I had to study a lot for this class. If you're choosing to take it be prepared for a lot of work. Lectures are not that helpful, discussions are even worse. The book is going to prove your best friend when trying to do a lot of the online homework and learn the material. Midterms are not as hard as one might think though. Abdesselam spends too much time in class on proofs (which never come up) and not enough time on examples, in my opinion. Glad I took this class, but not too stoked about it

Don't take this class unless you're super interested in math. Abdesselam is not a good teacher and his tests are nothing like homework or quizzes. He doesn't explain things well and isn't good at answering questions- he's kind of awkward and just doesn't know what to do when people don't understand what he's talking about

The lecture itself can be very boring, but it is very straightforward class. The homework and quizzes are not difficult and exams are fairly easy if you do the homework and go to the discussion. Prof. Abdesselam is kind of awkward and spends too much of his lecture time on proofs. You don't necessarily have to go to lecture, but it does help to get a feel of how the exam problems will be worded.