Professor
Rainer Wallny
Most Helpful Review
This was the most enjoyable science class I have taken at UCLA. Coming into physics without any background, this class was far less intimidating than I ever thought. Wallny was such a nice guy, not to mention funny and kinda adorable with his accent. His lectures were slow at times, and sometimes hard to understand, but just go to all the office hours and you'll be fine. Rouzbeh Gerami, was an excellent excellent TA, and I think his office hours helped me more than the lectures. The class itself has 2 midterms, reading quizzes and homework each week. Plus, it has a very generous curve with 25% of the class getting at least an A-. Take this class, and you'll kinda learn to like physics...well, at least for me.
This was the most enjoyable science class I have taken at UCLA. Coming into physics without any background, this class was far less intimidating than I ever thought. Wallny was such a nice guy, not to mention funny and kinda adorable with his accent. His lectures were slow at times, and sometimes hard to understand, but just go to all the office hours and you'll be fine. Rouzbeh Gerami, was an excellent excellent TA, and I think his office hours helped me more than the lectures. The class itself has 2 midterms, reading quizzes and homework each week. Plus, it has a very generous curve with 25% of the class getting at least an A-. Take this class, and you'll kinda learn to like physics...well, at least for me.
Most Helpful Review
This is one of the best teachers I have ever had at UCLA. I completely didn't understand physics before I went to his class, and then all of the sudden, I was getting A's on the midterms. They were almost identical to the practice midterms, which helped I'm sure. Going to his office hours helped, of course, as well. He's very friendly, and cares a lot about his students. My favorite thing about his class was that he used "concept tests," which are multiple choice questions that help him know how much the class is understanding the information. If few people get the answer right, he'll go over the concept again. The concept tests are also helpful because they keep you awake in a class that teaches some of the most boring things I've ever learned. He also makes it more exciting by doing lots of demonstrations.
This is one of the best teachers I have ever had at UCLA. I completely didn't understand physics before I went to his class, and then all of the sudden, I was getting A's on the midterms. They were almost identical to the practice midterms, which helped I'm sure. Going to his office hours helped, of course, as well. He's very friendly, and cares a lot about his students. My favorite thing about his class was that he used "concept tests," which are multiple choice questions that help him know how much the class is understanding the information. If few people get the answer right, he'll go over the concept again. The concept tests are also helpful because they keep you awake in a class that teaches some of the most boring things I've ever learned. He also makes it more exciting by doing lots of demonstrations.
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Most Helpful Review
I honestly don’t know what the big fuss was about this professor. He’s a below average professor. I went into this class with huge enthusiasm, which he killed after his first office visit. His lectures simply lack passion, and clarity and are not helpful, I barely went to any after the first 2 weeks of trying. He does not explain it well, if it was not for the MIT lectures up on youtube I would’ve failed the course. He has the tendency of talking to the board and mumbling. I mean, I tried so hard to actually pay attention during lectures but I would space out after the first 10 min. I thought he was a nice guy and went to his office to speak to him about my grades and I swear the man had an attitude problem, I don’t know what it was really. And he was anything but encouraging. He does give a lot of homework though, a lot! On the other hand I don’t think his tests are SUPER hard, I believe they can be harder. 6B is a pretty hard class itself he can’t really make it easy. But if you take his class you’ve gotta stay on top of things, watch the MIT lectures, REALLLY help. He should perhaps watch those videos himself to see how the professors there explain it, crystal clear explanation of the material. Anyway if you’re stuck with him a few pointers that I can give you is ALWAYSS make sure you understand EVERY problem from a) the practice exam b) concept tests c) the examples done in the chapters d) and the homework problems NEVR copy down the homework from the solutions manual, although it could be very tempting, it will hurt you at the end. GOOD LUCK Oh almost forgot, to mention his positive(s): he does respond back to e-mails very quickly and also he tries extra hard to be funny, the key word is "try"
I honestly don’t know what the big fuss was about this professor. He’s a below average professor. I went into this class with huge enthusiasm, which he killed after his first office visit. His lectures simply lack passion, and clarity and are not helpful, I barely went to any after the first 2 weeks of trying. He does not explain it well, if it was not for the MIT lectures up on youtube I would’ve failed the course. He has the tendency of talking to the board and mumbling. I mean, I tried so hard to actually pay attention during lectures but I would space out after the first 10 min. I thought he was a nice guy and went to his office to speak to him about my grades and I swear the man had an attitude problem, I don’t know what it was really. And he was anything but encouraging. He does give a lot of homework though, a lot! On the other hand I don’t think his tests are SUPER hard, I believe they can be harder. 6B is a pretty hard class itself he can’t really make it easy. But if you take his class you’ve gotta stay on top of things, watch the MIT lectures, REALLLY help. He should perhaps watch those videos himself to see how the professors there explain it, crystal clear explanation of the material. Anyway if you’re stuck with him a few pointers that I can give you is ALWAYSS make sure you understand EVERY problem from a) the practice exam b) concept tests c) the examples done in the chapters d) and the homework problems NEVR copy down the homework from the solutions manual, although it could be very tempting, it will hurt you at the end. GOOD LUCK Oh almost forgot, to mention his positive(s): he does respond back to e-mails very quickly and also he tries extra hard to be funny, the key word is "try"