Saltzberg is the man! His homework assignments were very relevant to lectures and exams. They weren't terribly hard but weren't obviously easy either. He was very helpful during office hours, and in general, if asked a question, Saltzberg tries his absolute best in answering it. He only did one midterm this quarter. The midterm was fair, but the last question was a bit weird. It would've been nice if he clarified a bit more about the question (i.e. super inductance doesn't have inductance), but overall, solid midterm. His final was very solid as well. Once again, the last question was a bit tricky, but it was very doable. He tested on what he taught, and what he taught was a very complete course on E&M. He could've done a bit better with special relativity, but since he didn't, his final question on the topic was straight-forward. As for his quizzes, they were fair (and were homework problems), but one of the graders were a bit harsh. I think Saltzberg should give quizzes without numbers (and just variables), which would save some time and not bring scores down due to math errors. Otherwise, solid quizzes if you do the optional homework assignment.

Overall, professor Saltzberg is the best physics professor I've had at UCLA. His lectures are very interesting, and he cracks some funny jokes too. He was the main science consultant of "The Big Bang Theory," and being a huge fan of the show, it was an honor taking his class.

"Magical little elves write down times at every point in space bro" -Saltzberg 2k19

To me the lectures weren’t really useful, although it’d probably be better if you went, although you don’t need to as long as you read the textbook and can do the homework. The tests are not bad, and the homework is optional. As long as you do the homework and can ace the quizzes then the class is basically and easy B+/A. The tests are essentially just the homework except with a little more challenging material.

Super nice guy, really effective class structure. Easy weekly quizzes worth a total of 30% of your grade and taken directly from the homework problems to keep you on top of your stuff. He even provides the solutions to the homework problems, which you never turned in, so you knew how to do every potential quiz problem if you just spent a little bit of time attempting the problems and looking over the solutions the night before. The actual material isn't that hard either, mostly knowing formulas and somewhat understanding their applications. Midterm and final were both fair in my opinion. My one gripe was that I was a single point on the final away from an A and ended with an A-, and he wouldn't round me up. I get it but also AAAAARRRRRRGGGHHH

Professor Saltzberg is a great lecturer but he always seemed a bit impatient when I went to his office hours. I felt like for a lot of the questions I asked I was left with an unsatisfactory answer as he did not seem willing to explain it because it was out of the scope for the class. That being said he was great at covering the material and was very clear. There weren't really any tricks in his final or midterm except for maybe one challenging problem in each test (the rest were like the homework) As long as you write down formulas for the test and have the general idea of how to use them, the tests should not be too hard. For reference I got 100% on all the quizzes (they are directly problems from the homework with changed numbers) 90% on the midterm and 96% on the final.

TAKE THIS CLASS!!!! The easiest class in the 1 series you could possibly take. Since lectures are bruincasted and I found his lectures painfully boring, I stopped going to class week 4. Gave up on watching bruincasts week 5. Oops. Still walked out with a B tho.

There's a weekly quiz based on homework problems that you don't turn in and he posts hw solutions 2 days before the quiz so I could just study the solutions and easily secure a 100 on the quizzes.

First midterm was very straightforward, almost exactly the same as the provided practice exam. Problems were basically hw problems with some extra components.

Didn't do too well on the final because I stopped studying for this class around week 6, but it really wasn't too difficult and I'm sure that my peers who studied for it did well.

Grades are determined by 30% quizzes, 25% midterm, 45% final, so you can secure an easy 30% just by doing the hw. 85% is an A-, 65% is a B-, 50% is a C-, 40% is a D.

Highly recommend taking 1C with Saltzberg.

Shoutout to Organic Chemistry Tutor on youtube for coming in clutch for a class I went to 7 times.

If you can learn physics on your own this is a great class. All you need to learn are all the formulas at the end of each chapter (Don't waste time reading the chapter just go straight to the chapter summary). With the formulas (which are really only 4-5 important ones per chapter) you should be able to easily solve the assign HW problems in the textbook even if you didn't go to lecture. Most students didn't go to lecture unless it was a quiz day.
Grading Scheme:
30% Quizzes (Easy free points, once a week)
25% Midterm (In week 6)
45% Final

The class is low time commitment, each week complete the assigned HW, only 10 mastering physics problems (Takes about an hour a week) and then the following week complete a quiz which is a copy and paste of one or two HW problems. These quizzes are free points if you just memorize how to solve each of the ten HW problems which he posts full work solutions to before the quiz. (Also mastering physics is optional so you don't have to pay for it if you just do the HW on paper out of the book)

Midterm/Final: review all the HW problems if you can solve all of them you will do well on the test, you can use cheat sheets on both tests for formulas, and he gives out his past tests on ccle which are very similar to the test he gives in class. Somehow averages were mid 70 range but if u just focus on solving HW problems and past test problems, less time on the conceptual part which is very confusing and actually hard, you should easily do above average by solving the problems the way he likes them solved.

Professor Saltzberg is the best professor I have had for the physics 1 series. He gives engaging lecture and cool demos. He is also very humorous and humble. There are weekly quizzes for his class, which are basically the exact same problems from the homework. The tests are also pretty fair. Most problems are similar to the difficulty of the homework he gives. He tests on how well you understand the concepts rather than some lengthy problem solving skill. Study for the homework carefully and you will do well on the test. In general I enjoyed this class very much and I would recommend everyone to take his class.

I would recommend taking Professor Saltzberg. His lectures are well-explained, his assigned homework problems help you understand the material pretty well, and if you are ever behind or miss a lecture, you can always read the textbook to catch up. His exams are also very fair, not too easy but also not too hard that you would question yourself whether you actually learned the material, unlike some exams...

Overall, I would say that this class made me realize how cool physics was, which is pretty rare for most of the classes I've taken that have been outside my major.

I can understand where a lot of people is coming from when they give Salzberg bad reviews.

Yes, he sometimes makes mistakes in lectures and flutters over them. He likes to put very conceptual questions on the test (but that has improved; my midterms and finals were much less abstract and impossible than the old tests he gave us from a few years ago as practice - I really feel bad for the people who actually took them).

He is, however, very passionate about the class and does cool demos.

Focus on the Mastering Physics homework and pay the utmost attention in lectures. Take good notes and don't spend too much time reading the book except to reinforce your understanding. The Mastering Physics problems he picks really test your understanding - I learned a great lot doing them. The great thing is that he doesn't penalize you for making mistakes - you can try infinite number of times and still score perfect on homework, which is 25% of your grade.

This class can be frustrating if you're used to learning from the book and doing homework with the aide of the solutions manual. For my first midterm, I poured in an inordinate amount of time reading the textbook, doing extra practice, and struggling with the math. I did below average. Yet for my second midterm and final I focused on reviewing the homework problems, lecture notes, and figuring out the concepts and I did incredibly well.

Saltzberg is not a bad teacher - you just need to know how to study for his class.