PHYSICS 1A
Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Mechanics
Description: Lecture/demonstration, four hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisites: Mathematics 31A, 31B. Enforced corequisite: Mathematics 32A. Motion, Newton laws, work, energy, linear and angular momentum, rotation, equilibrium, gravitation. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
I took physics 1a with Buchanan for summer and I must say it was the best decision I've made so far! He was so nice and always did his best to explain things so that everyone understood. His midterms were completely reasonable. His final I admit was challenging. He asked questions that went beyond what we did in homework, but they were still do-able. I believe the median was around 56 but with the curve there were about 5 A's (30 people in the class). Overall 30% got As, almost 50% got Bs, 30% Cs, and then there were a couple Ds. One of the best classes I've taken at UCLA. If you get the chance definitely take him.
I took physics 1a with Buchanan for summer and I must say it was the best decision I've made so far! He was so nice and always did his best to explain things so that everyone understood. His midterms were completely reasonable. His final I admit was challenging. He asked questions that went beyond what we did in homework, but they were still do-able. I believe the median was around 56 but with the curve there were about 5 A's (30 people in the class). Overall 30% got As, almost 50% got Bs, 30% Cs, and then there were a couple Ds. One of the best classes I've taken at UCLA. If you get the chance definitely take him.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - I loved having Prof. Campbell for mechanical physics. He is a young guy that interacts very well with students. I thought he gave some good lectures, but you can expect to fall asleep a couple times in his class. Some people love that he gives massively curved tests (the average on the first midterm was a 37%) and others don't. He is generous with the curve though to make sure that people succeed and learn something in his class. Would definitely recommend him to anyone.
Winter 2016 - I loved having Prof. Campbell for mechanical physics. He is a young guy that interacts very well with students. I thought he gave some good lectures, but you can expect to fall asleep a couple times in his class. Some people love that he gives massively curved tests (the average on the first midterm was a 37%) and others don't. He is generous with the curve though to make sure that people succeed and learn something in his class. Would definitely recommend him to anyone.
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Fall 2021 - I wish to write this review in order to help those who will, must, or want to take Corbin's class in the future to know about the whole picture of this class, about Professor Corbin, and about his exams. Just a few words before I start: DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS if you want an easy A ge. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS if you are not that good at physics (no foundation, poor at physics, etc.). DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS if you are not good at math. Otherwise, you will SCREW you gpa. Just a kind reminder. - Grade Distribution: Five biweekly quizzes, each consists of a 30-point, 4-subpart questions. Every quiz is worth 12%, in total quizs worth 60% of your grade. Final Exam is worth 30% of your grade, which consists of five 30-point-quiz-like questions. Homework on Pearson is worth 10% of the final grade. Professor Corbin will replace your lowest quiz by your second lowest. - About Exams: Corbin's exams are absolutely DISASTERS. Those horrible quizzes, in general, have a mean grade around 58% and median around 61% out of 100%. Corbin never give simple questions like multiple choice or short answers. The worst thing is, not a single question has a number in it, which means every question he gives you'll have to deduct expressions with unknown quantities. Do the derivation and integration based on unknown quantities, which its difficulty is normally not suitable for a class like 1A. Final exam is worse, the mean grade is around 48% out of 100% (72 out of 150), median around 50%. If you are not that good at physics, you might find you cannot solve a single subpart of a question. Frankly speaking, Corbin's exams are so tough that your preparation through homework and lectures might be completely useless. For those who have to go with Corbin, I can only suggest you to go over his notes and lectures again and again, fully understand every single question on hws, go to office hours more often to figure out what you dont understand. Let me put in this way: Corbin's exams are designed for those top and genius science students or those with very very good physics foundation/very good at physics. His exams remind me of the day I was practicing for Physics Bowl and International Physics Olympiad Comp, that's how it is, somehow as as difficult as those comptition-kind questions. For those who have options other than Corbin, do it anyway. - About Lectures: Professor Corbin may be one of the best lecturers I've ever met at UCLA. His class is well organized and super clear. Detailed explanations and demonstrations on the questions and contents are very straightfoward, so even if you have no physics basics, you can definitely follow his steps and learn some physics in class (Well, his exam is another story). Besides, his class is also very interesting and intriguing. You wont fell boring during his class, and I can assure you that you can absolutely learn something here. And Professor Corbin is a very nice and professional instructor. - About the Curve: As far as I know, Corbin's curve is QUITE NICE. For those