Professor

Vladimir Vassiliev

AD
3.2
Overall Ratings
Based on 58 Users
Easiness 2.2 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 2.4 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 3.2 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 3.6 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (58)

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PHYSICS 1B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 1, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A+

***I'm updating my review because so many people seem to have slammed Vassiliev's class and ruined his rating. I do recommend this class with him even if you don't think you'll understand everything because he does explain the basic topics very clearly and writes very fair exams.***
Before everyone comes and writes Dr Vassiliev a bad review for making the class very difficult (especially compared to the other 1B professor this quarter), I'm just going to say that if you have a strong understand of the material in math 32A and 32B and you pay attention in lecture, you're going to learn a lot about physics and have a great appreciation of it. Even though I'm not a physics major, professor Vassiliev made me very interested in the course material and goes above in beyond in his efforts to motivate and explain concepts in physics. I also found the professor very clear at explaining topics.
That being said, if you are less mathematically inclined or are taking 32B this quarter, I will warn you that lectures can get a little mathematically intense. The two midterms we've had so far haven't been too difficult and haven't included any math that was too complicated.
I guess the main complain people might have with this class is how densely packed with information the lectures are and the fact that the professor expects math 32B as a pre-req when it is only a co-req for this class.
The professor gives a lot of extra credit and homework and midterms with almost 50% of the marks on the midterms coming from extra credit. The grading scheme is very generous with 100%+ being an A+, 90-100% being an A, 80-90% being an A-, 70-80% being a B+, 60 to 70% being a B and so on.
TLDR: take this class if you really love physics and want a deeper appreciation of the subject matter (though even if you don't particularly care about rigor, the exams aren't that difficult and the grading scheme is quite generous).

Helpful?

2 5 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 105B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
April 2, 2022
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: A+

Professor Vladimir is THE most underrated professor in Physics Department from my opinion. Surely his class is intense, but with extremely clear structure and logic. It is normal to find yourself unable to follow his pace in lecture, but if you review his lecture slides later, you will absolutely find how beautiful these physics theories are. His homework and exams are not easy but doable as long as you sort everything out from the lectures. Besides, you would one hundred percent want to attend his optional lectures on the connection between analytic and quantum mechanics if applicable. It will be mind-blowing if you take quantum mechanic classes in the following quarter.

Lastly, if you find vvv's class is boring and unhelpful, I would suggest you to change your major as he could be the very first professor to show you how beautiful physics is. He definitely deserves a 5.0 rating.

Helpful?

1 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 11, 2009
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A

Professor Vassiliev seems like he's very smart and knowledgeable in physics, but unfortunately that doesn't make him a good teacher. I had him for Physics 1BH, so maybe it's a different story for his upper division courses, but he had a way of making things more confusing and had little patience when students didn't understand what he was teaching (which was pretty often).

He also looks and acts a lot like the bad guy from the Professionals, which creeped me out.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 22, 2009
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A

you must be out of your mind to take anyone other than vvv for quantum mechanics.

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
March 12, 2011
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A

Why would you want to take another professor? This guy knows his stuff, he teaches it in an awesome way (though he tends to overlap too often so we don't get to enough of the material), and he sounds like a bad guy from a James Bond movie. Seriously though, go to office hours if you get him because there is no doubt he will hate your class for being idiots (because everyone will be too intimidated to answer his questions for fear of answering incorrectly) and you will succeed. He's a great one-on-one teacher, and he also has some interesting ideas about quantum mechanics.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 12, 2015
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A

I'll start off by saying Vassiliev is a very nice, approachable guy. The curve in this class was very generous, and there were plenty of opportunities to get extra credit. He makes it impossible to not pass the class.

