Professor Regan knows his stuff, and that's an understatement. He clearly has an extraordinary grasp of quantum mechanics and does his best to impart that to students. There's two downsides to this, though. The first is that it makes it hard for him to realize that students may have some difficulty with the concepts. They might be second nature to him, but they're entirely new to us. Yet he assumes that we are as comfortable as he is, and races through topics like the goddamn Road Runner getting away from Wile E. Coyote. The other problem, though (and this is arguably the worse of the two), is that Regan's self-perceived mastery of physics makes him an insufferable asshole. Just absolutely so far up his own ass, he's basically wearing his head as a beret.

With that said, I will reiterate that Regan is very knowledgeable, and he does at least try to share that with his students. Sometimes he goes a bit too far and too fast, but it's clear he is making an effort, which I appreciate. And it works. I do feel like I have learned a good amount in this class, that I may not have if he had not focused on the fundamentals like he did. In addition, his exams are insanely difficult and nearly impossible to finish in the allotted time, but he seems to be fair about grading and curving them, so the end result isn't too bad. Moral of the story then: really smart guy, raging asshole, medium teacher overall.

This class was very difficult and the curve is not generous.

Okay honestly I don't know how to rate this class. I feel like I didn't actually learn anything. Regan is TOO much of a genius and so there is a fundamental gap between him and you. And you have to lowkey remember so much from 1B because he expects you to read the book, know the previous concepts, and builds on it. Honestly, if this wasn't connected to a class, and just learning, it was pretty cool. The thing is that I would pretty much only remember like 10% of the actual stuff. He would recap classes or write stuff that we "went over" and it was completely new to me. Discussions are SO HELPFUL and sometimes he draws test questions from it too. His tests are monsters. You have an hour to do it, and then an hour of mini lecture after. Honestly lecture would sometimes make me more confused. His tests were often too long and really hard to finish. Averages for the midterm was like 66% and 50% or something. Heavy curve. Homework is annoying as always. DO THE PRACTICE TESTS HE GIVES OUT because he reuses his questions a lot. I don't know if I would suggest this class. If you want to learn cool things take him for sure. If you hate hard things maybe not.

Weakest bivector enjoyer absolutely clears strongest cross product fan

This is probably the strangest class I have ever taken at UCLA. I read a review from a while ago, and that student mentioned how Regan does not know the material and that he doesn't want you to know it either. How can this be? He's mostly in charge of the curriculum, right? Well, the homework is rarely anything like the lectures. Going to office hours usually does not help with the homework because he doesn't know how to solve the problems half the time, and the other half of the time, he just refuses to explain how to do it. Unless a student starts working out the solution, you're only getting an answer if you go to TA office hours. The lectures themselves are mostly fascinating. He has a very unique perspective on physics, and despite my opinion of him as a lecturer, I can say "I think Regan is low key right." The exams are interesting. He holds true to his promise that if you do the homework and actually understand the process (or just memorize the problems), you should get at least some kind of B. That said, the exams are brutal when you're taking them. You can usually get a lot of points from partial credit, so finish each problem to the best of your ability. Just write formulas if you don't know how to even start. About half of the points on the exams come from questions very similar (or identical) to former exams he distributes. The other half come from questions that vary in difficulty from "yeah I could probably figure this out if I studied a bit more or wrote that one equation on my index card" to "how tf do I even start this" (looking at you, examons). As long as you can get most of the first 50 points and then get partial credit, you should have some kind of a B. The curve is quite generous for people who end up with some flavor of A as well.

Ultimately, I cannot really say I actually learned everything I was supposed to. This is kind of a crash course in quantum mech, stat mech, and thermo, which is an odd combination, especially considering each of these classes are their own upper division (quantum mech is actually THREE separate courses). It very much is a speedy overview, and the class is more about learning the exam questions (study the homework questions and the practice exams) than actually mastering content. Your TAs are a great resource since the textbook (Serway) is not that great. Aside from Regan's notes, the hw, and the practice exams, there are not many resources, and as a textbook enthusiast, I found that difficult to get used to. I do recommend Seway for the Bohr model stuff.

One of the most interesting and important courses in UCLA Physics undergrad in my opinion, as it gives you a taste of real physics after the intro courses. The breadth of this course intrigued me the most (covers a lot of ground), and despite its difficulty, it is nevertheless a highly enjoyable course. Homework and exams are challenging, but helps strengthen your knowledge of physics and builds the key fundamentals. Prof Regan is very enthusiastic and engaging in his lectures, although it is pretty fast-paced and hard to follow live without pre-reading the notes beforehand. Homework is interesting although it can be very time-consuming. Mastery of lecture notes is important, as it contains a lot of useful information as well. Great course and would definitely recommend!