Kusenko the goat

Kusenko's exams are fair. They're similar to old exams, so find past exams and if you can do those ones no sweat you'll be fine. Try not to zone out during lecture because he makes hints at problems that will show up on exams. He uses Kudu which he founded lol for homework. Find ppl to do them with and go to office hours if you need help he will solve them for you.

This class was really chill imo for a physics class (emphasis on the for a physics class). I liked Kusenko, but I also felt like he was making it really easy to get a B/B+ and really hard to get an A/A-. I did really well on the midterms(90% and 95%) and above median on the final (85.5% iirc), and was reasonably pleased with my grade. Attendance is basically mandatory bc you gotta do the stuff on kudu in real time but u could probably just have kudu open and do it anywhere. Kudu, imo, is better than mastering physics in some ways, but overall pretty similar. You get 5 tries for the written number qs and you don't lose any marks for wrong answers. The multiple choice you got 2 tries. We had HW every week and sometimes pre-lecture qs. The Hw would start off easy then get really hard towards the end. TA was helpful though and you got like a long ass cheat sheet so you could put hard qs on them. (3 papers front and back for the final and 1 paper front and back for each midterm- midterms were not cumulative )

-he only explains basics then you have to understand all hw questions by yourself. they often had difficult, more complicated ideas within them.
-He uses Kudu for hw and explanations. The Kudu readings were not the best.
-exams were mostly Qs from past exams or the hw, and he would usually add one or two new questions (out of 5).
-he allows cheat sheets during exams and is very generous with partial credit

I don't like physics but I would definitely say to take Kusenko if you can. His homeworks are a very average amount of work but manageable, same thing with exams they are not super easy but also not extremely hard and very fair based on what we've been taught (averages were around an 80 or a little lower). A lot of his test questions are ripped straight off kudu and you get a cheat sheet so its helpful to put hard homework problems on it. It is pretty hard to get an A (I think it ended up being about the top 10% of the class), but it is not too hard at all to get an A- because his curve is really generous in this category so as long as you're a decent student/stem oriented you'll do fine grade wise. Definitely on the better end of teachers even though this will naturally be a tougher class.

Professor Kusenko is one of the nicest and most approachable professors I've had in UCLA. He is extremely knowledgeable in physics and would show us fun experiments during lectures. However, the way he explains physics is calculus-heavy, so be sure to get a solid grasp of calculus. In fact, some of the tougher homework and quiz questions requires calculus too, though it is barely required for his exams. His exams are manageable, with one or two tougher questions each time. Decent amount of partial credit too, so it is alright if you make careless mistakes in your calculations. Overall, would highly recommend Professor Kusenko for Physics 1A.

Kusenko's a pretty good mechanics teacher who cares about his students. His homework's were pretty manageable as the TA's would go over the hardest problems in discussion. He's a pretty engaging lecturer and does cool experiments. The only thing is that his tests are pretty hard but he has a safety net where the top 30% of his class will get an A-.

Kusenko is an amazing person and probably the nicest professor I have had out of all of my STEM classes at UCLA. However, do not neglect this class and study the night before an exam because his exams are actually quite difficult.

I loved taking this class with Kusenko. He's funny, tells lots of stories, and has physical demonstrations for concepts. I wish I could have him for every class I take at UCLA. Workload was pretty light, just one homework assignment per week online and in class problems that he'd go over. Tests were also not incredibly difficult, some of the problems he had even gone over in class, and the partial credit was very nice. Overall - if you have a chance to take this course, do it.

Honestly one of the coolest professors I've had. He is not only a great lecturer but always adds in jokes and real world applications. Even on zoom, he would make sure to show experiments pretty often to help solidify our understanding. Besides that, he also has amazing personal stories and even explains his research a little bit. Its also fairly easy to get an A in this class with the break down he has. I would highly recommend.