Calculus of Several Variables

Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: course 31A with grade of C- or better. Introduction to differential calculus of several variables, vector field theory. P/NP or letter grading.

Review Summary

Clarity
6.7 / 10
Organization
10.0 / 10
Time
5-10 hrs/week
Overall
8.3 / 10

Reviews

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2021 Online
    Grade: A

    Wong is a really nice professor. There is on homework for this class. The only assignments are 6 quizzes, 2 challenge problem sets, two midterms, and final. There is an optional reflection at the end which might improve your grade if you "move" the professor. The first midterm is very much like the practice exam. But the second midterm and final got a lot harder.

    Quarter Taken: Spring 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A

    Professor Wong was very organized and had fair exams. There were in-person quizzes every discussion period, and they contained a group-work portion where you worked on it alone first and then with your peers. There was no homework given but there were two very intensive "challenge problem sets" over the course of the quarter.

    Quarter Taken: Spring 2022 In-Person
    Grade: B+

    First of this class is difficult and I honestly think that has more to do with the course content than the professor himself. I struggled a lot during the first half of this course but Prof. Wong was extremely understanding and helpful and once I started going to office hours regularly everything just started to click and I was able to drag myself from failing to a B+. I honestly think if I had been going to OHs and working with Prof. Wong from the beginning I could have gotten an A. There are weekly group quizzes in discussion sections and "challenge problem sets" for you to do on your own that take a bit of time. The challenge sets are not weekly. The homework he assigned was not graded at all but it's helpful to do it. His exams start off difficult but he usually scales them back after the first midterm depending on how the class as a whole did.

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A

    Pretty nice teacher, but his midterms and finals are much harder than you'd expect. Exceptional slides with annotations, great for review

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2022 In-Person
    Grade: C

    If you aren’t naturally inclined to understand math you will probably struggle as the content is pretty difficult. The course load itself isn’t too bad though.

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A

    Professor was good and helpful. His lectures were very clear and homework was optional. The projects were pretty time-consuming though.

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A

    Prof. Wong was a pretty good professor for Math 32A. I struggled a lot in his class because my brain didn't grasp multivariable calculus easily, but thankfully he had office hours and was more than willing to arrange a separate time to meet if you couldn't make it to his scheduled office hours. His midterms and final were appropriate in terms of difficulty as they weren't too hard but they also weren't homework problems. Doing the practice midterms and practice final that he gives definitely helps in understanding the types of problems you'd see, and going over your midterms is also another great way to study for the final as it's the same level of difficulty. There are group quizzes that take place in discussions which are a nice grade booster, and there are also two projects called "Challenge Reports" which are quite time-consuming but really helpful if you do a good job on them. It's not too difficult to do well on them, and he even lets you redo the first report since it's highly unlikely that you've had to do this for another class before.

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A+

    Lectures were a bit monotonous but generally very clear.

    Quarter Taken: Spring 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A+

    Wong was very organized and his lectures were clear. He basically follows the textbook, so it's super helpful to read the textbook section beforehand. Overall, I would recommend Wong!

    Quarter Taken: Winter 2023 In-Person
    Grade: B

    Overall, he is a fair professor. Some of the concepts are simply challenging, but doing the homework and practicing will help you a lot. Look over the lecture slides the day before so you know what to expect and can follow along better. If you follow his tips, you should have no problem doing well in this class.

Course

Instructor
Richard Wong
Previously taught
24W 23F 23W 22F 22S 21F

Grading Information

  • Has a group project

  • Attendance not required

  • 2 midterms

  • Finals week final

  • 94% recommend the textbook

Previous Grades

Grade distributions not available.