2.9
Quality3.6
Difficulty48%
Would Retake125
Reviews48%
Would Retake
125
Reviews
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5
30
4
19
3
17
2
26
1
33
What Students Say
“I've had Norman twice for 53 and 54 and he's definitely one of the best professors I've had at Cal thus far”
MATH53 - 5.0 rating“Practice exams are similar to the actual exams”
MATH53 - 4.0 ratingClass Info
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MATH104
4.6
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4.5
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Reviews (125)
Great guy! Good teacher, just goes a little too fast during lectures. I learnt a lot from his class and would recommend it to anyone. His grading policies w/ the exams are a little weird tho this semester -- students can miss up to 2 midterms and have their final be 70% of their grade. I think this is unfair if the final is easier than the midterms
goes through lectures very quickly..don't expect to learn new content through the lectures if you have no prior knowledge. extra credit if you attend discussions, making them essentially optional if you're smart. no clobber policy (final can replace a missing MT but not a low MT score tho..) so it might take some strategy to get an A in the class.
His accessibility outside of lecture is great. He's friendly, willing to help, and understanding. However, I do see otherwise but you can't be discouraged because he may look "unapproachable" during lecture. His response to the GSI strike has been phenomenal--consistent discussions with 8-10 problem test-like worksheets that prepare you for exams.
Sheu is a good prof- lectures are easy to follow/ practice midterms were relatively similar to what was asked on the actual midterm. The final however was extremely unfair as he told us moments before taking the final that he made the exam multiple choice and no partial credit would be received. He lacks transparency- so be cautious.
I can't deny that he was accessible, especially for being active in the discord that he made and will answer questions at pretty much any time of day. Grading/exam policies had seemingly little/no thought put in to them which made the hardest part of the class deciding whether you should drop an exam/not take it/etc instead of actual calculus
Although he may seem very deadpan during lecture, he is a very kind professor. HW sets were reasonable and his lectures were well organized. Very funny, and is very accessible through office hours or discord. Tests were tough but that's kind of expected from multivariable calc. My only complaint is that I wish he streamed more on Twitch.
Norman's lectures were ultimately straightforward and gave the information necessary for the HW. I would recommend reading the textbook or at least the provided formulas and explanations. He assigned us odd problems for HW so we can check out solutions, which I really appreciated. The MTs and Final were challenging/tolerable with the time given
Records lectures, no mandatory attendance. Provides review for exams. Only accepts physical copies of homework submissions. I tried asking questions in-person but didn't find it very helpful-I preferred asking questions through discord prof made. Had sudden changes to grading policy (w/in 1 week or less) due to strike.
Lectures are monotone and simply him regurgitating the textbook; there is little support in the class since Sheu only posts pictures of his lecture notes if you'd like to review; tests are focused on heavy computation rather than actual understanding of the content.
Sheu is a good lecturer and accessible outside of class. Not too much homework (especially compared to Sethian). Tests were fair, especially if you did the practice midterms and final that he distributed. During the GSI strike he held extra discussion sections to help people.
An approachable, kind, and hardworking professor with fancy pens and a charming voice.
Norman was a pretty good professor overall, but the lectures were a little difficult to follow. However, he gave a reasonable amount of homework and practice exams before every midterm and final (although they were usually easier than the actual exam). He also offered extra credit and a very generous curve at the end of the semester :)
He's a very structured lecturer. I do admit that his handwritten notes could be hard to follow at times if one is entirely new to the material. Tests are very challenging but not impossible. Homework sets are, however, very helpful and of the right amount. He responded well to the strike as the third midterm and the final took place uninfluenced.
Straight forward lectures: he copied straight from textbook, but it made it easy to follow. He offered disc sections during strike. Tests were extremely difficult. I spent 15-20 hrs/wk on hw and understood concepts, but exams required a lot of out of box thinking. Take his class, but you MUST have a group of friends to talk through concepts/learn.
Sheu was not the most inspiring of teachers, but generally speaking, it could have been a lot worse. Test conditions were awful: 500 people were crowded into Pimental and there was no room. Also, practice midterms were typically way easier than the actual tests. If you are smart enough you will be okay: if not, you'll need to work a lot.
