Professor

Nathan Tung

AD
3.9
Overall Ratings
Based on 148 Users
Easiness 3.0 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.5 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 3.9 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 3.8 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (148)

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PHYSICS 5C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 25, 2021
Quarter: Spring 2021
Grade: A

I took this class while it was online, and the extra credit he provides can honestly boost your grade by a whole letter. I do not know if he will offer this when it is back in person, so do not count on it. The tests were also 24 hours long, so do not count on that either. Otherwise, I thought Tung's lectures were some of the best online lectures I have had during the pandemic. He uses Youtube to stream them, so there is not as much interaction, but he has office hours if you need that. Personally, I did not go to office hours, but I have heard they were helpful for students. He is also really understanding, so if you have any concerns, just reach out to him. The labs online were pretty easy, so if it back in person, do not count on that. Discussion section was also useful, and I would recommend going. Mastering physics, the homework for this class, could be time consuming, but it was what he offered as extra credit along with participation in class through TopHat. The tests are not super difficult, but they could be more challenging if given in a shorter time constraint. Overall, I would recommend Tung for 5C.

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PHYSICS 5A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Aug. 10, 2021
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: A-

Professor Tung was a very nice and funny person who gave very engaging lectures with examples ofen in the form of videos demonstrations he conducted. Professor Tung's lectures was more on the conceptual side which sometimes made calculation in homework, discussion worksheets, etc. a little trickier but still doable. The labs were pretty tedious in the beginning but I felt as if it eased up a bit towards the end; like other reviews stated, the labs often times felt like a seperate class since they took up a lot of time and didn't match up with the lecture content at times. Also, I wasn't a big fan of the worksheets since it also introduced topics that were barely introduced (sometimes literally introduced in lecture a few minutes prior to discussion). I'd strongly recommend this class since Professor Tung genuinely cares about students learning and is also pretty forgiving in terms of grades since he offers a lot of extra credit than can bump you up a grade level if you do most of it.

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PHYSICS 5A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Aug. 15, 2021
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: A

I recommend taking PHYSICS 5A with Dr. Tung. The class taught me a lot while being low stress (as every class should be). Dr. Tung’s lectures were very clear, organized, and well thought out. They were more like conceptual lectures though, so example problems in the lectures will not exactly mimic homework problems. The lectures were sort of like extended Khan Academy videos with some participation questions that were extra credit. Dr. Tung also has an extremely cool intro video that he plays at the beginning of every lecture which amazed me every time I watched it.

Homework was collected all at the end of the class. These problems mostly prepared me for tests. Some of the homework problems were difficult, so ask on Campuswire for help. Only 60% of homework is need to get full credit for the homework part of your grade. Anything else over that is extra credit.

Discussions were somewhat useful. We worked on worksheets in groups and the TA’s went over the solutions at the end of class, which cleared things up. However, this might be the case just for the session I took.

Labs were tedious, but doable. They took a long time as we had to set up and record our own videos to analyze. The labs were also extremely independent, so no one really talked to their group members during lab. My TA wasn’t that helpful, but the lab manuals had enough instruction for me to figure out most stuff on my own.

The four midterms we had were similar to homework. Each midterm was 15% each and there was no final. There were only about 15 questions on each test, so one question was 1% of your grade. That can seem intimidating, but there was a lot of extra credit in the class. We were also given 24 hours to complete it and we could use the whole 24 hours if needed, meaning there wasn’t any time limit within the 24 hours.

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PHYSICS 5A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 20, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A

Dr. Tung is an excellent professor who really cares about his students. He explains concepts very easily and always addresses questions throughly. His homework policy is very generous as its not due till the end of the quarter and if you do more than 65% you can receive Extra Credit. Exams were definitely fair overall. The multiple choice portion was pretty straightforward but the free response was definitely more difficult. It was still very doable for a 24 hr exam. I highly recommend Shardul if he is a Lab TA for 5A because he made labs really enjoyable. I highly recommend Dr. Tung for any physics class.

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PHYSICS 5A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Jan. 4, 2022
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A

Tung is a great professor! He speaks in a manner that is very straight-forward and clear. He's able to break down concepts well and gives relevant examples. He cares very much about the students, his tests are fair and similar to the homework and in-class questions. He gives us review sessions before the midterms, which are exactly like the tests. You just need to do the homework and go to his review sessions in order to do well on the class.

