This was the worst Class I took while at UCSB. This horrible professor left me with very little understanding of the subject that came back to haunt me in later undergraduate class and later Graduate work at another University. Worst professor EVER!!!!!!

The only thing you will get from lecture is the phrases "Do you understang" and "Do you get me", neither which the class can answer with a yes. His lectures are so confusing that he doesnt even know what is going on. Oh and doesnt believe in partial credit, which was awesome when there are only 3 questions on the test.

Can't teach. Half the class would get confused and walk out during lecture. Very easy tests, but NO partial credit so make sure not to misplace a negative sign or it will be 0/9 for one of the exam's 3 problems. go to CLAS and take him for easy tests, not to really understand the mathematics

What ever math he learned, it doesnt have anything to do with math 5a, because he has no idea what is going on in class. You can teach urself better by flat out reading the book. CLAS is a must.

HORRIBLE TEACHER!!!!! SO dumb you can barely understand him through his accent and speed talking. Easy midterms and hard final. This class was a joke and so is ponce. no help in office hours either. I asked to see my final at the beginning of the next quarter and he told me to come back to his office hours even though he wasn't doing anything else

Could learn better from a carrot. Nearly impossible to understand. Not approachable. Could not teach if his life depended on it. Cannot do his own problem,"If I was younger and had a paper I Could do the problem" is a quote from his own lecture. Cannot give a straight answer, his answers were either "not explicitly" or "not implicitly."

DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS. Just don't do it. If you decide that you absolutely need to, you will regret it. The class level should not have been as difficult as he made it. Extremely confusing and makes mistakes often. No calculator usage and no note cards. No curve. No extra credit. You'd better seriously love calc before you take this.

Awful class. Never take this class. If you have to take it with Ponce, good luck I suggest taking CLAS and go to every section. Lectures are more confusing than anything and are pointless. Learn out of the book because he isn't clear in lecture.

Skips steps, doesn't explain his logic, moves too quickly, heavy accent, avoid.

This professor has got to be one of the worst at UCSB. He was incoherent, confused, and didn't even explain the concepts of each lesson during lecture. Avoid taking this class with him.

I couldn't understand anything this man said because of his incredibly thick accent. If you want to pass this class memorize his stupidly hard examples. those were the hardest part of his tests. You need to study A LOT outside of class if you want to pass.

Absolutely horrible professor. He doesn't even know the subject matter while teaching. He messed up problems on the board multiple times and never even went back to see where he went wrong. It was amazing how as the quarter progressed, I saw more and more seats becoming empty. It was easier reading the book than listening to this idiot teach.

AVOID. Worst professor I have ever taken. Hard to understand, very unclear in exactly what he wants students to study for exams. AVOID. Pretty much independent study, and TAs weren't much use due to the fact they had horrible guidance from the professor.

Lectures were incoherent and super hard to understand. Midterm was doable, but the final was insanely hard. Grades very hard and doesn't give out partial credit. Avoid at all costs.

Ponce is a very respected professor. But he is really a tough grader. Be care of that, besides he is really helpful in office hours. But try to take care of any details of the homework.

He had one midterm and it was after the drop date, which was less than ideal for a lot of people. Difficult to follow his lectures and understand his accent, so if you have to take his class, don't take the 8am. Homework is long and hard and there's a lot of it. I had to drop the class late for health reasons, but I'm very glad I got out of there.

Prof Ponce is the worst professor on this campus. He grade ridiculously difficult and has absolutely no sympathy for his students. His accent is horribly difficult to understand and he lacks any recognition that his students have questions or dont understand his lectures in which he doesnt describe anything or give clear examples.

Worst professor ever. I understand 4A is supposed to be hard but he just made it HARDER. His accent is so bad that there is no way you can follow without teaching yourself before lectures. I also think it's funny how he always asks "Is this clear" or "are you with me" but never clarifies anything even if the whole class was like "No!" AVOID HIM.

