I took this class because I found a reddit thread saying 115AH with him was a "solid 9/10."

He has an oppressive personality. He's funny during lectures but they too fast -- moving on from questions before we can process the information. He always has to run away right after lectures so you can't really talk to him. Homework takes 10+ hrs/week, and he deletes your Discord messages (yes, the class uses only Discord, not Canvas) if you ask questions about the homework that he does not like. The homework also has overly strict rules as to how they are submitted. For example, he says that only printing paper can be used. Someone asks in class whether line paper may be used and he said yes. Come Week 4, 1/3 of the class submits their homework on binder/notebook paper. He holds one up and says that "this won't be graded" and tries to move on with his lecture. When I stop him and remind him what he said, he said to "complain after class." Come the end of class, I bring the homework back up, again reminding him what he said. He then DMs me at 5pm saying that he disliked my "belligerant posture." Knowing full well that I was not even disrespectful, I apologize anyways, then remind him a third time what he said. He then said that line paper is not necessarily binder paper, implying once again that he would throw away our work. He then tells me off again saying that I wasn't listening to him and saying I had an "aggressive reaction." I apologize again and tell him that I would be dropping his class as I no longer felt safe with him anymore. He then tells me I'm overreacting and that I shouldn't make decisions "hot-headed." But no. I'm completely collected in my decision to leave his classroom and to end my suffering.

Try not to take this class with him. But if you do, buy some printing paper and a stapler, and form large study groups to work on homework problems together. And be careful around him. That's all I know.

Edit: Scores have been adjusted to compensate for what seems to be a false review.

My experience with him was a mix of instructional strengths and several interpersonal and policy-based issues that made the class more frustrating than it needed to be. The workload was definitely too much in the beginning but got better throughout the quarter. Overall, the material was good and the exams were fair, but Moraga’s behavior and handling of students often felt immature, which overshadowed the strengths of the course.

Pros:
Moraga clearly knows mathematics well. His board work, both on whiteboards and chalkboards, is excellent: neat and organized. He also provides solid test preparation materials and gives exams that feel fair and aligned with what he teaches. Looking back, the actual course content wasn’t overtly difficult.

Cons:
The difficulties came mostly from classroom policies and interactions. Early in the quarter, he enforced unusually strict homework formatting rules, such as requiring assignments to be written only on printer paper, not lined paper. Although I understand the need for clarity for graders, he initially refused to accept assignments without offering second chances, even though the instructions were not entirely clear. This was not a great start to the class.

Another early red flag occurred before class one day when a small group of us were talking (more than 5 minutes before class) and getting to know each other. Moraga told us that if we had time to talk, we should instead be reading past lecture notes or the textbook. He later added that "talking before class makes it seem like the class is too easy." I asked whether socializing could actually help us form study groups or learn the material collaboratively, but he shut that down by saying socialization should happen "out there," pointing outside the room. That exchange made the classroom feel a little uncomfortable from then on to be honest. It felt like an attempt to control how students behaved before class, which felt inappropriate and not conducive to a healthy learning environment.

His lecture slides were also difficult to navigate: each slide was just the previous slide with one additional sentence added. This ballooned 40-slide lectures into 200-300 slides, which made finding information a chore. I think he could use "\documentclass[handout]{beamer}" in his LaTex code to fix that but after my previous interactions with him, I didn't really want to say anything.

Although he used Discord for class communication, he managed it in a surprisingly inflexible way--frequently removing messages and responding selectively, which discouraged open discussion rather than facilitating it.

There were also inconsistencies in his expectations on exams. He told us to avoid doing lengthy computations and instead focus on demonstrating conceptual understanding. I followed that instruction and still lost 40% on a problem because I hadn’t included the calculations he said not to do. The mixed messaging made test strategy confusing.

Toward the end of the quarter, I asked him privately about my grade--not to negotiate, but because I genuinely wanted to understand what material I had mastered and where I fell short, especially since we didn’t know our grades (until the last week) or how they were calculated (still don't know, he never responded). Instead of responding to me, he told another student that I was trying to ask for a higher grade, which was deeply upsetting and quite unprofessional. I simply wanted a direct, respectful conversation about my performance.

Moraga, I enjoyed the mathematical material, and I appreciated the clarity of your lectures. I just wish the rest of the class had matched the quality of the content. I wanted to be treated like a human being and have open conversations when needed, and I'm still not sure what I did that made you respond the way you did.

Interpret this as you will--this was my experience in the course.

Honestly, this is the first review I have ever written. He was the worst professor I've ever taken. Once, a lot of students (like basically a quarter of the class) were outside his office hours waiting to ask questions about the extremely hard homework and he straight up said "I'm only answering questions about concepts, no homework at ALL". He actually made me want to drop my major (I actually fw math) because of how ridiculous the class was. Please actually save yourselves 😭🙏 ts not light fr

As I write this review I find myself tearfully reminiscing on my earliest days as a UCLA math undergrad. 115AH with Moraga was my first math course at UCLA and it couldn't have been any more perfect. I only decided to write this review after witnessing the absolute libel brought upon by a misguided former student, knowing that I had to rectify the wrongdoing. I agree with said redditor that the class is a 9/10 if not 10/10. It is an honors course and with that comes an honors workload. Prepare to learn all of 115a and 115b in one course and to have your critical thinking, functional memory, and logical decision making skills tested. But remember, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” - Matthew 5:7. In the end Moraga always comes in clutch. You get what you put in, and a true desire to learn will allow this class to become one of the most informative and useful ventures a math major can have at UCLA, preparing you for any course that should come your way (131AH). Also discord class >> canvas class.