Does not understand how to teach students who don't have math intuition. Notes are fast-paced with few explanations behind operations. Curriculum feels too advanced: roommate in MATH53 said she was learning the same material as I was in 16B. All 3 midterms were harder than the practice tests (class avgs ~60%). Luckily class has a huge curve.
I've had Norman twice for 53 and 54 and he's definitely one of the best professors I've had at Cal thus far. Easily approachable to discuss problems and concepts during office hours (definitely make use of them). Tests and exams are challenging, but more than fair if you know the material (based on lectures) and can extend concepts/applications.
Did a decent job for Math 54, considering he replaced the previous instructor who stepped down partway into the semester. Extends some concepts in the book and has some interesting demos during lecture, so make sure to go. Practice exams are similar to the actual exams. Office hours are chill and always has free snacks
Norman went above and beyond to teach us after class. He was a very fair grader although his exams were difficult. Would definetely take again.
The exam questions are easy to anticipate if you do the practice exams. Lecture format is usually theory -> example(s) -> question(s) to check for understanding. There's also good insight to some abstract concepts so lecture is super helpful. (Math 54)
(Math 54) I liked the fact that his exams were more computationally focused with no emphasis on proofs and a small amount of focus on theorems. Homework assigned is helpful in preparation for exams.
Lectures were difficult to understand and even pay attention to. He drones on in a quiet monotone without slowing down or explaining how or why he's doing certain operations. It was always hard to hear him/understand the words he was saying, even after he was asked to speak up multiple times. Luckily exams were exactly like the practice exams.
(Math 104) goat
[Math 53 and 54] Easy class if you go to lecture and can do the practice exams. He has a dry sense of humor which people seem to love or hate.
I didn't think I'd like 104, but his teaching made me enjoy it. Don't miss lecture - he expands on the textbook and gives good intuition for it, and lots of helpful practice problems. His office hours are super helpful (and have free snacks), and he's also just a chill guy. Wish he taught more upper divs and will be taking any he teaches.
Baby Rudin is hard but by combining rigorous proof with intuitive graphs and interpretation, Norman makes it vivid and interesting. Exam questions are similar to the practice problems and homeworks. Definitely the best math experience I have ever had in college.
I took math110 with him. The course material was extremely difficult but his teaching style made it relatively manageable. He generally tries to not make things any more complicated than they need to be.
The exams were pretty rough at times and it was really hard to complete them within class time. The homework was long and tedious but the discussion sections were good. The lectures were good for the most part except when proving a formula or a concept in which case it's easy to get lost and not know what's happening and why.
Unpopular opinion, but I liked Sheu. His class was definitely difficult, but he was pretty fair. Some advice: REVIEW THE TEXTBOOK BEFORE LECTURES (read it/take notes). This will help immensely. Rely heavily on the textbook. The homework is important. Cling onto your GSIs. And most importantly, don't ask stupid questions. You will get bullied.
Very monotone lectures and no passion for the subject. Exams were challenging but doable if you really prepared. Homeworks were long and tedious but at least you got a lot of content practice out of that. My discussion section and GSI especially helped my success in this class. Overall though, seems like he does not want to be teaching this class.
Lecture was too simple and homework way easier than the exams, so do extra textbook practice. His midterm/final practice tests are useful and reflect exam difficulty. Exams are short and challenging with low test averages. Tests make your grade, though some extra credit for section attendance. He's very dismissive of questions, GSIs are helpful.
Kept on yapping during lectures, often ranted about material not relevant to test material, poor explanations of how specific problems and methods work, avoid his 10a course at all costs, be prepared to self-study
A lot of people seem to dislike Norman; however, I actually really enjoyed having Professor Sheu this semester! His lectures were always very concise and well organized, and he gave us a clear idea of what to expect on the midterms. It was also nice to chat with him before class started and at his office haha :) Overall great professor and person.
This class was a headache. No note sheet allowed for exams so there's A LOT of memorizing. Exams are difficult to complete within the given time. 80% of your grade from exams, 20% homework with pretty good extra credit opportunity. He always had a condescending tone and didn't seem to care much about teaching his students.
