math 16A? Lam or demmel?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>so i have a dilemma: </p>

<p>i was gonna choose Math 16A taught by Tsit-Yuen LAM but then ratemyprofessors are saying diff things - that his accent is sometimes bad and he takes easy concepts and makes them hard.</p>

<p>BUT i didn't want to take the class taught by Jim DEMMEL. on ratemyprofessors, they don't say anything about him teaching 16A, only math 55 and comp sci (and those were HORRIBLE ratings. SOO im guessing that means he'll be just as bad for 16A.</p>

<p>so i don't know which prof to choose! help please, of course i would prefer the easier one b/c im horrible at math and haven't done it in 2 year.</p>

<p>HELP! thanks from a very confused cal bear :)</p>

2

<p>no idea, maybe you should just pick based on your day/time preference... all those ratings are biased anyway</p>

3

<p>I'd ask a [few] current students who've taken their class. Not that easy though!</p>

<p>Btw, why did you pick 16A over 1A for math?</p>

4

<p>WHY 16a? b/c it's easier lol and im bad at math.</p>

5

<p>i need this too please</p>

<p>bump</p>

6

<p>16A appears to be basically full now.. all the discussions at least. Will they open up new sections or are we screwed?</p>

7

<p>I'm taking 16A with Professor Lam right now. </p>

<p>His accent doesn't make him hard to understand at all. </p>

<p>His explanations are always helpful. If he makes anything overly complicated, it might just be that he justifies/derives a lot of the theorems. You can tune out for a minute if you like during that stuff, but most of the time he's giving really useful information.</p>

<p>Besides all that, Professor Lam is such a cute little man! I wish he was my grandpa. He has funny anecdotes and examples sometimes. I enjoy his class.</p>

8

<p>i'd recommend Demmel!
i'm taking 16a with him this semester and what's easy about him is that he posts 3 practice exams for every midterm. The midterm has the same exact type of problems as the practice exams so acing midterm is not very hard at all as long as you don't make mistakes. It's really unncessary to go to his lectures because they are boring and not helpful for the midterm! Just refer to the book and it'll be fine.</p>

9

<p>i don't know about rmp reviews either. their stats are kinda hard to read and it takes a while to find berkeley... i would check gpabook.com.. they don't have as many reviews as rate my professors but their site design is a lot better and has more stats...</p>

<p>GPABook.com</a> - Read Course Reviews, Buy Cheap Books, Find Interview Questions</p>

10

<p>i LOVE mr. lam.</p>

<p>a sweet nice gentle man :]</p>

11

<p>i agree with go-backk. i have him too this semester. </p>

<p>lectures are pointless. the midterms are pretty fair. all you gotta do is read the book and go to office hours if you need help solving the homework or whatever you don't understand. </p>

<p>oh and if you don't attend any of the lectures, just try to go to the one right before the midterm because he does a recap of everything and tells you what things to go over cuz it'll most likely be on the test.</p>

12

<p>I have lam this semester. From what I'm reading, Lam = Demmel in terms of midterms, lectures, etc. Basically, it doesn't matter which one you take as long as you read the book and do the practice midterms.</p>