Brian Naranjo
Department of Physics
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3.3
Overall Rating
Based on 13 Users
Easiness 2.6 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.4 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.0 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.5 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Tolerates Tardiness
  • Appropriately Priced Materials
  • Is Podcasted
  • Tough Tests
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
45.2%
37.7%
30.1%
22.6%
15.1%
7.5%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
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Reviews (11)

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Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: B
June 18, 2023

DO NOT TAKE - Probably the worst professor I've had in all of my time here at UCLA. Not only does Prof. Naranjo not record lectures, he writes sloppily and trails off mid sentence. His lectures are incoherent to the point where nobody even goes. I taught myself this class because his lectures are wholly inadequate. He takes weeks to post/grade anything and doesn't communicate with the TAs or write the tests until the morning of so there is no way to know what might end up on the tests. Additionally, he was extremely rude to me when I sought help and made me feel stupid for doing so. Overall, this class isn't bad material-wise but take another professor like your life depends on it.

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Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: N/A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 22, 2023

Lecture is not recorded which really sucks, but honestly Naranjo is a beyond helpful professor if you are willing to ask for help. Homework is pretty manageable, and not to difficult but definitely attend office hours and reach out if you are struggling! Don't wait till the last minute like me :'). Honestly if he just recorded lectures, he'd be considered a 10/10 prof by more people than just me

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Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A+
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 14, 2021

I'm sure Naranjo will have lots of negative reviews due to his difficulties teaching (especially at the beginning of the quarter), but I think he is a good physics professor and a great guy. It was his first quarter teaching, so the first weeks of lecture were pretty rough, with lots of stuttering. However, Naranjo improved dramatically by the end of the quarter, and he was very receptive of student feedback. He is clearly a warm and friendly person with a genuine passion for his students and for physics.

His teaching could be confusing, especially for material such as complex math and differential equations. Additionally, he taught VERY quickly, often going through multiple chapters in one lecture. Homework problems could be difficult at times, but if you go to his office hours he will work through the problems for you. Exams took a shockingly long time.

Overall, Naranjo was not the best or most polished professor, but he is definitely helpful and a very likeable person. His passion for physics really comes through.

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Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A+
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Dec. 18, 2020

Naranjo is a super cool guy, just not the best teacher. I didn't really feel I got that much out of his class. That being said, he's very understanding, and very helpful. He will walk you through things during office hours so I would definitely recommend going if you're confused on HW. The tests were pretty hard, but you were given 24 hours so you can work out the stuff if you think about it long enough. Overall, a very nice guy, but if you're looking to gain a deep understanding of the concepts I might not recommend him. However, it'll be much easier to get a good grade here than, say, Corbin.

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Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
July 27, 2020

1) GRADING: 2 Midterms, each @ (20%) HW (20%) Final (40%)

2) MIDTERM/FINAL: the first midterm was insanely math intensive. I felt like it tested more math than physics. The second midterm was much more fair. Did not take the final due to COVID /protests but the questions were very similar to homework problems and seemed fair.

3) HOMEWORK: provided pdf of book problems once a week, although he often ran behind schedule distributing problem sets (i'm going to assume it will be better for the next class since this was the first time he taught) if you need help, GO TO OFFICE HOURS. he is insanely helpful and will address every question if you ask.

4) LECTURES: prof is such a sweet man so i really wanted to like his lectures but it really didnt work out for me. He had pdf typed notes and would read through/do examples on them, but there was just so much text it was hard to focus and absorb. His office hours were really helpful though.

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Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A+
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
July 7, 2020

Most of what I want to say has already been said. It was his first quarter teaching when I took his class. His lectures were full of stutters, backtracks, and at the end of the day, weren't all too helpful. You'd probably learn just as much from reading the textbook/lecture notes alone. However, he was very helpful in office hours and other correspondences. I emailed him for help several times, and he was always very quick and thorough. Furthermore, he was very receptive to feedback and adjusted his teaching style accordingly. Give him a chance, he's an awesome guy!

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Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: P
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
July 6, 2020

Naranjo is a really nice guy and very accomodating given COVID, and it's clear that he was trying his best to teach, but I had quite a difficult time learning the material from him. During lecture, he would often just put up a wall of text with paragraphs and equations and walk through it, which I personally can't learn from. I often found myself having to reread the textbook and watching YouTube videos to understand what he was talking about. The midterms were really difficult for me, each taking me about 8 hours when they were designed to be taken in an hour. I ended up not taking the final since I was fine with my grade, so it was nice of him to offer that option. Overall, Naranjo is an understanding professor who is clearly passionate about physics, but I would suggest another professor if you want to learn the material really well.

