MATH 31B
Integration and Infinite Series
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisite: course 31A with grade of C- or better. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 3B. Transcendental functions; methods and applications of integration; sequences and series. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - You should not take Ocal if you could help it. He is horrible at explaining the concepts you need to learn because he recites it exactly for what it is in the textbook. This results in most students learning/teaching themselves from the textbook.(dw organic chemistry teacher will save u) He is nice and outwardly positive as he often asks if students have questions but most of the time you'll be more confused than anything to even be able to ask a question. He also does not respond to emails and to address any issues with homework and grading you'd have to attend his office hours. If thats an issue for you I'm just saying for a heads up. His grading is pretty understandable as a curve is often applied and there are different ways he weighs your exams to make sure you get the highest grade possible. However, unless you like to teach calc 2 to yourself/have smart friends to help you I would strongly advise you to take a different professor.
Winter 2024 - You should not take Ocal if you could help it. He is horrible at explaining the concepts you need to learn because he recites it exactly for what it is in the textbook. This results in most students learning/teaching themselves from the textbook.(dw organic chemistry teacher will save u) He is nice and outwardly positive as he often asks if students have questions but most of the time you'll be more confused than anything to even be able to ask a question. He also does not respond to emails and to address any issues with homework and grading you'd have to attend his office hours. If thats an issue for you I'm just saying for a heads up. His grading is pretty understandable as a curve is often applied and there are different ways he weighs your exams to make sure you get the highest grade possible. However, unless you like to teach calc 2 to yourself/have smart friends to help you I would strongly advise you to take a different professor.
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Fall 2022 - I found that Scavia was neither a good nor bad lecturer. He taught at a breakneck speed, and if I did not come to class without at least skimming the textbook section, I was lost. Oftentimes it felt like he was talking to the whiteboard rather than lecturing the class, and did not always pause to answer questions. He does have a moderately thick Italian accent, but that was rarely an issue for me. - The topics in this class are fundamental for many majors, so it is pertinent that you understand his lectures. Luckily he lectures directly from the textbook, just less clearly. I also spent hours upon hours learning from YouTube University, which was critical to understanding lecture. - Scavia expects you to have not just a decent grasp of the materials needed for this class, but a superb grasp. I came into this class with a pretty poor mathematical background. There were some instances involving trigonometry, integration methods, or factorials that I never learned in high school, but had to quickly learn to keep up with the pace of his class. If you have a good mathematical background (took 31A or AP Calc BC prior) unlike me, however, you should be comfortable with the first half of this class. The second half (Series) builds upon the first, and requires quite a bit of memorization and conceptual understanding. - Speaking of conceptual understanding, Scavia lectures and tests in a very theoretical way. His lectures included proofs of the concepts, involving greek characters/mathematical symbols that he did not explain the meanings of - he assumed we knew what they meant already. My advice for these confusing parts of lecture is to just ignore it as it will not be on the homework or tests. - There were a few occasions where I asked Scavia (over email) to clarify a topic I was unfamiliar with, and he said "Check chapter _ of the textbook" which was not helpful. Similarly, his office hours were frequent, and very similar to his lectures, which is either good or bad depending on how you like his teaching style. There were instances where he would say solving some problems with certain methods "takes just a bit of magic," which was funny, but not very helpful. - Regarding his tests, there were two midterms worth 20% each, a final worth 45% (and homework at 15%). The tests were difficult. Problems were an amalgamation of concepts across several homework sets, so being able to do the homework (which is straight from the textbook) is critical. Tests were both multiple choice and free response. Multiple choice was more conceptual and often had trick questions, and he was very stringent with giving partial credit on the free response questions. - Overall, Scavia is a professor who is efficient and concise, to the detriment of the majority of his students.
