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
ok .... i took AP Physics in high school and got a 5.. breezed through that class and exam.. Villasante somehow.. made this class unbelievably difficult.. the exam questions are so hard it is ridiculous.. the homework problems and examples he gives in class do not reflect his exam questions.. the first midterm average was in the 30's % taking this class i expected an A.. B+ at the worse.. he expects us to solve complex problems when he lectures to us just the basic concepts.. not taking anything away from him.. he is a great professor, but his problem is that he gets really boring and u start to fall asleep... besides that, he puts his random definitions on the board that make sense only half of the time.. i ended up with a B- in this class.. i am very upset that i didnt read this before i took him.. do NOT take this Villasante, his exams are way too difficult. Even with a good physics background i struggled to get anything right on his exams.. the class discussions are pointless.. dont bother cuz they're instructed to "guide" students to the solution.. yeah like that works...
ok .... i took AP Physics in high school and got a 5.. breezed through that class and exam.. Villasante somehow.. made this class unbelievably difficult.. the exam questions are so hard it is ridiculous.. the homework problems and examples he gives in class do not reflect his exam questions.. the first midterm average was in the 30's % taking this class i expected an A.. B+ at the worse.. he expects us to solve complex problems when he lectures to us just the basic concepts.. not taking anything away from him.. he is a great professor, but his problem is that he gets really boring and u start to fall asleep... besides that, he puts his random definitions on the board that make sense only half of the time.. i ended up with a B- in this class.. i am very upset that i didnt read this before i took him.. do NOT take this Villasante, his exams are way too difficult. Even with a good physics background i struggled to get anything right on his exams.. the class discussions are pointless.. dont bother cuz they're instructed to "guide" students to the solution.. yeah like that works...
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Most Helpful Review
I had Prof Wang for 1A this fall, and overall it was a good experience. Wang is sometimes not the most clear at explaining the concepts, but that is because his main focus is on research and he doesn't teach at the lower level too frequently. That being said he is one of the most caring professors I have had. I went to most of his office hours and he had 2 hours of OH 2x a week, which is a lot more than most professors, and he was extremely helpful in office hours, as well as an overall funny guy to talk to. I would reccomend him to students willing to go to OH and put in the work.
I had Prof Wang for 1A this fall, and overall it was a good experience. Wang is sometimes not the most clear at explaining the concepts, but that is because his main focus is on research and he doesn't teach at the lower level too frequently. That being said he is one of the most caring professors I have had. I went to most of his office hours and he had 2 hours of OH 2x a week, which is a lot more than most professors, and he was extremely helpful in office hours, as well as an overall funny guy to talk to. I would reccomend him to students willing to go to OH and put in the work.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - Overall a lot of the reviews from this first quarter have been impacted by both the traumatic and chaotic circumstances the class was taken under, and the responses from professor West. To those reading reviews from the same time period take both sides with a pinch of salt, as no side is entirely right or wrong. Both the student body and the professor could have been more effective and considerate with their responses. As such I will spend my review explaining both sides and hopefully providing insight into how one should consider the potential taking of a class with Professor West. 1.) Professor - Overall her teaching style is perfectly fine, with plenty of supplementary examples and a strong emphasis on understanding how and why given equations work the way they do. All of this works towards furthering the classes understanding of the underlying principals of physics through the learning of real world examples and logical reasoning. Furthermore, she is a nice and approachable person so there are no direct barriers to asking for help; in the online setting she periodically stops to answer questions and attempts to clarify the less direct points of learning. All that being said from this standpoint she is also a new professor, and as such has plenty of areas to focus on improvement. While I personally may not agree with the approach she took with regard to providing accommodations for those negatively impacted by the rioting and protests over the events surrounding George Floyd, she did have solid reasoning for what she did. However, much of the breakdown and frustration over the response came due to the use of impartial language in its delivery, as well as the reckless declaration of standpoints on a student's role in a university and as a person. It was clear that personal beliefs impacted her decision making, something I believe should be kept separate from the classroom setting. In addition, the tests provided were exceptionally difficult without a sufficient curve to back up one's proportional learning among the class (i.e. a score of 56% was left as raw for grading purposes despite that being the median score - something generally warranting a 70-80% in other classes). Finally, her use of a 50/50 split between AB grades and CDF grades is highly unorthodox, and potentially offers little to no benefit for those taking her class. Personally, I believe the implementation of a standardized z-score curve about a B or B+, a more traditional approach, would be more equitable and effectively reward students for their hard work (as it more accurately and fairly demonstrates one's placement within the class). 