LIFESCI 30B
Mathematics for Life Scientists
Description: Lecture, three hours; laboratory, two hours. Enforced requisite: course 30A. Introduction to concept of matrices and linear transformations to equip students with some basic tools to understand dynamics of multivariable nonlinear systems. Examples from ecological, physiological, chemical, and other systems. Letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - Will Conley (and Artur who taught with him) are quite possible the best professors on the entire campus. I took this course during the pandemic, and they have been so accommodating and understanding of student needs. LS30B is harder than LS30A, but not only does Conley make difficult linear and multi-variable concepts understandable, he also cares so much about student learning and well-being. He's a fantastic lecturer and is so clear with explanations! Only downside was that we had pre-lectures on top of normal lecture, so the workload was more than a usual in-person class; however, the professors allow you to watch at your own pace since its podcasted and drop your lowest assignments. 100% recommend!!!
Spring 2020 - Will Conley (and Artur who taught with him) are quite possible the best professors on the entire campus. I took this course during the pandemic, and they have been so accommodating and understanding of student needs. LS30B is harder than LS30A, but not only does Conley make difficult linear and multi-variable concepts understandable, he also cares so much about student learning and well-being. He's a fantastic lecturer and is so clear with explanations! Only downside was that we had pre-lectures on top of normal lecture, so the workload was more than a usual in-person class; however, the professors allow you to watch at your own pace since its podcasted and drop your lowest assignments. 100% recommend!!!
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2018 - One of the best decisions I could've ever made upon entering UCLA is doing the LS30 series. I never thought I would gain an understanding and genuine appreciation for math but here we are :) I love this course because I wanted to apply math in real life situations and this course is perfect for it. If you like application of science/math or just want to learn more about math in a different way I guess, I recommend this class. I love this class so much it breaks my heart to not continue the series :'( **Warning: Just like with every other class, the LS30 series does require effort and dedication. I don't know if it is an "easy A" because I can't compare it with other math classes since I have not taken any others but nevertheless, your grade is a reflection of the time and effort you put into it. Professor Garfinkel is an awesome professor. He is a genius. SERIOUSLY. A GENIUS. He is very open to his students and very helpful. He purposely stays a couple minutes after lecture to answer questions and he has office hours twice every week. He is an awesome professor!!!
Winter 2018 - One of the best decisions I could've ever made upon entering UCLA is doing the LS30 series. I never thought I would gain an understanding and genuine appreciation for math but here we are :) I love this course because I wanted to apply math in real life situations and this course is perfect for it. If you like application of science/math or just want to learn more about math in a different way I guess, I recommend this class. I love this class so much it breaks my heart to not continue the series :'( **Warning: Just like with every other class, the LS30 series does require effort and dedication. I don't know if it is an "easy A" because I can't compare it with other math classes since I have not taken any others but nevertheless, your grade is a reflection of the time and effort you put into it. Professor Garfinkel is an awesome professor. He is a genius. SERIOUSLY. A GENIUS. He is very open to his students and very helpful. He purposely stays a couple minutes after lecture to answer questions and he has office hours twice every week. He is an awesome professor!!!
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - REVIEW FOR LS30B SPRING 2020: All I can say is, hands down the most charismatic and accommodating professor I've had. He really loves math and you can see it in the way he teaches. Best piece of advice, go to the Midterm Review Sessions and really pay attention for those 3 hours, literally almost a guaranteed A on the exam. Love you Artur, hope you accomplish amazing things in the future <3
Spring 2020 - REVIEW FOR LS30B SPRING 2020: All I can say is, hands down the most charismatic and accommodating professor I've had. He really loves math and you can see it in the way he teaches. Best piece of advice, go to the Midterm Review Sessions and really pay attention for those 3 hours, literally almost a guaranteed A on the exam. Love you Artur, hope you accomplish amazing things in the future <3