who can score a couple of points higher than the median every time, you have a guaranteed A. Here's our educated guess based on our grades and information: Getting Around 70%-75% out of 100% in the final grade, you have a very high possiblity to get an A (my friend got 78/100 = A in the total final grade), Above 80% is a guaranteed A (I got 80.6/100 = A, and everyone I know above 80 is an A through out the entire academic year). Overall, around 30 to 40 percent of the entire class can get an A, so the A rate is not that low. Do not panic if your score seems to be low on an absolute scale. ALWAYS COMPARE WITH STATISTICS PROVIDED. As long as you score above the mean, you will be fine. If you score above the median, you did pretty well and dont need to worry at all. If you score one standard deviation above the mean, then you are awesome and in the A range. - In general, if you are not that confident with your physics/math, or if you want an easy A ge, or if you want to get a good grade and gpa, AVOID THIS CLASS AT ANY COST. If you are stuck with him and dont have any other options, I would say follow his lectures and notes, spend lots lots of time studying physics, get some practice on the internet, and go to his office hours to ask questions, and I hope that every of you can get the grade you want. Good Luck to the future generations!
Fall 2021 - I wish to write this review in order to help those who will, must, or want to take Corbin's class in the future to know about the whole picture of this class, about Professor Corbin, and about his exams. Just a few words before I start: DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS if you want an easy A ge. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS if you are not that good at physics (no foundation, poor at physics, etc.). DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS if you are not good at math. Otherwise, you will SCREW you gpa. Just a kind reminder. - Grade Distribution: Five biweekly quizzes, each consists of a 30-point, 4-subpart questions. Every quiz is worth 12%, in total quizs worth 60% of your grade. Final Exam is worth 30% of your grade, which consists of five 30-point-quiz-like questions. Homework on Pearson is worth 10% of the final grade. Professor Corbin will replace your lowest quiz by your second lowest. - About Exams: Corbin's exams are absolutely DISASTERS. Those horrible quizzes, in general, have a mean grade around 58% and median around 61% out of 100%. Corbin never give simple questions like multiple choice or short answers. The worst thing is, not a single question has a number in it, which means every question he gives you'll have to deduct expressions with unknown quantities. Do the derivation and integration based on unknown quantities, which its difficulty is normally not suitable for a class like 1A. Final exam is worse, the mean grade is around 48% out of 100% (72 out of 150), median around 50%. If you are not that good at physics, you might find you cannot solve a single subpart of a question. Frankly speaking, Corbin's exams are so tough that your preparation through homework and lectures might be completely useless. For those who have to go with Corbin, I can only suggest you to go over his notes and lectures again and again, fully understand every single question on hws, go to office hours more often to figure out what you dont understand. Let me put in this way: Corbin's exams are designed for those top and genius science students or those with very very good physics foundation/very good at physics. His exams remind me of the day I was practicing for Physics Bowl and International Physics Olympiad Comp, that's how it is, somehow as as difficult as those comptition-kind questions. For those who have options other than Corbin, do it anyway. - About Lectures: Professor Corbin may be one of the best lecturers I've ever met at UCLA. His class is well organized and super clear. Detailed explanations and demonstrations on the questions and contents are very straightfoward, so even if you have no physics basics, you can definitely follow his steps and learn some physics in class (Well, his exam is another story). Besides, his class is also very interesting and intriguing. You wont fell boring during his class, and I can assure you that you can absolutely learn something here. And Professor Corbin is a very nice and professional instructor. - About the Curve: As far as I know, Corbin's curve is QUITE NICE. For those who can score a couple of points higher than the median every time, you have a guaranteed A. Here's our educated guess based on our grades and information: Getting Around 70%-75% out of 100% in the final grade, you have a very high possiblity to get an A (my friend got 78/100 = A in the total final grade), Above 80% is a guaranteed A (I got 80.6/100 = A, and everyone I know above 80 is an A through out the entire academic year). Overall, around 30 to 40 percent of the entire class can get an A, so the A rate is not that low. Do not panic if your score seems to be low on an absolute scale. ALWAYS COMPARE WITH STATISTICS PROVIDED. As long as you score above the mean, you will be fine. If you score above the median, you did pretty well and dont need to worry at all. If you score one standard deviation above the mean, then you are awesome and in the A range. - In general, if you are not that confident with your physics/math, or if you want an easy A ge, or if you want to get a good grade and gpa, AVOID THIS CLASS AT ANY COST. If you are stuck with him and dont have any other options, I would say follow his lectures and notes, spend lots lots of time studying physics, get some practice on the internet, and go to his office hours to ask questions, and I hope that every of you can get the grade you want. Good Luck to the future generations!
