PHYSICS 115A
Quantum Mechanics
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisites: courses 17, 32, 105A. Classical background. Basic ideas of quantum nature of light, wave-particle duality, Heisenberg uncertainty principle, Schrödinger equation. One-dimensional square well and harmonic oscillator problems. One-dimensional scattering, Formal theory, Hilbert spaces, and Dirac notation. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
This professor is not a very effective teacher. He is not difficult, but he does not present the material in a clear manner. I would recommend other physics majors to look elsewhere if they really want to learn the subject. Regarding lectures, they were all right, but they did not elaborate on the book and did not clarify the difficulties of the material. The homeworks were assigned every week, but they were medium difficulty. The exams: formulas were given, but sometimes there was just not enough time to finish everything (5~10 extra minutes would have been very useful).
This professor is not a very effective teacher. He is not difficult, but he does not present the material in a clear manner. I would recommend other physics majors to look elsewhere if they really want to learn the subject. Regarding lectures, they were all right, but they did not elaborate on the book and did not clarify the difficulties of the material. The homeworks were assigned every week, but they were medium difficulty. The exams: formulas were given, but sometimes there was just not enough time to finish everything (5~10 extra minutes would have been very useful).
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2019 - He was a very good lecturer and cared about his students. I felt his two midterms were very straightforward (drops the lowest one) but his final was a little tricky. The last few weeks were a little rushed. That said, he was a very good teacher and was helpful during office hours and I would recommend him.
Spring 2019 - He was a very good lecturer and cared about his students. I felt his two midterms were very straightforward (drops the lowest one) but his final was a little tricky. The last few weeks were a little rushed. That said, he was a very good teacher and was helpful during office hours and I would recommend him.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - Pros: Professor is nice, she follows the Griffiths book closely and tightly, so you feel secure about what you learnt. She has all materials pre-posted, notes (handwritten)/lecture videos. Plus the book, you know where to find answers for things. Cons: She finishes all the content exactly the class before the final. You get homework during Thanksgiving and before finals week, on new content. Also, there's 4 in-class quizzes (one cancelled due to the strike) and a midterm. Overlapped with other classes, you get no week of break and constantly have to deal with it. Quizzes are fine though, they are just simplified HW problems, with integrals and formulas provided. It's just the class is constantly on you and stressing you. You probably have to pick between her and Regan and I think it's 50/50. Regan throws lots of stuff at you without notes/context, but you'll be delighted. This is a normal book-following class, not as exciting, but you won't feel imposter syndrome and study at YRL until 6. Workload is 50/50.
Fall 2022 - Pros: Professor is nice, she follows the Griffiths book closely and tightly, so you feel secure about what you learnt. She has all materials pre-posted, notes (handwritten)/lecture videos. Plus the book, you know where to find answers for things. Cons: She finishes all the content exactly the class before the final. You get homework during Thanksgiving and before finals week, on new content. Also, there's 4 in-class quizzes (one cancelled due to the strike) and a midterm. Overlapped with other classes, you get no week of break and constantly have to deal with it. Quizzes are fine though, they are just simplified HW problems, with integrals and formulas provided. It's just the class is constantly on you and stressing you. You probably have to pick between her and Regan and I think it's 50/50. Regan throws lots of stuff at you without notes/context, but you'll be delighted. This is a normal book-following class, not as exciting, but you won't feel imposter syndrome and study at YRL until 6. Workload is 50/50.
Most Helpful Review
The lectures covered everything up to chapter 3 and some other stuff putterman thought was important. However, both midterms and the final could be ACED if you had just focused on chapter 2 alone... and that's 80% of the entire grade. For 115a, make sure you know everything about chapter 2 in griffith's intro to quant mech, try to do every problem in the chapter. Putterman's tests are tricky, and the math involved always look overly complicated at first; he expect you to apply the fundamentals and simplify the problems.
The lectures covered everything up to chapter 3 and some other stuff putterman thought was important. However, both midterms and the final could be ACED if you had just focused on chapter 2 alone... and that's 80% of the entire grade. For 115a, make sure you know everything about chapter 2 in griffith's intro to quant mech, try to do every problem in the chapter. Putterman's tests are tricky, and the math involved always look overly complicated at first; he expect you to apply the fundamentals and simplify the problems.
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