Although some of the reviews may advise you to deter from enrolling in this class...Don't listen to them. Professor Holczer can be difficult to understand due to his accent, but he ALWAYS encourages his students to ask questions and let him know what he can do to clarify his instruction. He has even gone out of his way after class to personally ask me if he was being clear during lecture or if the pace was too fast. He begins the course covering the basics of physics, and from there he pretty much assumes you know what's happening and are keeping up. The textbook is expensive, don't buy it - it's online. The two midterms and finals are worth 80% of your grade and are based on material from the textbook. You are allowed a cheat sheet on the exams which is VITAL to do well on the exams so take it seriously. Studying isn't even necessary with the cheat sheet. The exams are tough but with the cheat sheet, you will succeed in the class. The weekly homework is worth 20% of your grade and is usually easy and straightforward. Honestly, I stopped attending lecture after week 5 because I knew I could handle the class without going and I had minimal physics background prior to taking this class...The grading isn't harsh and it is relatively easy to achieve an A in this class. I recommend!!!!!!!

I would not recommend this class. The lecture is rather boring and really hard to follow. You do not need to attend lecture as everything can be found either online or in the textbook. You have homework every week, 2 midterms, and a final that make up your grade, but it is weird because one of the midterms is during week 9.

The other reviews are pretty accurate. The professor is very nice, but not very clear in teaching. That's not a huge problem in the class though, because you can do very well by just reading the textbook every week instead of attending lectures.

I'd recommend this class to someone who has already taken physics in high school b/c you basically have to study on your own for this class. However, this class is not for someone who is actually interested in learning more about physics b/c it only covers the very basics & the professor even clearly states that this class is for students who never want to take physics ever again their life during his first lecture. The professor's lectures were lack of engagement, and his accent made it hard for the students to understand what he was trying to explain. Me and 2/3 of the class stopped going to lecture probably by week 3 or 4 b/c most of us couldn't understand what was going on in lecture, and the TA did explain the content during his discussion section. I wouldn't say the TA does the best job explaining what the class was about, but at least you can get the equations & the notes that you missed from lecture. I do think the professor and the TA do care about the students b/c I could tell that they try their best to answer students when they come up with questions after lectures or during midterms / final. Also, the professor gave out review questions before the midterms & the final, and the TA did have a review session during discussion. Again, this class would be impossible to do well for someone who has zero background knowledge on physics, but if you do, an A in the class will most likely be guaranteed. As long as you turn in your hw, attend discussion sections, and go over the review questions the professor has given out (I'd actually recommend going to the lecture right before the midterms or the final b/c the professor solve the questions & the TA doesn't really do that in his discussion section), you will do well on your tests and get an easy A.

In this class:
2 midterms, 20% each
HW 20%
Final 40%
This class would probably be pretty easy for anyone with a strong high school physics background, but if you're new to physics you will mainly be teaching yourself. The discussions are helpful for going over HW and making your cheat sheets for the exams (you can bring a handwritten page of notes to each exam). The professor is also very nice and helpful during exams, but is somewhat confusing as a lecturer (though he does put on interesting demonstrations during almost every lecture). Luckily, this class is curved so that most people who average B's on the exams and do the homework will get A's in the course (this was me).

Lecture is a waste of time. He recycled the midterms from the test bank, which is the only reason I passed this class. I had no physics background, and coming out of this class I still don't know anything about physics. He lets us use a cheat sheet for the midterm and final so just copy down the answers from his previous tests and you're good to go. No offense he seems like a nice guy but he is the worst professor I have ever had ta UCLA. The TA was confusing too and goes way too fast. I'm shocked I got an A- in this class.

Holczer is by far the worst professor I've had so far at UCLA. I had no physics background prior to taking this class so I was expecting it to be quite simple and understandable in comparison to other physics classes here. I was clearly wrong as the professor only confused students in his lectures. More than half of the class stopped showing up after the first week or so, and Holczer clearly didn't care enough since he didn't attempt to change anything about the way he "teaches". His lectures are pointless to go to since all he pretty much does are lousy demonstrations. Our TA was a minor step-up from the professor, but even he was not the most helpful although I feel I did learn more in the discussions than the lectures. I did not do well on the first midterm, did well on the second midterm (he recycled an old midterm), and bombed the final yet somehow got a B so the curve must be insanely generous. I still wouldn't say this class is worth all the hassle despite most people getting good grades at the end. Avoid this class with Holczer at all cost and don't make things harder for yourself!

I'll preface this by saying that prior to this class, I had never taken a physics class and had no physics background. That being said, this class was doable if you took the time to seek extra help. I say this because the professor himself was not particularly unhelpful, but he offered little comprehensible instruction or assistance during lecture. They were very disorganized, and his accent made it difficult at times to understand him, although you end up getting used to it. The homework assignments are easy enough, especially if you seek out help from your TA. I cannot stress this enough: GO TO YOUR TA'S OFFICE HOURS! My TA was Justin and he was insanely helpful, and I have no doubts in saying that I learned more in discussion and during his office hours than during lecture. Admittedly, I didn't do fantastic on either the midterm or the final, so there must have been some insane curve that allowed me to get an A. Keep that in mind if you're worried that this class might be detrimental to your GPA. Overall, the professor and the lecture were pretty useless, but if you take it upon yourself to give a little bit of extra effort, this class is fairly reasonable.

I would say that this professor was an engaging explainer who really cared about if you understood a concept given you ask him questions. After lectures, he was helpful when I asked him questions and he broadened my view of physics as a whole. Through this class, I learnt that I enjoy physics. The TA Justin Kaidi is a true legend and NEVER MISS HIS DISCUSSIONS, if you get him, that is. To study for the midterms I did all the homework problems and all of the unassigned problems. I didn't read the textbook at all and got through this course by viewing the last page of the textbook, the review page and youtube crash course physics.

LAYOUT: There are 2 midterms, each worth 20% of your grade, and 1 final worth 40%. The midterm exams are about 5 questions each worth 20 points. The remaining 20% consists of weekly homework assignments in which the equations I found in the textbook and most of the answers I found online. Textbook is necessary, and I found a free PDF of it online.

The lectures are completely useless to go to, and if anything, going to them confused me more. Holczer did demonstrations most of the time, did not use slides, and most importantly his accent and lack of microphone usage made the class impossible to understand/hear. I stopped going after Week 1.

On the more positive/hopeful side, I survived this class completely based off of the TA Justin Kaidi, who was extremely helpful and extremely clear, so GO TO HIS DISCUSSIONS AND OH. He will help you go over the homework problems and the equations.

The midterms are extremely easy and most questions are based off homework problems or in the test bank. In terms of our final, there was a weird situation this past quarter because of the Skirball Fire, resulting in a cancellation of the last lecture on week 10 (not that I would've gone anyways). He then decided to make 10% of the final exam on multiple choice conceptual questions (which he said would be easier than studying an equation but that just did not make sense), and wow I did not know a single answer to one. There was so much conceptual material to study on one chapter, so just hope no natural disasters keep Holczer from lecturing.

Overall, don't worry too much about this class or about averaging 80%'s on your exams. The curve is extremely generous. I got an 83 on the first midterm, 100 on the 2nd, a 68 on the final, and missed one homework assignment and still ended up with an A.