Norman Sheu made me hate math. He is very condescending, so don't ask dumb questions or else you will get shamed. 80% of your grade are exams, and you only get ONE practice exam. Lectures are very fast and have only simple examples, totally different from exams. He assigns very hard problems that are not at all related to exams.
He did an amazing job. He could not have done more to make sure that we succeed. Plenty of extra credit opportunities, was very much accessible during office hours, assigned good homework problems, wrote practice exams, the list goes on. His fountain pens are pretty cool.
Lectures were unhelpful as I felt it was just him copying down the textbook instead of actually teaching the concepts. The midterms and finals were a big chunk of our grade and on top of that the tests were hard. The problems were long and tedious for the amount of time we were given to complete the exam.
As someone who's not strong in Calc to begin with, this class was intense. He gives extra credit on exams and for attending discussions. However, Norman goes VERY fast in class, and it's very easy to get lost and lose focus during his lectures, but at least they're recorded! I had to do a LOT of independent studying to prepare myself for the exams.
lecture wasn't very useful because it was exactly what's in the book, but going helps you stay on pace. he can seem condescending toward students for asking questions during lecture, but he is a lot more approachable during office hours. practice exams were pretty similar to the real thing (super duper helpful!). GSIs were also great.
His lectures are very fast-paced, but are helpful in introducing a topic to you. I highly recommend doing the homework and skimming or completely reading the sections in the textbook as that will very much help solidify the knowledge. He gives quite a bit of extra credit(3% added for attending discussion section and up to 18 points extra on exams).
Professor Sheu's lectures were very fast paced, but definitely understandable once revisited after class. His exams are reasonable if you keep up with the content and homework. Outside of the classroom, he is not easy to speak with. Going to his office hours will make you question your intelligence. He's a good lecturer, but arrogant individual.
Not a very good Lecturer, did improve after some student feedback, but I honestly completely relied on my GSI to learn material.
Professor Sheu clearly knows a lot about the topics he is teaching, but his delivery is incredibly fast-paced and does not ensure that students understand the concept, assuming that they do/did already. Graded almost fully on exams that he gave little prep tools for. The only portion of this class I enjoyed was my GSI and learned mainly from him.
Amazing lectures. Very accessible outside of class. He is like my eigenvector.
This class was awful. He sped through lectures and would yell at students for asking questions because "we should've already known it" and basically refused to teach. The exams were ridiculously hard, with not enough time to complete all the questions. I would study for hours and still get horrible scores.
He goes extremely fast and expects you to already know half of the material. I attended class but could not keep up. Doable if you teach yourself the material and get a good gsi that is willing to teach.
If you do not already know a lot about the material he is teaching you wont understand a lot of his lectures
Exams were a lot more difficult than practice exams, and only one practice exam was given for study prep. Lectures did not have a lot of structure. Class is easy IF you already know the content and have a good GSI, but otherwise most had a lot of trouble.
you will get the same questions in the MTS or finals as the practice exam so you will get an A as long as you prepared for exams.He will go through all the topics in exams during the lectures.Besides, he's very glad to have students ask him questions during office hours and he will give u a recommendation letter as long as you get a grade above A-.
Norman does not know how to teach, he is very condescending to students asking questions and assumes that students already know most of the lessons he's teaching. You're better off reading the textbooks, rather than wasting your time going to his lectures.
This review is for the 10A/10B series. Norman Sheu is an awful teacher. His lectures were unhelpful, overcomplicated, and a dread to be in. I only went to his office hours ONCE and never again because of his refusal to properly teach a concept to me. He blames everything BUT himself for the majority of the class doing horribly. Never again.
Norman is the kind of instructor to cover what an equation/concept is and how to apply it, but won't get into the "why." I'd get all the equations from lecture and after that would pretty much fully rely on help from students, the discussion section, and help from my GSI to understand them. Exams are also notoriously difficult.
During lecture it was unclear what subject/topic we were covering as Sheu would just end/continue at random points. Also, his office hours were useless unless you were seated in the front row and got comfortable with him, since they were best liked. I would say just rely on your GSI for extra help as they are more understanding with students.
I took Norman's Math 104 during summer. Lectures and office hours are useless. He just copied the definitions and theorems onto the paper by the textbook (Rudin), and did not explain more. Go to his office with your questions and you'll leave with more confusion. If you want to understand this course, then find other lecturers.
