Nam Le

You will learn a lot in this course, and Nam is an great lecturer on par with most humanities departments. He likes to use colorful metaphors and write out everything in the form of a question and answer, so the pacing is better than most calc classes. There are review sessions in class before each of the midterms, and if you're good with the textbook, these are really the only classes you need to attend. The exams are too long for someone who's never taken multivariable calc to reasonably complete in time, even if you show up early, so there is a curve. Unfortunately, because of these aforementioned people, the curve is very harsh, and I got a B even being half to one standard deviation above the mean. He gives a distribution of grades after every midterm, and there were a ton toward the top scoring 95-100. The few people at the bottom leave after the first midterm. The review where someone said this was a good class for econ majors is true to some extent - it's not overly abstract, and there are plenty of computations. The explanations are also very clear and come up in later classes. However, the exams have relatively difficult proofs which are pretty useless for microecon and beyond, but I'd imagine they're useful training for higher math. I would recommend Hom or Anand if you're GPA-hunting, but Nam is better for learning and truly understanding the concepts. Overall, a s…

Nam Le is funny, sensitive, and really cares about what his students are getting out of the class. He moves quickly, but he makes sure that the class always understands concepts before moving on. Open to questions, extremely available and friendly at office hours, and good at explaining concepts, he is worth choosing as a Calc. professor. Also, he starts almost every class with a math joke or funny story.

Pretty fair course overall. He taught pretty clearly in terms of concepts. He included some cute tidbits related to the topic of the day into the lecture. A lot of people had trouble with his accent. I rather had some trouble hearing him because his voice just doesn't project too well so I recommend sitting in the front and I didn't really have a problem with his accent. Take good notes of the examples in class because the proofs on the tests can be pretty tricky and I realize a quite a few were from class. Speaking of proofs, there are simple ways to do it but that was really the part where I had a lot of trouble. Homework: Problems were medium to difficult but nothing you can't do with the help of a friend or two. He also sent reminder emails which was helpful when you get thrown off schedule with breaks and such. Exams: He actually has review sessions before each test and gives you an outline of the things to be tested and review problems that you should most definitely do before the test. big plus in my book. In terms of the actual exams I thought they were medium to difficult, the final being the hardest of them all. A bit more proof heavy than I'm used to so it's best to really review the practice test he puts up. Over all really fair course of Calc III that I can't complain about.

Professor Le is one of the sweetest prof i know at Columbia. He really tries his hardest to make his students get everything, and in the exam he doesn't waste time and energy by making us do impossible calculations. He tests the main idea and concepts with relatively easy functions to solve. His class is funny because he tries to keep it lively by cracking jokes. Although he has a strong accent, you can understand everything easily. Plus he writes what he teaches on the board systematically so note taking gets easier. I would highly recommend him for Calc 1. He is a really nice man, and because he is so prepared for what he wants to cover in each lecture, on most days he leaves us about 5 minutes early. He gladly answers questions and doubts in class. He also gives u sample midterms to practice before the actual midterm, and his midterms are based on the samples.

prof Nam Le is being very clear the whole time (his favorite question is "is it clear about this?"). and straight-forward about what to expect on exams. Many exam questions are related to the examples he went over in class or homework. He writes comprehensive and clear notes on the board (but sometimes might be difficult to see from the back, so if you don't have good eyesight, sit in the front) In terms of difficulty, I don't know how to describe it since I have no idea of the student body. But my impression is there is a pretty even spread of the grades (prof Le posted all possible grades for every exam). E.g. The average of our final is 55. There seems to be about equal number of people in all ranges, except at the two ends (90s or 20s/10s). He doesn't require using webassign, which is a money saver for me. In terms of theory/calculation balance, as he said, if you only want theory/proofs, you should go to an honor class. This class is more calculation based, but with a good balance of theory and calculation, in my view. About his accent: here are the two rules 1) he tends to under-pronounce s and/or the ending consonant. e.g he will say "use" like "u" , or "describe" like "decribe". 2) sometimes he mixes f with p, which is common among many other foreign speakers. Once you get the two rules, you should be able to understand him pretty easily, since there are not many vocab…

Professor Le is a wonderful professor. His exams are fair and reasonable. In the first exam, I was a bit thrown off by the last two proof and abstract questions. He usually gives 5,6 questions with 2-4 sub-questions with one difficult bonus problem that counts about 20% extra. Second exam was a lot harder with with another pair of proof /applied abstract questions that were unfamiliar to us (only few students got them right). As long as you do the homework and read notes, it shouldn't be too hard to get an A even though you miss the last two hard questions. He let us bring 4pgs of notes during the test that allowed me to study the materials while I was drafting notes although I never got to use it. Exams are more straight forward and less complicated (except proofs) compared to other professors'. Professor Le is very accommodating and friendly. I highly recommend his class.

This class was very enjoyable overall. His lectures become dry after a while but he goes over important stuff not covered in the textbook. To do very well on his exams you need to go to his class or get very good notes because he tells you which problem is final or midterm material when he goes over them in class. Only tricky thing though is that he doesn't do difficult proofs in class but they do show up in the midterms and finals. His exams are also very long and will probability take up the full time. Overall, very funny and knowledgeable guy. 10/10 would take a course taught by him again!

A really nice guy. Very understanding and knows what his class needs. He is a good teacher, bit of a tough accent, and tries really hard to be funny, which is funny in itself. I enjoyed the class.

Nam Le was a good calc teacher. He's not as amazing as some of the reviews say, but he certainly is good. I feel like I learned calc in his class, but I also feel like it's the kind of class that you could do on your own. His tests are fair - pretty much re-writes of the review problems. The proofs can be a bit tricky, but only the ones on the final were hard. The final was harder than the midterms, which were really fair. It was still doable, though. He has a great curve; I think he curves to a B+. You can't go wrong taking this class, but you also won't be inspired (then again, it is Calc III).

Nam Le's a great professor! Yes, his accent is a bit difficult to understand at first, but you get used to it. His class notes are really good, and a lot of the stuff that appears on the midterms and final is similar to the examples he does in class. That said, you don't really need to go to class, and you'll be okay, as long as you do the homework. Also, he is one of the few Calc III professors that allows you to bring cheat sheets for the midterm and final. The curve is generous too, with about half the class getting A- and above.