Professor
Chadwick Sprouse
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2020 - Professor Sprouse is fairly generous in the way he grades. I believe he gave everyone who got a 90% or higher as their overall final grade an A, not an A-. Whenever I had a question and I emailed him, he was prompt in responding which I was very appreciative of. The homework was a bit much but I will say it prepares you well for the two midterms and the final. He docked a few points on the exams for minor errors, but I think this is the norm for math professors. VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you go over the notes very carefully and take note of the way he wants you to solve problems on the exams because if you do it your own way and still get the right answer, he will mark off a ton of points if not all of them. Solve the problems the way he wants you to solve them and you can figure out the way he wants you to solve them by carefully examining his notes. The bottom line is if you need to take Calc 31A, take it with Professor Sprouse. He is nice, a little funny, and really cares about his students. With Covid-19 going on, he was very understanding and tried to make the difficulty of the class fit the trying times we are currently in as best he could. In addition, my TA Mr. Johnson was great. I would highly recommend him as well.
Summer 2020 - Professor Sprouse is fairly generous in the way he grades. I believe he gave everyone who got a 90% or higher as their overall final grade an A, not an A-. Whenever I had a question and I emailed him, he was prompt in responding which I was very appreciative of. The homework was a bit much but I will say it prepares you well for the two midterms and the final. He docked a few points on the exams for minor errors, but I think this is the norm for math professors. VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you go over the notes very carefully and take note of the way he wants you to solve problems on the exams because if you do it your own way and still get the right answer, he will mark off a ton of points if not all of them. Solve the problems the way he wants you to solve them and you can figure out the way he wants you to solve them by carefully examining his notes. The bottom line is if you need to take Calc 31A, take it with Professor Sprouse. He is nice, a little funny, and really cares about his students. With Covid-19 going on, he was very understanding and tried to make the difficulty of the class fit the trying times we are currently in as best he could. In addition, my TA Mr. Johnson was great. I would highly recommend him as well.
Most Helpful Review
Summer 2025 - this class was one of the wildest math classes i've taken at ucla as an incoming fourth year math major. the class content itself is really interesting, (in my opinion) and i found the content to be engaging and enjoyable primarily when i was reviewing lectures on my own or in discussion (TA was indeed the goat). what made this class really *interesting* was the professor. my first impressions were that he was just a very candid, sharp spoken professor, kind of a no-bs guy. i joined the class late and he was pretty nice and accommodating. however as the short 6 weeks went on, i'd have to unfortunately the quality of the class went down significantly. - so much homework; granted its a 6 week summer course but still has to be commented on. took me multiple days to finish one homework - pace of the class was literally insane: combined with the huge amount of homework, you had to put in WORK to keep up. but since there was so much homework, didn't really need to study a lot for exams. i have to start a new paragraph for the professor. i have nothing personal against him (i know you read these, so hello!!) but i really did feel uncomfortable at times with the way he talked to his students. there was one particular student that i guess really got on his nerves often. i can see why the professor got frustrated at times, but it got to a point where the professor would make really unprofessional and straight up mean comments, like "stop arguing with me" and "you just want to make things hard for yourself" or "stop talking". and i don't know that's kind of crazy for a professor to say to a student?? i don't know the student personally, but i did respect him for consistently asking questions and trying to understand the material. and i think the professor could've handled it way better, but honestly at some point it felt like a humiliation ritual for the poor student. i felt so bad and so shaken by how he talked to the student which is why i'm here. it kind of begs the question of why this professor decided to teach if this is how he was going to talk to some students. to generalize that experience/observation, he does have a really sharp(?) tone? can come off very sarcastic/demeaning. i didn't really bother asking him any questions and just asked my TA/other sources. if you're looking to take 134, i'd highly recommend the class, just not with this professor unless you love a challenge in every way possible. i'm glad i took it as a math major, but as a human being, idk it just rubbed me the wrong way.
