BMEN E4001

5 HWs, 4 late days. 2 Midterms. You can get stuck on HWs if you do not go to office hours. Midterms are similar to homework. Overall courseload was very standard for an engineering class.

QP was honestly much more chill than I expected. I was prepared for an experience much worse than intro bio but I was pleasantly surprised by Prof Kam's HWs and exams. Make no mistake, the class is not easy, but the homeworks are very doable especially if you go to office hours. Professor Kam is an absolute gem and he truly cares about his students. He'll use examples from his research in his lectures and his passion for the field is contagious. However, be warned the lectures are at 8:40 am and Prof Kam sometimes is not the most engaging lecturer and may have a lot of uhs and ums. This class did change my mind on 8:40s though but this will not be the case for everyone. The lectures are recorded though! If you're not BME I'm not sure why you're looking at this class but personally I don't think the class requires pre-reqs or a bio background, though these will help. Overall I enjoyed the class and it was not as bad as I expected given what I had heard about the class previously.

Costa is a very nice guy and does a pretty good job of explaining some complicated material. He is incredibly approachable and makes extra time for office hours. The class is difficult and the book while good is not enough. The HW and tests are taught directly from the notes so make sure to get good notes and understand the material. Cannot stress enough the importance of doing the homework promptly so that you can ask him questions during office hours.

5 Psets (lowest dropped) - 40%, midterm 30% final (or midterm2 if you call it that way) 30% Courses recorded for CVN students, no mandatory attendance

6 problem sets (do *not* leave for the last day); midterm and final with a formula sheet provided and 1-2 pages of personal notes allowed.

He's one of the nicest professor I met here. QP1 has interesting contents and he makes it even better by integrating some of the research themes and what we are learning. Some people complain about his speed but I personally found it totally fine. The midterm average was very low but it was a matter of time management than the problems, since most of them were variations of our psets. This is a required course for BME majors so if you are reading this review, I know you likely have no option. But overall, this course was my favorite this semester and it really wasn't that bad.

This course started out nightmarish, but eventually became rather interesting. This was not necessarily due to any fault of Prof. Costa, but just due to the nature of the first few chapters of the course; any professor would probably have difficulty making complex algebraic equation manipulations fun. By the middle of the semester, though, the material was of a more tangible sort, so was more interesting. Prof. Costa presented this latter material generally well - I didn't catch any awkwardness in his board manner (passable penmanship) or sense any resentment for having to teach this intro course. The course follows the textbook (which is copied and distributed in handouts), generally, with some deparatures. It's not a great book, but the later material is not too abtruse, so it's usable. Prof. Costa was generally punctual and organized during my semester, so I suppose that he improved since his first time around. The best characteristic about Prof. Costa, though, is his approachability; I felt very comfortable asking him questions about the material or the course. He offered two office hours each week, and had the TAs show up for three more each week, for a total of 5.

5 problem sets, lowest one dropped 1 midterm & 1 final

Lance Kam is an insanely nice guy. I asked for extensions on practically all of the homework assignments (I’ll get to that in a second) and he was extremely gracious. I will say it was hard getting to his lectures at 8:40 and his lecture style made it even harder. I hate saying this because he really is such a great guy but I felt like his lectures were useless and very sloppy. The content itself seemed mostly useless; I doubt most students will even remember what was covered unless it resurfaces again in later courses. Problem sets were pretty lengthy and definitely forced you to apply the concepts covered in lecture. Very application based. A lot of modeling etc. Word of advice: get started early. Go to office hours. That is key for this class. Where Lance Kam falls off the TAs pick up IMMENSELY. the TAs for this class are seriously AMAZING. They practically show you how to do the problems in OH and they also host review sessions. I wouldn’t have done well without them tbqh. I was able to read the lectures and PPTS on my own time and go to OHs and I did just fine. Although I do recommend going to lecture because there are specific things he emphasizes in class that come up in the exam.

Kam was a pretty bad lecturer, and going to lecture was pretty optional most of the time, everything is in the notes he posts. The problem sets sometimes are kinda hard, but TA's help a lot. The tests were very time intensive and time was the big factor. When given enough time everybody did pretty well, like the final. Pretty sure Kam downcurved the class so yeah,beware