to have a background in calculus and talks about topics covered in AP Calc which I did not take. He makes adjustments throughout the quarter which are hard to keep track of. Not very clear. Would not recommend taking the course with him.

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5 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 22, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A

mixed feelings on this class.
since i'd taken calc in high school, the material in general was very easy for me and i ended up skipping a LOT of lectures (8am class!) and showing up again in the week before a midterm/final. this is definitely a different story if you're new to calc. his lecture notes are pretty succinct and there were recordings available to rewatch. i did find that the examples in his notes were generally much easier than what would be asked in exams, and his lecture style wasn't particularly engaging.

one thing that i found kinda irritating was the level of "show your work" that was sometimes required. the prof had a very exact idea of how he wanted you to answer a certain problem, and if you skipped even a small step (or disregarded notation in the middle of a problem) you lost points. especially with very basic limits and derivatives, the sheer level of exactness needed to solve something felt excessive.

office hours were always at the same time and coincided with another class, so i could never attend (but i think he gave extra credit in OH to people who answered questions). during discussion, we would usually do a worksheet (the TA and LAs were very helpful). there was online hw which would be spontaneously updated so i checked it regularly.
we were allowed to use a cheat sheet and non-graphing calculator in the second midterm and the final, but not midterm 1.

in general, a "meh" class that is fine if you have an understanding of the topic but can get frustrating if you don't.

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MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 28, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A-

Very straightforward and mostly easy to understand. Emailing the professor is very helpful because he often replies right away.

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3 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 24, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A

I took Math 31A my fall quarter, and overall I would say the class is harder than a lot of the reviews mentioned. I have never been stellar at math and I did have to work very hard to earn an A. For reference, I got a C on my first mid term and was playing catch-up all quarter. Clutched up on the final with an A and saved myself. If you aren't the best at math find another professor, but if you are pretty good at it dont worry if you Wumaier is your only choice. I say it is very doable if you put in the work.

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1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Jan. 6, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A

I took this class online. Most of the students (including me) had already taken AP Calc AB in high school and had most of the knowledge already. That being said, it was relatively easy for me as I knew most of the topics already. If you do not already have some experience with calculus, he may not be great for you. His teaching style is a little messy and random, but not awful. His lectures include a lot of examples, which worked well for my learning style. Tests are not bad plus we had 24 full hours because it was online. Overall, he was decent but not exceptional.

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MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: C
Dec. 22, 2021

This class was incredibly difficult. If you have no prior knowledge to calculus or you aren't well versed in the topics, do not take this class. I worked so hard to understand the material but it was no use. I attended all of his lectures and most of his office hours, I watched YouTube tutorials, I used khan academy and it was still not enough. The class moves way too fast for someone who doesn't have any knowledge on calculus and its especially hard when the professors lectures aren't helpful in any way. The professor teaches and explains in a way that only suits those who already know calculus and have a strong foundation in it. He offers no explanation on what calculus is and what the terminology he uses means. I only ended up passing because he curved the grades up which turned my D into a C. I will give him that, he allows students extra credit opportunities so that was helpful in boosting up grades. If you're good at calculus this class will be easy for you. If you don't know calculus I recommend you find another professor or a realllyyyy good tutor.

Helpful?

