Bohan Fang

weekly problem sets, 2 midterms, 1 final

8 problem sets that are graded fairly easy first midterm harder but fair second midterm easy/fair final

bohan fang is a nice guy, and he will always try to help if you approach him. also, the class is quite easy because he gives practice midterms that are exactly like the actual midterms, and if you know the practice midterms, midterms, and practice final very well, you'll have no problem on the final exam. that being said, professor fang is one of the worst teachers i've ever had. i say this with no exaggeration or spite, but rather to offer my honest advice: do not attend the lecture, it will certainly hurt your comprehension of the subject. read the book on your own, watch MIT opencourseware lectures, find tutors in the math help room, but whatever you do, DO NOT ATTEND THE LECTURES. you will not be able to understand a word he says, his notes are disorganized, his chalkboard handwriting is dismal, and he provides no narrative whatsoever (not even simple motivations). he also expects you to know certain things that you may or may not know, and if you don't know those things going into the lecture then the steps he takes in examples and proofs will make no sense. what's worse, he doesn't say what he's expecting you to know, or even allude to the blanks you're supposed to be filling in on your own, so if you don't recognize where it is that you're missing a critical step, then the notes will be depressingly confusing. just stay away from the lecture room until exam time, work h…

I enjoyed this section because I love calculus, and I thought it was easy because Bohan tends to curve a lot. You don't even have to go to class! Just read the textbook and do practice problems. His accent is hard to understand, and the lecture notes you copy down from the board won't make sense to you later, so going to class is unnecessary. You would be lucky to get in his section, unless you like going to calculus class. I got an A so I was obviously excited about the class considering the amount of effort I put in.

Simple, short homework due weekly. Midterms were rough. Final was impossible.

His lectures are awful (he always looks at the ground, can't understand a word that he's saying) and you will learn nothing from them, but thats okay because this class is easy as fuck. He often repeated questions from practice midterms on exams - like with the same numbers and everything. Do the practice midterms and you will be golden. Weekly problem sets with some dumb problems but what do you expect its a math class. Shoutout to TA Oren who promptly answered my questions via email.

I was incredibly disappointed with this class. Mr. Fang's English is terrible. I was unable to understand him the entire semester. It is hard for me to believe he is an instructor at all, much less at an Ivy League school. I have grown accustomed to the typical math instructor at Columbia, by which I mean the tendency here is to have instructors who can't teach very well. Mr. Fang goes several steps beyond the typical socially uncomfortable professor. He is disengaged and unhelpful. Take this class only if you need no verbal component to classroom instruction, because you will not get it.

Weekly problem sets. A joke of a first midterm (almost every got close to 100%), much more difficult second midterm (I didn't do too well), and fair/easy final. Also there are bonus questions (usually proofs) on every exam that give you extra credit, but they are difficult imo.

I disagree with the previous reviewer in that Calc III is still a bit tricky if you're not amazing at math like so many here are, but I do concede that Fang is probably the easiest Calc III professor at Columbia. He is quiet and does have an accent, but his accent is completely understandable; he also stutters often. He may not show it, but he really does care about his students/teaching. I went to every class, but most didn't bother to show up (which was probably smart). I didn't read the book till before each exam (oops) and Fang basically just writes down everything that was in the book. That's basically every lecture. If you ask a non-stupid question though... don't bother because his answers will mostly be crap/repeat since he doesn't seem to fully understand what is being asked. He's very clear about what will be on the exams and what will not, though he doesn't like people asking about the grading/curves. Also, he'll tell you how difficult the exam will be compared to the practice exams that he posts-- usually they're about the same difficulty. Overall very fair professor, and easy course.