Why did 50% of the class fail? BAD GRADING SYSTEM AKKEMAN, FIX IT!

Terrible. His lectures make no sense, and his tests are too long and too hard. Basically, dont take his class, you will do very poorly.

Horrible teacher, the tests are to long for the time and are much harder than the homework. He is a horrible lecturer and class is dreadful. Find a way to get Cooper.

dont take akemann. his tests are super hard and ridiculously long for the amount of time the class gives. and he says he doesn't curve either. his lectures are pointless cause you learn more going to CLAS or your section from your TA. don't take this class! try to find cooper!!!!!

Possibly the worst class I've ever had, and the professor, OMG dude, like seriously, each time i was in class, i looked in awe at what i was looking at. FML! His handwriting is horrible, his tests are so ridiculously hard (with profuse use of "e") his teaching is useless, and i swear, i rue the day i added his class on GOLD. AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS!

HE IS A HORRIBLE TEACHER. his lectures are SO boring and pointless. His handwriting sucks which would matter only if he actually gave useful notes. Tests are terribly hard. I stopped going to lecture and just went to CLAS. AVOID IF POSSIBLE!!!

34B. Akemann's tests are outrageously difficult, homework problems don't help at all, and lecture is incomprehensible. It seems rushed and expects you to come already prepared for lecture.

One of the most unclear profs I have ever had. He mumbles when he speaks, he has sloppy handwriting so you can't read what he writes, and his tests are pretty tricky. If you're a natural go for it...for all us other mortals AVOID THIS CLASS!

While I'm sure Akemann is a brilliant professor, he is entirely incapable of teaching non-math students about basic calculus. If math isn't your strong suit, don't take this class with Akemann. He allows hardly any partial credit and you are not evaluated on your understanding of the material, rather your ability to not make a small mistake. Crazy.

Horrible, like everyone else said. What he teaches in lecture is not connected well at all with the material present on the tests. Doing homework from the book doesn't help at all. His tests are ridiculously hard for being a social science major. You pretty much have to have an inherent talent for math to succeed in this class. AVOID

in response to the person second below me: it's nice to know that one person got a good grade. switch to a math major.

I rarelt understand what he is talking about and he makes a subject I learned before, and found easy, really difficult.

enroll in CLAS and do all homework assignments if you want to pass this class. akemann has illegible handwriting. cannot teach well at all!

hard, lectures are pointless. requires full self teachings! but the curve helps a lot

Avoid. Especially if math isn't your area of expertise. Lecture was pointless and felt like review to me (I had taken calculus before) then I'd show up to the tests and they were ridiculously hard.

Avoid. Tests are insane. No credit for the homework.

Prof. Akemann was the worst teacher I have had at UCSB. My TA didnt speak english, and he refused to teach the material. He would only go over homework problems in class, and it got to the point where my CLAS instructor cancelled CLAS because he didn't know what the teacher was covering. his final review was just "know everything."

Terrible. Does not help during office hours, lectures were incomprehensible, his writing was illegible. Avoid at all cost!

terrible man, never go to office hours. will make you feel uncomfortable. he needs to retire. also a bad lecturer, will learn nothing from him. avoid at all costs. ALL COSTS!

terrible waste of tuition money. i need a refund.

TERRIBLE

He's a terrible teacher and then refuses to curve. If you go to lecture you won't learn anything. He failed 50% of the engineering majors in the class. I would never take another class from him.

worst professor i've ever had. EXTREMELY inappropriate in office hours, yells at you if you don't understand, and does not even TRY to help you comprehend the material. Not to mention his lectures are useless and try as he may, his jokes still aren't funny. DO NOT TAKE HIM.

All he does is read the powerpoint slides, which aren't even his. His handwriting is also very sloppy. Best lecture he ever gave was when he gave us a link to some external website that helped explain math. Only thing I found great were his grading policies. Curved grades + partial credit on problems.

Definitely not an easy A. Take it P/NP if you are taking it for the GE unless you are really good at math. Horrible professor. Miserable 8am class. Avoid at all costs.

Avoid this professor at all costs. Calculus is not an easy subject, but he makes it 100 times worse than it already it. His lectures make no sense, you can barely hear him, and the textbook is ridiculous.

Horrible professor. Barely passed the class with a C. His examples in lecture were easy but his tests had examples 50x harder

if you can find old test GET THEM. exact copy for midterms. hw answers all from book but book is horrible for help. use the external links for help. this class was horrible. avoid if you can at all cost. i went to lecture, section, clas and still got a C-. TAs grading UNFAIR dont leave section with exams if you want to argue grade.