HE IS TERRIBLE

One of the worst prof ever, spent the last 3 weeks on learning a very hard chapter but never tested it on Final. Midterm is okay but Final worth 50% of your grade and it is hard so be prepared for it. Once again, try your best to avoid him unless you have abosolutely no choices

His midterm was relatively easy and straightforward but his final was so much more difficult than I could've imagined. His no partial credit policy for his tests make getting a good grade extremely difficult. Not really much of a curve at the end of the quarter either. Hardest class I've taken at UCSB.

Ponce will be one of the worst math profs you take at sb. The midterm was straightforward but final was difficult. My friends and I studied for almost a week and got a C+ on it. Theres no partial credit so one little mistake can cost you about 7 points. Also, he mentioned the final was going to be conceptual two lectures before taking it. Avoid!

The grading for this class was pretty ridiculous as there was no partial credit for the only midterm we had, not sure about the final. The midterm was 4 questions so making two stupid mistakes resulted in a high F. Luckily hw and section attendance was waited as heavily as the midterm. Definitely not clear about what would and wouldnt be tested on

Just never ever take his class.

i will never take his class! I even don't know what he is saying at class that one day I heard "cilo" which I don't know what it is . after half of the class I noticed that he said is "zero".... bad professor

DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASSES. He is difficult to understand, writes lecture slides as he goes, always sounds annoyed. One time I asked a question in class, he talked down on me for asking a dumb question. Had to buy a $100 homework system I only used for that quarter. Material was hard but he looks like he doesn't care about his students.

Terrible class; professor refused to follow a textbook, he just said we can use any book but none of them were relevant. Homeworks were unrelated to lecture. He kept saying we haven't learned anything difficult so homework and exams should be easy; take his class if you want to be called stupid on a regular basis I guess.

Horrible professor, hard to understand, terrible handwriting, and lectures are dense and often hard to understand. 2 Midterms and a Final worth 50% of your grade, only take if you have to, otherwise avoid

Went to 1 lecture and then just went to CLAS 2x a week. He was just looking at another professor's slides and figuring it out as he went along. Terrible lecture. The 2 midterms were online and the tests were the same for the entire class. I haven't taken the final yet and it is 50% of your grade (and you need at least 50% to pass the class)

Despite the efforts of the TA's and the Math Lab, myself and a lot of my peers struggled very hard in this class. The lecture's are hard to follow and the handwriting is very bad. Broad concepts that are critical for this course are not explained at all, only dense math material. The tests so far are fair, but if you fall behind you're toast.

Lectures are useless, he uses another's professor's slides, which he learns WHILE teaching. It is better to learn the material through self-studying the slides he posts. CLAS Canvas course is VERY useful, so sign up for that. Two easy midterms online, and a 50% final. Practice final was VERY hard, and not at all representative of the actual final.

Lectures are incomprehensible, with completely illegible handwriting. Professor makes little effort to communicate with students. Homework is annoyingly lengthy. The only redeeming factor for this professor was a very easy final.

Terrible professor that only teaches with 'this and thats". I went to most lectures, but generally got nothing out of it. Would not recommend if you are trying to learn the material.

A horrible lecturer who just reads slides that aren't his + he has an accent (chill/nice guy tho). TA was horrible, was passive-aggressive & always boasted about how lucky we were to have him. 3 online midterms (ChatGPT). Homework was 20 problems/week which were hard (ChatGPT). Self-study class, I got a B even tho I barely put in the effort.

Terrible lectures, I ended up just going to CLAS and self studying by the end of the quarter. The final and midterms were very easy, with basic questions about the material. Easy to succeed in terms of grade if you just want the credit but would not recommend if you actually want to learn the material.

Ponce is the worst math professor I have seen. His final was easy in retrospect, but didn't grade for partial credit. I never went to his lectures because when I did, I couldn't understand what he was doing. You can easily self study but avoid him at all costs. I am a math major and he is an awful professor.

This man might be the worst lecturer OAT. I did not gain a single thing from him reading off the slides, and 3blue1brown carried this class. He also got emasculated when he couldn't solve problems, saying things like "i don't usually do these computations." Lin alg is fascinating and he didn't convey this at all.