Professor Bachtis is a pretty cool and helpful professor who clearly enjoys the material and teaching students. For the final exam, make sure to understand the midterm exam solutions in high detail as we were tossed questions that were highly similar with minor changes/nuances. The first midterm exam was pretty simple and mainly based on more advanced Physics 1 material. I would have done much better in this course if I didn't bomb the first midterm. The median was an 86% on Midterm 1 and 50% on Midterm 2.

Make sure you also get all the points possible on HW since the solutions are widely available. The professor has a pretty lenient grading distribution and does not fail any students with around 35% getting an A+, A, or A-. I recommend taking 110A with this professor.

Selling a collection of all past exams (both midterm and final) with full solutions and detailed grading rubric, homework solutions, and highly organized course materials including lecture notes and grade distributions for the exams/homework: *************

For 110A, I took it with Bachtis this quarter and it was his first time teaching it. He gives energetic and engaging lectures and is always smiling. His energy and happiness made lectures something I looked forward to. He never failed to call on a hand that was raised during lecture...we picked up on this quick and lecture pretty much felt like a conversation between questions and Bachtis lecturing.

He wrote some really testing exams. AKA...he'll combine 110A concepts into a single problem. The final was supposed to be cumulative but it was skwered towards everything after Mt2. To do the tests well, we had to really know concepts because they were never presented alone, always mixed in with other concepts. If Bachtis is teaching 110A during a quarter you're considering taking it, do yourself one better and enroll yo!

Bachtis was a great professor. He had just the right amount of comedy and instruction.

There are two midterms, and a final.

The midterms were fair. There were 2 problems on each midterm, but I found that time was an issue. Make sure you really understand the homework and maybe read the textbook and you should do fine.

The final was also extremely fair. There were 4 problems, 2 of which were directly from the homework. The other two I thought were very fair.

Know how to easily solve problems using gauss' law, amperes law, method of images, and boundary conditions. Also know concepts such as super position, electric displacement, and the magnetic field intensity for the midterms/final.

Don't be too stressed if you don't do well on one of the exams since he curves at the end (especially on the lower end). Just stay around the average and you should be fine.

My only complaint was just that I wish homework was graded, as two midterms and a final isn't my favorite grade scheme. The homework is also very fair, and is accurate based on what you've learned in lecture.

Bachtis teaches with lots of emotion; you can tell he's very passionate about this (except for vector potential which he hates haha). Overall I would take Bachtis again, and I will be for 110B.

Bachtis is the best physics professor I've had at UCLA. He gives engaging lectures and is friendly enough for you to be comfortable in asking questions. His exams are fair and his homework is only what he thinks is important: mostly no filler questions. Here is a more detailed breakdown:

1) Bachtis was the best lecturer I've had in physics. His lectures feel like a conversation between students and himself. The vibe is very casual. He's always smiling and fun and that definitely helped over the boredom of Zoom.

2) Bachtis' HW are very helpful for exams. He pretty much gives you previous exam questions for HW, which helps you prepare. His exams are very similar to the HW, as he only tests concepts he teaches in class. He didn't collect HW our quarter, but I know he does different things for different quarters, so I'm not sure what he will do for you. However, whatever prep material he gives for the exam will probably be very similar to his actual exams.

Overall, I learned a lot from Bachtis. 110A is an intimidating class, but Bachtis makes it easy. It doesn't get better than Bachtis. Wish I was in his class in-person. Definitely take Bachtis if you get the chance.

Professor Bachtis is the sweetest professor I've had at UCLA. He's incredibly helpful and he's always so happy to teach you. His lectures are very very clear and well-organized. His tests are interesting and fair but challenging. The homework is not graded, but the problems are very important and they help you understand the content well. His solution manuals and notes are super helpful, and they make it obvious that he puts a lot of effort into teaching, which motivates you. I'd been winging electromagnetism since high school, and scraping through tests. I walked into this class knowing literally nothing other than the formula for a coulomb potential. I finished with an A and a very very strong understanding of the material. I'm taking 105B with Bachtis this fall because this was an incredible experience.

I took this class during one of the COVID quarters, so your experience may differ. But, here we go:
Bachtis is a pretty funny guy who is always energetic. He's probably the best lecturer I've had in the physics department. He is always down to answer questions in lecture, and notes parts you should really know to do well on exams. In fact, he pretty much tells you exactly what you need to know to be successful in his class. His exams are fair. They are very similar to the homework, but different at the same time. Overall, he always tests on things he teaches (and gives homework on), so you will know exactly what you will see on the exam. His grading is a bit strange, however. He makes trivial parts of the problem worth a lot of points, so if you miss something that doesn't even affect the final answer, expect to get about ~10 points chopped off your score. However, he curves, so everyone will go through this. He is kind of inconsistent with responding to emails or posting stuff up on CCLE on time, but if you remind him, he will probably post it. His office hours are packed, as students really value what he has to say. Overall, great guy, good class, and an overall positive experience. I would definitely take another class with Bachtis again.

Professor is funny and all of the lecture notes are uploaded. Although the exams are pretty difficult, they're still extremely fair. I'd retake.
My advice:
Make sure you brand the method of images to your brain as it will appear at least once in one of the midterms and again on the final. Same goes for problems with boundary conditions. Knowing how to quickly switch between cartesian, spherical, and cylindrical coordinates will also determine how well you do in the class. I suggest memorizing the relevant coordinate material on the book covers. Do the textbook examples too.

- The first midterm was straightforward and basically a review of 1A.
- The second midterm was a lot tougher, but still manageable.
- The final was very similar to the practice problems in the book, so if you do most of the ones in the book (especially those after MT2) you will do just fine in his class.
- He's a nice guy and wants to help students learn, and I think I learned a lot in this class.
- He explains things very clearly.
- He has about 5 different colored SuperDry shirts that he rotates between.

Overall, I would definitely recommend taking him for 110A, or any upper div, since he is very upfront about what you need to do to be successful in his class.