MECH&AE 103
Elementary Fluid Mechanics
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, two hours; outside study, six hours. Requisites: Mathematics 32B, 33A, Physics 1B. Introductory course dealing with application of principles of mechanics to flow of compressible and incompressible fluids. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
I had Professor Amar for MAE 105A and MAE 103. I didn't like him all that much in 105A because he seemed to enjoy making us suffer when giving us pop quizzes. However he told us when the quizzes were in 103 so that made things a lot better. He does have an attitude and can be quite sassy but he's a great teacher. I never had any trouble understanding what he taught (as long as I was paying attention). The first quiz in both classes was fairly easy but the ones after that were quite tricky. The midterms for both were fine. The 105A final was pretty hard but the 103 final was fairly easy. The homeworks were also quite short for both classes. I would recommend taking his class but don't bother asking any questions because he'll just ask you the same question back.
I had Professor Amar for MAE 105A and MAE 103. I didn't like him all that much in 105A because he seemed to enjoy making us suffer when giving us pop quizzes. However he told us when the quizzes were in 103 so that made things a lot better. He does have an attitude and can be quite sassy but he's a great teacher. I never had any trouble understanding what he taught (as long as I was paying attention). The first quiz in both classes was fairly easy but the ones after that were quite tricky. The midterms for both were fine. The 105A final was pretty hard but the 103 final was fairly easy. The homeworks were also quite short for both classes. I would recommend taking his class but don't bother asking any questions because he'll just ask you the same question back.
Most Helpful Review
Summer 2016 - Overall a good professor. Lectures were long and very dense but not over the top and I enjoyed them. Some people complained about the lectures but some people are just complainers. I learned a great deal. He always took time to answer all my questions. Grading was fair if not pretty generous. Nice guy.
Summer 2016 - Overall a good professor. Lectures were long and very dense but not over the top and I enjoyed them. Some people complained about the lectures but some people are just complainers. I learned a great deal. He always took time to answer all my questions. Grading was fair if not pretty generous. Nice guy.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - I'll be honest here, Eldredge might be my favorite engineering professor I've had here. His lectures have a great flow to them with his own personality that makes them very engaging. He doesn't use any slides and writes everything out live so for me personally that really helped me focus and stay awake. Homework is fairly reasonable but I do recommend going to discussion regularly to have a much easier time on them. He gives extra credit problems sometimes too and if you do them all, you can get up to something like an extra 4% to your grade. The tests were reasonable though there are three midterms in addition to a final, which may seem weird at first. Each midterm was only one question that probably took no more than like 40 minutes though and he drops your lowest midterm score so that helps a lot. They aren't terribly difficult - many people got a 100% on multiple midterms. We started out the quarter with in person tests but he switched over to online halfway through so hopefully he keeps that next time he teaches. But yeah, clear, engaging, patient and pretty much everything a good professor should be. This sure isn't an easy class but if you take him, you're in good hands.
Fall 2021 - I'll be honest here, Eldredge might be my favorite engineering professor I've had here. His lectures have a great flow to them with his own personality that makes them very engaging. He doesn't use any slides and writes everything out live so for me personally that really helped me focus and stay awake. Homework is fairly reasonable but I do recommend going to discussion regularly to have a much easier time on them. He gives extra credit problems sometimes too and if you do them all, you can get up to something like an extra 4% to your grade. The tests were reasonable though there are three midterms in addition to a final, which may seem weird at first. Each midterm was only one question that probably took no more than like 40 minutes though and he drops your lowest midterm score so that helps a lot. They aren't terribly difficult - many people got a 100% on multiple midterms. We started out the quarter with in person tests but he switched over to online halfway through so hopefully he keeps that next time he teaches. But yeah, clear, engaging, patient and pretty much everything a good professor should be. This sure isn't an easy class but if you take him, you're in good hands.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Looking at the reviews posted so far this quarter, I would say they are accurate to a degree, but may be a little harsh. I did think it was a little petty that he has pasted the entirety of both of the negative bruinwalk reviews written for this quarter in emails addressed to the class, but it is what it is. Anyways, I would agree that he goes over pretty basic derivations of concepts in class and always uses the most simplistic cases that you can think of. While this seems okay at first for the first 2-3 weeks of material, it leaves you pretty unprepared to do the homework and understand the material once you get to the more complicated topics (ESPECIALLY CONTROL VOLUMES). This is also true when he goes over practice midterm/final problems; he always chooses really simplistic questions that don't really reflect the kinds of questions on the actual tests. However, I think that if you attend discussion, you'll be in a much better position to succeed in the class. The TA explains a summary of the material in a concise and easy to understand manner and explains a variety of practice problems very in-depth (honestly maybe a little too in-depth but I'm completely fine with it). The professor still does a sufficient job of at least introducing and explaining the topics so you're in a position to pick up the material quickly during discussion, which is still nice. If you do still need help, I think he's relatively helpful in office hours, and he's always willing to answer questions during class as well. As for the exams, I would say they are not too tough in terms of actual content and length, but echoing the sentiments expressed below, they could definitely have used clearer wording. I thought it was a little unfair, given that most of the time they wouldn't offer clarification even when the wording and diagrams were vague and nearly impossible to understand. Clarifying questions to the professor were often met with one word answers or passive aggressive responses, and I sometimes found myself guessing what the question was asking. Nonetheless, they were 24 hour tests, so time wasn't really an issue, although we were required to submit a video explanation of our answers, which was a little annoying but fair. Overall, the class wasn't bad; I thought the professor did an okay job of getting through the material. He never kept class longer than it needed to be (which I actually respected and appreciated a lot) and was friendly overall (although I do wish he was more open to new genres of music). You shouldn't worry too much about grades; he's actually pretty generous in the end, even if it doesn't always seem that way.