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Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 26, 2020

I think this quarter was the first one that this professor taught. Towards the beginning of the year the lectures were definitely confusing, however the quality of the lectures improved drastically towards the end of the quarter. The homework was very challenging however, he was always willing to help solve these problems and would always have office hours the day before the homework was due where he would walk us through the problems. The midterms were about the same difficulty as the homeworks (pretty hard) and took all day to finish. However, the grading scale in the class was very lenient and the final was capped at a minimum of at 80%. The final was also a lot easier than the midterms so I expect future exams from this professor to be more in line with other 1B classes.

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Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 19, 2020

The professor is truly one of the nicest professors I've had at UCLA, and it must be stressed that this was his first quarter teaching, and that he consequently did not have the opportunity to gauge his teaching effectiveness since none of us had our webcams on. That said, I learnt nothing in this class, and survived off of my high school knowledge and youtube videos. Our first midterm, which was described as "an hour long midterm" took me about 11 hours to complete, and I don't think this was uncommon. But, as stated, he was incredibly receptive to feedback and made major improvements to the second midterm. I did not take the final, as I had already secured an A at that point, but again the professor was incredibly understanding and accommodating, going so far as to set an 80% minimum on a final that was already no-harm (due to ongoing events). I did not attend lecture after the 2 second week, and was able to get by reasonably well, but I doubt this would be the case were this quarter not online. I really do think he has a lot of potential to improve, but as long as classes remain online I'd say you're unlikely to learn anything.

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Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 19, 2020

Other comment nailed a lot of the major points. Overall, Brian is a really nice guy and he is clearly trying his best. But he is not a good teacher. Maybe it's because this was one of his first times teaching and I hope he gets better, but his lectures were god awful. He is one of the worst professors I've had at UCLA. That being said, he is very fair and will always be willing to help when you need it. If you want to learn the material well, I would suggest taking a different professor. If you're just looking to get through with this class as a requirement, he's not bad to take it with and you'll manage.

(Also I took it online during covid season)

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Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: B
June 18, 2023

DO NOT TAKE - Probably the worst professor I've had in all of my time here at UCLA. Not only does Prof. Naranjo not record lectures, he writes sloppily and trails off mid sentence. His lectures are incoherent to the point where nobody even goes. I taught myself this class because his lectures are wholly inadequate. He takes weeks to post/grade anything and doesn't communicate with the TAs or write the tests until the morning of so there is no way to know what might end up on the tests. Additionally, he was extremely rude to me when I sought help and made me feel stupid for doing so. Overall, this class isn't bad material-wise but take another professor like your life depends on it.

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1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: N/A
June 22, 2023

Lecture is not recorded which really sucks, but honestly Naranjo is a beyond helpful professor if you are willing to ask for help. Homework is pretty manageable, and not to difficult but definitely attend office hours and reach out if you are struggling! Don't wait till the last minute like me :'). Honestly if he just recorded lectures, he'd be considered a 10/10 prof by more people than just me

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A+
March 14, 2021

I'm sure Naranjo will have lots of negative reviews due to his difficulties teaching (especially at the beginning of the quarter), but I think he is a good physics professor and a great guy. It was his first quarter teaching, so the first weeks of lecture were pretty rough, with lots of stuttering. However, Naranjo improved dramatically by the end of the quarter, and he was very receptive of student feedback. He is clearly a warm and friendly person with a genuine passion for his students and for physics.

His teaching could be confusing, especially for material such as complex math and differential equations. Additionally, he taught VERY quickly, often going through multiple chapters in one lecture. Homework problems could be difficult at times, but if you go to his office hours he will work through the problems for you. Exams took a shockingly long time.