However, IF YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF AN AVERAGE OR BELOW AVERAGE PHYSICS STUDENT KEEP READING. My grades in the 1 series and 105A lead me to believe I'm an average physics student here at UCLA. And if you're like me (no shame in being average at one of the best universities in the world of course), RUN THE OTHER WAY. Vassiliev holds his students to very high standards; he thinks we came out of the womb knowing linear algebra in Einstein notation (what?) I was lost from the start and never found my way back. Weekly homework assignments with 4 problems took up to 12 hours and an enormous amount of help from my TA and friends to complete. I've always loved mechanics and I loved 105A but all throughout this quarter I just wanted it to be over.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 5, 2015
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A

Vassiliev is an excellent instructor, don't listen to anyone if they say otherwise. He tries to teach us high level material and I greatly appreciate that as well as his enthusiasm for teaching. However, along with high level material comes a fast work pace and a requirement for pre-existing knowledge. These two conditions cause some issues in the class. Some topics moved very quickly and could not be covered in sufficient detail such that the whole class could understand. Vassiliev taught the methods out of the Marion book but the official class book was Taylor (this should definitely be changed). In addition, due to the nature of the material, myself and many other students felt lost from the very start of the class. Some of us managed to pick it up as the quarter went on but many remained lagging behind. Again to reiterate, I loved Vassiliev and will be taking another class with him next quarter, however, I do feel he certainly has areas which need improvement. Also he speaks and looks like a bond villain, is named freaking VVV and grunts in the affirmative to himself all the time "mmhmm". I recommend Vassiliev 7/10.

Helpful?

0 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
July 12, 2018
Quarter: Spring 2018
Grade: A+

The course material for 105B can be very challenging, and Vassiliev tends to do some things differently from the books. The homework problem sets take ages to finish, and often can't be done unless you get some help from the TA. However, Vassiliev is very generous with the curves on the tests and offers A LOT of extra credit. If you take the time to understand the material, and go to office hours, you'll be able to get an A.
TLDR- Time consuming and hard class with, but still sort of an easy A

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Feb. 22, 2019
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: I

The professor introduced a lot of concepts in class, however, none can be found directly on the textbooks and he tends to skip around class materials a lot. In addition, he gave out a lot of extra credits on hw and test (although none of us have time to do them). I will say the class is really hard and he didn't explain all concept thoroughly. The exercises he gave out during discussions are also not that relatable to class material either.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
March 25, 2020
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A

VVV is I think the best QM professor at UCLA. His tests are tough but fair and with lots of extra credit opportunities. His grading scale is also very generous, so as long as you do the homeworks and score about average on exams you should be fine. The material is also really interesting and useful in any field. Its all just ways to approximate differential equations that can't be easily solved. If you have the chance to take it with vvv you definitely should

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A+
March 1, 2021

***I'm updating my review because so many people seem to have slammed Vassiliev's class and ruined his rating. I do recommend this class with him even if you don't think you'll understand everything because he does explain the basic topics very clearly and writes very fair exams.***
Before everyone comes and writes Dr Vassiliev a bad review for making the class very difficult (especially compared to the other 1B professor this quarter), I'm just going to say that if you have a strong understand of the material in math 32A and 32B and you pay attention in lecture, you're going to learn a lot about physics and have a great appreciation of it. Even though I'm not a physics major, professor Vassiliev made me very interested in the course material and goes above in beyond in his efforts to motivate and explain concepts in physics. I also found the professor very clear at explaining topics.
That being said, if you are less mathematically inclined or are taking 32B this quarter, I will warn you that lectures can get a little mathematically intense. The two midterms we've had so far haven't been too difficult and haven't included any math that was too complicated.
I guess the main complain people might have with this class is how densely packed with information the lectures are and the fact that the professor expects math 32B as a pre-req when it is only a co-req for this class.
The professor gives a lot of extra credit and homework and midterms with almost 50% of the marks on the midterms coming from extra credit. The grading scheme is very generous with 100%+ being an A+, 90-100% being an A, 80-90% being an A-, 70-80% being a B+, 60 to 70% being a B and so on.
TLDR: take this class if you really love physics and want a deeper appreciation of the subject matter (though even if you don't particularly care about rigor, the exams aren't that difficult and the grading scheme is quite generous).

Helpful?

2 5 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 105B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2022
Grade: A+
April 2, 2022

Professor Vladimir is THE most underrated professor in Physics Department from my opinion. Surely his class is intense, but with extremely clear structure and logic. It is normal to find yourself unable to follow his pace in lecture, but if you review his lecture slides later, you will absolutely find how beautiful these physics theories are. His homework and exams are not easy but doable as long as you sort everything out from the lectures. Besides, you would one hundred percent want to attend his optional lectures on the connection between analytic and quantum mechanics if applicable. It will be mind-blowing if you take quantum mechanic classes in the following quarter.

