This class is ass.

It is exactly like Physics 4AL . TA's do not want to grade hard, but they are forced to because the Physics department wants grade deflation. As an engineer, you just have to suck it up and take this class to graduate.

4BL is a lot like the older, cooler brother of 4AL. In my opinion, 4BL is a lot more manageable than 4AL. Although the labs are often longer than 4AL, where you could usually leave after 1-1.5 hours, the reports are graded far more generously than in 4AL. If you're ever confused in lab just make sure you ask your TA a bunch of questions, because the manual can be painfully vague at times. It's not like you have any choice whether you take this lab or not, so just be appreciative that it's better than 4AL. Oh and make sure you start early on your lab reports.

This class is the worst class and the professor does not even make a appearance why is he even listed as a professor for this class. Why is he allowed to disguise this class as two units. This class is single handedly the worst class that anybody needs to take. This class should be taken out as requirement because it is waste of time both because of its content and the way the professor designed its structure. Horrible class

Terrible class with a draconic grading policy. Points are taken off at random and your experience is solely determined by your TA. The professor is an a**hole and never shows up at all. Take this over the summer or when you have easy classes as it will eat up all your time.

I am still wondering why this class still exists in UCLA. It is a joke. Professor never shows up and tells TAs to do whatever they want. That means, they could deduct tons of points from your carefully-arranged, scrutinized, pages-long lab reports, and you cannot even argue with them because they are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. Although many of the times they act ridiculous. And if you are lucky enough to have a TA like the one I got, who could not even clearly express her ideas and doesn't reply to your email until deadline passes, there you go. I LITERALLY DID NOT LEARN ANYTHING USEFUL EXCEPT FOR SOME PATHETIC FORMATS AND EXCEL SKILLS. Good luck. I'd certainly celebrate if the physics department takes down this class. Shame on you, a physics lab but has nothing to do with real physics.

This class is entirely taught by the TA. Mine was fantastic and made physics lab great. I think a lot of people blow physics lab out of proportion. Take good data and take your time and it will make it a lot easier. Also donthe fixes your TAs give and you'll do fine. Grading is fair in this class. Overall would take again.

I don't understand why people are so butthurt about this class on here. Yeah it sucks and it's too much work for 2 units, but so are all the other engineering labs. And this lab is actually significantly easier and less time consuming than others (ie. CS 35L) since NO new content is covered, NO new physics material is learned, and all you have to do to ace the labs is write a lot of educated-sounding BS about your procedure/methods while closely following all the guidelines in the book (those of you who took IB in high school are probably also experts at this).

This course took me no more than one day a week to write the labs (about 7-8 hours per lab), and I just made sure to write a lot (usually 20+ pages, double spaced) and thoroughly label my graphs to get good grades on all of them. Although this class sucked because of the length of write-ups, it'll help you get really proficient with using Excel, and it basically requires no brainpower since you don't have to learn or understand anything new about physics. Just a lot plotting and typing, you'll get an A.

For a 2.0 unit class, I spent more time writing labs for this class than studying for my other major-required 4.0-5.0 unit classes.

The grading scheme should be updated. One visit to BruinWalk and you will read that many students agree with this logic. In this class, it is possible for a student to receive a a high grade on a report, but receive a C because other classmates averaged higher. This is by far the factor that demotivated me the most. A learning environment such as a lab should be designed to reward students for effort, and for participating in the experimental experience. A lab manual does not substitute for a professor and therefore grading should not be harsh on students' lab reports. With no professor, and only Helen's help during two hours for the entire week + email, the class should not have a curve which gives 1/3 A's, 1/3B's and 1/3 "C's and below".

Campbell, the professor, was not present to discuss the formatting and presentation of these labs. I have heard great things about this professor but unfortunately did not see him let alone learn anything from him or get any personal advice about the lab manual.

I wish the lab reports weren't so harshly graded. This is a class where you can lose a substantial amount of points if the TA does not particularly agree with the formatting of my report, even after spending multiple hours upon hours writing it. Participation grading + Completion should be more heavily weighted than the format of the report.

Wes is an awesome professor! He is a great lecturer and truly cares about student learning. He also makes class interactive with demos and Q&As. In regards to exams, there was one midterm (30%) and the final (40%). The exams were difficult but do-able. He generously curved them as well. If you're taking physics 17, I highly recommend taking it with Campbell.

This class has been the bane of my existence and it's only two units!! There is a lab report due every week and they take HOURS. Worse than that, this is the only class I've ever had where the curve will actually hurt you: if everyone in the class gets above a 90 and you get 90, you're screwed. Luckily, the professor only gives out As, Bs, and Cs. The professor insists this is the best way to run the course, but I call bullshit.