Overall, Naranjo was not the best or most polished professor, but he is definitely helpful and a very likeable person. His passion for physics really comes through.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A+
Dec. 18, 2020

Naranjo is a super cool guy, just not the best teacher. I didn't really feel I got that much out of his class. That being said, he's very understanding, and very helpful. He will walk you through things during office hours so I would definitely recommend going if you're confused on HW. The tests were pretty hard, but you were given 24 hours so you can work out the stuff if you think about it long enough. Overall, a very nice guy, but if you're looking to gain a deep understanding of the concepts I might not recommend him. However, it'll be much easier to get a good grade here than, say, Corbin.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
July 27, 2020

1) GRADING: 2 Midterms, each @ (20%) HW (20%) Final (40%)

2) MIDTERM/FINAL: the first midterm was insanely math intensive. I felt like it tested more math than physics. The second midterm was much more fair. Did not take the final due to COVID /protests but the questions were very similar to homework problems and seemed fair.

3) HOMEWORK: provided pdf of book problems once a week, although he often ran behind schedule distributing problem sets (i'm going to assume it will be better for the next class since this was the first time he taught) if you need help, GO TO OFFICE HOURS. he is insanely helpful and will address every question if you ask.

4) LECTURES: prof is such a sweet man so i really wanted to like his lectures but it really didnt work out for me. He had pdf typed notes and would read through/do examples on them, but there was just so much text it was hard to focus and absorb. His office hours were really helpful though.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A+
July 7, 2020

Most of what I want to say has already been said. It was his first quarter teaching when I took his class. His lectures were full of stutters, backtracks, and at the end of the day, weren't all too helpful. You'd probably learn just as much from reading the textbook/lecture notes alone. However, he was very helpful in office hours and other correspondences. I emailed him for help several times, and he was always very quick and thorough. Furthermore, he was very receptive to feedback and adjusted his teaching style accordingly. Give him a chance, he's an awesome guy!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: P
July 6, 2020

Naranjo is a really nice guy and very accomodating given COVID, and it's clear that he was trying his best to teach, but I had quite a difficult time learning the material from him. During lecture, he would often just put up a wall of text with paragraphs and equations and walk through it, which I personally can't learn from. I often found myself having to reread the textbook and watching YouTube videos to understand what he was talking about. The midterms were really difficult for me, each taking me about 8 hours when they were designed to be taken in an hour. I ended up not taking the final since I was fine with my grade, so it was nice of him to offer that option. Overall, Naranjo is an understanding professor who is clearly passionate about physics, but I would suggest another professor if you want to learn the material really well.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
June 26, 2020

I think this quarter was the first one that this professor taught. Towards the beginning of the year the lectures were definitely confusing, however the quality of the lectures improved drastically towards the end of the quarter. The homework was very challenging however, he was always willing to help solve these problems and would always have office hours the day before the homework was due where he would walk us through the problems. The midterms were about the same difficulty as the homeworks (pretty hard) and took all day to finish. However, the grading scale in the class was very lenient and the final was capped at a minimum of at 80%. The final was also a lot easier than the midterms so I expect future exams from this professor to be more in line with other 1B classes.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
June 19, 2020

The professor is truly one of the nicest professors I've had at UCLA, and it must be stressed that this was his first quarter teaching, and that he consequently did not have the opportunity to gauge his teaching effectiveness since none of us had our webcams on. That said, I learnt nothing in this class, and survived off of my high school knowledge and youtube videos. Our first midterm, which was described as "an hour long midterm" took me about 11 hours to complete, and I don't think this was uncommon. But, as stated, he was incredibly receptive to feedback and made major improvements to the second midterm. I did not take the final, as I had already secured an A at that point, but again the professor was incredibly understanding and accommodating, going so far as to set an 80% minimum on a final that was already no-harm (due to ongoing events). I did not attend lecture after the 2 second week, and was able to get by reasonably well, but I doubt this would be the case were this quarter not online. I really do think he has a lot of potential to improve, but as long as classes remain online I'd say you're unlikely to learn anything.

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
June 19, 2020

Other comment nailed a lot of the major points. Overall, Brian is a really nice guy and he is clearly trying his best. But he is not a good teacher. Maybe it's because this was one of his first times teaching and I hope he gets better, but his lectures were god awful. He is one of the worst professors I've had at UCLA. That being said, he is very fair and will always be willing to help when you need it. If you want to learn the material well, I would suggest taking a different professor. If you're just looking to get through with this class as a requirement, he's not bad to take it with and you'll manage.

(Also I took it online during covid season)

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1 of 2
3.3
Overall Rating
Based on 13 Users
Easiness 2.6 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.4 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.0 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.5 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Tolerates Tardiness
    (5)
  • Appropriately Priced Materials
    (3)
  • Is Podcasted
    (4)
  • Tough Tests
    (5)
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