Lastly, if you find vvv's class is boring and unhelpful, I would suggest you to change your major as he could be the very first professor to show you how beautiful physics is. He definitely deserves a 5.0 rating.

Helpful?

1 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1BH
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 11, 2009

Professor Vassiliev seems like he's very smart and knowledgeable in physics, but unfortunately that doesn't make him a good teacher. I had him for Physics 1BH, so maybe it's a different story for his upper division courses, but he had a way of making things more confusing and had little patience when students didn't understand what he was teaching (which was pretty often).

He also looks and acts a lot like the bad guy from the Professionals, which creeped me out.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 115B
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 22, 2009

you must be out of your mind to take anyone other than vvv for quantum mechanics.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 115B
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
March 12, 2011

Why would you want to take another professor? This guy knows his stuff, he teaches it in an awesome way (though he tends to overlap too often so we don't get to enough of the material), and he sounds like a bad guy from a James Bond movie. Seriously though, go to office hours if you get him because there is no doubt he will hate your class for being idiots (because everyone will be too intimidated to answer his questions for fear of answering incorrectly) and you will succeed. He's a great one-on-one teacher, and he also has some interesting ideas about quantum mechanics.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 105B
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 12, 2015

I'll start off by saying Vassiliev is a very nice, approachable guy. The curve in this class was very generous, and there were plenty of opportunities to get extra credit. He makes it impossible to not pass the class.

However, IF YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF AN AVERAGE OR BELOW AVERAGE PHYSICS STUDENT KEEP READING. My grades in the 1 series and 105A lead me to believe I'm an average physics student here at UCLA. And if you're like me (no shame in being average at one of the best universities in the world of course), RUN THE OTHER WAY. Vassiliev holds his students to very high standards; he thinks we came out of the womb knowing linear algebra in Einstein notation (what?) I was lost from the start and never found my way back. Weekly homework assignments with 4 problems took up to 12 hours and an enormous amount of help from my TA and friends to complete. I've always loved mechanics and I loved 105A but all throughout this quarter I just wanted it to be over.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 105B
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 5, 2015

Vassiliev is an excellent instructor, don't listen to anyone if they say otherwise. He tries to teach us high level material and I greatly appreciate that as well as his enthusiasm for teaching. However, along with high level material comes a fast work pace and a requirement for pre-existing knowledge. These two conditions cause some issues in the class. Some topics moved very quickly and could not be covered in sufficient detail such that the whole class could understand. Vassiliev taught the methods out of the Marion book but the official class book was Taylor (this should definitely be changed). In addition, due to the nature of the material, myself and many other students felt lost from the very start of the class. Some of us managed to pick it up as the quarter went on but many remained lagging behind. Again to reiterate, I loved Vassiliev and will be taking another class with him next quarter, however, I do feel he certainly has areas which need improvement. Also he speaks and looks like a bond villain, is named freaking VVV and grunts in the affirmative to himself all the time "mmhmm". I recommend Vassiliev 7/10.

Helpful?

0 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 105B
Quarter: Spring 2018
Grade: A+
July 12, 2018

The course material for 105B can be very challenging, and Vassiliev tends to do some things differently from the books. The homework problem sets take ages to finish, and often can't be done unless you get some help from the TA. However, Vassiliev is very generous with the curves on the tests and offers A LOT of extra credit. If you take the time to understand the material, and go to office hours, you'll be able to get an A.
TLDR- Time consuming and hard class with, but still sort of an easy A

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ASTR 115
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: I
Feb. 22, 2019

The professor introduced a lot of concepts in class, however, none can be found directly on the textbooks and he tends to skip around class materials a lot. In addition, he gave out a lot of extra credits on hw and test (although none of us have time to do them). I will say the class is really hard and he didn't explain all concept thoroughly. The exercises he gave out during discussions are also not that relatable to class material either.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 115C
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A
March 25, 2020

VVV is I think the best QM professor at UCLA. His tests are tough but fair and with lots of extra credit opportunities. His grading scale is also very generous, so as long as you do the homeworks and score about average on exams you should be fine. The material is also really interesting and useful in any field. Its all just ways to approximate differential equations that can't be easily solved. If you have the chance to take it with vvv you definitely should

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
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