Fall 2022 - I found that Scavia was neither a good nor bad lecturer. He taught at a breakneck speed, and if I did not come to class without at least skimming the textbook section, I was lost. Oftentimes it felt like he was talking to the whiteboard rather than lecturing the class, and did not always pause to answer questions. He does have a moderately thick Italian accent, but that was rarely an issue for me. - The topics in this class are fundamental for many majors, so it is pertinent that you understand his lectures. Luckily he lectures directly from the textbook, just less clearly. I also spent hours upon hours learning from YouTube University, which was critical to understanding lecture. - Scavia expects you to have not just a decent grasp of the materials needed for this class, but a superb grasp. I came into this class with a pretty poor mathematical background. There were some instances involving trigonometry, integration methods, or factorials that I never learned in high school, but had to quickly learn to keep up with the pace of his class. If you have a good mathematical background (took 31A or AP Calc BC prior) unlike me, however, you should be comfortable with the first half of this class. The second half (Series) builds upon the first, and requires quite a bit of memorization and conceptual understanding. - Speaking of conceptual understanding, Scavia lectures and tests in a very theoretical way. His lectures included proofs of the concepts, involving greek characters/mathematical symbols that he did not explain the meanings of - he assumed we knew what they meant already. My advice for these confusing parts of lecture is to just ignore it as it will not be on the homework or tests. - There were a few occasions where I asked Scavia (over email) to clarify a topic I was unfamiliar with, and he said "Check chapter _ of the textbook" which was not helpful. Similarly, his office hours were frequent, and very similar to his lectures, which is either good or bad depending on how you like his teaching style. There were instances where he would say solving some problems with certain methods "takes just a bit of magic," which was funny, but not very helpful. - Regarding his tests, there were two midterms worth 20% each, a final worth 45% (and homework at 15%). The tests were difficult. Problems were an amalgamation of concepts across several homework sets, so being able to do the homework (which is straight from the textbook) is critical. Tests were both multiple choice and free response. Multiple choice was more conceptual and often had trick questions, and he was very stringent with giving partial credit on the free response questions. - Overall, Scavia is a professor who is efficient and concise, to the detriment of the majority of his students.
Most Helpful Review
Lectures proofs all day long. His final was a lot harder than his midterms and took my grade from a solid a to a b-, so don't make the same mistake I did and think it would be just as easy as the midterms. A lot of people struggled in this class, but it is not impossible. He curves a lot, but still not enough sometimes. His test questions are not straight forward, they are always a tricky one but if you pay attention in class and on the homework, the tricks are easier to spot.
Lectures proofs all day long. His final was a lot harder than his midterms and took my grade from a solid a to a b-, so don't make the same mistake I did and think it would be just as easy as the midterms. A lot of people struggled in this class, but it is not impossible. He curves a lot, but still not enough sometimes. His test questions are not straight forward, they are always a tricky one but if you pay attention in class and on the homework, the tricks are easier to spot.
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Most Helpful Review
Easy A class!! I hated math, but he is the best math teacher ever. He gives good lecture, clear and detailed. His exams are pretty easy. As long as you study your notes and know how to do the study questions on the text book, there is no reason to not get an A. I couldn't ask for a better teacher.
Easy A class!! I hated math, but he is the best math teacher ever. He gives good lecture, clear and detailed. His exams are pretty easy. As long as you study your notes and know how to do the study questions on the text book, there is no reason to not get an A. I couldn't ask for a better teacher.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - Easily the worst professor I've had at UCLA. He was incredibly uncommunicative, and the average grade in the class was a C. Only one student in the whole class received an A, and 2 received an A-. After the final I met with him to ask him what grade I was on pace for, and he told me a B+. I did better on the final than I did any of the midterms, but I ended with a C-. This is because he decided last minute he was not going to curve the class. You should have seen our class discussion forum after grades were sent out. Besides that, he was the worst teacher I've ever had. Way too fast in lecture, refused to answer simple questions because they were too simple, and claimed he "wasn't there to teach us, but guide us in teaching ourselves." If he is the only option for 31B, JUST TAKE IT A DIFFERENT QUARTER. I promise the hell he will put you through is not worth it.
Winter 2023 - Easily the worst professor I've had at UCLA. He was incredibly uncommunicative, and the average grade in the class was a C. Only one student in the whole class received an A, and 2 received an A-. After the final I met with him to ask him what grade I was on pace for, and he told me a B+. I did better on the final than I did any of the midterms, but I ended with a C-. This is because he decided last minute he was not going to curve the class. You should have seen our class discussion forum after grades were sent out. Besides that, he was the worst teacher I've ever had. Way too fast in lecture, refused to answer simple questions because they were too simple, and claimed he "wasn't there to teach us, but guide us in teaching ourselves." If he is the only option for 31B, JUST TAKE IT A DIFFERENT QUARTER. I promise the hell he will put you through is not worth it.
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