Professor Song is an intelligent professor who knows his material. Unfortunately, he does have a thick accent, though you should get used to it after a while. Fortunately, he lectures straight from the textbook, so if you read up on the material before and/or after lectures, you should get a good grasp on it. He's open to answering questions in class, and definitely interacted with the class. He's also unintentionally funny at times. His exams are not terribly difficult, so long as you study up, and do practice problems from the books. He's not the best math teacher I've had, but he's better than a bunch, and I would take another class with him if the opportunity arose.

I read all the reviews about Song's accent and i figured, "well I had calc in high school, so I can breeze by.."

no.

i had an 8am lecture because it was the only way my schedule would work and i wanted to kill myself every monday, wednesday, thursday, and friday morning. he cant spell, write, or speak english for his life. his lectures are straight from the book.

here are some of the things that hes said/written:
"Song"-Speak-----------------------Translation
"Error Poopagation"------------------Error Propagation
"if we loook ata graph"----------------if we look at the graph
"asa x-a go a zero"-------------------as x approaches zero
"lets a look at da pikachu"--------------lets look at the picture (yes this happened more than once)
"da funkshun is a confused"-------------the function is continuous
email: "Hi,
about the solution for 3a,
I am sorry I forget that Siddhartha has written the solution for us. But whatever, thank all of you a lot.

The midterm has been graded now. You can take them from my office, or I can put them in you mailbox.

best,
Bailin"------------------------------sent as a mistake to all of the math 3a students.

then my ta never had a ta in college and instead of teaching us say the sandwich theorem, tells us about how much he loves the ham sandwich theorem...

horrible

His accent may not seem like a reason to avoid taking the class, so let me point out some other "good stuff". Horrible grammar to the point of not understanding his notes on the board. Poorly planned out examples that drag on, and if you do nod off you'll find yourself confused at why the problem looks so different from the orginial. He constantly makes simple adding and multiplication mistakes so if you have not had calculus in the past I would suggest taking a different professor so that the concepts won't be swayed by his constant errors. If you are so lucky as to be stuck with his lecture as your only option, I would suggest going to every discussion, especially if you get Siddhartha since he is extremely straightfoward and had had a phd in math.

Basic summary: Bailin is a "professor" who may as well be a textbook written in a foreign language with its pages mixed up and coffee stains over certain key words.
His lectures are mechanical with no fluidity or spontaneity with added confusion thanks to his heavy accent, bad grammar and random mannerisms. I literally went into some of his lectures understanding material and came out having no clue how I possibly once understood it. If you can avoid this lecturer do. If not, then going to your discussions is essential (take Siddhartha) as well as really working through the book and all the problems you can get your hands on. I highly recommend also signing up for Covel tutoring. "OK?"

Professor Song's class overall was pretty easy he's not a great professor. He really does understand his stuff but his thick, heavy accent gets in the way. The problems he shows us as examples are from the book, which sucks. I only passed the class because I took calculus in high school, just having basic knowledge of calculus will help you pass. His midterms and finals were pretty hard (the class average for the final was a 64%) but he has a very generous curve (I got C's for both midterms and a D for the final and ended up getting a B-...yeah I know I was like wtf too. But I don't mind :D). He lets you have a cheat sheet for all three exams. Problems he gives in the notes usually show up in the midterms/final. Homework is due once a week on Friday's and it's not a lot of problems. There aren't any quizzes.

Extremely thick accent, and very sloppy on the board. He would just rush through lectures and just write everything on the board without stopping much to ask for questions. Would definitely avoid this professor

His accent makes it impossible to understand and if you are slightly not interested in the subject or a little sleepy, there's no way you can stay awake in th class!

Communication and a few of its definitions:
-able to converse in any language
-able to explain anything in particular
*vital for teaching

If Song was capable of this, then i wouldnt be writing this review. But wait, it cant be that bad right? YES IT CAN!! I went to his office hour and could not understand him. HE WAS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO ME!! I asked him for help and he made sounds using his vocal cords and just TOOK my paper and TOOK my pencil and just started doing the problem. And DIDNT finish. If you are good at math dont go to class (just read the book IT IS THE SAME, if not BETTER, because the book is able to freaking COMMUNICATE!!!). If not I suggest Brown, a very caring professor who CARES ABOUT TEACHING.
Something else to think about- how in the heck did Song not get denied during his interview? I mean i wouldnt hire someone who is unable to hold a conversation? Anyway I thought 31b was a particularly hard class and it would be nice if i had an instructor LIKE I SHOULD HAVE HAD.

Effectiveness: I completely agree with others on here about the communication gap. Being at UCLA, you get used to accents of all types from all over the world. And generally, you can get past them. Not with Song. Not at all.
Difficulty: If you can learn the material by reading the textbook or some other way (tutoring, TA office hours, etc.), then you shouldn't have a *problem* with Song's class. It just won't be as enriching as it can/should be. He lectures straight out of the book, assigns the easier homework problems, and allows you to have a cheat sheet on every test.
Overall: If you are fine with not being able to fully understand a single lecture and think you can learn the material yourself, you'll be fine with Song. Certainly not the best, but STILL better than C. Martin (Visiting Professor).

I took 3A with this professor. He is a great professor and his accent is honestly not that difficult. The only thing is that he tends to have his classes be in the morning. His exam averages were good-- around a 70% compared to the other lecture whose average was around a 35%. Take it from me...there are no amazing math professors at UCLA. It's a research school. Don't look for the most "effective professor." Look for the EASIEST. They're all not that effective. They are all lacking in something. This guy has an accent...so what? You'll get an A in the class for sure as long as you try.