Professor
David Bauer
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - Engaging, clear, recorded lectures. Homework is of reasonable length and is highly relevant to testing and class teaching. Course page is very organized and useable. Exams are fair and formula sheet is provided. Rich bank of former exams with answer keys also provided for every midterm and final. Bauer is excellent with communication via email and is accommodating. The textbook is not at all necessary. Midterm averages sat at about 80-85%. Some discussion participation is mandatory, discussion worksheets are useful but TA lectures are redundant. The lab part of the course could use a facelift and my lab TA was a little tricky. Overall not a major issue though. Great class, if you can enroll with Bauer I would highly recommend it, he has his ducks in a row. I was worried this would be like the last time that someone named David Bower taught me physics, but that concern was quickly absolved.
Fall 2025 - Engaging, clear, recorded lectures. Homework is of reasonable length and is highly relevant to testing and class teaching. Course page is very organized and useable. Exams are fair and formula sheet is provided. Rich bank of former exams with answer keys also provided for every midterm and final. Bauer is excellent with communication via email and is accommodating. The textbook is not at all necessary. Midterm averages sat at about 80-85%. Some discussion participation is mandatory, discussion worksheets are useful but TA lectures are redundant. The lab part of the course could use a facelift and my lab TA was a little tricky. Overall not a major issue though. Great class, if you can enroll with Bauer I would highly recommend it, he has his ducks in a row. I was worried this would be like the last time that someone named David Bower taught me physics, but that concern was quickly absolved.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - Bauer was a good professor- his lectures were well-developed and covered all the necessary topics. If you understood his lectures, did the practice problems (problem bank posted on BruinLearn), and did the homework, you would be more than prepared for his exams. One thing I will say, however, is that Bauer either makes 2 hard midterms (averages 75) and a relatively fair final (average 85) or two easy midterms (average >90) and one hard final (average <75). Either way, I don't think it matters too much as long as you do your best to stay above the curve. Bauer was very clear at the beginning of the class that the average grade in his class will be B, so regardless of how hard/easy the exams are, you should just try your best to stay above the average. I think that Physics 5B is harder than 5A because there is A LOT of content. However, Bauer does his best to answer questions and teach the material in a memorizable way. He also gives a formula sheet, which helps. I'd definitely recommend taking 5B with him as he's clear with his expectations and a fair professor overall.
Fall 2024 - Bauer was a good professor- his lectures were well-developed and covered all the necessary topics. If you understood his lectures, did the practice problems (problem bank posted on BruinLearn), and did the homework, you would be more than prepared for his exams. One thing I will say, however, is that Bauer either makes 2 hard midterms (averages 75) and a relatively fair final (average 85) or two easy midterms (average >90) and one hard final (average <75). Either way, I don't think it matters too much as long as you do your best to stay above the curve. Bauer was very clear at the beginning of the class that the average grade in his class will be B, so regardless of how hard/easy the exams are, you should just try your best to stay above the average. I think that Physics 5B is harder than 5A because there is A LOT of content. However, Bauer does his best to answer questions and teach the material in a memorizable way. He also gives a formula sheet, which helps. I'd definitely recommend taking 5B with him as he's clear with his expectations and a fair professor overall.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2025 - I took Bauer for both 5B and 5C, and although the structures of the class did change between both of them, the class was still fair in many aspects. The only issue that arose was that MT1 the test was too long for it to fit in the 50 min provide,d so the class overall had a low avera.e, this however was addresed by Bauer who made sure that MT2 was 100% doable in the 50 min and provided a curve for the midterm. The Midterm 2 and the final were fair, the homework could be difficult at times, and he does grade for accuracy; however, 1% was for accuracy, and 4% was for completion. Discussion was mandatory, but you can miss up to 3 discussions and still get full credit, the same with discussion worksheets, you can miss 3. If you miss a discussion, you are still allowed to submit the discussion worksheet for credit. There are weekly study guides that you can do for extra credit. The amount you can get seems low, but it does make a difference when you need a small boost. There is also a "Midterm analysis", this is an assignment, but if you do it well, then you can get extra points, I believe up to 2% increase in your midterm score. The lectures are recorded; however, the slides might not be posted until the class starts, so if you like to take notes before class, this might not be an option.
Spring 2025 - I took Bauer for both 5B and 5C, and although the structures of the class did change between both of them, the class was still fair in many aspects. The only issue that arose was that MT1 the test was too long for it to fit in the 50 min provide,d so the class overall had a low avera.e, this however was addresed by Bauer who made sure that MT2 was 100% doable in the 50 min and provided a curve for the midterm. The Midterm 2 and the final were fair, the homework could be difficult at times, and he does grade for accuracy; however, 1% was for accuracy, and 4% was for completion. Discussion was mandatory, but you can miss up to 3 discussions and still get full credit, the same with discussion worksheets, you can miss 3. If you miss a discussion, you are still allowed to submit the discussion worksheet for credit. There are weekly study guides that you can do for extra credit. The amount you can get seems low, but it does make a difference when you need a small boost. There is also a "Midterm analysis", this is an assignment, but if you do it well, then you can get extra points, I believe up to 2% increase in your midterm score. The lectures are recorded; however, the slides might not be posted until the class starts, so if you like to take notes before class, this might not be an option.
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