i hated this class. the entire time during lecture he wouldn't turn around and only speak to the board. he wrote small and illegable. the lectures were impossible to understand. aviod this prof

Benham was lacking in his lecturing abilities. Some of his lectures made sense, but parts were overly theoretical and he didn't explain them. I found myself lost much of the time. He kept tests pretty basic. Still, final is much more challenging! Cares about his students but has little or no presentation skills.

avoid this teacher at all costs... even though i got an A in the class, it's really hard to stay awake with him as our lecturer. He needs to learn to speak to the class in a professional manner. He says "um" a lot. gets annoying after a while. But if you have no choice, study formulas and practice tests for final. Avoid the 17 series at all costs.

He might be a genius in math, but he doesn't know a thing about teaching. He relies a lot on the book and his TAs, and his examples from lecture aren't really relevant to his homework assignments. In addition, his exams are hell on earth; he dings you for every minute detail. Enough said.

Easily the most boring teacher i have ever had the "benefit" of being taught by.

Probably the worst teacher I've ever had. Inarticulate lectures that didn't help, weekly quizes, unfair grading, etc. If you're taking this professor be prepared to teach yourself almost ALL of the material, and even then hardly getting a decent grade.

This professor was not as bad as most of the comments from last year made him out to be, but still pretty bad. Lectures were almost useless and his writing was almost impossible to read. Homework was not mandatory, but was still very valuable for tests and quizzes. Avoid him if possible, but if not, it's not impossible to survive the class.

I was really disappointed in Benham's teaching style. His writing is impossible to read, and even though he posts the notes, you have to go to class to be able to understand what they mean. His tests are based entirely on the material taught RIGHT before the tests. The book and tutoring are your only hope.

Highly do not recommend him! Hard to understand writing, TA sucked, and doesn't curve well! I was fortunate to have some calc background, otherwise I would have totally failed. Avoid if possible, otherwise good luck!

Well, here is the deal. He writes super ugly, so it is hard to understand what he is writing if you don't listen to what he is saying. The first midterm is really hard, so that killed my grade, even though I got a B's on the second midterm. TA I had was sucky. He wore like hippie clothing and didn't wear shoes. I suggest taking 16A 4 nonbio majors!

Honestly, he's just an average professor. He explains some stuff well in class, other stuff not so much. Notes are a bit messy and doesn't always put everything on them so it's sometimes a puzzle. Don't avoid the class because of him, but he's not the best

Benham is very unclear in his lectures. However, he is a really caring old man and you can tell how much he wants his students to succeed. He is terrible at explanation, but if encourages going to his office hours and tries his best to help his students. His tests are also REALLY easy, especially if you have taken calc before.

Lectures hard to understand unless you really pay attention. In all honesty, I slept in through 80% of lectures and learned more from the textbook than the few times I went to class.

He is a very nice guy, and he obviously understands the material very well, but he is really hard to learn from. One thing he has going for him was that the 2 midterms were incredibly easy. Unfortunately, this just lulls you into a false sense of security, and the final is brutally hard.

Get way ahead in grades on the midterms (problems are ordinary) but bring your math brain to the final--it requires some extra critical thinking. Don't bother with lecture. His online notes are useful study aids, and a solid base for dealing with the confusing book. So find somebody who can read them and make friends.

Overall he was an alright teacher. His handwriting is horrible, so be prepared to ask your neighbor if you miss something he said. Midterms are pretty easy, the final is brutal with a curve that is useless. If you go to your TA and actually do the homework you should be fine.

Lectures are useless and boring- he teaches you why things work but not how to do them. My TA was bad. If I didnt take the class in high school I would have had to teach it all to myself. Midterms were easy, final was fair enough....

Benham is a really nice guy who clearly understands the material he's presenting. I use the word "presenting" because he does not teach it. The TA grading on exams was ridiculous, ALWAYS check your answers and contest anything you think you deserved more points for. They screw up a lot. Even with prior experience in Calc AB this class was PAINFUL.