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - Hi Everyone ! I'm back with my IN-DEPTH Review of this class. I will break down all aspects of this class, so even if it may seem like a LOT of words, I would definitely recommend reading it since this will be the only review you will need to read. If you still aren't going to read this then just read the TL;DR: TL;DR: TAKE THIS CLASS WITH JUKKA. THE END. Okay Lets Begin! PROFESSOR: Jukka is, and I can't emphasize this enough, the REALEST professor/teacher/instructor I have ever had. You know those professor that people meme about being amazing/nice or whatever. Well this is it guys ! You have found probably the best professor on campus. If you have taken Jukka for 30 A, you probably aren't reading this because you are already going to take his class for 30 B. Although he can be a bit passive aggressive at times, I honestly feel like it has to do with the vast difference in mathematical intellect between prof and students, since some of these concepts can be difficult to grasp to us, but is basic math to him. However, He does care for his students' success and wellbeing in the class and makes it very clear what he expects us to know for exams. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LECTURES: Lectures are mandatory since there are clicker points to be earned in each lecture. The clickers are NOT graded on accuracy which is very nice, but they do add up to a good amount of the total class grade (at least 10%) so try not to miss lectures as much as possible. At the end of the quarter, he usually drops 3 of the lowest clicker scores so don't stress if you miss a couple of lectures for whatever reason. Other than that, the lectures are basically 20-30 minutes of review of the previous lecture, and whatever time remains after he lectures on new content, which he will review on the next lecture. The lecture is purely concepts with little to no problem solving, which is probably the ONLY flaw in this class, since homework problems can be a bit challenging to tackle by yourself since there is very little guidance in that matter. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TAs: TAs are fairly Important since they grade your homework which can amount to a good chunk of your grade as well (atleast 10%, upto 16%). They also help you with the lab, which is arguably the most difficult aspect of the class since it is coding, so if you have background in Sage/Python, this bit will be super easy for you. Shout to my TA Yoon Jeong who helped us a lot more than the other TAs my friends had. Also, TAs DONT GRADE LABS ! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAB SECTIONS: Labs aren't exactly mandatory, since they don't take attendance, but if you don't go you are most screwing yourself. People show up because most of us in LS are not good at coding, otherwise we would be CS Majors. During lab you can get help with the coding from TAs and LAs who have answer keys so they can tell you if you are doing it right or wrong, and how to do it. Highly recommended that you do attend, although again, it's not mandatory. LABS are GRADED ON ACCURACY, unless otherwise mentioned by the prof. Labs are also graded by random people that you will most likely never meet in life, and sometimes they take forever to grade them so you won't know your lab grades until near the end of the quarter. Not a big deal though. I don't believe they grade too harsh, but you do have to be at least close to correct. If you are stressing, don't. Prof dropped the lowest lab score so you'll be good. Lab does make up a good bit of the grade (at least 10%) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOMEWORK: Homework can be a bit challenging as their is little guidance on how to go about it as Professor usually just goes of the concept, and TAs focus mostly on Lab assignment. Aside from going to office hours, you are mostly on your own. They are definitely doable, especially early in the quarter, but get significantly more difficult past week 5-6. Homework is also GRADED ON ACCURACY, and make up about (10%-16%) of your grade. But you can drop the lowest two homework grades, so its not too bad really. If you have a chill TA, you should be fine. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOOK: The book is required but it is PROVIDED in PDF by the prof. All Homework usually comes from the book, so you will need to use it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MIDTERM/FINAL: Now we are getting to the good stuff! - Yes there is ONE Midterm - Yes there is ONE Final - Yes there are study guides for both, as well as review sessions for both - They combine for about 60% of your grade I believe, but that is actually only good for you - You will most likely get As on both if you are willing to try even the slightest bit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDY GUIDE/REVIEW SESSIONS: These are the single most important aspect of this class. I don't care how fucking smart you are, if you don't use the study guide and attend the review sessions, you are only screwing yourself. the Prof practically goes over a slightly changed version of the ACTUAL EXAMS during the review sessions and tells you how to solve each problem. It's very difficult to do bad on the exams if you attend the review sessions and pay attention. 2 hours for a basically guaranteed A is honestly an amazing deal you won't get anywhere else at UCLA. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OVERALL: If I had to take this class again (which I clearly fucking don't) I would definitely without a doubt take it with Jukka again. If I had to take ONE class for all 4 years, and the grade I would get would define my GPA, I would take this class in a heartbeat, eyes closed, face down, ass up. I don't care. In Short: TAKE THIS CLASS WITH JUKKA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Good luck to y'all ! ##