I am shocked that I even passed this class (barely). He makes corny jokes &he is condescending when he talks about math &chooses the hardest questions. He knows what he is talking about but he has absolutely no idea how to communicate it clearly with his students. Lecture &office hours were absolutely useless. Avoid taking him at all costs.

Chuck does not teach clearly. His lectures seem to stress topics that aren't very important to the class. The textbook is useless; there are no solutions in it. I felt very mislead as he assured us that certain topics would be covered on the tests but many were not. The test problems were harder than lecture or homework problems.

Taken for a pre major. Hes cool but he moves on without clearly explaining himself

Avoid taking his class at all cost. He is a horrible horrible horrible teacher.

Literally the worst class I have ever taken. The homework is excessively long but he puts some of the homework problems on test, so he says. It's hard to tell because it's hard to study 900 homework problems before the test. In my opinion, the tests are 100x harder than the homework. Every question was a curve ball. Awful, awful, awful lectures.

The tests given were very hard and the professor tested us on obscure topics. Most of the test questions were either never gone order, or very hard versions of things we had already learned. He only curves the test by a couple of points, but he doesn't curve to the class as a whole so if everyone does bad, then the entire class gets a bad grade.

Chuck is probably the worst math teacher I ever had. He basically goes off tangent by talking about his family and reads the lecture slides. Went to 50% or less of his lectures. First midterm is very easy but don't be deceived since the 2nd midterm gets difficult. The final is ridiculously hard af and he doesn't prepare you at all.

He does not prepare you at all and skips steps during his explanation of material. His first midterm is easy, 2nd one is challenging, and his final is ridiculous. He fails at being teacher and should retire already.

Akemann is the worst professor I have ever met. His lecture slides are a complete mess, he has no idea how to explain difficult problems. When I went in to see him during office hours he simply did the problem I had trouble with instead of explaining it. Go to CLAS instead. And watch out - his final is composed of the tough HW problems you skip.

I usually like math but he made the subject so completely unclear. If I hadn't taken calculus in HS I would've been 10x more confused and even then I don't understand how this man is a professor. Don't bother taking the class with him, wait for another professor to teach it.

Let me start by saying that I love school, and I love math and I am overall pretty good at it. This being said, Akemann's class is IMPOSSIBLE. I got As on both his midterms, and a 20% on his final. He cannot teach the material and when left to study I had no idea that material I should focus on. I went to every one of his classes, and still failed.

Chuck is an okay guy, but he has no idea how to teach math effectively. His lectures consist of horizontally formatted problems pasted onto PowerPoint slides, and he reads off solutions with no actual explanation of the concepts. Having taken Calc in HS, I was able to self study and earn an A, but anyone who is new to Calc should AVOID him.

I have never taken Calculus in high school but if I had, then I would have passed this class. This class was impossible for me to take and it was hell. I failed horribly even though I went to lectures, CLAS, and the sections. The book is useless and lectures are definitely not worth going to with no explanation to his examples. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Chuck is a funny guy but he CANNOT teach. His test preparations are easier than the exams and homework. And his powerpoint have way too many errors. I go to lecture every day and learn absolutely nothing.

What is taught in class, or shall i said read directly off the slides, is not what is tested on. There is a ton of homework, between 50-70 problems a week, which most of the answers can be found in the back of the book. His teaching style is awful and if possible avoid the class

TERRIBLE professor. Reads right off of the slides and goes too quickly. When you ask a question he gives a vague answer and expects you to now understand b/c he "explained" it again. WORST PROF IN NORTH AMERICA.

The first two midterms for math 34a i did well on and werent too bad, I had a B plus average. Then the final came along and everyone, including myself, bombed it since it was so difficult! And for homework (which he gives TONS of by the way, and its not easy) I got a B on too, but he made the final out of so much that failing it made me get a D.

DONT TAKE THIS CLASS. Half of the time, he doesn't even know what he's teaching and he gets the answers wrong but expects us to get it right on the test. The studying for the test dont align with the actual test. I got a D.

DO NOT TAKE HIM. He only reads off the confusing slides and assigns on average 60 hw questions a week. He is condescending and always would compare our class of mostly B.S. students to the engineering students. His tests are extremely difficult. The only good thing is he puts the slides online so you don't have to go to class.