Easy A if you know the basics of calculus. Go to lecture, review your quizzes and do the homework problem. Typical math class. Handwriting is hard to read at first but you will get used to the ABSTRACT ART. Easy A if you put some effort into it.

I only went to the first couple lectures all quarter and never went again. the finals and midterms are easy if you study the textbook examples AND do the homework. I got an A- and thought this class for a piece of cake after getting a C in high school calculus.

After completing the 17 series, I must say that 17A with Benham was a walk in the park (after taking AP Calc). Midterms and final can be finished in half the allotted time. However, he has discussion quizzes, making discussion mandatory, which I personally hated. Lectures are rather useless - you're better off doing the assigned homework.

I never had any background knowledge in Calculus whatsoever prior to taking this course. Lectures--Useless. He projected his handwritten, cursive notes which were hard to read and impossible to follow. Homework, quizzes, and exams were decent if you actually knew the material from a previous Calculus class. Avoid. Worst professor i've ever had.

I took AP Calculus in high school and did really well on the test and got all A's in the class, however I still can't seem to understand anything Benham says.

Like the previous reviews stated, his lectures and notes are useless unless you have had prior calculus knowledge before taking this class. Unlike the other reviews who stated his midterms were easy, this time both of his midterms were hard and the quizzes we took during discussion did nothing to help us on the midterm. Avoid him at all costs

The quizzes and first midterm i did good on, Bs and Cs. The midterm and final, which i studied like crazy for were very difficult. Since the final was 40% of our grade, I got a D in the class. His lectures were terrible, very hard to follow. The quizzes and exams seemed vastly different. Do not take this class.

AVOID HIM TO SAVE YOUR GPA. He does not curve and he is such a boring lecturer (It was very hard to stay awake while he spoke), I had taken AP Calc before but he made everything so much more complicated which was very confusing!!

Do not take this class. I took AP Calc in high school and hardly ever studied and found it easy. This class, however, I managed to get a worse grade with immense effort. Quizzes are unrelated to exams, lectures are jumbled notes with no clear lesson, and he curved very very little. Started my first quarter terribly thanks to this class.

This is the thing with Benham. If you've taken AP Calc in HS, the class will be a breeze. If you're new to Calc, do not take this class. His lectures are long, boring, and relatively unhelpful. He's not good at explaining. Tests are not bad, pretty easy if you simply read the book and do the homework. Overall, not the worst so I do recommend him!

Nice guy, bad teacher. Lectures on proofs but tests on application. Weekly quizzes are easy and straight-forward. Homework optional. You'll be doing a lot of self-teaching. Hope for a good TA. Introduces topics regarding multivariable and vector calculus (wasn't expecting this bc it's supposed to be in the 22 series). Easy if you took Calc 3 in HS.

Insanely difficult to understand what is going on. Lectures are unorganized, and exceedingly complicated. Talks about confusing abstracts. "Is this something we actually need to know?" was asked a lot, and the answer was, 80% of the time, "Um... No..." Tests have little partial credit. Probably a good prof for math majors. Otherwise, avoid!

I dreaded his classes, because I never understood what was going on. But I have to admit, he is extremely smart and very friendly. I did most of my learning from doing the homework and my TA. Some of his tests may be easy, but my best advice for people who took AP Calc is don't get arrogant. Study for the final!

His lectures were confusing and unorganized. He did his lectures through an overhead and changed papers too quickly to keep up. His handwriting was terrible, and it often seemed like he was learning the material as he was teaching it. Unhelpful in office hours. Discussion mandatory, but often unrelated to lecture. I don't know how I did well.

Prof. Benham was a very bad lecturer. Many times throughout lectures I would stop taking notes and just sit there because he goes so fast, but he posts all the notes on canvas. However, his tests were simple because they are exactly like the practice tests. If you stay caught up on the homework and do the practice tests you should pass.

He has a very monotone voice and it makes you really want to go to sleep during lecture. He also goes through problems very quickly and does not explain his process very well and says super vague things like "and the answer is the solution"