PHYSICS 5A
Physics for Life Sciences Majors: Mechanics and Energy
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; laboratory, two hours. Requisites: Life Sciences 30A, 30B, or Mathematics 3A, 3B, 3C (3C may be taken concurrently). Statics and dynamics of forces, motion, energy, including thermal energy, with applications to biological and biochemical systems. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Heard he's not teaching the 5 series anymore, which to be honest is for the best. This was the first class I had ever failed at UCLA, and now I can't sleep the night before an exam I'm stressed about because of PTSD from this guy. Took this class later with Samani and went up two letter grades. Some people like this guy, but his teaching style did not work for me AT all.
Fall 2018 - Heard he's not teaching the 5 series anymore, which to be honest is for the best. This was the first class I had ever failed at UCLA, and now I can't sleep the night before an exam I'm stressed about because of PTSD from this guy. Took this class later with Samani and went up two letter grades. Some people like this guy, but his teaching style did not work for me AT all.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - He is an extremely tough professor. He is so profound at physics to the point where he probably doesn't fathom that we don't understand everything immediately. He zooms through the material and diverges a lot from what the book says or the order that it's supposed to be in. He is pretty impatient and is not afraid to subliminally belittle you when you ask him a question in class. His midterms were OK but oftentimes he would not be clear on what he expects us to know. The final was tough and included like 2/6 problems we've never seen variations of. Says he curves the class, but he barely did.
Fall 2019 - He is an extremely tough professor. He is so profound at physics to the point where he probably doesn't fathom that we don't understand everything immediately. He zooms through the material and diverges a lot from what the book says or the order that it's supposed to be in. He is pretty impatient and is not afraid to subliminally belittle you when you ask him a question in class. His midterms were OK but oftentimes he would not be clear on what he expects us to know. The final was tough and included like 2/6 problems we've never seen variations of. Says he curves the class, but he barely did.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2017 - Do not take this class with this professor even if it's your last option. His exams are inexplicably difficult, and I would say to the point of impossible. Many students consistently complained about his exams failing to mirror what was taught during lecture, which, by the way, was a nightmare in and of itself. This professor cannot make the material accessible to students if his life depended on it. He's a genius in his profession, but he simply isn't able to relay this information in a student-friendly manner. Please, do yourselves a favor, and avoid this professor at all costs. Both I and a friend dropped this class week 9. We were utterly destroyed even considering both of us had taken AP Physics (Mechanics) during high school. Wrap.
Fall 2017 - Do not take this class with this professor even if it's your last option. His exams are inexplicably difficult, and I would say to the point of impossible. Many students consistently complained about his exams failing to mirror what was taught during lecture, which, by the way, was a nightmare in and of itself. This professor cannot make the material accessible to students if his life depended on it. He's a genius in his profession, but he simply isn't able to relay this information in a student-friendly manner. Please, do yourselves a favor, and avoid this professor at all costs. Both I and a friend dropped this class week 9. We were utterly destroyed even considering both of us had taken AP Physics (Mechanics) during high school. Wrap.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - Professor Huang was honestly an extremely helpful professor. Granted, his accent made it hard to understand him sometimes, but he really did put a lot of effort into ensuring that his students had a good grasp on the class materials. He assigned weekly homeworks and quizzes online which counted for 15% of our grade. Towards the end of the class he informed us that, since he recognized how hard we were working, he would give us all 100% in all the homeworks and quizzes. He also gave everyone who got above a 90% in the final exam at least an A-, regardless of their midterm and lab grades. He is one of the few professors I have met who truly want their students to succeed. He provided us with the exact topics we would get in both midterms and told us beforehand that the final exam would consist of several repeat questions from the lecture slides and the previous midterms. As long as you went to lecture and paid attention to his hints about the exams, it's pretty easy to pass this class.
Winter 2023 - Professor Huang was honestly an extremely helpful professor. Granted, his accent made it hard to understand him sometimes, but he really did put a lot of effort into ensuring that his students had a good grasp on the class materials. He assigned weekly homeworks and quizzes online which counted for 15% of our grade. Towards the end of the class he informed us that, since he recognized how hard we were working, he would give us all 100% in all the homeworks and quizzes. He also gave everyone who got above a 90% in the final exam at least an A-, regardless of their midterm and lab grades. He is one of the few professors I have met who truly want their students to succeed. He provided us with the exact topics we would get in both midterms and told us beforehand that the final exam would consist of several repeat questions from the lecture slides and the previous midterms. As long as you went to lecture and paid attention to his hints about the exams, it's pretty easy to pass this class.
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