Teaching Assistants (short TAs) play a fundamental role in teaching at UCLA. In general, among other responsibilities, TAs lead discussion sections, hold office hours, help proctor and grade examinations, and, for advanced courses, grade homework. TAs work closely with instructors and provide them feedback on the course. A TA's workload may vary somewhat from quarter to quarter according to the nature of the courses and the work requested by the instructor. Conscientious teaching, good student evaluations, and satisfactory degree progress are necessary for renewals of TAships.

All graduate students who want to TA at UCLA are required to participate in university and departmental TA Training Programs no later than the first quarter in which any TA work is done. In the department of mathematics both programs are offered only in the fall quarter. Therefor they must be taken in the fall of any year in which a graduate students is going to be given TA work. Departmental TA Training requires attendance at a two-day training session prior to the beginning of Fall quarter and participation and enrollment in Math 495, which meets weekly during the Fall. Students who have prior experience TAing at other universities are not exempted from this requirement. Students should consult the Graduate Advisor to sign up for departmental training.

Non-native English speaking international students must pass the UCLA TOP Exam to be eligible to TA. A student who gets a score of 7.1 or better on the TOP has completed all requirements and may TA. A student who gets a score in the interval [6.4, 7.0] may TA but is required to take an approved ESL course either before or during the first quarter of TA-ing. Training for the UCLA TOP Exam will be organized concurrently with the bootcamp by the Academic Administrator, Olga Radko.