2.) Students - As mentioned before and is evident by the less than impartial reviews, a significant portion of the class was left dissatisfied with the professor's response to the disastrous circumstances of 2020 Spring Quarter, particularly with the style of the final exam. Much of the distaste surrounding the topic was due to the inequitable implementation of recommendations from the Academic Senate and Physics Department, both of which strongly recommended the use of a "No-Harm" final where it could not negatively impact your score. West's rejection of that recommendation, instead choosing to simply fluctuate the weighting of the final exam left many to object — especially given the fact that other 1A and 1B courses chose the No-Harm route. While the pursuit for accommodations on a similar scale was not unjustified, the emotional response, choosing to bash the professor was uncalled for. She clearly cared about the well-being of the class, its just her words were not always well-reflected by her actions. Claims of support while providing minimal ease or accommodations left plenty to lash out emotionally, resulting in her being called heartless, detached, unsympathetic etc. Overall, take this however you will, personally I see no issue with her teaching style and she does a decent job at teaching. Just hope some things will be sorted out in the future (and honestly do sorta regret being a test subject, but what can you do).
Spring 2020 - Overall a lot of the reviews from this first quarter have been impacted by both the traumatic and chaotic circumstances the class was taken under, and the responses from professor West. To those reading reviews from the same time period take both sides with a pinch of salt, as no side is entirely right or wrong. Both the student body and the professor could have been more effective and considerate with their responses. As such I will spend my review explaining both sides and hopefully providing insight into how one should consider the potential taking of a class with Professor West. 1.) Professor - Overall her teaching style is perfectly fine, with plenty of supplementary examples and a strong emphasis on understanding how and why given equations work the way they do. All of this works towards furthering the classes understanding of the underlying principals of physics through the learning of real world examples and logical reasoning. Furthermore, she is a nice and approachable person so there are no direct barriers to asking for help; in the online setting she periodically stops to answer questions and attempts to clarify the less direct points of learning. All that being said from this standpoint she is also a new professor, and as such has plenty of areas to focus on improvement. While I personally may not agree with the approach she took with regard to providing accommodations for those negatively impacted by the rioting and protests over the events surrounding George Floyd, she did have solid reasoning for what she did. However, much of the breakdown and frustration over the response came due to the use of impartial language in its delivery, as well as the reckless declaration of standpoints on a student's role in a university and as a person. It was clear that personal beliefs impacted her decision making, something I believe should be kept separate from the classroom setting. In addition, the tests provided were exceptionally difficult without a sufficient curve to back up one's proportional learning among the class (i.e. a score of 56% was left as raw for grading purposes despite that being the median score - something generally warranting a 70-80% in other classes). Finally, her use of a 50/50 split between AB grades and CDF grades is highly unorthodox, and potentially offers little to no benefit for those taking her class. Personally, I believe the implementation of a standardized z-score curve about a B or B+, a more traditional approach, would be more equitable and effectively reward students for their hard work (as it more accurately and fairly demonstrates one's placement within the class). 2.) Students - As mentioned before and is evident by the less than impartial reviews, a significant portion of the class was left dissatisfied with the professor's response to the disastrous circumstances of 2020 Spring Quarter, particularly with the style of the final exam. Much of the distaste surrounding the topic was due to the inequitable implementation of recommendations from the Academic Senate and Physics Department, both of which strongly recommended the use of a "No-Harm" final where it could not negatively impact your score. West's rejection of that recommendation, instead choosing to simply fluctuate the weighting of the final exam left many to object — especially given the fact that other 1A and 1B courses chose the No-Harm route. While the pursuit for accommodations on a similar scale was not unjustified, the emotional response, choosing to bash the professor was uncalled for. She clearly cared about the well-being of the class, its just her words were not always well-reflected by her actions. Claims of support while providing minimal ease or accommodations left plenty to lash out emotionally, resulting in her being called heartless, detached, unsympathetic etc. Overall, take this however you will, personally I see no issue with her teaching style and she does a decent job at teaching. Just hope some things will be sorted out in the future (and honestly do sorta regret being a test subject, but what can you do).