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PHYSICS 5A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Feb. 23, 2022
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: N/A

I'm retaking this class with a different professor right now because I was unable to finish the first time due to personal issues. I'm coming back to say that, after taking this class with a different prof (Rombes), I think that the way Tung teaches makes the course a lot harder than it needs to be. His lectures were engaging for the most part, and he was good at explaining things clearly, but I think he tried to teach concepts in a way that was too in-depth for an intro physics course. There are a lot of things in my old notes from this course that haven't even been mentioned in the one I'm taking now because they're not necessary to understand the curriculum.

If you like physics and want a deep, integrated understanding of the different concepts in 5A, then this might be the professor for you. Otherwise, I found that other profs like Rombes make their courses a little more beginner friendly.

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PHYSICS 1A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 28, 2022
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: N/A

Great dude. So worth taking

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Nov. 15, 2024
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: N/A

Prof Tung's lectures are very conceptual. They're fun because of his demonstrations, but they won't prepare you for the exams at all. You either get it or you don't. He's also not very nice in office hours. I would take Bauer over Tung.

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PHYSICS 1A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 28, 2022
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: A

It was an absolute honor to take Physics 1A with Dr. Tung! I was very scared about taking this class beforehand as I had never taken a Physics course in high school before, but his clear explanations and demonstrations really made physics intuitive for me. His midterms weren't a walk in the park, but they were very doable given the 24 hours he gave. Some tips: I strongly recommend going over class examples before the midterms and exams and making sure you understand every step. Also, the homework and worksheets he assigns are often much harder than his exams, so it's more useful to focus on Tung's lectures to study.

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Nov. 4, 2024
Quarter: Summer 2024
Grade: B+

I took the course over the summer, where homework and extra credit assignments were done on Kudu. The exams, also on Kudu, consisted of multiple-choice questions with some short-answer items. There was no partial credit for multiple-choice questions, and the entire course, including exams, was online without a camera requirement. None of the exam questions were available elsewhere online—I think he wrote them all himself.

Exams were held weekly, though he canceled one in week 5 and adjusted the grading scheme accordingly. Class averages never exceeded 75%, typically staying around the mid-60s, yet he didn’t curve the grades at all. While he seemed knowledgeable and, in fairness, putting in the effort could help improve your grade, it was frustrating that, despite low averages and the potential for a curve, he ultimately chose not to adjust grades.

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PHYSICS 5C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2021
Grade: A
June 25, 2021

I took this class while it was online, and the extra credit he provides can honestly boost your grade by a whole letter. I do not know if he will offer this when it is back in person, so do not count on it. The tests were also 24 hours long, so do not count on that either. Otherwise, I thought Tung's lectures were some of the best online lectures I have had during the pandemic. He uses Youtube to stream them, so there is not as much interaction, but he has office hours if you need that. Personally, I did not go to office hours, but I have heard they were helpful for students. He is also really understanding, so if you have any concerns, just reach out to him. The labs online were pretty easy, so if it back in person, do not count on that. Discussion section was also useful, and I would recommend going. Mastering physics, the homework for this class, could be time consuming, but it was what he offered as extra credit along with participation in class through TopHat. The tests are not super difficult, but they could be more challenging if given in a shorter time constraint. Overall, I would recommend Tung for 5C.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 5A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: A-
Aug. 10, 2021

Professor Tung was a very nice and funny person who gave very engaging lectures with examples ofen in the form of videos demonstrations he conducted. Professor Tung's lectures was more on the conceptual side which sometimes made calculation in homework, discussion worksheets, etc. a little trickier but still doable. The labs were pretty tedious in the beginning but I felt as if it eased up a bit towards the end; like other reviews stated, the labs often times felt like a seperate class since they took up a lot of time and didn't match up with the lecture content at times. Also, I wasn't a big fan of the worksheets since it also introduced topics that were barely introduced (sometimes literally introduced in lecture a few minutes prior to discussion). I'd strongly recommend this class since Professor Tung genuinely cares about students learning and is also pretty forgiving in terms of grades since he offers a lot of extra credit than can bump you up a grade level if you do most of it.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 5A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: A
Aug. 15, 2021

I recommend taking PHYSICS 5A with Dr. Tung. The class taught me a lot while being low stress (as every class should be). Dr. Tung’s lectures were very clear, organized, and well thought out. They were more like conceptual lectures though, so example problems in the lectures will not exactly mimic homework problems. The lectures were sort of like extended Khan Academy videos with some participation questions that were extra credit. Dr. Tung also has an extremely cool intro video that he plays at the beginning of every lecture which amazed me every time I watched it.

