MATH 3351

Only take this class with Zhang if you must. Lectures do not indicate test material well and are often heavily proof based and boring. He's a nice guy in person but just an unexciting and often awkward professor.

I really enjoyed math before taking Linear Algebra with Professor Zhang. I feel like he has sucked my math-soul out of me (like a dementor). I feel empty inside. He is definitely a contender for my worst teacher to date. Let me explain!
He teaches from notes taken straight from the book, exact wording and definitions. The point of having a teacher is to have someone who is able to explain and clearly illustrate concepts that seem dense in the book, making them easier to understand, but unfortunately for this class it was the complete opposite. I stopped going to class and just read the book because he would manage to make these concepts even more incomprehensible. His methods of explanation include terminology such as (actual quote) "and thus this means that thing over there". He will then attempt to cover for himself, asking multiple times if anyone has questions after nervously shifting around because he can perceive that the class has no idea what he's trying to explain. No one asked questions because he would deliver the same explanation as the first time, concluding with a reaffirming "yeah, so that's how".
Furthermore, he was just entirely uninspiring and unenthusiastic. He did not explain big concepts, put anything in perspective, it felt like we were just learning formulas to solve a certain set of problems with no overarching connection or relation that gives you the "ah hah!" moment. Very disappointing class.

Well-structured math class. I took linear algebra in high school but only went through basically half the curriculum taught here, so I decided to retake it. Lectures with Zezhou were proving a theorem and doing practice problems. They were pretty boring and by the latter half of the semester only about half the students were showing up. There is one homework assigned per week, which usually takes one to two hours. There were three tests (Two midterms and a final). The first two midterms were basically the exact same structure: one page of true/false, one page of circle all that are true, and a few pages of solving some problems. The exams are relatively straight-forward (the problems just test if you know how to apply some concept), but the tricky part is the true and false since each question is worth 6 points and the tests are only worth 80 points. The true and false requires pretty deep understanding of the topics.

My review may be biased because I came into the course knowing some of the topics already, but I feel like if I didn't know anything about linear coming into this class, it would be a lot harder. Some of the topics went by fast

Just like any math class, you don't actually have to go to lecture to do well. As long as you know how to do your homework, you are all set for the exams. His exams, however, can be tricky because you need to know the theorems pretty well, but the calculations are very simple algebra. He is a pretty dull lecturer so only half of the class shows up. Good thing is, you can still go to class once a week to hand in your homework and still do well if you read the textbook VERY carefully and actually understand your homework instead of looking up answers. The calculations in Linear Algebra are very easily self-taught but the concepts behind them might need some explanation. Overall, I don't think he was a bad professor. Even if it was a different professor, I still wouldn't have gone to class.

Personally I went to lecture every week, but they tend to be fairly boring and uninteresting. The professor isn't too great at answering questions, and the way he words his lectures can often be confusing. May be beneficial to read the textbook more than actually going to lecture. Tests are heavy on theorems and understanding the concepts than the math. Fully understand the theorems in the book because half the exams are just on those in T/F format. Was not a huge fan of this professor, it felt pretty awkward during class time to ask anything because I didn't know what to ask to clarify what he was teaching.