Regan is a cool guy, I like him a lot and he clearly cares about the welfare of his students, but fuck this class is hard. I'm a CS major, I don't care about physics, and I really don't want to spend the amount of time required to do well in this class on physics. It's probably a good take if you will do physics upper divs, but it's not for me.

Grading: I got an A without really understanding anything and get about the average on every midterm/final. Still very confused about that curve. The averages were around 55-65%.

Prof: Take Regan if you really understood 1B, if not, you're kind of screwed. You also have to understand the readings that were supposed to be done each week and took about ~2 hours each for me. He makes the assumption you know all that information going into lecture. Which is great if you do because then he teaches very well at that high conceptual level. If not, then you'll be in week 10 and see him write Maxwell's equations every lecture and still have no idea what they mean.

the goat. I have no idea wtf maxwells equations are but I still got an A. Like others, I am a stupid CS major who does not care whatsoever about physics, but I actually ended up being mildly interested after taking this class. If you do the homework, skim the textbook, watch lectures and try to understand how he goes from 1 step to the next (even if you don't understand the problem as a whole), you should be okay. MASSIVE curve. the two best tips are to:

1. write stuff down on the exam, even if you don't know wtf the question is even asking!!! You get points for anything and/or written conceptual answer (you will only get 0 on a question if you leave it blank).

2. GO TO DISCUSSION!!! I actually learned so much from doing the discussion worksheet even if I didn't understand anything in lecture that week, plus the people in my breakout rooms were pretty cool. IAN powell i love you <333

Finally, Regan is so funny. I actually enjoyed this class much more than I expected (finally got my first A in college physics!). the average for midterm 1 was i think 58, midterm 2 was like 65, and idk for the final but i got like 64. I still don't know wtf AC current or relativity is. You will be FINE.

Lectures: It's clear that he loves what he's teaching, and he'll bring in his own personal taste into things. If you're interested in physics, then it'll be awesome. If you just want to pass this class, this can feel a bit intimidating. He does a good job telling you what you need to know.

Homework: Reading the textbook is a must since his lectures sort of assumes you either already have some previous exposure to the topic or have read the textbook. Homework itself is of reasonably length, though sometimes the formulas required are in the textbook but are not mentioned in lecture.

Office Hour: Really nice and will talk to you about anything.

Exams: Quite challenging. The test questions are definitely complicated and a time crunch to think through and write down as much as you know. However, he curves fairly well.

Overall: If you enjoy lectures from someone who's really interested in Physics, then you'll like this class. You'll not only learn the course material but hear it talked about from the perspective of a physicist. However, be prepared to also put in the time because the content material is not easy tp master.

Good professor. I think many people in my class found the lectures too theoretical and boring, but I really enjoyed the thorough derivations because everything felt so connected. It's quite impressive how many things one can derive from Maxwell's equations. If you have genuine interest in physics, I highly recommend him, but if you just want to get by in the class (which I can understand), his lectures are probably not for you. He does go over a lot of material that's never even remotely tested, but regardless, I found the lectures worthwhile.

His tests were fairly challenging. I'd say half of the midterm questions were pretty straightforward, sometimes even exact homework problems, while the rest would be stuff a bit beyond the scope of the textbook that he specifically talked about in class (ex. AC circuits with complex notation, relativistic kinematics, spinning charged spheres). He does not go through many examples in class, but if he does, you can almost guarantee it will show up on an exam in some form. If you know how to do the homework problems and understand the more challenging concepts he goes over in class, you should do relatively well on the test. Take advantage of your note card and write down a tough question or two if you still have room. I thought his final was easier and most of the questions only tested a basic understanding of the topics, save for a few tough questions.

I also recommend going to discussion sections at least before the exams because sometimes the TA's will do problems that are similar to the ones on the test.

Midterm 1 average: 56
Midterm 2 average: 49
Final average: 60

Great professor, appreciate linking the concepts to their equations and the derivations, very cool, made me enjoy physics a lot more than just doing problems and not knowing the origins. Mastering physics based tests and homeworks in addition to some basic reading quizzes. Great class to take and enjoy with Chris. Don't know about quality of office hours since no need to attend.

I don't really like his teaching style, which is basically just doing derivations for the full lecture. I feel like I'd probably do just as well if I didn't go to class and just studied from the book, since that's what his test questions are like. The tests have gnarly curves.