Professor Sheu is awesome! He makes concepts so much easier to understand (which is no easy feat for 104) and is always willing to take time and help students learn the material. He is also very clear about what to expect for exams, which is nice. All in all, he is super kind and approachable, and you can tell he really cares about his students.
I think Norman's explanation make definitions and theorems more clear and less abstract. Also the test is close to the exercise he provides on lecture so if you attend it every day and have a good understanding, I think the exam will be easy. The only thing that's not so good is that the pace of the class is a bit fast.
10A + B are both fast paced, but the tests were very fair. He always gave a practice exam that was exactly like the real one. Students in OH are super helpful + free snacks. GO TO DISCUSSIONS. People stop going to disc bc its not mandatory, but you learn so much and get extra credit. Sarcastic humor, but chill. There was also a HUGE "curve" for 10B
norman is cool - in lectures, it may look like he copies rudin word for word, but he improves upon rudin and fills in the gaps in logic encouraged by rudin. midterms and final are fair. go to office hours and you can get free snacks chill. take him - it's an experience
Sheu is a fun professor, but has very fast paced lectures. The course covers a lot of material, so be prepared. Most exams were questions taken directly from lecture though, so it's really important to attend, though it's not mandatory. He will also say outright which concept to study for the exam. He also gives a lot of easy extra credit.
norman made 10a/b doable, and his practice exams were very representative of the actual exams given. his lectures are at a fast pace, but necessary for the amount of content/organization that 10a and 10b have. discussions are very hit and miss depending on your gsi though, but are really helpful to understanding the course content
Decent. Somewhat personable but can be mildly apathetic sometimes. His lectures are proof-heavy and require a background knowledge of vector math to understand fully. I'd recommend brushing up on things like determinants, matrix addition/mult, cross products, and dot products. He's not very helpful near the end of the sem, so read the textbook!
The way he explains content is either extremely confusing and unclear, or painfully slow on easy content. He is not receptive to questions and did not communicate with the GSIs so it was hard for them to help us in discussion. Basically a semester long headache.
our class midterm median was 100 and we only had 2 exams overall. He even gave us hints on the final. But if you do the Homeworks and GO to discussion(BIG ONE) u will get AT LEAST B. many will get A tho. Content is easy if you took Calc AB and BC. Also i didnt recieve my grade yet so you know im not just saying this cause im happy with my grade:)
Norman is a lukewarm lecturer but passionate about the topics covered in multivariable. His attitude can be off-putting and condescending, but he tries to be personable; as a person, hit or miss. Lectures do not cover all of the information from the textbook. However, homework and practice exams are mostly relevant to the actual tests.
Most people including myself struggled with even basic stuff like the quizzes, practice exams were often not that helpful, the GSI worksheets were usually more helpful if i'm honest. I loved learning calc 3 but I wish the teaching would have been more clear :/
Norman Sheu teaches Math53 the way it should be. He uses long-winded proofs and out of the box test questions, but it's all within the scope of what is reviewed during discussion and in the textbook. Help can be found within resources provided, allowing you to truly learn the content instead of formulas. Get to know Norman, he has great stories!
To do well in mvc, you have to build intuition, so it's very helpful that Professor Sheu goes through each of the proofs during lecture. As for exams, you will be tested conceptually and sometimes computationally, he's very fair and he doesn't play many corner case tricks. To do well, practice A LOT and build up test taking speed.
just not a very good lecturer
Math 53 here will be hard regardless of professor. I thought i was goated at math on skibidi despite professor but he prove me wrong. The lectures are proof based and found them confusing and not enough. I stopped going to lecture and self studied, worked out for me. Exams are fair tbh although i struggled on some questions but thats my fault.
Norman Sheu is awful. I wouldn't even bother going to lecture since he essentially talks himself in circles; just read the book. The exams are fine, except he gives you almost nothing to prep with for the final. The class is okay if you've already taken AP Calc AB/BC and his quiz/homework policy is lenient. Just go to discussion and you're good.
