Professor Bauer is the best! Nice guy, straightforward slides + examples lecturer, also has a cat. He listens to student feedback. My quarter, the final exam destroyed all of us, and he curved it up. He also adjusted the grading scheme in our favor because of the protests going on. He's nice in office hours. The subject was really tough, but I'm glad I took it with Bauer.

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.

Do not take Bauer.
To see the other side, I know my learning style did not cooperate well with his teaching style.
However, he did not seem to care about his students' learning and it heavily shows in the grades. All his exams are in the 50-60% range or lower.
I have heard that he used to be a good professor back in 2022 but for whatever reason that drastically changed and now his teaching and teaching style is extremely different.
If possible take TUNG.

This class tested me more than any other class here so far. I am a second year without any physics experience before this class. At first it seemed fine, but then I took the first midterm, a 48%, quite pathetic in my opinion. So I studied more and tried to understand the material better, then I got a ~64%. This would have been a bad grade had I not discovered that the average for the makeup score was a 59%, so I somehow did better than average. After that, the prof said he felt like he failed us and decided to allow our final grade to replace our lowest midterm score. This was nice, but didn't do much to decrease my minimum score needed to pass the class. I worked so hard, studying all the homeworks and lectures, trying to understand things more than ever before, but after the final, I felt like I was going to fail and was so sure of it. Then a week and a half later, the day before xmas, grades came out and I had gotten ~69%, and I couldn't be happier. Not only that, but the prof curved the grading so that instead of getting a final of a C+ in the class I got a B. Could the tests have been easier/more like the homeworks? YES! Could they have had more in depth review sessions to prepare those that were still struggling? YES! Still it was a miracle that I passed the class, with a B! I understand if you're taking this class, it's because you have to, so definitely get help early on, and don't rely on being saved by curving or changes to the grading. Ask for help early on, try to form study groups (ask on campuswire if you're socially anxious like me), and be on top of everything by the time the midterms show up, because I could very well have failed had the tests not been graded as generously as I think they were. The relief of finishing this class with a passing grade is an amazing feeling, but I hope nobody else has to feel as afraid as I was when comtemplating retaking the class after the second midterm.