PHYSICS 5A
Physics for Life Sciences Majors: Mechanics and Energy
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; laboratory, two hours. Requisites: Life Sciences 30A, 30B, or Mathematics 3A, 3B, 3C (3C may be taken concurrently). Statics and dynamics of forces, motion, energy, including thermal energy, with applications to biological and biochemical systems. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - Dr. Bauer is possibly one of the most passive-aggressive, rude, uncaring professors at UCLA. When I first came into contact with him, I thought he was accommodating and chill because I had a complicated circumstance and he allowed me to take one of the exams online to make up for it. After finishing the quarter I realized how he is completely unwilling to help his students genuinely learn, and if you do not understand a topic the first time then he thinks you are simply incompetent. I had failed the first midterm (due to having a horribly strict TA who graded me unfairly) but scored above the average on all subsequent exams. I had discussed this with him and my worries about not succeeding in the class because I did so poorly on the first midterm and he offered no guidance or reassurance. He essentially told me, "I don't know if you pass. You should just study better." I found this outraging as someone who spent almost ALL OF MY TIME studying for this course singlehandedly. The class average was 60-75% on all exams with *no* curves. Also, the extra credit is worth a measly 0.3% of your grade at the most... so it's practically pointless. He once even said in his final review session "I don't know how this will help any of you at all." which goes to show how much effort he puts into preparing students for his finals. His 2-hour zoom session, indeed, did not help at all. Don't be fooled by all the good ratings. If you are not already well-rounded in physics and you are taking this class in person, it is NOT EASY.
Spring 2022 - Dr. Bauer is possibly one of the most passive-aggressive, rude, uncaring professors at UCLA. When I first came into contact with him, I thought he was accommodating and chill because I had a complicated circumstance and he allowed me to take one of the exams online to make up for it. After finishing the quarter I realized how he is completely unwilling to help his students genuinely learn, and if you do not understand a topic the first time then he thinks you are simply incompetent. I had failed the first midterm (due to having a horribly strict TA who graded me unfairly) but scored above the average on all subsequent exams. I had discussed this with him and my worries about not succeeding in the class because I did so poorly on the first midterm and he offered no guidance or reassurance. He essentially told me, "I don't know if you pass. You should just study better." I found this outraging as someone who spent almost ALL OF MY TIME studying for this course singlehandedly. The class average was 60-75% on all exams with *no* curves. Also, the extra credit is worth a measly 0.3% of your grade at the most... so it's practically pointless. He once even said in his final review session "I don't know how this will help any of you at all." which goes to show how much effort he puts into preparing students for his finals. His 2-hour zoom session, indeed, did not help at all. Don't be fooled by all the good ratings. If you are not already well-rounded in physics and you are taking this class in person, it is NOT EASY.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - This is probably the hardest class I have ever taken at UCLA. Professor Bauer, although a kind person, didn't really do it for me as a lecturer. As a previous review stated, he did just read off the slides and while he did give example problems, I feel like they were not completely representative of the types of problems we saw on the exams. The exams were pretty difficult. The second midterm literally had an average of 52% so I'm sure you can guess what went wrong there. The final I felt was more fair, but honestly I was just upset because the more I studied for this class, the worst my confidence was. Nonetheless, I was somehow able to scrape by with this grade. I would say if you decide to take Bauer, then to definitely start doing practice problems after week 1 on your own. Do any problem you can find, thoroughly understand them, and hopefully you'll be okay.
Winter 2024 - This is probably the hardest class I have ever taken at UCLA. Professor Bauer, although a kind person, didn't really do it for me as a lecturer. As a previous review stated, he did just read off the slides and while he did give example problems, I feel like they were not completely representative of the types of problems we saw on the exams. The exams were pretty difficult. The second midterm literally had an average of 52% so I'm sure you can guess what went wrong there. The final I felt was more fair, but honestly I was just upset because the more I studied for this class, the worst my confidence was. Nonetheless, I was somehow able to scrape by with this grade. I would say if you decide to take Bauer, then to definitely start doing practice problems after week 1 on your own. Do any problem you can find, thoroughly understand them, and hopefully you'll be okay.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - I was originally very scared to take this class as I had no prior physics background (high school did not offer AP Physics, etc.) and Bauer's previous reviews weren't the greatest, but I surprisingly enjoyed the class and thought it was very well-structured. Bauer records his lectures and also streams them on Zoom in real time, so you do not have to attend class in-person if you do not want to. He is very straight to the point and does not spend much time on theory, which is nice. Most of the formulas/information you need should be written directly on the lecture slides. For exams, I thought they were very fair and were relatively similar in difficulty to the practice exams/problem bank. I highly recommend working through the problems in the problem bank and attending his office hours if you have questions about solving them, as some similar concepts came up on the exams. I also reviewed the homework problems and the problems covered in class to prepare for exams. He also provided an option to submit corrections for one problem on each midterm to earn back 3% of the exam grade, which is great, and he is also is pretty generous in providing partial credit on exams. He may come off as awkward at first but he is generally helpful in his office hours and is pretty understanding through email if you have any problems (ex. I forgot to submit a discussion worksheet one time but he gave me the points after contacting him and explaining my situation). Overall, I really enjoyed having him for my first physics class and will be taking him again for 5C next quarter!