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - LMAOOOOOOOOO DONT DO IT 💀💀💀 Like all of the other reviews from Spring 22, unless you know physics already from high school, DO NOT take it with Freiman 😠I literally went to FOUR lectures before I decided that I was losing more brain cells trying to understand what he was talking about. No, I did not watch the lectures later either because they are so bad. If you have to take this, I recommend just reading the textbook (NOT Kudu, the actual textbook) and doing Khan Academy practice/videos. Kudu is probably the worst invention ever. At one point, it literally said something along the lines of "we're not going to show the calculation, just trust us." BRO?? And the practice problems were ABSURDLY complicated too. The only good side of this course was the TA, he literally taught so much better during discussion in just 10-15 minutes. But unfortunately, the discussion was like 4-5 weeks behind lecture so idk. The exams were easy to be honest, very conceptual, but like in a good way. The questions were much, much easier than any of the practice problems in class, Kudu, and discussion. They were similar to Khan Academy practice problems (ratios etc.). Now, how did I get an A? To be honest, I don't know and I don't want to ask. I literally got a D in both midterms, missed some of the Kudu sections (graded on completion), missed points on discussion worksheets, and didn't even do all the extra credit labs. If you've taken AP physics in high school or you're SURE that you're solid on mechanics, then this class will be easy for you, but otherwise AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
Spring 2022 - LMAOOOOOOOOO DONT DO IT 💀💀💀 Like all of the other reviews from Spring 22, unless you know physics already from high school, DO NOT take it with Freiman 😠I literally went to FOUR lectures before I decided that I was losing more brain cells trying to understand what he was talking about. No, I did not watch the lectures later either because they are so bad. If you have to take this, I recommend just reading the textbook (NOT Kudu, the actual textbook) and doing Khan Academy practice/videos. Kudu is probably the worst invention ever. At one point, it literally said something along the lines of "we're not going to show the calculation, just trust us." BRO?? And the practice problems were ABSURDLY complicated too. The only good side of this course was the TA, he literally taught so much better during discussion in just 10-15 minutes. But unfortunately, the discussion was like 4-5 weeks behind lecture so idk. The exams were easy to be honest, very conceptual, but like in a good way. The questions were much, much easier than any of the practice problems in class, Kudu, and discussion. They were similar to Khan Academy practice problems (ratios etc.). Now, how did I get an A? To be honest, I don't know and I don't want to ask. I literally got a D in both midterms, missed some of the Kudu sections (graded on completion), missed points on discussion worksheets, and didn't even do all the extra credit labs. If you've taken AP physics in high school or you're SURE that you're solid on mechanics, then this class will be easy for you, but otherwise AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
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Professor Fronsdal, unless you feel pretty confident about physics in general, is a very difficult teacher in that his lectures are not very helpful. You would think the examples he goes over in lecture would help but you soon realize there is no real purpose in showing up cause the problems on the test are way different. He tries to be fair and he does care (there is no doubt). But because hes not very good at explaining things--its gonna be harder for you. Overall, hes like any physics teacher--not very good. So you would think it should be easy to handle. The problem is that both his TA's are horrible. One takes forever in solving a problem and the other is practically apathetic to getting the message across. This made the class harder than it should have been. The only good thing is that his midterms are 10% each and HW is 30%. Just watch out for the final--thats the main factor in your final grade. The only advice I got if you're taking him for a lower div, get a lot of friends who are good in teaching physics.