Homework was collected all at the end of the class. These problems mostly prepared me for tests. Some of the homework problems were difficult, so ask on Campuswire for help. Only 60% of homework is need to get full credit for the homework part of your grade. Anything else over that is extra credit.

Discussions were somewhat useful. We worked on worksheets in groups and the TA’s went over the solutions at the end of class, which cleared things up. However, this might be the case just for the session I took.

Labs were tedious, but doable. They took a long time as we had to set up and record our own videos to analyze. The labs were also extremely independent, so no one really talked to their group members during lab. My TA wasn’t that helpful, but the lab manuals had enough instruction for me to figure out most stuff on my own.

The four midterms we had were similar to homework. Each midterm was 15% each and there was no final. There were only about 15 questions on each test, so one question was 1% of your grade. That can seem intimidating, but there was a lot of extra credit in the class. We were also given 24 hours to complete it and we could use the whole 24 hours if needed, meaning there wasn’t any time limit within the 24 hours.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 5A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
Dec. 20, 2021

Dr. Tung is an excellent professor who really cares about his students. He explains concepts very easily and always addresses questions throughly. His homework policy is very generous as its not due till the end of the quarter and if you do more than 65% you can receive Extra Credit. Exams were definitely fair overall. The multiple choice portion was pretty straightforward but the free response was definitely more difficult. It was still very doable for a 24 hr exam. I highly recommend Shardul if he is a Lab TA for 5A because he made labs really enjoyable. I highly recommend Dr. Tung for any physics class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 5A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
Jan. 4, 2022

Tung is a great professor! He speaks in a manner that is very straight-forward and clear. He's able to break down concepts well and gives relevant examples. He cares very much about the students, his tests are fair and similar to the homework and in-class questions. He gives us review sessions before the midterms, which are exactly like the tests. You just need to do the homework and go to his review sessions in order to do well on the class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 5A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: N/A
Feb. 23, 2022

I'm retaking this class with a different professor right now because I was unable to finish the first time due to personal issues. I'm coming back to say that, after taking this class with a different prof (Rombes), I think that the way Tung teaches makes the course a lot harder than it needs to be. His lectures were engaging for the most part, and he was good at explaining things clearly, but I think he tried to teach concepts in a way that was too in-depth for an intro physics course. There are a lot of things in my old notes from this course that haven't even been mentioned in the one I'm taking now because they're not necessary to understand the curriculum.

If you like physics and want a deep, integrated understanding of the different concepts in 5A, then this might be the professor for you. Otherwise, I found that other profs like Rombes make their courses a little more beginner friendly.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: N/A
March 28, 2022

Great dude. So worth taking

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PHYSICS 5A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: N/A
Nov. 15, 2024

Prof Tung's lectures are very conceptual. They're fun because of his demonstrations, but they won't prepare you for the exams at all. You either get it or you don't. He's also not very nice in office hours. I would take Bauer over Tung.

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: A
March 28, 2022

It was an absolute honor to take Physics 1A with Dr. Tung! I was very scared about taking this class beforehand as I had never taken a Physics course in high school before, but his clear explanations and demonstrations really made physics intuitive for me. His midterms weren't a walk in the park, but they were very doable given the 24 hours he gave. Some tips: I strongly recommend going over class examples before the midterms and exams and making sure you understand every step. Also, the homework and worksheets he assigns are often much harder than his exams, so it's more useful to focus on Tung's lectures to study.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1C
Quarter: Summer 2024
Grade: B+
Nov. 4, 2024

I took the course over the summer, where homework and extra credit assignments were done on Kudu. The exams, also on Kudu, consisted of multiple-choice questions with some short-answer items. There was no partial credit for multiple-choice questions, and the entire course, including exams, was online without a camera requirement. None of the exam questions were available elsewhere online—I think he wrote them all himself.

Exams were held weekly, though he canceled one in week 5 and adjusted the grading scheme accordingly. Class averages never exceeded 75%, typically staying around the mid-60s, yet he didn’t curve the grades at all. While he seemed knowledgeable and, in fairness, putting in the effort could help improve your grade, it was frustrating that, despite low averages and the potential for a curve, he ultimately chose not to adjust grades.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
7 of 12
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