I had Corbin for 1A, 1B, and 1C. He's easily one of the best instructors I've ever had at UCLA.

Take Corbin if you REALLY want to learn physics. If you're looking for an easy A that can be obtained by memorizing a ton of equations and spitting them out on a test, then you should look elsewhere.

His tests tend to have low averages, but they really test if you know the material well or not. They tend to test deeper concepts, instead of just facts or simplistic examples. For instance, his lecture might discuss a simple mass on a spring for oscillations. The homework might ask about two springs attached to a mass. While his exam will go the next step, and ask about the movement of charge in an RLC circuit. While initially one would think that a circuit has nothing to do with mass and springs, upon further analysis the charge is oscillating in the circuit.

His lectures are pretty good. He's reasonably entertaining; he makes a few puns here and there with varying humor rating. He introduces the material in a pretty logical fashion and he's pretty enthusiastic about the material. But most importantly he actually does the derivations on the spot. (Although occasionally he refers to his notes). He'll describe his thought processes out loud which makes it easier to understand what an equation actually means. Other instructors I've had do some textbook-like derivation with some lame examples that don't really give a good taste what an equation means, and what it can do.

He's got OH 4 times a week if you are confused. They're pretty helpful, as he'll try and sort out misconceptions you may have, and he'll also give out some other cool examples that are actually pretty interesting/pragmatic. Corbin is also pretty chill by nature, so it shouldn't be too difficult to ask him questions. Even if it's really really stupid (read: trivial), because I've asked him a boatload of "stupid" questions.

If you're an EE, you should really take this guy's 1B course. It'll actually teach you electrostatics pretty damn well if you put the time and effort into it. So much so, that EE1 becomes a "joke" compared to 1B.

As far as grades go, Corbin is one of the more difficult instructors at UCLA, but he's also not draconic in his grading policy. He's pretty fair, and understands that sometimes people have crappy testing days. He does give a reasonable amount of As/Bs out (and not too many Cs and lower). As long as you're doing 1 standard deviation+ on all the exams, you should be in the range for an A. (Don't quote me on that). The Final Exam counts the most for the class- if you haven't been doing well on the midterms, then you should be prepping yourself to murder the Final as even with poor midterm scores you can still get an A.

For reference, I managed to get an A in 1A,B,C and I can assure you that I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed haha. (Although I think I was lucky in 1C) So it IS possible!

TL;DR
Classic dilemma that a college student faces: do I want an easy A, or do I actually want to learn the material? If you really want to learn, but still want a decent chance at an A (it's not really free) then take Corbin.

Also, for entertainment purposes, you should ask him about the Color Conspiracy of Muppets.

Take him, take him, take him. I had Corbin for 1A and 1B, and he's easily one of the best teachers I've ever had. Yes, his class is hard. Yes, his tests regularly have averages in the ballpark of 30/90. But you should still take his class. Why? You'll learn. Corbin forces you to actually learn physics, so memorizing formulas and plug-and-chugging won't get you anywhere. He'll help you figure out how to approach problems, and how to really think about the concepts behind what you're doing.

Choosing whether or not to enroll in Corbin's class really boils down to why you're in college. Are you here to take easy classes and get straight A's, or are you here to challenge yourself to the point where you can get the most out of your time here? That was a shamelessly condescending question, but that's how I see it. I don't have the greatest grades, but I've made sure to take some of the best teachers I can at UCLA. And honestly, if you put the time into this class, you can definitely get an A. I didn't study as much as I should have because I focused on other classes, and I got a B in 1A, and a B+ in 1B.

On a completely unrelated-to-grades note, Corbin is super chill and nice, looks like Jeff Bridges, and would be a great person to drink whiskey with if the legal drinking age was 18.

Corbin is an amazing professor who actually teaches you the material and makes you think about how to solve a problem, as opposed to other professors who give you problems straight out of the textbook. Yes, his tests will make you feel like you failed miserably, but don't worry, he gives A LOT of partial credit and curves massively. I scored 1 standard deviation above average on every test and ended up with an A.

Awesome professor, would take again.

Super easy class. Didn't read the book or go to lecture. Grade: A+. Dis sho am gud. U JELLY? yeah, u jelly.