Summer 2025 - this class was one of the wildest math classes i've taken at ucla as an incoming fourth year math major. the class content itself is really interesting, (in my opinion) and i found the content to be engaging and enjoyable primarily when i was reviewing lectures on my own or in discussion (TA was indeed the goat). what made this class really *interesting* was the professor. my first impressions were that he was just a very candid, sharp spoken professor, kind of a no-bs guy. i joined the class late and he was pretty nice and accommodating. however as the short 6 weeks went on, i'd have to unfortunately the quality of the class went down significantly. - so much homework; granted its a 6 week summer course but still has to be commented on. took me multiple days to finish one homework - pace of the class was literally insane: combined with the huge amount of homework, you had to put in WORK to keep up. but since there was so much homework, didn't really need to study a lot for exams. i have to start a new paragraph for the professor. i have nothing personal against him (i know you read these, so hello!!) but i really did feel uncomfortable at times with the way he talked to his students. there was one particular student that i guess really got on his nerves often. i can see why the professor got frustrated at times, but it got to a point where the professor would make really unprofessional and straight up mean comments, like "stop arguing with me" and "you just want to make things hard for yourself" or "stop talking". and i don't know that's kind of crazy for a professor to say to a student?? i don't know the student personally, but i did respect him for consistently asking questions and trying to understand the material. and i think the professor could've handled it way better, but honestly at some point it felt like a humiliation ritual for the poor student. i felt so bad and so shaken by how he talked to the student which is why i'm here. it kind of begs the question of why this professor decided to teach if this is how he was going to talk to some students. to generalize that experience/observation, he does have a really sharp(?) tone? can come off very sarcastic/demeaning. i didn't really bother asking him any questions and just asked my TA/other sources. if you're looking to take 134, i'd highly recommend the class, just not with this professor unless you love a challenge in every way possible. i'm glad i took it as a math major, but as a human being, idk it just rubbed me the wrong way.
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2020 - Chad is super passionate about mathematical modeling, so you'll learn a lot of concepts in addition to the regular curriculum. If you're interested in doing research in applied math/math modeling, I'd imagine that this course would be helpful! We had to look at several research papers for our homework sets, and in light of COVID, he even taught SIR models. Chad really tries to keep his class relevant and interesting in terms of subject matter, though I did find his lecturing boring at times. Homework sets, however, tended to be on the longer side, though manageable and not entirely out of the ordinary for a 6 week upper div math course. Chad is super helpful during office hours, and he'll basically tell you how to solve each problem if you ask. And if you even put a semblance of effort into the homework, tests should be very straightforward. Instead of a midterm and a final, there are three non-cumulative exams. The problems are basically pulled straight from homework problems, so the 24 hour open note format of 'rona-era math courses made them pretty easy. Our test averages were around 95 for each exam, and Chad doesn't curve down or give +/- grades, so anyone with a 90+ (most of the class) got an A.
Summer 2020 - Chad is super passionate about mathematical modeling, so you'll learn a lot of concepts in addition to the regular curriculum. If you're interested in doing research in applied math/math modeling, I'd imagine that this course would be helpful! We had to look at several research papers for our homework sets, and in light of COVID, he even taught SIR models. Chad really tries to keep his class relevant and interesting in terms of subject matter, though I did find his lecturing boring at times. Homework sets, however, tended to be on the longer side, though manageable and not entirely out of the ordinary for a 6 week upper div math course. Chad is super helpful during office hours, and he'll basically tell you how to solve each problem if you ask. And if you even put a semblance of effort into the homework, tests should be very straightforward. Instead of a midterm and a final, there are three non-cumulative exams. The problems are basically pulled straight from homework problems, so the 24 hour open note format of 'rona-era math courses made them pretty easy. Our test averages were around 95 for each exam, and Chad doesn't curve down or give +/- grades, so anyone with a 90+ (most of the class) got an A.
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