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
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Do not take Bauer. To see the other side, I know my learning style did not cooperate well with his teaching style. However, he did not seem to care about his students' learning and it heavily shows in the grades. All his exams are in the 50-60% range or lower. I have heard that he used to be a good professor back in 2022 but for whatever reason that drastically changed and now his teaching and teaching style is extremely different. If possible take TUNG.
Fall 2023 - Do not take Bauer. To see the other side, I know my learning style did not cooperate well with his teaching style. However, he did not seem to care about his students' learning and it heavily shows in the grades. All his exams are in the 50-60% range or lower. I have heard that he used to be a good professor back in 2022 but for whatever reason that drastically changed and now his teaching and teaching style is extremely different. If possible take TUNG.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - This is probably the hardest class I have ever taken at UCLA. Professor Bauer, although a kind person, didn't really do it for me as a lecturer. As a previous review stated, he did just read off the slides and while he did give example problems, I feel like they were not completely representative of the types of problems we saw on the exams. The exams were pretty difficult. The second midterm literally had an average of 52% so I'm sure you can guess what went wrong there. The final I felt was more fair, but honestly I was just upset because the more I studied for this class, the worst my confidence was. Nonetheless, I was somehow able to scrape by with this grade. I would say if you decide to take Bauer, then to definitely start doing practice problems after week 1 on your own. Do any problem you can find, thoroughly understand them, and hopefully you'll be okay.
Winter 2024 - This is probably the hardest class I have ever taken at UCLA. Professor Bauer, although a kind person, didn't really do it for me as a lecturer. As a previous review stated, he did just read off the slides and while he did give example problems, I feel like they were not completely representative of the types of problems we saw on the exams. The exams were pretty difficult. The second midterm literally had an average of 52% so I'm sure you can guess what went wrong there. The final I felt was more fair, but honestly I was just upset because the more I studied for this class, the worst my confidence was. Nonetheless, I was somehow able to scrape by with this grade. I would say if you decide to take Bauer, then to definitely start doing practice problems after week 1 on your own. Do any problem you can find, thoroughly understand them, and hopefully you'll be okay.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - Dr. Bauer is possibly one of the most passive-aggressive, rude, uncaring professors at UCLA. When I first came into contact with him, I thought he was accommodating and chill because I had a complicated circumstance and he allowed me to take one of the exams online to make up for it. After finishing the quarter I realized how he is completely unwilling to help his students genuinely learn, and if you do not understand a topic the first time then he thinks you are simply incompetent. I had failed the first midterm (due to having a horribly strict TA who graded me unfairly) but scored above the average on all subsequent exams. I had discussed this with him and my worries about not succeeding in the class because I did so poorly on the first midterm and he offered no guidance or reassurance. He essentially told me, "I don't know if you pass. You should just study better." I found this outraging as someone who spent almost ALL OF MY TIME studying for this course singlehandedly. The class average was 60-75% on all exams with *no* curves. Also, the extra credit is worth a measly 0.3% of your grade at the most... so it's practically pointless. He once even said in his final review session "I don't know how this will help any of you at all." which goes to show how much effort he puts into preparing students for his finals. His 2-hour zoom session, indeed, did not help at all. Don't be fooled by all the good ratings. If you are not already well-rounded in physics and you are taking this class in person, it is NOT EASY.
Spring 2022 - Dr. Bauer is possibly one of the most passive-aggressive, rude, uncaring professors at UCLA. When I first came into contact with him, I thought he was accommodating and chill because I had a complicated circumstance and he allowed me to take one of the exams online to make up for it. After finishing the quarter I realized how he is completely unwilling to help his students genuinely learn, and if you do not understand a topic the first time then he thinks you are simply incompetent. I had failed the first midterm (due to having a horribly strict TA who graded me unfairly) but scored above the average on all subsequent exams. I had discussed this with him and my worries about not succeeding in the class because I did so poorly on the first midterm and he offered no guidance or reassurance. He essentially told me, "I don't know if you pass. You should just study better." I found this outraging as someone who spent almost ALL OF MY TIME studying for this course singlehandedly. The class average was 60-75% on all exams with *no* curves. Also, the extra credit is worth a measly 0.3% of your grade at the most... so it's practically pointless. He once even said in his final review session "I don't know how this will help any of you at all." which goes to show how much effort he puts into preparing students for his finals. His 2-hour zoom session, indeed, did not help at all. Don't be fooled by all the good ratings. If you are not already well-rounded in physics and you are taking this class in person, it is NOT EASY.
AD
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.