Arisaka is one of the best professor out there for physics 6B. I really like his review sessions because they were extremely helpful. Even though he made the midterms more challenging, it was a great way to discourage students from memorizing and to encourage students to understand the concepts. After i learned and understood all the concepts, i think the materials were pretty easy afterward. In order to do well in this class, you HAVE to understand the concepts!

To the two individuals below me ... you guys are by far the dumbest people on here. Arisaka has become more difficult. In order to perform well and guarantee and A in his class you must work hard and truly understand the concepts. This is difficult for most people, something that the two reviewers below me would not understand.

School is about two things: 1) Learning & 2) Growing up. To address the concerns of the person that wrote the comment two posts below: taking an exam expecting problems exactly as you've seen them before is not learning; bitching about the fact that the professor's exams don't match up to your expectations of 'learning' is not growing up.
It saddens me (and I'm sure it would sadden Arisaka even more) that a person can lack such integrity when it comes to learning about such awesome fundamental concepts in nature. If this is your general outlook regarding the attainment of knowledge, I suggest you rethink med school, kid (and, no, I don't know if you're going to med school, but it would be a safe assumption. Regardless, the statement goes for anyone with that kind of attitude.
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I owe Arisaka an enormous deal for actually instilling a love of science in me that I've never before experienced. His final is in two days, and I'm quite terrified for it (I think I'll do well), but, regardless of my future grade, I know I now have a greater appreciation of science (particularly physical science) than I've ever had. Take him!
Also, take the honors seminar - it's pretty good, too.

The person below me isn't being fair. Physics is never just about memorizing formulas. While it is true that you have to understand your concepts, that's expect of physics. It's understanding how something works. If you are just going to memorize formulas, the physics series just isn't for you.

Arisaka is no longer the easiest prof. for physics 6B now. Back then his midterms were very similar to his practice midterms. However, this year he rewrote all his midterms and made it harder to discourage students from memorizing. His tests were tricky and the problems were by far more complicated than his practice midterms now. If you dont have the concepts ingrained in your brain, its impossible to do well in the class now. Worst decision ever! i waited for 2 years just to take Arisaka, and he made my life soooo miserable.

THIS PROFESSOR CHANGED MY VIEW ON PHYSICS, I TOOK HIM FOR PHYSICS 6B AND HE WAS AMAZING. I USED TO HATE PHYSICS AND I GOT AN A+ WHICH WAS THE BEST GRADE I'VE GOTTEN AT UCLA AND HE MADE THAT POSSIBLE. GO TO THE TA'S FOR HELP

Arisaka is overall a great professor. Lectures personally were not to useful, typical formula derivations on the white board. However, it was still enjoyable because of all his interesting demonstrations during class and his humor. He is very passionate about teaching and wants EVERYONE to pass.

Now, about the difficulty of the class. It has 2 midterms, a final, HW, and lab. He gives out sample exams about 3 weeks before every exam which gives you plenty of time to complete it. And on the actual exam, he uses the sample exam questions but changes the question a little to make sure you understand the concept. Go to his review sessions because the ones he goes over in the sample exams are the ones on the test.

He curved at B+ for the first two midterms and a B for the final. Pretty much everyone got a B or higher. The final is the hardest, 20 pages, so make sure you study the sample exams well.

Dr. Arisaka is my favorite professor at UCLA. I went into his class dreading taking the course, but I left his class actually (dare I say) loving physics. He took the time to really explain concepts and he was always appealing to students that were struggling to visit his office hours. His sample exams and other various handouts were a great resources. He is truly passionate about what he does and it shows. He always had our class laughing and I looked forward to his class each time. He also did LOTS of demonstrations, which I believe was key since most of the concepts in physics are so abstract. I think the best testament to my personal learning outcome from his course is that I am able to effectively explain the concepts I learned to other students. Take his course if you are able to, you won't regret it.

Dr. Arisaka's become one of my favorite professors at UCLA. He is absolutely the NICEST and most sincere person ever. He is really concerned about his students' learning and really tries to give you as many opportunities as possible to do well in his class. He opens extra office hours all week long before finals so he can help anyone who has trouble with the material. His lectures may not be too helpful sometimes, but definitely go to them anyway because they're really entertaining and the demos really do help with understanding some of the concepts. I hated E&M when I took physics in high school, but Arisaka made the material really easy to understand. His review sessions for the exams (which is basically him going over the sample exam problems) were really really helpful, so definitely attend those. He always passes out the sample exam early and keeps us updated on what problems we should try by what time, and he really pushed me to study early on so I don't have to cram like crazy when midterms come around. There may be some things that are unclear to me, but after the review sessions, I completely understood what was going on. His first midterm was a bit too easy though because it was exactly like the sample exam he gave us. I preferred his second midterm and final because although the problems were similar to the sample exam, he actually switched up the variables and conditions and made it moderately challenging so people can't just wing it by memorizing how to do certain problems. Dr. Arisaka always emphasized the fact that we have to learn physics and we can't just memorize physics, and I couldn't agree more: Knowing and understanding the concepts really cut down my study time a lot. He was also very passionate about his research (he is part of the coolest research projects, by the way, and you'll hear about them all quarter long), and his passion is really inspirational. He always encouraged us to keep on learning and pursue our interests, and I couldn't have been more inspired. Towards the end of the quarter, Dr. Arisaka kept on thanking us for taking his class. No, Dr. Arisaka, thank you for teaching us so many valuable things! He's definitely one of the UCLA professors that you should take if you ever have the chance--he is amazing!

Wow...the absolute best. I am one of those people that totally sucks at physics but with Arisaka it all turned around. He gives you great sample exams that will be very similar to the actual test. If he just so happens to make the actual test harder and everyone does bad then he will fix the curve so that everyone passes. He is very entertaining in class, you will never fall asleep. TAKE him if you are able to add him because his classes get full right away. Best of luck.