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Okay so basically... Zocchi is really bad and I would not recommend taking his class, even coming from someone who received an A for the work this quarter. Personal grudge first, then the technical stuff later: Zocchi quickly fell behind in the material early in the quarter, and instead of cutting the irrelevant content (of which there was a fair amount), he held a class twice the length of a regular one, ON A HOLIDAY! There was no class allowed by UCLA on Presidents' Day, and instead, Zocchi assigned twice the classwork because he failed to cover the relevant content in a timely manner. Zocchi is a very unclear lecturer who will just run through practice problems for the entirety of the class, without stopping/slowing down to explain why or how things work with physics. The first week made sense and saw about 180 people attending each lecture. Fast forward through the quarter, and you'll see that 39 students, of the total 188 enrolled, dropped the class. Even though 149 people were still technically enrolled, I never saw more than 40 people in the Zoom call by the second half of the quarter. This is because of a class plan that I would also recommend: If you HAVE to take Zocchi, don't waste your time attending his lectures, but use the time instead to read the textbook equivalent of whatever the lecture's title is (he lists their titles on the syllabus) or work through the content he has listed for each exam. Zocchi is also just a bit rude and inconsiderate. His frustration with questions grew throughout the quarter, and his reactions were less like a teacher answering questions and more like a Twitch streamer yelling at his chat for not understanding things that take time to learn. The structure of the class is very simple and reasonable, which was the saving grace of this class (and the only thing that made Zocchi still preferable to Corbin): 20% is completion-based homework assigned on Mastering Physics (he gives a week to do about 2 hours) 20% is the first midterm which was very easy and straightforward in my section 20% is the second midterm which was pretty scary but still manageable for most students 40% is a god-awful final that will bring up things you've never even thought about - and luckily anything over 80% in the class counts as an A So the best advice I can offer is: Read the textbook, try to ace the midterms, and do all the homework so that you can cry less while pretending to understand why a square hockey puck and a salad bowl are on the final.
Winter 2022 - Okay so basically... Zocchi is really bad and I would not recommend taking his class, even coming from someone who received an A for the work this quarter. Personal grudge first, then the technical stuff later: Zocchi quickly fell behind in the material early in the quarter, and instead of cutting the irrelevant content (of which there was a fair amount), he held a class twice the length of a regular one, ON A HOLIDAY! There was no class allowed by UCLA on Presidents' Day, and instead, Zocchi assigned twice the classwork because he failed to cover the relevant content in a timely manner. Zocchi is a very unclear lecturer who will just run through practice problems for the entirety of the class, without stopping/slowing down to explain why or how things work with physics. The first week made sense and saw about 180 people attending each lecture. Fast forward through the quarter, and you'll see that 39 students, of the total 188 enrolled, dropped the class. Even though 149 people were still technically enrolled, I never saw more than 40 people in the Zoom call by the second half of the quarter. This is because of a class plan that I would also recommend: If you HAVE to take Zocchi, don't waste your time attending his lectures, but use the time instead to read the textbook equivalent of whatever the lecture's title is (he lists their titles on the syllabus) or work through the content he has listed for each exam. Zocchi is also just a bit rude and inconsiderate. His frustration with questions grew throughout the quarter, and his reactions were less like a teacher answering questions and more like a Twitch streamer yelling at his chat for not understanding things that take time to learn. The structure of the class is very simple and reasonable, which was the saving grace of this class (and the only thing that made Zocchi still preferable to Corbin): 20% is completion-based homework assigned on Mastering Physics (he gives a week to do about 2 hours) 20% is the first midterm which was very easy and straightforward in my section 20% is the second midterm which was pretty scary but still manageable for most students 40% is a god-awful final that will bring up things you've never even thought about - and luckily anything over 80% in the class counts as an A So the best advice I can offer is: Read the textbook, try to ace the midterms, and do all the homework so that you can cry less while pretending to understand why a square hockey puck and a salad bowl are on the final.
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