Fall 2024 - I was originally very scared to take this class as I had no prior physics background (high school did not offer AP Physics, etc.) and Bauer's previous reviews weren't the greatest, but I surprisingly enjoyed the class and thought it was very well-structured. Bauer records his lectures and also streams them on Zoom in real time, so you do not have to attend class in-person if you do not want to. He is very straight to the point and does not spend much time on theory, which is nice. Most of the formulas/information you need should be written directly on the lecture slides. For exams, I thought they were very fair and were relatively similar in difficulty to the practice exams/problem bank. I highly recommend working through the problems in the problem bank and attending his office hours if you have questions about solving them, as some similar concepts came up on the exams. I also reviewed the homework problems and the problems covered in class to prepare for exams. He also provided an option to submit corrections for one problem on each midterm to earn back 3% of the exam grade, which is great, and he is also is pretty generous in providing partial credit on exams. He may come off as awkward at first but he is generally helpful in his office hours and is pretty understanding through email if you have any problems (ex. I forgot to submit a discussion worksheet one time but he gave me the points after contacting him and explaining my situation). Overall, I really enjoyed having him for my first physics class and will be taking him again for 5C next quarter!
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Bauer is a professor that you would not select as your first, second, or third choice. However, most of you reading this have probably ran out of options. I will say this: in my experience, his tests are tough and do not reflect the homework given on mastering physics, do not reflect the lecture slides and blackboard problems he does in class, and do not reflect discussion worksheets. In all honesty, I did better once I started watching Organic Chemistry Tutor and using other outsides resources. His tests are crafted in a manner which assumes you have some background in physics. I know he says that this class is for beginners/people with no background, but that is not the case. The homework is tedious, lectures are way to simple, and discussions are boring and often a waste of time (though they were required). In the physics series, who your professor is matters so much. You could be in lecture one with Bauer and your friend could be in the class right after yours with another professor and the two of you would be experiencing completely different classes where your class is exceptionally difficult and your friend's class is childsplay. Bauer is doable, but you will likely not get an A since he loves to proclaim that he wants his exam averages to be around a 75-78% range. On our final, he was upset because the average was like a B. Also, during our quarter he made on test so hard that he ended up offering to drop a midterm for each student. So that's the kind of crap you will deal with when taking this professor.
Fall 2023 - Bauer is a professor that you would not select as your first, second, or third choice. However, most of you reading this have probably ran out of options. I will say this: in my experience, his tests are tough and do not reflect the homework given on mastering physics, do not reflect the lecture slides and blackboard problems he does in class, and do not reflect discussion worksheets. In all honesty, I did better once I started watching Organic Chemistry Tutor and using other outsides resources. His tests are crafted in a manner which assumes you have some background in physics. I know he says that this class is for beginners/people with no background, but that is not the case. The homework is tedious, lectures are way to simple, and discussions are boring and often a waste of time (though they were required). In the physics series, who your professor is matters so much. You could be in lecture one with Bauer and your friend could be in the class right after yours with another professor and the two of you would be experiencing completely different classes where your class is exceptionally difficult and your friend's class is childsplay. Bauer is doable, but you will likely not get an A since he loves to proclaim that he wants his exam averages to be around a 75-78% range. On our final, he was upset because the average was like a B. Also, during our quarter he made on test so hard that he ended up offering to drop a midterm for each student. So that's the kind of crap you will deal with when taking this professor.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Heard he's not teaching the 5 series anymore, which to be honest is for the best. This was the first class I had ever failed at UCLA, and now I can't sleep the night before an exam I'm stressed about because of PTSD from this guy. Took this class later with Samani and went up two letter grades. Some people like this guy, but his teaching style did not work for me AT all.
Fall 2018 - Heard he's not teaching the 5 series anymore, which to be honest is for the best. This was the first class I had ever failed at UCLA, and now I can't sleep the night before an exam I'm stressed about because of PTSD from this guy. Took this class later with Samani and went up two letter grades. Some people like this guy, but his teaching style did not work for me AT all.
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