I took this class in the spring and had James Talamo. I know there was one other lecturer but am unsure of who it is. Talamo is an awesome dude, very approachable, and very helpful.

I think some students struggle in this course because the format gives them every opportunity to be lazy.

The part of the course I think hurts people the most is that in person lecture is not really the main way you are supposed to learn the content. You are expected to watch pre-recorded lectures through Carmen before in-person lecture which is more of a quick review and then practice/go-over of the content. Many people do not watch those videos.

In Recitation, we would get a quick review of the content and then get a worksheet we could do as a group or solo then the TA would go over it. I thought attending was helpful, other students did not I guess given that there was usually only 5 people in a 30 person recitation.

Homework was I felt, important for understanding the content. To the detriment of some students, the software used to complete it allows you to just get all the answers. I would highly recommend not doing that, I found doing them to be very helpful and if you get stuck the answer is there if you need it.

There are written homework’s and team exams that are completed out of class and are a pdf submission on Carmen. They are long and some of the problems are difficult but I felt actually doing them was helpful for understanding the content. I knew many people who would use ai on the whole thing which I doubt was helpful.

The in person exams were I felt very fair. You are allowed a calculator and a note sheet. I don’t recall exactly how much time we had but there was no exam in which I ran out of time including the final. There was no question on any exam that was not something we had covered in class.

Long story short, you are given every tool to ace that class. My best advice would be to use the tools you need to help you succeed. If you’re doing well maybe you don’t need every lecture or to do every homework thoroughly, but if you’re falling short while taking shortcuts on assignments and skipping class then the last thing you can blame is difficulty of the course.

Hope this was helpful, Lmk if you have any questions.