I understand calculus 3 isn't an easy course but Prof Sheu didn't help. Most people left lectures feeling equally as confused. Quizzes were brutal. Exams went both ways some were fair but final most did rly bad. They also didn't want to disclose final stats… which says a lot
The hw can be a bit much and can get really repetitive sometimes. That being said, the quizzes and exams are very straightforward. Prof Sheu follows the lecture format of first going over theory and then doing example problems if time allows which works for some people. This was a really fun class and I can't wait to take Math104 with prof Sheu!!
He assumes that everyone has extensive knowledge of the subject prior to taking an entry-level course. No care was taken in actually explaining the material rather than just solving problems/ proofs out loud. The GSIs never attended lecture so their sections were just a guessing game. Highly discourage anyone from taking his lower division courses.
Lectures are okay, there's weekly quizzes that aren't too bad, and one midterm. Midterm was reasonable and he was nice enough to cap it off, so a lot of people did really well and got an A. The final exam is what messed me up since it was very hard. Ended up dragging my grade from an A to a B+. Don't take his class if you don't need to.
Much of our understanding overall came from our own studying which is normal and expected but prof sheu didnt really give us any tools to help us. lectures were rushed and not very useful. Final exam was so tough despite most of us putting in all our efforts into understanding the material. His final practice exam was not helpful like at all
Ok lecturer. I ended up relying way more on the GSIs and the textbooks. I think the midterms were fair but the final was really hard. Relied a lot on homework, quizzes, and attendance to keep my grade up.
Dr. Sheu makes lectures easy to understand and is helpful and personable after class/in office hours. His exams have extra credit and are similar to the practice. However, there was poor communication with the GSIs, making it difficult for them to help us during discussion. There were also certain concepts we needed to learn on our own.
Prof. Sheu is actually a great person, encourages students to discuss problems and work together. He dropped some memes, music recs, fun stories etc. in-between lectures. I think he cares if you show to class. You really gotta read the book (Baby Rudin - tough, but exciting). Most importantly - he wants you to learn and is very helpful and caring!
I feel the final was unreasonably hard considering the practice final and how it was pretty much all the last chapter which was also rushed. Homeworks are textbook selected problems. Lectures are mid. Also exam statistics were never released for midterms or final which is rather suspicious. Maybe goes to show how hard(unjust?) the exams were.
Everything until the last unit was dragged out, and the last unit (arguably the most important one) was rushed. His explanations are clear, but you can look up every 5 minutes and not miss a thing. Can give rude responses to silly questions, but the reason people ask silly questions is because he explains things poorly. Good drawings though.
lectures felt a bit rushed and only covered the most basic application of concepts whereas quizzes and tests seemed to require super deep conceptual understanding (made it challenging). be prepared to potentially spend LOTS of time (10-15 hrs/wk) studying/teaching yourself the course with other resources. take advantage of discussion extra credit!
I tried my best to improve in his class. the quizzes and exam questions felt abstract at times. Did pretty well on midterms, but final was brutal that exponentially dropped my grade. Norman's teaching was pretty useless. If i did good in any parts in this class were mainly bc of how helpful GSIs were. His practice exams did nothing to help students
He went extremely slow until the last unit, which was the most difficult unit. His lectures usually consist of good drawings and vague descriptions of technical concepts from the textbook. You can get through the class with just the textbook. Overall, his lectures are bad but his exams are fair with a good amount of extra credit.
Not great- pretty confusing during lecture. Weekly quizzes. The lectures are pretty useless, but discussion is helpful (at least if your GSI is good). He said the grading was going to happen differently on the syllabus vs what actually happened… not approachable either
Lectures for the last 3-4 weeks of class were extremely rushed, which didn't make a whole lot of sense because the final was pretty much entirely made up of the last unit. Lectures overall weren't very helpful; I basically learned the class on my own, from peers, or GSIs. Take advantage of the attendance extra credit.
Norman is by far the worst teacher I have ever had in all my years learning. He just simply can't teach. He goes over the most basic content which has absolutely nothing to do with the homework, tests, or quizzes. I did not attend a single class beyond the first week. Only plus is that it is book centered class. If you can read a textbook = u fine.
Norman is an okay professor, like nothing too bad but nothing special. He is 100% a sadist because he waits to release exams in lecture for a reaction. But overall, Theo Keller was the best GSI I've ever had so Sheu's lectures felt meh. He rounds up for grades, but the curve is very small. He is very condescending but stylish af.
