Dr. Shevtsov is amazing! She is HILARIOUS, very very intelligent (she created the LS30 course), and very approachable. She clearly cares about the success of students, moving around to check on different groups during lecture, creating review assignments and sessions, hosting extra office hours, and more.

This course is generally easy if you have taken a calculus class before; it revisits those concepts without being too focused on theory/proofs but specific biological applications. I also like the amount of support available to students in the form of LA, TAs, instructors, problem solving sessions and more and these resources were very helpful in my success.

Dr Shevtsov is an incredible teacher and does an amazing job of presenting concepts in a clear, easy to understand way without a focus on complicated definitions or theorems. I appreciate that she is very funny, down to earth, and constantly willing to interact with students and show a vested interest in our success. Thank you Dr. Shevtsov for your help this quarter!

Jane wrote the textbook so she provides a free pdf to students which is nice. You will need it because all of the homework is assigned directly from the textbook. As a professor, she is just okay, not the worst but I've definitely had way better math teachers. I learned better from watching the videos of the lecture rather than actually being in lecture. Our midterm was written by a different professor who focused on more conceptual subjects, so we were totally played. It definitely matters who writes the tests. Our final wasn't bad. Problem Solving Sessions really help, so do TA office hours. You have to study a lot to get an A in this course. The labs once a week weren't bad also, the TA and LA's are really helpful, and most of the time I got it done in class, you just have to pay attention to the small details.

Do not take this class. I wish I could go back in time and take another professor's/different math class. The lectures are fine until you get to the homework, which is nothing like what we learned in class. There have been multiple times when I've been getting homework help from a TA, and they said, "We didn't learn this in class, but you're supposed to know it." LIKE WTF. Then, the mid-term/ final exam was nothing like the actual test. Then there was a homework discrepancy where different lectures's homework was 1 was graded on completion then the other one was graded on accuracy.

My NSA told me to take this course and needless to say, I will never put trust into another person choosing my classes ever again. This class uses fake math and takes concepts from calculus but never uses actual calculus terms. Everything is conceptual. The homework load sometimes becomes too much and if you don’t go to office hours you will not understand how to do it. I think I attended at least 25 office hour sections and 5 pss for this class alone. The way they present the material in class does not reflect the homework assignments. The midterm was literal hell. I will say the final was way easier but I would still not take this class ever again.

I highly do not recommend taking this class if you are not into conceptual math. During my quarter, I found out from other peers that they were conducting a science experiment between lectures 1, 2 and 3, 4 to see how students retain information. Apparently the first two lectures were supposed to be "harder" with less homework, where it will be graded on accuracy. In contrast to lectures 3, 4 which is supposed to be easier with more homework that will be graded on effort/completion.
Although I had Shevtsov (lecture 4) and the grading scheme was easier, I did not learn much. Her slides are not very helpful in pertaining to the homework or exams. Her lectures are more of her just talking about concepts without really working through practice problems. Because of this, whenever I was presented with a problem on the homework, practice exams, or even the exams themselves, I was very of lost. By all means I am not saying that this class is impossible, I'm just saying that it is not very helpful. The midterm this year was absolutely horrendous. It was nothing like the practice and even included a concept or two not covered in class. Even though the class average was very low, her response was, "we expected the scores to be low [...] I hope you take this exam as a learning experience[...]"

Again, this class isn't entirely impossible, it just was not helpful. I found myself having to go above and beyond in order to teach myself mathematical strategies that are needed to solve certain problems (this is including going to her PSS hours, office hours, emailing TAs, and setting up meeting times with TAs).

Lectures are very slow so after the first few I pretty much stopped going and would just review slides (attendance only worth 1% of grade). The midterm prep led me to believe that the exam would be easy but it was wayyy harder than what we learned through homework and lab practice. I attended problem solving sessions (highly recommend) and that’s probably why I was okay even tho I didn’t go to lecture. I got a B on the midterm and I’m expecting a high B/low A on the final cause the final was much easier than the midterm. Also, form a study grp so that even if you don’t go to lecture you can find someone to explain the harder concepts to you (or go to office hrs). I did not find the homework helpful nor did I put 100% effort into it but I know many found the homework more helpful than the lectures so do what’s best for you.

Jane has very detailed and easy-to-follow slides that help students review the material. The extra notes written on the slides by an assistant are very helpful in getting across some of the more dense material of the course. Overall, the homework, lecture format, and more made the course easy to complete.

Prof. Makes no sense in lectures, no outside help, was able to go to another lecture and learn that way.

For the most part the lecture and assignments clarified material, however I found myself being saved in the class due to having prior experience in Calculus. If I hadn't taken Calculus when I did, I would've struggled in the class and would have to rely on outside sources to help me learn.

Absolutely insane midterm. Not a soul got up before the alarm went off and people had genuine breakdowns after class. At some points it is near impossible to understand lecture, and the ridiculously easy workload and practice midterms do not prepare you at all. A second grade scale should not be necessary if passing the first midterm was possible. Just because she failed her first midterm doesn't mean we ALL deserve to. The textbook is more helpful than the lectures, but even then you drown in boring examples and complete bull. Every NSA who is instructed to guide prospective students into this preposterous class is instrumental in the destruction of any student's impression of fake calculus and self-confidence.