Professor Fronsdal, unless you feel pretty confident about physics in general, is a very difficult teacher in that his lectures are not very helpful. You would think the examples he goes over in lecture would help but you soon realize there is no real purpose in showing up cause the problems on the test are way different. He tries to be fair and he does care (there is no doubt). But because hes not very good at explaining things--its gonna be harder for you. Overall, hes like any physics teacher--not very good. So you would think it should be easy to handle. The problem is that both his TA's are horrible. One takes forever in solving a problem and the other is practically apathetic to getting the message across. This made the class harder than it should have been. The only good thing is that his midterms are 10% each and HW is 30%. Just watch out for the final--thats the main factor in your final grade. The only advice I got if you're taking him for a lower div, get a lot of friends who are good in teaching physics.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Gekelman is a nice person and a fair lecturer. If you pay attention in class, there is no way you will not get an A for his class. A very fair grader with optional homework (this helps people like me a lot), he curves generously. Overall, a pretty good professor. On a scale of whether I'll recommend him to a friend, definitely!
Professor Gekelman is a nice person and a fair lecturer. If you pay attention in class, there is no way you will not get an A for his class. A very fair grader with optional homework (this helps people like me a lot), he curves generously. Overall, a pretty good professor. On a scale of whether I'll recommend him to a friend, definitely!
Most Helpful Review
I took 1A with Gelmini last spring quarter. I really like her since she is really funny during class with her accent(but you can understand what she is talking about). But her homework can be a pain in the ass since it takes you a lot of time but almost worth nothing (10%), both of her midterms are ridiculously easy and the curve is really high. That is to say, her final is quite challenging so make sure you really understand the materials. Overall, I would recommen this professor.
I took 1A with Gelmini last spring quarter. I really like her since she is really funny during class with her accent(but you can understand what she is talking about). But her homework can be a pain in the ass since it takes you a lot of time but almost worth nothing (10%), both of her midterms are ridiculously easy and the curve is really high. That is to say, her final is quite challenging so make sure you really understand the materials. Overall, I would recommen this professor.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - So I got a B- in this class but I don't think it's an accurate representation of this professor's teaching ability. It's my own fault that I didn't do so well, because I got embarrassingly behind in lecture (online but recorded) and it just snowballed from there. I also have zero physics background, while a lot of people in this class have taken physics/ AP physics in high school, and so this was a lot of review for them. For reference, I did rather poorly on the final, but the mean was an 88, so do with that what you will. In terms of teaching style and personality, Gutperle is a very kind and approachable professor, and he has fun while teaching. He's really funny and tries to make things interesting for students. Each lecture, he gives us an 8-minute break during which he plays music and answers questions in the chat. His lectures are a little disorganized, and so it can be hard to follow sometimes, so I found that reading the weekly readings were key to doing well. There are 2 midterms and a final, which are around 12 questions each which 3 tries per question. 35% of the exam grade is correctness (through this thing called kudu) and 65% is your work which you submit through Gradescope. Overall, Gutperle is a great guy, and it's very possible to do well in his class, but you have to stay on track and do the weekly homework and readings. (Having a background in physics certainly helps, although you don't need it).
Spring 2021 - So I got a B- in this class but I don't think it's an accurate representation of this professor's teaching ability. It's my own fault that I didn't do so well, because I got embarrassingly behind in lecture (online but recorded) and it just snowballed from there. I also have zero physics background, while a lot of people in this class have taken physics/ AP physics in high school, and so this was a lot of review for them. For reference, I did rather poorly on the final, but the mean was an 88, so do with that what you will. In terms of teaching style and personality, Gutperle is a very kind and approachable professor, and he has fun while teaching. He's really funny and tries to make things interesting for students. Each lecture, he gives us an 8-minute break during which he plays music and answers questions in the chat. His lectures are a little disorganized, and so it can be hard to follow sometimes, so I found that reading the weekly readings were key to doing well. There are 2 midterms and a final, which are around 12 questions each which 3 tries per question. 35% of the exam grade is correctness (through this thing called kudu) and 65% is your work which you submit through Gradescope. Overall, Gutperle is a great guy, and it's very possible to do well in his class, but you have to stay on track and do the weekly homework and readings. (Having a background in physics certainly helps, although you don't need it).
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