Interesting subject, not interesting lecture -ok explanations; just read textbook. Very condescending/rude guy (especially to questions) and answers poorly. Practice exams not helpful, reasonable pace/amount of homework; syllabus well written and fair (3% EC for discussion attendance). tests quite hard. Take him if only option (or over Sethian)
Norman Sheu is a terrible lecturer and his class is extremely unorganized and is not conducive to student success. Assigned homework over the weekends and is generally condescending towards his students. If you can avoid him you should, but his 10A course content and tests are not the hardest so if you have background knowledge you should be ok.
He is a very awesome sauce person. Very funny but I don't like math though :/ good luck gang
Norman is a pretty dry lecturer, but the exams are very straightforward and there is a ton of extra credit. Homework isn't super heavy, though it can get annoying. Lecture is extremely skippable if you read the textbook. Discussions are also often a good substitute for lectures if your GSI is good (Jason if you're reading this you're the goat)
His class was hard. I took IB math in high school but nevertheless was lost in this class. My GSI was bad so that probably contributed to it. Norman is not a bad guy, he can be a little condescending but just have thick skin and you will be fine. The practice exams are very similar to the real exam but harder.
Pros: -exams very similar to practice tests -generous capped exam scores Cons: -lectures easy but quizzes hard (doesn't communicate with GSIs) -extra credit promise in syllabus not followed Also he isn't really mean, he is just direct.
taking his class my first sem at berkeley was the biggest mistake of my life, made me hate math when i originally came in wanting to major in it, singlehandedly worsened my depression, please do yourself a favor and avoid him at all costs, take the class at CC if you can, the worst class i have ever taken, speaks to everyone disgustingly.
We had weekly homework that consisted of almost 50+ problems which is not reasonable. His lectures were not very helpful and he would simply ignore emails. I feel like his grade bins only benefitted people that were failing the class. If your raw score was in the B range, there wont be any difference after the curve. Definitely don't recommend.
Terrible. Do not talk trust me incoming freshman!!
I took him my first semester for Math 10A. Was not helpful, his lecturing was just straight and monotone for an hour and he's blunt when answering questions. He was not very welcoming, especially as someone who is not very great at calculus and doesn't have a good calculus background. I did not pass the class.
Horrible teaching style. Should make an album for spotify with him just teaching. will put you to sleep in seconds
He offered assistance during office hours and had tests that were similar to the practice given.
Avoid if you can- he doesn't care about students or teaching. He speeds through lectures without pausing for questions. Our class did too well on the midterm in his opinion so he made the second half of the course MUCH harder so that he could have a grade distribution and not too many A's. SO glad he isn't teaching the B part.
I thought he was good at explaining things though sometimes it felt like he spent too much time on certain concepts. He answered questions nicely. He's also VERY good at drawing in 3d. Grading was fair. The homework was a bit tedious and I didn't think the two midterms were very interesting, but the final definitely was more interesting.
super easy to predict what's on exams by doing the practice exams and final review worksheets, he just changes numbers/functions. not sure why everyone wants to be spoon fed the content, just read the textbook since he follows the textbook. great drawings in lecture, chill dude.
Goated analysis class. Every line of each theorem covered was explained. If a book isn't as rigorous as Rudin, I don't want it anymore.
The tests are modeled almost exactly like the practice exams. The weekly quizzes in discussion could be annoying but most of them weren't too bad. Lectures were pretty helpful but not necessary to understand the material. This could just be because all the calculus material I had already seen in high school.
crazy amount of hw every week, super quiz heavy, dont take plssss. doesnt communicate with gsi's at all which is why quiz averages are so low across the board. practice midterm is the same as midterm though
Challenging to receive help in OH. Condescending when answering questions. Exams were a level harder than practice exams. Exams were curved heavily though, which saved our grades. Came back to add, now that I have taken ochem and bio here, this class was still the worst. He made it the worst. Took 1b with Paulin and it was amazing.
Did not let anyone take the final exam at a different time regardless of having 10 TAs and GSIs that could proctor another exam slot. Overall, he disregards his students and he's not a good lecturer. Below bare minimum for a single variable math teacher.