Professor Akemann basically told his students not to attend lectures because his slides were posted online. Lectures were not helpful because he read off of the slides and when students had questions, he didn't answer them well. He assigned loads and loads of homework every week and most of the time, doesn't explain them. Tests were very tough too.

Just try and do ALL of the homework problems. Google questions if you need to or attend math lab and section! Never went to lecture because they didn't help at all. Midterm and final consisted of all HW questions. For my final grade I did 50% HW and 50% final, so my midterms didn't count. got A LOT of EXTRA CREDIT from HW! the book can help too!

This was the worst class I've taken at UCSB. SO unnecessarily hard. You don't need to show up to lectures because he posts everything online and you'd fall asleep anyways. Weekly long homework.

This was my 1st class at UCSB - very bad professor. Im surprised i got a decent grade because i got a C on my first midterm, F on the second midterm, and F on the final. BUT the CURVE!! also homework boost. Don't recommend this professor though, he's a sweet guy, but can't teach.

Do not take this class with this professor!!! This class is super easy, but he makes it so hard. The first week of school, he gave us 83 problems that had to be done by Friday. He does not teach well because all he does is make jokes and read directly off the presentation. This is a horrible class!

If you take his class I wish you luck. - go to tutoring - study groups - if you must take this class... just try very hard especially on the homework - lectures will put you to sleep/make you question why you took this class in the first place - tests are usually 8 questions 1 to 2 are equations and the rest are word problems

Prof Akemann is a nice guy with a weird sense of humor, but teaching is something he should not be doing. There is a TON of homework a week and it counts too much towards your grade not to do it. Tests are super short and mostly word problems. Skip lecture and use that time to do the homework, understand it, and go to CLAS!!

Chuck is a nice guy but a terrible professor. Don't bother going to lectures, attend CLAS and Math Lab. The tests are about 8 questions that are mostly word problems. Honestly I would hold off and wait for another teacher though. VIVA La Cooper!

Chuck doesn't explain anything during lectures and regularly gives 60-80 homework problems per week. The TA's don't even seem to understand half of the things he says. His explanations are extremely vague and he does not answer questions well. He's just not a good professor for entry-level calc for non-math majors.

This professor only read off of his slides. He made very poor explanations . He made the material harder to grasp than it had to be. Two weeks into class probably half of his students stopped showing up because it was just a waste of time. He has a curve on each homework assignment and each test . Go to CLAS.

Horrible lecturer but its ok to mess up on midterms bc your grade in class will never be lower than grade on final. I only went to class when there was a test. Lectures are useless, so sleep in! As long as you go to CLAS and do the HW, youll be fine.

Prof. Akemann doesn't know how to teach. I took AP Calc in highschool, and although I didn't pass the AP test, I knew a lot of the material. The problem was that all the homework and tests were word problems, so setting up the problems were the hard part. He reads off of lecture slides and very vaugely answers students' questions. HWjust like test

I have only taken 3 courses at this university, but I can assure you that Chuck is and will forever be the worst professor that I have ever met. It isn't necessarily hard material but Chuck is so uninspiring that you will, for the first time in college, think about dropping out.

Came into this course really excited. The very first the whole lecture hall has no idea what hes even trying to explain. This man literally shouldnt have a teaching license for how little he actually teaches. Showed up to almost ever lecture. The only upside is you can laugh at the velcro shoes he wears. Literally the worst teach Ive ever had.

Anyone who wants to take this guy... dont your gpa will tank. Ive literally heard from other professors that hes one of the worst teachers on campus. Went to all the lectures and CLAS workshops and still didnt pass. He honestly made me consider dropping out from the stress my first quarter. This man shouldnt have a teaching degree.

If you like struggling to understand the words coming out of a persons mouth youll love Chuck. The worst teacher Ive had in my life. If you like doing 80 plus word problems for homework a week while every other math class has 25 be my guest. Even worse taking this at the same time as chem. This man has to leave teaching

WORST professor at UCSB. He is an abomination to this university. Don't go to lectures, just go to CLAS. He does not explain anything fully in class. Chuck makes the math so much harder than it's supposed to be. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Dont take him if you dont have to! He assigns a lot of homework, doesnt know how to teach. Just reads the PowerPoints but doesnt explain how he got the answer. Skips steps and assumes you know what your doing. No need to show to lecture because all he talks about is losing weight and goes off topic.

If you can take this class with another professor PLEASE do so, do not ignore his very low rates. His lectures are basic calculus that hardly relate to the hw. Each week he assigns 40-80 math problems and the level of difficulty is ridiculous at the rate he teaches. He's a nice man, but highly do not recommend if you already struggle in math.

