He's an okay physics professor. His lectures are boring and hard to follow. He gives two online assignments and one written assignment a week, which means this class takes up a lot of time. The TAs are generally pretty helpful--if you go, since it's definitely not required. His exams are difficult with a low curve, but the class isn't impossible. There's nothing wrong with taking his class, but your experience with physics won't be that great.

Buchanan is a great professor. He cares a lot about student learning and will always answer questions in class, including physics questions that are off-topic from the course material. His lectures are interesting and contain a lot of demonstrations. He frequently asks for volunteers. The tests are fairly doable. I got a B+ in the class even though I slept through some of the lectures because I was tired.

I took physics 1a with Buchanan for summer and I must say it was the best decision I've made so far! He was so nice and always did his best to explain things so that everyone understood. His midterms were completely reasonable. His final I admit was challenging. He asked questions that went beyond what we did in homework, but they were still do-able. I believe the median was around 56 but with the curve there were about 5 A's (30 people in the class).

Overall 30% got As, almost 50% got Bs, 30% Cs, and then there were a couple Ds.

One of the best classes I've taken at UCLA. If you get the chance definitely take him.