APMA 2120

Whatever you do, don't take this class with Tao. He's a really nice guy and he understand the material. But his accent is very thick and he speaks very quietly. After 2 weeks in the class, I just started copying the powerpoint into my notes during class. The homework was all written and not too challenging. The tests and final exam were very tough.

Professor Tao is a really sweet, nice guy. That being said, he's not the best teacher. Coming from someone who doesn't tend to mind accents, his was pretty thick. And he tends to speak quietly. If you take his class, you'll need to teach the material to yourself. The tests and quizzes are fairly straight forward but the exam was brutal.

I'm prefacing this by saying I am pursuing a minor in APMA, so I'll be in this department for my four years at UVa. I would not take a course with Professor Tao again. He's not a bad professor, but he is very difficult to understand, due to both his accent and low voice. Also, he will speed through the notes and end up having to repeat himself the next lecture because he doesn't have another topic to discuss. In the future, I hope he learns to slow down and explain each topic more in depth because he does really have the time.

That being said, it is a very easy course if you have a good background in Calculus. The class is done mostly by hand (no calculators or WebWork), which helped me understand the material better. You don't do anything more difficult than a u-sub in terms of integration, so don't worry about having to memorize long sheets of integrals. You will end up teaching yourself a lot of the course, however, so I would recommend Khan Academy (I'm not joking).

Good luck!

Gang Tao could be the greatest teacher in the entire world. Or he could be the worst. I wouldn't know, because I think in this entire semester I have understood about ten words total that he has said. It's not just because of his accent, he mumbles too. he is very quiet, and while I try and follow along with the slides, they don't make any sense either. You do homework on paper, instead of webwork, if anyone prefers that. You take so many quizzes if you get a bad score it barely counts. But that is the very, very, very small silver lining. Take another section. Or just don't take calculus. Cuz calculus sucks.

You will not be able to understand the professor and will have to teach yourself the course. Professor also gets way ahead of schedule by blowing through lecture notes and will teach 2-3 lectures ahead of the quizzes schedule each week. Find another professor.