This guy is literally the worst teacher I've ever had, and I'm south campus. I can't stress to you enough how shitty he is.This dude is also rude and sexist.

He only does derivations in class, and in those, he makes a LOT of mistakes. When you catch him, he tells you to figure it out yourself and doesn't fix it. He talks SO quietly. I sat in the first 3 rows every single class and still had trouble understanding him. I took him because ruin walk said he tells you what's on the tests and that it isn't so bad. WRONG. His exams are stupid.
I failed the first exam. I failed the second one even harder. I was doing below average and was worried about the final because I studied for a week straight and got a 23% on my second midterm. He says he doesn't curve either, even when the averages were ~40%, 30%, 42% (final) and I studied hard for the final as well, did above average, and landed a solid B/B+ in the class. I think that says something. I went to his office hours before the exam and asked him what I could do because I was trying so hard and screwing up. His answer? Study some more. I literally read every page of the material in the book and did problems all day long. You can't study more than that. Still got the grade I needed though.
You won't learn anything from him and you'll have to teach yourself everything. Going to class was useless. The day or two before a test he'll tell you what to study (basically everything) but do make a note of what he says and do extras of those in case. You might be tempted to go to Swartwood for the class, but it won't really help you problem solve as much as understand the idea of things you were supposed to learn ages ago.
I've gone to his office hours to argue points back on an exam because I had the right answer but got no points for it. He said that because I didn't do it his way, it was wrong and that I couldn't get points for the first part or anything after that. Partial credit in this class is horrible. The TA's are bad too. I stopped going to discussion because I could learn more watching videos. They don't know the material (my TA was a freakin Chem TA the quarter before) and can't teach.

For your own sake, /please/ just avoid this guy at all costs. Take Musumeci or w/e his name is.

Seriously. He can't answer questions, he won't help worth anything, his exams suck, his reviews are crap, and it's a waste of time. I hated going but forced myself to, hoping that at some point it would change: it didn't.

Worst professor I've had at UCLA. His lectures are useless, as he basically copies proofs from the book onto the board and speaks very very quietly. I found all of his tests and midterms to be pretty difficult, especially since he only assigns problems from the books and these are very different from test problems. With that being said, he's very generous with the final grade curve. The average for each test was around 50% or lower but I don't think he typically gives out grades lower than a C so don't panic if you fail every test. Overall, this class gave me a lot of stress and was my least favorite I've taken at ucla, but it's not hard to at least pass

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Terrible lecturer, but his tests are very easy. He tells us what's on the test so you can just go read the book and do practice problems on what the test will be on. I had no idea what he was talking about in lecture but still ended up with an A.

If you want to read more about Professor Patel,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Kumar_N._Patel

*correction - he's designing a laser platform to defeat Taliban missiles!

http://spiedigitallibrary.org/proceedings/resource/2/psisdg/8039/1/80390S_1

When I signed up for Professor Patel’s 8 am Physics 6B class, I read these reviews and thought I was in for a horrible time. In the end, Professor Patel turned out to be one of the best professors I have ever taken at UCLA.
I learned a ton in Professor Patel's class. He's straightforward, explains concepts well, and is organized. His lectures match up well with the textbook so you can use your notes in conjunction with the text, so definitely go back to review the concepts he covered in more detail by simply looking it up.
Professor Patel is very concerned about student learning. Every lecture it's such a shame how so many people don't come, because Professor Patel tells you exactly what to study tells you what to study!! I only went to his office hours once toward the end of the quarter (because I didn't have much time at the beginning), and when I saw how helpful and friendly he was, I wished I had gone to more office hours throughout the quarter!
I ask you to please please please do you research before you bash on this professor. The reviews below tell you that he sucks at lecturing, that his tests are hard, and that he doesn’t care about student learning. None of this is true – if you listen to his lectures, study what he tells you to study, and make an effort, I guarantee that you will NOT have this opinion of him. This professor deserves much more respect than many students give him. Many students bash on him because he's hard of hearing and can be a bit slow at times, but come on, he's getting older, cut him some slack. He is super intelligent, respects his students, and really wants you to learn. Did I mention that he's famous for inventing a laser (for medicine or something, go look it up) and helps design missiles to defeat the Taliban? RESPECT.
Overall, Professor Patel is an excellent professor. Take him for Physics 6B, you won't regret it (that is, unless you can't wake up for 8 am class). I recommend Professor Patel highly, and remember that I wouldn't take the time to write this review unless I felt strongly that the reviews already provided were inaccurate.

I disagree with every one of these reviews. Prof. Patel was not only a very easy Professor, but he was very concerned about student learning.

To emphasize how easy he was in the grading, for both of the midterms and the final, he TOLD us the specific types of problems he was going to ask. I take it that these people who are complaining about how hard Prof. Patel was, were the ones too lazy to get up for an early class, and too socially inept to have friends who weren't such lazy pieces of shit to help them out with the given test problems.
In addition to Prof. Patel telling us the types of problems he was going to ask, he set his average at a B. I had friends who thought they were failing who still pulled off a B. Plus, Patel is a boss. He owns a shit ton of US Patents, is an extremely accomplished Physicist, invented the CO2 laser, and I assume he has a smoking hot wife.

HORRIBLE PROFESSOR. i am CURRENTLY taking the class and his lectures are useless. i learn more from the solutions manual to the homework problems than i do from him or his TA. i read the other reviews and can see what theyre talking about. i just hope that the midterms an finals are decently relevant to the homework...he has not responded to the emails ive sent him either.

The overall rating was too high so I felt obliged to bring it down to reflect the actual quality of this professor. Perhaps the only redeeming quality is his nice bowtie.