I made this account solely because its a saturday night and we have an inhuman amount of homework due but couldnt start earlier because we had a midterm friday that does not cover material on this homework. If you are looking for the worst professor you could possibly choose, then youre in the right place. Dont go to lecture, and pick the Head TA

I took this class because I needed to complete the 34A/B series or 3A/B series. I was told that 34 series would be easier. While this may be true normally, this man is the worst and most confusing prof EVER. The only reason I got a decent grade was bc I took calc in high school. Just do yourself a favor and wait for another prof. I regret it.

Chuck is a nice guy who genuinely cares about the success of students. His grading is fair, and test problems are from homework, so do the homework. However, he is not a good teacher. He knows the subject very well, but does not know how to teach it. The class is extremely difficult. Concepts are skipped and lectures are confusing. TA helpsuccess.

Chuck is by far the absolute worst professor I have ever had, and will ever have. The amount of homework he gave was absolutely ridiculous and his lectures were pointless. Starting at UCSB with this class was awful. I ended up acing both midterms and the final, but that was because I took CLAS and would go to drop-in too. AVOID CHUCK IF YOU CAN.

DONT TAKE CHUCK! He is a terrible teacher! I had taken AP Calc in high school, and the material he taught in 34B made me confused on how to do topics i had already been taught in high school. Tests are hard, and he is a terrible lecturer

He does not know how to teach. He goes off topic a lot so be prepared for that. Definitely recommend taking CLAS; Take Lee DeAnda. Chuck will not teach you how to do a problem he just shows you the steps and makes everything seem so confusing and makes you question your math abilities.

This is by far the worst professor (or teacher in general) that I have ever had in my entire academic career. He is literally incapable of teaching the most basic concepts in calculus (and math in general). His lessons aren't cohesive and don't have any kind of topics building upon each other trend. His lectures don't help with the homework either!

TERRIBLE!!! DOES NOT PREPARE YOU AT ALL!!! DONT TAKE WITH CHUCK!!

I took calculus my senior year of high school and passed that with an A. This man made a complicated subject somehow more complicated & the TAs have strict grading guidelines. He maybe teaches 15 minutes and then rambles for the rest and tries to relate it back to the question 5 minutes later. Good luck in the 34 series.

this is supposed to be the easiest math class at the school, yet somehow this professor makes it awful. if you have to take it with him go to CLAS. the grade basically is split between tests & hw so pick your poison. if you're confident on the material then doing ALL the hw is irrelevant. if u dont understand it then do as much of the hw as u can

This is the worst professor that I have ever taken. I couldn't help but think about the money wasted on a course in which I learned next to nothing from the lecture. I don't know how anyone that hasn't taken calc before or that doesn't attend CLAS could possibly excel in this course. Sign up for CLAS and you can pull off an A fairly easily.

the best thing to be said for chuck was that attendance wasnt mandatory

this man is a disgrace to public education

In an 8050 person lecture, by week 2 about 50 people were still showing up.

Easily the WORST teacher ive ever had in my ENTIRE academic career. Avoid Chuck.

Worst experience I've had for a math class. Expects you to know the material before its taught. Assumes you are a math prodigy, his methods of teaching were not helpful for me nor my friends who also took the class.

avoid getting him for math 34a if you can. I did not attend lectures because it was so confusing for me. I went to CLAS, section, and office hours, but I still struggled. He assigns so much homework that you would be struggling to finish. His homework did help my grade a lot so try to finish it.

Believe me, this professor is a nightmare and if you choose him, the best way is to purchase the textbook and read it yourself. This person is not ready to answer questions, class is very disorganized, sometimes he just read the textbook while writing some thing in the book on the board! Besides all of these, he is just a bad person in general.

Extremely uninteresting, unclear, and slow lectures.

Prof. Akemann seems like a good person, but as a professor his class is impossible. He gives hours of homework without ever going over examples in class, he doesn't lecture he just reads the textbook, and he expects you to understand complex proofs you've never seen before. It's better to avoid him at all costs and take the class with anyone else

This class is near impossible. There is no syllabus provided, little to no examples in class, and the homework answers are never gone over. The final is also worth 50%

THE WORST professor... If you are desperate enough to take his course due to course schedule like me, be prepared to spend a huge ton of extra time in Math Lab, TA office hour, and open courses by other universities, because his instructional approach falls SIGNIFICANTLY short.

