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
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6.7 / 10
- Organization
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8.3 / 10
- Time
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0-5 hrs/week
- Overall
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8.3 / 10
Reviews
If you are generally confident in your math skills you will be fine in this class. I am a non math major so I struggled a bit with this class but came out of it okay. I could tell that most math majors had a pretty easy time with this class, but If you need some extra support in the subject, it may not be the right fit.
The grade breakdown was nice as it allowed you to drop one midterm score in exchange for a bigger weight on the final. (I did bad on both midterms but my final raised my grade.) The midterms weren't too bad looking back on them as they were very similar to the practice midterms he made beforehand, same with the final. There is also one extra credit opportunity that was very easy but also didn't count for much.
This was Chatham's first time teaching and you could definitely tell, but he had a lot of improvement throughout the quarter and I can see him becoming a better teacher with more experience.
The TAs varied a lot for this class, some were really bad, but if you get the chance to have Michael Johnson, he was one of the most helpful TAs I have ever had and really tried to help me understand points of confusion.
This class is pretty difficult but manageable as long as you get the homework.
The class was fairly straightforward. Although the professor could've been more clear in his lectures and examples and teaching, the content was relatively organized. Tests seemed fair.
- Lectures are very rushed, disorganized, and confusing. Chatham does not use slides and has even admitted that he does not even bother preparing for lectures. To make things worse, he very frequently makes basic calculation mistakes during the lectures.
- Chatham hosts office hours regularly, but they are almost useless considering he almost always spends over an hour checking extra credit work, and uses the remaining time to review homework problems.
- Homework is usually easy and is based on the textbook. Discussion sections consist of doing a single discussion worksheet, which is significantly harder than the homework and is often not covered in lectures/textbooks. Chatham also provides practice tests, but once again they are harder than the homework and often contain material not covered in lectures/textbooks.
- Exams are hands down the worst part about Chatham's class. Exams are very similar to practice exams - however, they have significantly more calculations that are not appropriate for the limited time frames of the exams. This essentially makes the exams a matter of how well you memorize the problems on practice exams and can quickly do calculations, and not actually about how well you understand the material. To make things worse, the exams are graded very harshly - explanations must meet Chatham's expectations and a single calculation error can make you lose entire letter grades (ironic considering Chatham consistently fails to do basic calculations in lectures, as well as answer keys for discussion worksheets and practice exams).
- Chatham is a pretty friendly guy, but he also has a complete inability to keep promises. Do not trust a single promise Chatham makes - if he says he will post something on a certain date, he always ends up posting late. The most offensive case of his inability to keep promises was with Midterm #2 - Midterm #2 had numerous typos that made the test unsolvable - wasting up to 10 minutes on an already extremely time-consuming test. He promised to curve this test in an email sent to all students but later reneged on the excuse that the test was the same as the practice version.
Overall, I definitely would recommend avoiding Chatham as much as possible. If you do have to take him, do realize that Math 32A is significantly harder under him than any other professor.
Chatham was unorganized, but the class isn't too difficult if you study the material. The midterms are exactly like the practice tests, but with much, much harder numbers and complex problems.
The practice exams he provided were very similar to exams
As a freshmen taking this math class for the first time, the content was pretty difficult. On top of that, the professor was disorganized and would usually make mistakes while working on the problems in class. Skipping lecture wasn't helpful, but attending class wasn't helpful either. However, it was his first time teaching, so I'll give him that. I didn't see much improvement in his teaching throughout the weeks, as he continually made mistakes during lecture which took some time fixing. This class is one of my first regrets taking as a first-year, and I wished I took it later to gain more insight and resources of the course. I highly recommend forming a study group and practicing as many problems as you can. If you can study independently, this class may be right for you!
Chatham was a little hard to follow at times. A lot of resources to do well in the class. Tests are curved so there is room for error. Overall pretty fair
Professor Chatham is very kind and considerate, but his lectures are not easy to follow. It's hard to determine whether or not the cause was my inability to grasp the material or that he couldn't explain it well to students who have never learned multivariable calculus. I could have been better prepared for tests by redoing more homework problems, but I'll take my grade. The class is curved to give a fair amount of A's and B's.
Professor Chatham is very smart and knowledgeable, but his teaching style is slightly condescending and unclear. Sometimes his lectures are very hard to follow, but he just assumes that you know everything. Discussion can be helpful depending on what TA you have, and I recommend asking a lot of questions during Discussion. The tests were very hard, but he gives generous grade averages. For the first midterm, everything above an 80 was an A. Overall, he is an okay teacher but make sure to do the homework and read the textbook because his lectures are confusing.
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Course
Grading Information
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No group projects
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Attendance not required
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2 midterms
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Finals week final
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82% recommend the textbook
Previous Grades
Grade distributions not available.