8 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: B
Dec. 19, 2021

Math 31AL: A nonbias, very LONG so if you have all the time in the world, and detailed summary of my experience/class.
_
NOT an easy A--whoever said it was is either a mathematical genius or likes messing with people just like all the other bruin reviews where they say it's an easy A. When has a math class ever been an easy A--especially when it's calculus?! You have to put in the work, pay attention to lectures, and study. The class is basically Calc AB but college level.
_
Overall - He's a funny, sassy, sarcastic but comes off mean professor. At the end of the quarter, he hit us with a very nice Christmas gift of (1) Dropping 2 lowest discussion worksheets - in Syllabus (2) Dropping lowest Achieve homework - in Syllabus (3) Comparing our grades to his two schemes where the weight of the midterm + final was different and chose the best grade - very unexpected (4) Curved our grade - he said he would if our class average was a C or lower (5) Applying our extra credit to our midterms or final. With that said, my grade was bumped by 6%.
_
Homework/Textbook: A waste of money. $100+ for a textbook but we only use the access code that comes along with it(there's also an Ebook). Rarely touched the textbook unless I wanted to feel like a mathematical genius at some point of my life and find use in the book one random day. The achieve homework was okay. It's simple questions and you get 4 tries for each. It doesn't prepare you for the midterms/final but it does help you review the basic concept of the lessons. Make sure you check Achieve EVERYDAY because he can add another homework the day the assignments are due. (Trust when I say find a friend in the class and work on the homework together.)
_
Discussion: Since I was in AL, I got two discussions per week and more worksheets. Honestly felt like it boosted my grade with the extra weight. Not a harsh grader on the worksheets but they do count points for each steps you include so make sure you add everything (like mentioning what rule you used since the professor wanted that). The worksheets aren't that bad but he used to have them due on the same day at FIVE pm but changed it to 11:59PM. Just pray that you get a TA that goes over the worksheet during class instead of reviewing.
_
Extra Credit Opportunity: Offered extra credit after the first half of the quarter by going to his office hours and solving problems. It's usually 1 point each time you go. He also sometimes ask the class if someone can solve a problem/explain how a solution is the way it is for extra credit (not often so go to office hours if he does offer extra credit). (Also if you stay for the whole two hours, he'll let you have the point even if you don't solve it | You can also solve it with a TA).
_
Midterms/Exam: The first midterm, he gave us set practice problems to prepare for the test. Honestly, didn't think it helped me prepare for the midterm because it was a lot of problems and most of them didn't appear. The second midterm, he gave us set practice problems AND a practice exam which was similar to the midterm but of course different (tell me why I did better on the first midterm and worst on the second even though there was a practice test exam and a cheat sheet?!). The cheat sheets were a huge plus because they were size 8.5x11, back and front not like index cards. (He let us have a cheat sheet for the second midterm and exam because the other math 31a classes were doing the same thing and he wanted to be fair. Although I did hear that he said if he was the head of the department, he would NOT allow cheat sheets at all).
_
Since class was only 50 minutes long, the midterm was 5 questions which abcs. The final exam was 3 hours long, 9 questions with abcs and mostly everyone stayed for the entirety of 3 hours even though the professor was like it'll take us around 2 hours.
_
Final exam was much harder than I thought -- my fault for making stupid mistakes and stupid related rates <3 -- but the prof said he'd make it harder because he only wanted certain 10% getting A's, yaddi ya. (He hosts 1-2 hour review sessions where he goes over the practice sets and answer questions. He also posts the answers afterwards online but not for all the questions which sucks but LOOK AT THE SOLUTIONS because it shows what details and steps he's looking for on the exam). The final is cumulative but very heavy on the second part of the quarter (I relied on the practice exam).
_
Professor Wumaier: In the beginning of the quarter, he said he was going to go at a nice pace for everyone because everyone is at a different pace when it comes to calculus so equilibrium but because we only have a few months to learn, he started *s p e e d i n g* towards the end. Ngl, he lowkey treats students like math lab rats but like understandable since research university. I like his humor and the way he uses a lot of "!!!!" in his emails. He's highkey mean to the students but I would say that he cares(???) to a certain degree though. He once asked a student if she even comes to lecture because she didn't know critical points during a discussion (he could have said that in private...). And he tends to reply to students with a disbelief laugh, a not nice "what do you think", etc.
_
Special mention because I find it SO funny - Before our midterm he said that it took him 30 minutes to solve it so solving it in 50 minutes should be enough time for us (like which one of us has a phd in math?!)
_
tl;dr | in conclusion - Was a decent class that made me very stressed, 1/2 recommend, 1/2 not recommend but if you're smart, go for it. Just make sure to make friends in your discussion + lecture so you don't feel like dropping the class. Midterms + finals kicked my butt.