Winter 2020 - Hi Everyone ! I'm back with my IN-DEPTH Review of this class. I will break down all aspects of this class, so even if it may seem like a LOT of words, I would definitely recommend reading it since this will be the only review you will need to read. If you still aren't going to read this then just read the TL;DR: TL;DR: TAKE THIS CLASS WITH JUKKA. THE END. Okay Lets Begin! PROFESSOR: Jukka is, and I can't emphasize this enough, the REALEST professor/teacher/instructor I have ever had. You know those professor that people meme about being amazing/nice or whatever. Well this is it guys ! You have found probably the best professor on campus. If you have taken Jukka for 30 A, you probably aren't reading this because you are already going to take his class for 30 B. Although he can be a bit passive aggressive at times, I honestly feel like it has to do with the vast difference in mathematical intellect between prof and students, since some of these concepts can be difficult to grasp to us, but is basic math to him. However, He does care for his students' success and wellbeing in the class and makes it very clear what he expects us to know for exams. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LECTURES: Lectures are mandatory since there are clicker points to be earned in each lecture. The clickers are NOT graded on accuracy which is very nice, but they do add up to a good amount of the total class grade (at least 10%) so try not to miss lectures as much as possible. At the end of the quarter, he usually drops 3 of the lowest clicker scores so don't stress if you miss a couple of lectures for whatever reason. Other than that, the lectures are basically 20-30 minutes of review of the previous lecture, and whatever time remains after he lectures on new content, which he will review on the next lecture. The lecture is purely concepts with little to no problem solving, which is probably the ONLY flaw in this class, since homework problems can be a bit challenging to tackle by yourself since there is very little guidance in that matter. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TAs: TAs are fairly Important since they grade your homework which can amount to a good chunk of your grade as well (atleast 10%, upto 16%). They also help you with the lab, which is arguably the most difficult aspect of the class since it is coding, so if you have background in Sage/Python, this bit will be super easy for you. Shout to my TA Yoon Jeong who helped us a lot more than the other TAs my friends had. Also, TAs DONT GRADE LABS ! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAB SECTIONS: Labs aren't exactly mandatory, since they don't take attendance, but if you don't go you are most screwing yourself. People show up because most of us in LS are not good at coding, otherwise we would be CS Majors. During lab you can get help with the coding from TAs and LAs who have answer keys so they can tell you if you are doing it right or wrong, and how to do it. Highly recommended that you do attend, although again, it's not mandatory. LABS are GRADED ON ACCURACY, unless otherwise mentioned by the prof. Labs are also graded by random people that you will most likely never meet in life, and sometimes they take forever to grade them so you won't know your lab grades until near the end of the quarter. Not a big deal though. I don't believe they grade too harsh, but you do have to be at least close to correct. If you are stressing, don't. Prof dropped the lowest lab score so you'll be good. Lab does make up a good bit of the grade (at least 10%) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOMEWORK: Homework can be a bit challenging as their is little guidance on how to go about it as Professor usually just goes of the concept, and TAs focus mostly on Lab assignment. Aside from going to office hours, you are mostly on your own. They are definitely doable, especially early in the quarter, but get significantly more difficult past week 5-6. Homework is also GRADED ON ACCURACY, and make up about (10%-16%) of your grade. But you can drop the lowest two homework grades, so its not too bad really. If you have a chill TA, you should be fine. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOOK: The book is required but it is PROVIDED in PDF by the prof. All Homework usually comes from the book, so you will need to use it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MIDTERM/FINAL: Now we are getting to the good stuff! - Yes there is ONE Midterm - Yes there is ONE Final - Yes there are study guides for both, as well as review sessions for both - They combine for about 60% of your grade I believe, but that is actually only good for you - You will most likely get As on both if you are willing to try even the slightest bit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDY GUIDE/REVIEW SESSIONS: These are the single most important aspect of this class. I don't care how fucking smart you are, if you don't use the study guide and attend the review sessions, you are only screwing yourself. the Prof practically goes over a slightly changed version of the ACTUAL EXAMS during the review sessions and tells you how to solve each problem. It's very difficult to do bad on the exams if you attend the review sessions and pay attention. 2 hours for a basically guaranteed A is honestly an amazing deal you won't get anywhere else at UCLA. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OVERALL: If I had to take this class again (which I clearly fucking don't) I would definitely without a doubt take it with Jukka again. If I had to take ONE class for all 4 years, and the grade I would get would define my GPA, I would take this class in a heartbeat, eyes closed, face down, ass up. I don't care. In Short: TAKE THIS CLASS WITH JUKKA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Good luck to y'all ! ##
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - She is nice and passionate about the class. I just wasn't really interested in the topic. The labs and coding part were really fun but I think most people hated that part. The tests are not easy nor hard. She is also very helpful and she does regrade if you find a good reason to.
