MATH 3354

Nothing could make me hate Sara, absolutely nothing ever. I feel like I can't speak to her as a lecturer though, because she rarely did any lecturing. We followed a flipped classroom structure: We had to read the lecture notes before class and then do a worksheet with a small group in class. I didn't like this structure at all, especially when the content started to get hard. Sara's very nice and understanding though. She's willing to answer any questions and can understand if you need an extension or anything.

The class was graded with 25% weekly HW, 25% Midterms, 25% Final, 15% Community Project, and 10% participation. She grades leniently, so the 2 midterms weren't bad at all (plus she gives practice exams which were typically harder than the actual exam). Even the final wasn't that hard. Homeworks were harder than the exams, but getting at least an 80-90 wasn't hard for each hw. The community project was an easy 100 - we just made an activity and shared it with some high schoolers.

Definitely a hard class, but also very doable. Take it with Sara if she's teaching it!

Professor Maloni is a really great professor, and actively tries her best to support students, either through flexible scheduling of assignments and extensions, office hour opportunities, or her quick response to emails. With that being said, this is a rather difficult class, and while there are not too many official prerequisites, you'll definitely want to have taken some prior courses, such as ones that teaches students how to work with proofs and Linear Algebra. The readings are super useful but are rather hard to understand, and its super important to properly participate in classwork to be able to keep up. I felt as if office hours were almost mandatory to this class, as Professor Maloni offers so much help and feedback that streamlined my homework and learning processes. This is also definitely a class where you want to get to know your classmates, as it was super helpful having people to help guide me through the new and difficult content.

Not even exaggerating-- it's really easy to spend 10+ hours every week on this class and still not do well. To start off, professor Maloni knows the material really well and genuinely cares about her students. Sometimes, she even brings cookies and brownies to class. The material is really tough, however, and it doesn't help when the grader for this course is also really tough. The grader will only pick a few problems from the homework to grade, so even if you do all 6-8 problems of the homework, he will only grade 2-3 of them. Grading every problem for everyone's homework is a lot to ask for one grader, but even if you write a long solution, it's still possible you get a 0 on that question. Seriously, I got two 50's in a row for missing just a couple questions on each homework.
Overall, although it was a tough class, Maloni tries really hard to make sure you understand the material.

The concepts are hard, but if you've never done proofs before it starts really gentle so you'll figure it out. Pacing is kind of weird, with the second midterm and final exam only a few lectures apart. All material is provided in the form of typed notes called "online lectures" and that's free, so textbooks aren't mandatory strictly speaking. I loved Prof Maloni's approach and personality generally, she's happy to answer questions and encourages participation so she can tell how much the class is understanding. I recommend.

The concepts are hard, but if you've never done proofs before it starts really gentle so you'll figure it out. Pacing is kind of weird, with the second midterm and final exam only a few lectures apart. All material is provided in the form of typed notes called "online lectures" and that's free, so textbooks aren't mandatory strictly speaking. I loved Prof Maloni's approach and personality generally, she's happy to answer questions and encourages participation so she can tell how much the class is understanding. I recommend.

I am the master of 3354.
Easy A++.
No one can beat me in this field.
I am serious.