Prof. Bennoun is by far the greatest instructor I've ever had in my life. If LS30A is offered with him as the professor, TAKE IT. He is extremely knowledgeable on the LS30 content. His slides are easy to understand and the iClicker questions are really helpful to check for understanding and do practice problems as a class. Lab sections aren't bad, though some of the labs are pretty frustrating (especially as someone who has never done code before). Please take advantage of Prof. Bennoun's office hours; they are so helpful (especially when going over homework questions).

I took this class thinking it would be easy because I took AP Calculus and thought it was manageable. I was also told this class would be an easier version of calculus due to lenient professors and it being geared toward life science students. This turned out to be false. The topics are EXTREMELY abstract and for me, as someone who prefers pure math, it was very difficult to understand. Combined with a total lack of online resources about the topics it was really hard for me to do well on homework and tests. His study guide was significantly easier than the midterm and final so it made it hard to know what to expect. Bennoun is a super nice guy but I despise his class. The coding labs are very difficult if you have never coded before and the homework is not at all similar to lecture topics. Overall, only take this series if you know you will enjoy basically entirely conceptual math (the only math we did was a one day lecture on integrals and even then they were extremely basic and short lived).

I loved professor Bennoun!!! He is very clear throughout the lectures as well as being very engaging and fun to listen to. The lectures were very straight forward and participation was measured through iclicker. Bennoun is all about active learning so he gives a lot of practice questions throughout the lectures which is fun because you get to try out the material before having to struggle through it on your own n you get to ask questions if anything is unclear. The labs on the other hand... I hated the labs. The labs solely consisted of coding which is never mentioned in the lectures (like ever). I had no coding experience and so I had to learn python from scratch which was a little tough. The material in the lecture and the coding lab didnt exactly overlap until around week 7. So you are learning two completely different things for a while. The homework is pretty decent. You get one assignment per week plus if you don't finish the coding lab you need to do that before your next lab meeting. The homework assignments were pretty tough so I went to office hours most weeks to get help on a few of the problems. Test wise there are two midterms (one individual, one group) and three finals (one individual, one individual for coding, and one group). The tests certainly aren't easy but they aren't bad if you are prepared (I wasn't haha). Overall this class wasn't that bad. I put in about medium effort so I would definitely try harder if I could go back but it pretty easy to get a good grade in the class.

This class was terrible. If you can take any other math series, do that instead. Throughout the course, I went to office hours 1-2 times per week, went through all my homework, did all the practice midterms and finals they gave as well as past ones students gave me, went on Zoom review and in-person sessions, and still failed to do well in this class. I felt like I was understanding the content, did well on the practice tests, but when I got to the tests, they were nothing like the past content we did and were very conceptual. Bennoun is willing to help if you go to the office hours, but they are always so busy, so get there early. The labs were also stupid, but if you have a good group of people to work on it with, you are good.

Bennoun is a great professor! Don't get me wrong. However, DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE. TAKE ANOTHER MATH COURSE. DON'T DO IT. Personally I have a bone to pick with my NSA for telling me I needed to take this course and this course only, when there were other math courses I could have taken. Just to reiterate, Bennoun is a great professor, but this review is for the course overall (across all professors, since the material is the same regardless of who is teaching it). For context: I'm an MCDB major, and in high school I excelled in math. I got a 4 on AP Calc AB (during COVID, but the second year, when the tests were in person again) and had a AP Calc teacher that was really strict and nationally rated/awarded for teaching. That being said, when I went to college, I expected math that introduced new concepts but wasn't necessarily more difficult....This course made me feel like I was losing brain cells. We hardly do any actual math (which, if you don't like math, then...cool, I guess!), but instead the math is all a bit...theoretical? Like, "what would happen if we changed this variable?" or "why does the human body do this? (????????)" instead of like, "solve this equation" or "derive this solution" or something similar and more straightforward. Admittedly, the class is easy, so if what I said seems good for you, then cool, take the class. However, the worst thing in this class was not the class itself but the labs. I knew the labs involved coding but not to this extent. The first two or three labs were relatively easy even if you weren't paying attention, but then all of a sudden you're running out of time on the labs because you spent 45 minutes trying to figure out why you're getting a syntax error in a code you've typed millions of times before, and then it turns out that you have an extra space somewhere, or a semi-colon instead of a colon, or a myriad of dumb little mistakes. Sometimes labs would take me days to figure out because I would get frustrated, and wouldn't want to go back and finish them. However, I got through the labs! Now I'm in LS 30B, and guess what? I hate it. The labs are exponentially more difficult. The jump from 30A to 30B is less like a jump and more like a 100m sprint. I really, really, really, REALLY wish I had taken another math course, but at this point it's more cost-effective to just finish the class and suffer until March.
Don't take the class if you don't have to. Seriously.