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2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
Dec. 24, 2020

Professor was very helpful, especially in explaining the steps for example problems. Even further along the course, he explained steps that included material from earlier on. This made it easier for me to follow along, especially because I had not taken Calc before. The professor also held review sessions before midterms and finals, which was very kind from him. Quizzes were mostly easy as they were based on examples covered in class. Midterms and finals required more critical thinking and application of the material.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: C
Dec. 31, 2021

I am way too lazy to write my full experience in this course but just know that the other reviews are 100% accurate! Do not recommend unless you want mental breakdowns : )

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2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: NP
Dec. 21, 2021

If you did not take Calc BC or did not do decent at Calculus in High School, do not take this class. Professor Wumaier is unhelpful and straight-up rude. He teaches as if the students already understand calculus, and teaches in a way that is difficult to understand. After realizing that the class was going to be harder than I anticipated, I began to attend office hours, here, Professor Wumaier was condescending when someone asked a question he believed to be too basic. The office hours were unhelpful, and I ended up becoming more confused afterward. This whole class was a total nightmare, and I would highly recommend you take it with another professor. I know so many other students who failed the class, and it is really frustrating when it is an entry-level math class.

Helpful?

6 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: C+
Dec. 19, 2021

Terrible class. The professor tries to be very nice, but his teaching skills are not the best. He is not very organized in the sense that his writing on the iPad is very messy and hard to understand. It is a fast paced class and at the end of every lecture I left with some confusion. He only shows sample problems that are very easy and in the midterms he includes much harder problems. For midterm 2 and the final he let us use a cheat sheet and a non graphing calculator. He expects you to have a background in calculus and talks about topics covered in AP Calc which I did not take. He makes adjustments throughout the quarter which are hard to keep track of. Not very clear. Would not recommend taking the course with him.

Helpful?

5 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
Dec. 22, 2021

mixed feelings on this class.
since i'd taken calc in high school, the material in general was very easy for me and i ended up skipping a LOT of lectures (8am class!) and showing up again in the week before a midterm/final. this is definitely a different story if you're new to calc. his lecture notes are pretty succinct and there were recordings available to rewatch. i did find that the examples in his notes were generally much easier than what would be asked in exams, and his lecture style wasn't particularly engaging.

one thing that i found kinda irritating was the level of "show your work" that was sometimes required. the prof had a very exact idea of how he wanted you to answer a certain problem, and if you skipped even a small step (or disregarded notation in the middle of a problem) you lost points. especially with very basic limits and derivatives, the sheer level of exactness needed to solve something felt excessive.

office hours were always at the same time and coincided with another class, so i could never attend (but i think he gave extra credit in OH to people who answered questions). during discussion, we would usually do a worksheet (the TA and LAs were very helpful). there was online hw which would be spontaneously updated so i checked it regularly.
we were allowed to use a cheat sheet and non-graphing calculator in the second midterm and the final, but not midterm 1.

in general, a "meh" class that is fine if you have an understanding of the topic but can get frustrating if you don't.

Helpful?

3 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A-
Dec. 28, 2020

Very straightforward and mostly easy to understand. Emailing the professor is very helpful because he often replies right away.

Helpful?

3 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
Dec. 24, 2021

I took Math 31A my fall quarter, and overall I would say the class is harder than a lot of the reviews mentioned. I have never been stellar at math and I did have to work very hard to earn an A. For reference, I got a C on my first mid term and was playing catch-up all quarter. Clutched up on the final with an A and saved myself. If you aren't the best at math find another professor, but if you are pretty good at it dont worry if you Wumaier is your only choice. I say it is very doable if you put in the work.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
Jan. 6, 2021

I took this class online. Most of the students (including me) had already taken AP Calc AB in high school and had most of the knowledge already. That being said, it was relatively easy for me as I knew most of the topics already. If you do not already have some experience with calculus, he may not be great for you. His teaching style is a little messy and random, but not awful. His lectures include a lot of examples, which worked well for my learning style. Tests are not bad plus we had 24 full hours because it was online. Overall, he was decent but not exceptional.

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