Na but seriously this class is fucking hard. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Professor Corbin is an AMAZING professor and role model. He wants his students to learn about physics and life. After taking 1b I took EE1. The only reason I passed EE1 was because of Corbin. He explained the topics so thoroughly and had great concern for the students.If one student didn't understand something he would spend time on that topic till everybody understood it. I loved his class. I'm not a straight A student and I mostly get B's and C's. I got a B+ in Corbin's class by going to every class and office hours. Discussions were pointless, the TA was too smart for the class. Corbin is such an inspirational teacher than even students that get average grades try harder because Corbin puts in so much effort and time, you automatically want to do well for him. I learned so much about Physics and it prepared me for me EE1 class.Corbin invites his student to come back and visit him. Once a student of his, always a student of his. Corbin is my favorite Professor at UCLA. He teaches with so much passion and is very inspirational.

Just so you know where I'm coming from: I got a B in the class.

The material for the course is difficult in general, but Corbin tries to make it click. I didn't like a few things about him. For starters, he seemed to have a clique of students that he enjoyed (those fortunate enough to be one of the ones to go to his workshop and office hours). I didn't think that was really fair. Some people cannot make it to either of those things, and he should not be giving what amounts to big hints and things like that for the midterm and final.

I also don't like how there is no homework due. This makes it really hard to keep up with the material. I do realize that that is my own fault, but still, it would be nice to have some graded homework.

The exams are very difficult. You must try to get as much partial credit as possible. It's nigh impossible to get a complete question correct.

I realize that most math/science courses are like this, but if you miss part 1 of a problem, you miss the whole thing. And when there are only 3 problems on the whole midterm, this is frustrating.

Took Physics 1B over the summer with Corbin, and it was a fantastic class. Lectures were funny and informative. In response to the previous review, Corbin DID specifically tell the class to look over the diving board problem he did as an example during lecture. The rotating circular mass was basically the same as that problem, only in different form--Corbin went over torque, moment of inertia, and basically everything we needed to know for the quiz.

That being said, Corbin really cares about his students. He's in his office often and always willing to help you understand concepts you have trouble with. His quizzes and tests can be a bit more challenging than average, but also "fun" in Corbin's sense of the word and force you to extend concepts that you learned in class (or apply them a different way). Because of this, you'll understand physics much better than if you'd taken a class with just plug and chug problems on exams. Everything he tests on he covers in his lectures, so if you pay attention in class and do the homework problems you should do fine. The quiz averages for our class were around 50%, but Corbin curved generously at the end (well.. judging from my grade). If you do take Corbin, make sure you go over your lecture notes thoroughly; they'll really help for exams!

Took Corbin over summer for 1B. Everything about difficult midterms and EXTREMELY low curves is true; we're talking less than 30% every quiz.
I found Corbin frustrating. His lectures differ greatly from the book/ homework in that he only discusses extremely general equations, then expects the class to apply the equations to problems that come WAY out of left field.
Example: first week was on oscillators, simple masses on horizontal springs. The quiz involved a ROTATING circular mass, suspended by two springs, of varying force constants and distances. WHAT? Unless you remember specific 1A material involving torques, inertia, and disreguarding gravitational force, DONT EVEN TRY to start this problem, Corbin didnt teach the class enough to even begin this mess.
Unless you love forcing laughter at his jokes (which i'm sure many ucla students do) and kissing teacher ass with little to no dignity, you better at LEAST "be a master of" 1A before you take his course.
But overall, if you suck up enough and go to his office hours you'll def get a A-B (mainly because the curve is a joke)

He was one of the best professors i have had so far. Very enthusiastic and concerned. He does make the tests a but harder than most others professors out there but he also curves the class very generously. The lectures are amazing and if you take notes you will be fine. I was one of those people who didn't take notes. I attended about 50% of the class but still managed to get an A by cramming the night before. All tests have one question that comes straight from hw which mean f you do the hw you are guarantied 30/90 points on the midterms and 30/180 points on the final. Keep in mind that the average the first midterm is about 40/90 and the second one 50/90. So over all I think he wasnt as hard as everyone makes him seem like. You will enjoy his class no matter what.