Course taken: LS 30A
This class was very straightforward for most of the quarter and the farthest we went into actual calculus was basic derivatives and integrals. The labs were time consuming but not tested on the exams. The midterm was not bad; with that being said, Conley crammed a lot of material that many people had not seen before into the last two to three weeks and his final was extremely difficult.

Class I took: LS 30A

So this class is very insightful! Conley is a great teacher who explains a lot, but can be repetitive at times. The labs in this class are probably the most confusing thing you'll do. Sometimes I didn't understand the code I was putting it.

Also, the final this year was extremely difficult. It was nothing like anything we had practiced in class, which makes me skeptical about the grade I will receive in this class. Kinda wish we were prepared for more difficult problems for the final rather than having a breakdown for having no idea what I was presented with.

Great professor, but wish I was more prepared.

Best professor ever!!

I had Conley for LS 30A and LS 30B (not math 3A) and he was an amazing teacher. Conley really cares about his students and is very welcoming during office hours. I went to office hours often to ask for help with labs or homework problems and he does a really great job of explaining concepts in a way that you'll understand. There were a couple of times when his office hours would run 1-2 hours overtime because students had questions and he wanted to be able to help everyone that came to him for help. He's also really friendly and a phenomenal lecturer. His lectures are at a great pace and he has all of the material memorized in his head (rather than on Powerpoint lectures), so he teaches at a speed that you can follow along with and isn't boring to listen to.

One of the TA's, Jane, wrote the textbook for the class and sends out a PDF version so you don't need to buy a book or spend any money on the class. Jane's also really great and helpful during office hours! I think she wrote the labs too, so she will definitely be able to help as well.

The course material isn't too bad. It's not like a typical calculus course because the focus was more on learning how to build and model systems. The weekly labs used Sage to write code, which is a mix between Python and Sage language, and in lab sections we learned how to build graphs and model systems that is directly related to biology (since this class is Calculus for life scientists.) The labs can be a bit challenging. It's definitely a really neat class if you dislike traditional calculus and want to get a small taste of programming and do not want to take a tough CS class.

Overall, for life science majors, Conley and his LS30A/LS30B class is highly recommended if you are a broke college student and want an outstanding professor, want to learn basic Python, or want to be in a class where the professor knows your name and cares about helping you succeed.

I don't necessarily agree with the person who posetd on 01/03. I never took calculus in high school either, and I was definitely scared for college level calc, but Professor Conley was amazing. He extended the review session from 7-8:30 to 7-10:30. This man is such a great guy, personable, and an all around amazing professor. We BEGGED him to teach Math 3c this last quarter (I bugged him a lot about it hahaha)but hopefully he'll teach that too (if not Chowdhury isn't bad. Natee Pitiwan is the best TA). Back to my point, maybe it was just me but I ended up getting around a 97% in the class, without any prior exposure to calculus. Maybe I got lucky or maybe it was because I was only taking 3 classes, but for some reason Conley made me see the light hahaha. Overall, I really recommend him and don't worry if you've never taken calculus before; Conley is, from what I've seen, the BEST math professor on campus and an asset in this department. Terence Tao say what?

I have no complaints about Professor Conley, AT ALL. He is amazing in his entirety and how he teaches.

The class, however, is different depending on YOUR exposure to calculus. I took this class without taking any Calculus in high school (unlike 99% of the class), which then put many at an advantage and easing the amount of time you put into this class. I had another experience.

So don't think its an Easy A just because all these other reviews say it is…it ultimately depends on you and your background in the subject, as of course the class is more or less based on the class average (but with everyone else doing exceptionally great on the midterms and final -- then there is no curve). If you don't feel strong in the subject then preferably take Math 1 beforehand to brush up on precalc skills as that could help.

Quizzes are simple but the midterms are at another level and the final was to everyone's surprise pretty time consuming.

I have no complaints about Professor Conley, AT ALL. He is amazing in his entirety and how he teaches.

The class, however, is different depending on YOUR exposure to calculus. I took this class without taking any Calculus in high school (like 99% of the class), which then put many at an advantage and easing the amount of time you put into this class. I had another experience.

So don't think its an Easy A just because all these other reviews say it is…it ultimately depends on you and your background in the subject, as of course the class is more or less based on the class average (but with everyone else doing exceptionally great on the midterms and final -- then there is no curve). If you don't feel strong in the subject then preferably take Math 1 beforehand to brush up on precalc skills as that could help.

Quizzes are simple but the midterms are at another level and the final was to everyone's surprise pretty time consuming.

I LOVED THIS MAN. Not only was he an awesome professor, but he was such a nice, down-to-earth guy overall. I believe that this was his first class as a professor at UCLA, as he was a TA before, but he definitely did an amazing job. The midterms and final were both fair, and he offered plenty of review for both. He was fantastic at spending time outside of class meeting with people as well. I took AP Calc BC and only got a 3 so I re-took this, but I got an A with no problems in this class, studying only the day before the final. TAKE THIS PROFESSOR. I wish I could have him every quarter </3

This professor is amazing. His lectures are clear and he makes the concepts seem easy.
I took AP Calculus B/C before and I got a 3 in the class so I had to take Math 3A and I don't regret it at all.
Concepts that I've never understood became completely clarified after he taught me for a quarter. He even gave us a 4 hour review session once (extended it for 2 hours just to answer EVERYONE's questions). This man is the best math teacher and he cares about his student's learning.
Take him. You will not regret it AT ALL.

Make sure you go to his review sessions before exams. You can not go to his lectures but definitely go to his review sessions. He reviews everything in the lecture in a concise and clear way. Repeat, go to review sessions if you want an A.

Prof. Conley was the best teacher I had among the three classes during first quarter. His explanations are extremely easy to follow and his weekly quizzes are a piece of cake as long as you can do the homework. The lectures get boring though since its all review of the first half of AB Calculus, which is why I started ditching lectures halfway through the quarter. His grading scheme consists of two midterms, a final, and the weekly quizzes. Midterms were a joke but the final was alright. The only bad thing about this class is that its so easy that making a mistake on a midterm or a final could easily set you way behind others in terms of the overall curve. Otherwise, I highly recommend taking this professor!