No interest for helping students and seems completely unhappy to be there, never smiles. Will stare at you blankly when you ask him a question. Labels questions on the exams "EC" but they're part of the total score so it's not actually extra credit (confirmed with GSIs). no empathy, unable to make a fair exam based on difficulty of the course.
Not worth to take math with this professor. Never seems happy to teach, no recorded lecture videos, and he talks really softly in lecture to the point where you barely even hear him. Gets examples wrong in class and does not seem eager or happy to answer students' questions when raised in class.
Worst professor. Took 10A with him and it was horrible. Decided to take 1A and somehow got stuck with him again. Avoid if possible. First half of the semester in 1A wasn't too bad, but post midterm, nope. Lectures consisted of him "solving" the problems with not much explaining, no enthusiasm whatsoever, & constantly got his own problems wrong.
doesn't record lectures or upload lecture notes. speaks so quietly that I didn't even bother going to lectures. doesn't explain problems in lecture, just does it. expect super dense hw & weekly quizzes. quiz averages are really low bc it's hard to learn anything with him as your professor. only plus is that exams exactly mirror given practice exams
This class was EXTREMELY difficult and time consuming. The weekly quizzes are made by GSIs and they are hard. FINAL WAS SO HARD. Prof. Sheu is really smart, I just feel like he thinks everyone approaches math the same way as him which we DONT. If your major allows it just take the class at a CC it will save you a lot of time
Having previous high school calc experience made this class very doable. But Norman goes extremely quickly and doesn't explain amazingly well, so I've seen people without former calc knowledge struggle a bit more. I definitely learned more from my GSI than him. He does offer an insane amount of extra credit on exams which was nice.
He is not unfair, you just have to work hard to get a good grade. Tests are very difficult, but with a generous curve. Offers easy extra credit, too. I found him to be really easy to talk to and even funny! People made him out to be harsh, but he's nice if you put in effort!
Lectures were unhelpful in how topics were explained and presented, GSI/TAs were largely unhelpful, and the class is weighted very heavily towards tests. Lots of homework, hard grading, generally unwilling to accommodate (though not exceedingly so). Does answer questions in lectures without judgement, and is easy to contact.
The amount of homework is crazy, however it is necessary and gives good practice. The quizzes were honestly insanely hard and he often pulled niche little rules from each subject and put them on the quiz, causing confusion and low scores on the quizzes. Concerning lectures, he wasn't the worst lecturer but he was confusing about 50% of the time.
Fill-in notes for each lecture were nice and tests look like the practice tests. As long as you try the practice questions in lecture, he's pretty helpful.
Really boring lecturer but overall the things he thought made sense. The weekly problem sets are extremely heavy and the weekly quizzes are also hard. However, the exams are almost exactly like the practice ones and he curves very, very generously.
easy A. just follow the book and you'll be chillin
Honestly, one of the best math profs at Berkeley. 104 is notoriously difficult, yet it never felt unmanageable, even in a summer session with Dr. Sheu. Every theorem that was tested was explained well, and he was more than willing to help in OH and provide additional support. Exams weren't easy, yet fair and definitely within scope. Best math prof!
This class was heavily geared towards problem solving. Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but a lot of the content clicks once you've done all the problems the professor gives in class.
Prof is pretty clear with what he expects you to know for exams. Homework is only for effort and he allows you to copy solutions from elsewhere if you can't figure it out. He's also pretty generous bumping grades up.
his lectures were boring at best, not worth going at worst. only did sample problems and there was no structure during the lectures, i attended only three and got an A anyways. the GSIs play an important part, so make sure you get the knowledge somehow.
Honestly one of the best professors I've had at Berkeley. What was going to be on his exams was clear from day 1. Never in my entire time at Berkeley have I had a professor this transparent about their exams. He also made digesting the material easier by giving practice problems in lecture and by explaining theorems better than the book.
Mr Sheu is the worst math instructor I have ever had in my whole life. He writes his own reviews here so be careful. I think his real rating is 1/5.
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Attendance Mandatory
12%
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B+
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4.6
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4.5
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3.1
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2.9
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2.7
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4.3
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3.9
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