Fall 2020 - Looking at the reviews posted so far this quarter, I would say they are accurate to a degree, but may be a little harsh. I did think it was a little petty that he has pasted the entirety of both of the negative bruinwalk reviews written for this quarter in emails addressed to the class, but it is what it is. Anyways, I would agree that he goes over pretty basic derivations of concepts in class and always uses the most simplistic cases that you can think of. While this seems okay at first for the first 2-3 weeks of material, it leaves you pretty unprepared to do the homework and understand the material once you get to the more complicated topics (ESPECIALLY CONTROL VOLUMES). This is also true when he goes over practice midterm/final problems; he always chooses really simplistic questions that don't really reflect the kinds of questions on the actual tests. However, I think that if you attend discussion, you'll be in a much better position to succeed in the class. The TA explains a summary of the material in a concise and easy to understand manner and explains a variety of practice problems very in-depth (honestly maybe a little too in-depth but I'm completely fine with it). The professor still does a sufficient job of at least introducing and explaining the topics so you're in a position to pick up the material quickly during discussion, which is still nice. If you do still need help, I think he's relatively helpful in office hours, and he's always willing to answer questions during class as well. As for the exams, I would say they are not too tough in terms of actual content and length, but echoing the sentiments expressed below, they could definitely have used clearer wording. I thought it was a little unfair, given that most of the time they wouldn't offer clarification even when the wording and diagrams were vague and nearly impossible to understand. Clarifying questions to the professor were often met with one word answers or passive aggressive responses, and I sometimes found myself guessing what the question was asking. Nonetheless, they were 24 hour tests, so time wasn't really an issue, although we were required to submit a video explanation of our answers, which was a little annoying but fair. Overall, the class wasn't bad; I thought the professor did an okay job of getting through the material. He never kept class longer than it needed to be (which I actually respected and appreciated a lot) and was friendly overall (although I do wish he was more open to new genres of music). You shouldn't worry too much about grades; he's actually pretty generous in the end, even if it doesn't always seem that way.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Good class, good professor, challenging exams. The exams are nothing like the homework, and in my opinion, they do not accurately reflect learning—they measure how good you are at solving a problem you've never seen before (using what you've learned). As an analogy, the homework and lectures are like high school physics, everything is in the textbook; while the exams are like physics olympiads, you've never seen this before and it'll likely take creativity to solve it. I can somewhat sympathize with this method of administering exams—I suppose I'm spoiled by being spoonfed by high school and textbook problems. I wish Dr. Kavehpour would direct us to resources that more accurately reflect the challenges on the exams.
Fall 2020 - Good class, good professor, challenging exams. The exams are nothing like the homework, and in my opinion, they do not accurately reflect learning—they measure how good you are at solving a problem you've never seen before (using what you've learned). As an analogy, the homework and lectures are like high school physics, everything is in the textbook; while the exams are like physics olympiads, you've never seen this before and it'll likely take creativity to solve it. I can somewhat sympathize with this method of administering exams—I suppose I'm spoiled by being spoonfed by high school and textbook problems. I wish Dr. Kavehpour would direct us to resources that more accurately reflect the challenges on the exams.
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