Fall 2019 - She is nice and passionate about the class. I just wasn't really interested in the topic. The labs and coding part were really fun but I think most people hated that part. The tests are not easy nor hard. She is also very helpful and she does regrade if you find a good reason to.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - Dr.McCully is an overall okay professor. I think that the number of assignments for this class was way too much at times. She would assign multiple pre-class videos that ranged from 15 minutes to 45 minutes that have embedded questions on top of homework, labs, and weekly quizzes. And then, on the day of the lecture, she would basically repeat the entire video during the lecture so the lecture just felt kind of useless at times but it was mandatory to go because of Clicker questions which she was not accommodating about. It is a good way to practice concepts though since it kinda just continuously drills it into your head and practice with it. Homework was a fair amount but not too much. Quizzes were not too tough either since you got two attempts. Her midterms and final were fair as well so you will be fine just practicing the practice tests and quizzes. Labs were a lot more difficult than LS30A but I found them to be fun. The most annoying part of the course was the Capstone Project which was split up between 3 weeks and into finals week. Each week we were supposed to make a model, simulate it, document changes, create more changes, and write a final report. It was just very tedious and annoying, especially if your group mates do not help you with anything and on top of all your other work. This class definitely did take a lot of time but Dr.McCully's method of teaching is very tedious, slow, and drilling it into your head which can be both good and bad for people. I found it to be annoying at times but helpful at times when I fell behind. Concepts in this class are much more difficult than in LS30A but it was helpful to hear them multiple times. However, she did have a bad habit of going through 20 slides in the last 5 minutes because she was not able to fit her lecture into the allocated time. So, sometimes, things would be left unclear and vague or not brought up until the next lecture.
Spring 2022 - Dr.McCully is an overall okay professor. I think that the number of assignments for this class was way too much at times. She would assign multiple pre-class videos that ranged from 15 minutes to 45 minutes that have embedded questions on top of homework, labs, and weekly quizzes. And then, on the day of the lecture, she would basically repeat the entire video during the lecture so the lecture just felt kind of useless at times but it was mandatory to go because of Clicker questions which she was not accommodating about. It is a good way to practice concepts though since it kinda just continuously drills it into your head and practice with it. Homework was a fair amount but not too much. Quizzes were not too tough either since you got two attempts. Her midterms and final were fair as well so you will be fine just practicing the practice tests and quizzes. Labs were a lot more difficult than LS30A but I found them to be fun. The most annoying part of the course was the Capstone Project which was split up between 3 weeks and into finals week. Each week we were supposed to make a model, simulate it, document changes, create more changes, and write a final report. It was just very tedious and annoying, especially if your group mates do not help you with anything and on top of all your other work. This class definitely did take a lot of time but Dr.McCully's method of teaching is very tedious, slow, and drilling it into your head which can be both good and bad for people. I found it to be annoying at times but helpful at times when I fell behind. Concepts in this class are much more difficult than in LS30A but it was helpful to hear them multiple times. However, she did have a bad habit of going through 20 slides in the last 5 minutes because she was not able to fit her lecture into the allocated time. So, sometimes, things would be left unclear and vague or not brought up until the next lecture.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - I took this class in the winter and it was by far the most unpleasant teaching experience I have had thus far. The class material is rather confusing on its own and in conjunction to her teaching style, it was even worse. I took this class when there was a mandatory lockdown and for the first four weeks, our classes were held on zoom. These four weeks were misery. The professor would have 7 slides on average each session with one or two pictures on them and no words or written work. We would, for literally 1 hour and 15 minutes stare stare a schematic of chaos while she talked the whole time. When we went back in person, it was much better since they would use the whiteboard to go through concepts, however it was sometimes hard to hear her, so sit in the front. The labs in this class were also very confusing and a large step from what you saw in 30A. So be prepared to work with your groups or TAs or literally anyone else in the class because the coding in this class is just thrown at you for and hour and 50 minutes and never spoken of again. The professor also assigns a large amount of work. We had more homework problems than the other 30B classes with different professors. We also, going into finals week, had around 46 questions of HW (with multiple parts for each) and a capstone project, both of which took forever to complete. And that was in addition to the studying and work you had for your other classes. The homework in this class also involves coding problems which was something that other classes rarely had on their homework. I would not say she is the worse lecturer, but she is very close. She rarely would expound on some concepts and would just assume you would read the textbook. Part of the problem is, I think, is that she was one of the leading authors of the textbook. This means that everything that she could possibly say or want to say is IN the textbook. So, she probably felt she did not ever really need to explain concepts. However, perusing textbooks to learn math is very difficult for many in addition to being ineffective. The first midterm was okay, there is an individual and group portion, the latter being more difficult obviously. She also gave previous midterms to help you practice, however they did not really resemble the actual midterm. The final was outright egregious, there was also a mistake on the test. When multiple people asked on Campuswire if there was a mistake, the TA literally told us, with great confidence, that there was no mistake, despite the fact that there in fact was (they later confirmed this). The final was very hard and did not reflect the type of learning we had done in the previous weeks. If you asked me five weeks into the quarter, ten weeks into the quarter, or even after the quarter ended what I learned in the class, I would give you the same answer: nothing. However, this class is probably easier than the other math series so if you are an LS major, then just bite the bullet, your GPA will thank you.