No syllabus provided for the course; not even sure if that's legal. Throughout the entire quarter, there hasn't been a single instance of the professor presenting a rigorous proof. No solutions to weekly homework sets. No midterm, so no idea on what to expect on the final that's worth 50%. Overall the most unorganized course I've taken all my life.

No syallbus provided

No syllabus No ppt No answer to homework VERY unorganized lecture just reading textbook Avoid him

Avoid taking this course at all costs. The professor's teaching style is extremely unorganized, with no syllabus or clear expectations. Rely on study tools like unstuck ai, ChatGPT, and open courses to make up for the lack of in-class support.

Very unclear lectures, I felt like going to them made me feel more confused. Midterms were relatively difficult but with hours of preparation they were doable. DO NOT RECCOMEND AVOID IF YOU CAN.

Professor Akemann served our class as a volunteer teacher because the school couldn't find anyone to teach us. Although grateful that he stepped into this position, he was the worst math teacher I've ever had. I think he is a very sweet guy but just not a good teacher what so ever. Tests are very difficult, highly do not recommend

Horrible in lectures, but tests are very very similar to practice tests, so if you do the practice tests a bunch of times you're guaranteed to do well on his tests. His tests have definitions, but they come from a small pool that you can figure out after seeing the first definition. You hav self-teach yourself, but no homework + curves the class.

Terrible lectures but tests are similar to practice tests so study those

Basically study 4 definitions before the tests, and all the study guides would be the same as the test. Not the best lecturer, but hilarious, come to class if you want to have a fun time, cause he makes jokes every 5 minutes. Special hw are hard but just ask your TA. got 6,7 for the 2 midterm, but 9.75/10 for final, end up with an A. 50% for final.

His lectures are terrible and you cannot hear whatsoever because he is mumbles, handwriting on the whiteboard is small and often illegible, and I leave the class more confused than I enter. He never posted a syllabus so nobody knows what there grade in the class is. U learn definitions that aren't required by the course & teach urself everything !!

Akemann often seems like he has little idea what he's doing. He will often carve his way through the textbook as he pleases; he is not a professor we signed up for (he took over after our previous professor dropped due to health issues), and my friends & I have resorted to self-study to attempt and pass this course due to his low-quality lectures.

incoherent and evil. started doing an integral and then said it was too hard for him. it was on the test

DO NOT TAKE. It's better to wait until another quarter to take. He expects so much on his tests after to teaching legit nothing during the worst lecture you have ever been to.

Maybe the worst teacher of all time wasn't the teacher we had at the start of the year, due to health concerns. He doesn't make any sense in lectures and talks about random things. Told us to study every example from the textbook instead of a study guide. Might be evil.

Oh my god this is the worst professor I have ever had I actually cannot believe he has actual credentials. He is so old he can't do anything & makes his students learn outdated calculus concepts that the TA's could barely help with. He makes jokes about ICE and is so unbearable bro he genuinely does not know how to speak or teach get him to retire.

Not a good professor, terrible lectures, content of the exam is unclear, HW not like exams.

Lectures are unhelpful. He gets side tracked very easily and does not explain problems well. He does not communicate well with the TAs, so the content on the tests and what we should be learning is always unclear. He does not give study guides for tests and gives hundreds of textbook pages to go over instead. DO NOT TAKE.

taking this class felt like one of those pranks where people cut your earbuds and then give you airpods except i never got my airpods and my earbuds got cut every day. he is so old he took a class from oppenheimer before inventing the atomic bomb (actual story he told us) everything he told us would not be on the final took up 15/20 questions.

Horrible experience. Do not consider taking him. Does not teach well and is never clear about what topics will be on the midterms. Worst experience in a math class ive ever had. UCSB staff, if you ever come across this, do better because you are making countless students stuffer in math.

Started off the quarter with a slow, not very good professor; By week 4, we had a new professor, Akemann, who honestly seems like a nice guy who does know a lot of material under the dept of math and is trying; however, he is unorganized and his lectures were not helpful (practically had to teach myself the material) BEWARE.

did not learn a thing from lecture: unclear handwriting, incomprehensible, goes off-topic, lowkey problematic jokes, final covered like 40% of the course (and the median was pretty low). however, he had a super lenient grading criteria + rounded up grades so i guess it balanced things out to some extent

avoid taking him if possible. professor Akemann sucks at lecturing and you never really know what to expect on his exams. you're better off self-studying if you want to pass with a decent grade. i got the grade i got partially because of personal circumstances but had this professor been better, I'm sure I would have gotten a better grade.