Class is very conceptual-heavy and not so much math-heavy. Bennoun is a good lecturer who posts his own annotated slides after class. The coding labs are a breeze if you get a good TA, if not then just attend office hours. Overall, this class certainly requires effort but the homework and tests are manageable.

Bennoun is the goat for this class. Sure, his midterms are actual hell and I definitely got the shock of my life because it was my first midterm ever, but going over lecture slides and using the textbook as a resource really helps!! Scored well on the final and pulled off an A-. For F25, grading was done using one of two schemes, they automatically use the scheme that gives you the highest grade.

At a glance, this class seems "easier" than your typical calculus course due to it being more concept heavy. Many call it "fake math." If computing calculus is not your strong suit, but understanding concepts and the "why" behind calculations rather than the "how," then this course is for you. Do not be intimidated by the math itself, or the coding aspects. I'd say these are one of the easiest parts of the class.

During lectures, Prof Bennoun may seem intimidating because he lowkey judges you if you get the answer wrong in his participation questions. However, that shouldn't deter you. Go to his office hours: he's patient and will explain and go through the problems with you step by step to ensure your understanding. He's a great guy and has a bit of an accent, but is still understandable.

MIDTERM and FINAL
The midterm will catch you off guard if you are unprepared. Some students say the final is easier than the midterm, but in my opinion, the difficulty is relatively the same. Prof Bennoun will give you practice exams and the TAs will provide review sessions; however you should not solely rely on them. There are two grading schemes: one that accounts for both your midterm and final, or one that only uses your final grade.

TIPS to SUCCEED
- ATTEND OFFICE HOURS 2+ TIMES A WEEK: Whether it be for homework or general questions, use these hours to your advantage to ensure you fully understand the concepts
- GO THROUGH EACH LECTURE AGAIN: Especially when studying for exams, the lectures and clicker questions are a great resource for understanding the concepts visually
- ASK QUESTIONS DURING LAB: Your TAs are a great resource for understanding topics especially if office hours are full.
- REDO HOMEWORK: Don't just memorize answers--understand the processes of solving them
- SKIM/READ TEXTBOOK: The textbook goes more in depth about concepts and has some practice problems you can do

SUMMARY
Getting an A in this class is possible if you prepare ahead of time and fully understand the concepts. Take advantage of the resources you have and you will succeed. Good luck to everyone taking this course!

As long as you do all the homework assignments and labs with effort then you should pass this class. If you didn't take calculus in high school, you'll probably have a rough time with the calculus aspects of this class. I didn't take calc and there wasn't a lot of time put into learning derivatives, so I had to put a lot of effort into learning what they were and studying them. Definitely reach out to the people that have taken calc for help in that portion. Bennoun is chill and can be pretty funny at times, I would totally have liked to have him for 30B if his class worked with my schedule. Just show up to class, put in effort for your work, and you'll pass the class.

This class was really something. I think the material is interesting surprisingly, but it is not at all similar to a classic calculus class. Bennoun definitely explained well and was a good lecturer, but he could come off as a little bit condescending when answering questions.
This class is inevitable as a pre-med or life science major, so just prepare for it as best as you can, it's definitely bad but not impossible.
The workload is very easy with the labs that you can usually finish in lab time (although they are horrible), and the once-a-week homework. Don't mess up submitting the homework, those were almost the only times I lost points.
But because of this and how niche this class is all you can really study with are the practice midterms and finals. Those are very helpful but often not definitive as to what the exam will be like. Our midterm was so hard that one of the questions the TA couldn't even solve. I studied for 30 hours for the final and got an 80%, which was lucky compared to what I heard from some. I was fully expecting to have a B in this class, but the 30A instructors curved final grades surprisingly. I know a lot of people whose GPAs were done dirty by this class. Go to office hours and be prepared to really investigate these niche math topics.
Textbook is absolutely not needed.