Winter 2022 - I took this class in the winter and it was by far the most unpleasant teaching experience I have had thus far. The class material is rather confusing on its own and in conjunction to her teaching style, it was even worse. I took this class when there was a mandatory lockdown and for the first four weeks, our classes were held on zoom. These four weeks were misery. The professor would have 7 slides on average each session with one or two pictures on them and no words or written work. We would, for literally 1 hour and 15 minutes stare stare a schematic of chaos while she talked the whole time. When we went back in person, it was much better since they would use the whiteboard to go through concepts, however it was sometimes hard to hear her, so sit in the front. The labs in this class were also very confusing and a large step from what you saw in 30A. So be prepared to work with your groups or TAs or literally anyone else in the class because the coding in this class is just thrown at you for and hour and 50 minutes and never spoken of again. The professor also assigns a large amount of work. We had more homework problems than the other 30B classes with different professors. We also, going into finals week, had around 46 questions of HW (with multiple parts for each) and a capstone project, both of which took forever to complete. And that was in addition to the studying and work you had for your other classes. The homework in this class also involves coding problems which was something that other classes rarely had on their homework. I would not say she is the worse lecturer, but she is very close. She rarely would expound on some concepts and would just assume you would read the textbook. Part of the problem is, I think, is that she was one of the leading authors of the textbook. This means that everything that she could possibly say or want to say is IN the textbook. So, she probably felt she did not ever really need to explain concepts. However, perusing textbooks to learn math is very difficult for many in addition to being ineffective. The first midterm was okay, there is an individual and group portion, the latter being more difficult obviously. She also gave previous midterms to help you practice, however they did not really resemble the actual midterm. The final was outright egregious, there was also a mistake on the test. When multiple people asked on Campuswire if there was a mistake, the TA literally told us, with great confidence, that there was no mistake, despite the fact that there in fact was (they later confirmed this). The final was very hard and did not reflect the type of learning we had done in the previous weeks. If you asked me five weeks into the quarter, ten weeks into the quarter, or even after the quarter ended what I learned in the class, I would give you the same answer: nothing. However, this class is probably easier than the other math series so if you are an LS major, then just bite the bullet, your GPA will thank you.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - I've heard a lot of complaints about Dr. V and I was kinda scared to take her class at first, but honestly, it's quite a good class. She's really reciprocating with our requests, like, our first bi-weekly quiz was kind of hard, so when she got the feedback from us she immediately changed her test style and made the rest of our bi-weekly quizzes much more suitable. She's also organized in terms of letting you know exactly what you're learning, and there's a clear outline to each lecture, homework, and quiz. The midterm was pretty much exactly what she taught in lectures and the TA's study office hours. It was very straightforward. Also, she links us to supplement videos to get a better understanding of the content. Obviously, it seems tedious to have to watch even more videos on top of lectures, but I see it as studying, just like how you would read textbooks outside of lectures to gain a better understanding. I had a different professor last quarter which many students loved, but I find myself understanding Dr. V's lectures with ease, and just understanding the content in general much better. To me, the workload isn't too bad either. Every two weeks I probably spend a day doing the bi-weekly homework, and a day watching supplement videos as revision for bi-weekly quizzes. Obviously, this is just my personal experience and opinions, everyone is different and has different learning styles. But yea her class is really manageable.
Winter 2021 - I've heard a lot of complaints about Dr. V and I was kinda scared to take her class at first, but honestly, it's quite a good class. She's really reciprocating with our requests, like, our first bi-weekly quiz was kind of hard, so when she got the feedback from us she immediately changed her test style and made the rest of our bi-weekly quizzes much more suitable. She's also organized in terms of letting you know exactly what you're learning, and there's a clear outline to each lecture, homework, and quiz. The midterm was pretty much exactly what she taught in lectures and the TA's study office hours. It was very straightforward. Also, she links us to supplement videos to get a better understanding of the content. Obviously, it seems tedious to have to watch even more videos on top of lectures, but I see it as studying, just like how you would read textbooks outside of lectures to gain a better understanding. I had a different professor last quarter which many students loved, but I find myself understanding Dr. V's lectures with ease, and just understanding the content in general much better. To me, the workload isn't too bad either. Every two weeks I probably spend a day doing the bi-weekly homework, and a day watching supplement videos as revision for bi-weekly quizzes. Obviously, this is just my personal experience and opinions, everyone is different and has different learning styles. But yea her class is really manageable.
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