David Bauer
Department of Physics
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3.5
Overall Rating
Based on 10 Users
Easiness 2.2 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 4.0 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.8 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.0 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

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GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
26.2%
21.8%
17.5%
13.1%
8.7%
4.4%
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 (6)

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Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: N/A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
March 30, 2023

Dr. Bauer tests us fairly and adjusts the difficulty of future exams according to our past performance (he aims for a B/B- median overall). The textbook, homework, and lecture all complement each other. Lectures are extremely clear, with a good amount of relevant derivations and examples. Discussion worksheets are really challenging for some reason (how many times did the binomial theorem/miscellaneous approximating assumptions crop up?), but they're only graded for completion.

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Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: NR
April 25, 2023

If you are like me who is just checking a box on my DARS, don't bother taking this class. Professor Bauer is a sweet guy and he wants us to really understand what's going on behind the scenes; however, he writes out a formal derivation for every major formula unlike my current professor, professor Hauser, who is happy to let us use formulae to crack physics problems.

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Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A
April 4, 2023

Professor Bauer is a clear lecturer, and his lectures are pretty helpful. He spends a lot of time doing derivations and goes into depth about the material. He speaks at a good pace. He is super helpful during office hours, so if you get stuck on homework, I would recommend going, as he does a good job of working the problems out. His homework is just Mastering Physics and pretty reasonable. Required discussions, with like 2-3 dropped discussion attendances. His tests are reasonable, not the kind involving tons of derivations or tricky calculations, exams where you can expect to get 90-100% if you understand the material thoroughly. He did not curve the class, but we ended up with around 30% A+/A/A- and 35% B+/B/B-. I would probably take this class again.

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Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: B
April 3, 2023

TLDR: You'll be fine with Professor Bauer!

After having taken Physics 1A with Professor Frieman, Physics 1B with Professor Bauer was great. Physics is physics and you should expect a certain level of rigor of course, but this class is very doable.
Homework is only Mastering Physics which I recommend doing. It was pretty close to the difficulty of the midterm questions.
In my opinion (as a non-physics master or even enjoyer), both midterms were veryyy straightforward and clear. No confusing stuff or crazy derivations. In fact, if you think about the questions hard enough, you'll see that Professor Bauer is typically giving an easy trick question. For example, you might initially think that you have to do some long calculation, etc., but in reality, the answer might be stated on the question already. Stuff like that. So I highly recommend grasping the concepts and not just doing the homework for a grade.
Attendance is required for the discussions, but you can miss two I think. The discussion worksheets were super hard, but I never encountered them on the exam or anywhere. Good thing they are graded on completion/some work shown.
My only thing is that the final was kinda hard. Like I sat there for the first 30 minutes and I was like damn I don't know what to do. Anyways, it got graded and they were pretty generous with the partial credit so I still ended with a B in the class.

His grade cutoff is very generous. A is 93, A- is 90, B+ is 85, B is 80, B- is 75, C+ is 70, C is 65, C- is 60, D+ is 55, D is 50, D- is 45, and F is <45. No curve, but I think the cutoff is good enough.

Also lol he wore the "Tax the Rich" sweater, one lecture that was funny. If the previous statement is in any way incriminating, for legal reasons, it is a joke and he never wore that.

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Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A+
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
March 23, 2023

Honestly, Professor Bauer is a pretty good professor and lecturer. His lectures were very clear and I think he covered the material at an appropriate pace. He also records all of his lectures and broadcasts them on zoom, so most people never came in person except for exams lol. The weekly homework is light and shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours max, but I would definitely recommend doing the optional textbook problems. The exams range in difficulty because he adjusts them based on student performance, but they are always fair. The midterms were pretty straightforward, although the final exam was a bit hard. He does not curve, but honestly, it wasn't really necessary for his exams. His discussion worksheets are hard, but they're nothing like the exams and they aren't graded based on accuracy.
Overall, I would recommend Bauer for Physics 1B!

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Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: N/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.
Aug. 13, 2021

Dr. Bauer was a pretty good professor.
I felt that his lectures and notes were pretty solid overall. Unlike other phyics professors who just scribble jargon down, Dr. Bauer's notes were actually pretty organized and easy to follow, albeit he wrote all of his notes using OneNote which made it a pain to go back to review his notes later.
Class was on a straight scale, but the cutoffs were pretty lenient, 60% for a C- and 75% for a B-
The class had no midterms but instead had a weekly quiz and a final, each timed, 40 minutes for the quizzes, and 3 hours for the final, so as we move back to in person classes, your experience will probably stay relatively the same.

I felt that the quizzes were a bit on the difficult side, but Dr. Bauer seemed to account for this and made the final much easier.
(He did mention that he had to do the opposite in another quarter: where he made the quizzes way too easy and had to adjust by making the final much harder, so if you feel that the quizzes are too hard or too easy, expect the final to be the opposite)

My only gripe with the class was that Dr. Bauer barely gave any example problems in lecture, if at all. This made studying for the quizzes a pain because it truly felt impossible to know exactly what we would be tested on. All it felt like you can do to prepare was do all of the practice and challenge problems he assigned to get the overall idea and hope for the best.

Overall I enjoyed the class and I managed to pull off a better grade than I expected thanks to the easier final. I didn't do very well in 1A and I was nervous moving on to 1B, but Dr. Bauer manages to teach the course in a very clear manner and I actually felt like I understood what was going on for the most part.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: N/A
March 30, 2023

Dr. Bauer tests us fairly and adjusts the difficulty of future exams according to our past performance (he aims for a B/B- median overall). The textbook, homework, and lecture all complement each other. Lectures are extremely clear, with a good amount of relevant derivations and examples. Discussion worksheets are really challenging for some reason (how many times did the binomial theorem/miscellaneous approximating assumptions crop up?), but they're only graded for completion.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: NR
April 25, 2023

If you are like me who is just checking a box on my DARS, don't bother taking this class. Professor Bauer is a sweet guy and he wants us to really understand what's going on behind the scenes; however, he writes out a formal derivation for every major formula unlike my current professor, professor Hauser, who is happy to let us use formulae to crack physics problems.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A
April 4, 2023

Professor Bauer is a clear lecturer, and his lectures are pretty helpful. He spends a lot of time doing derivations and goes into depth about the material. He speaks at a good pace. He is super helpful during office hours, so if you get stuck on homework, I would recommend going, as he does a good job of working the problems out. His homework is just Mastering Physics and pretty reasonable. Required discussions, with like 2-3 dropped discussion attendances. His tests are reasonable, not the kind involving tons of derivations or tricky calculations, exams where you can expect to get 90-100% if you understand the material thoroughly. He did not curve the class, but we ended up with around 30% A+/A/A- and 35% B+/B/B-. I would probably take this class again.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: B
April 3, 2023

TLDR: You'll be fine with Professor Bauer!

After having taken Physics 1A with Professor Frieman, Physics 1B with Professor Bauer was great. Physics is physics and you should expect a certain level of rigor of course, but this class is very doable.
Homework is only Mastering Physics which I recommend doing. It was pretty close to the difficulty of the midterm questions.
In my opinion (as a non-physics master or even enjoyer), both midterms were veryyy straightforward and clear. No confusing stuff or crazy derivations. In fact, if you think about the questions hard enough, you'll see that Professor Bauer is typically giving an easy trick question. For example, you might initially think that you have to do some long calculation, etc., but in reality, the answer might be stated on the question already. Stuff like that. So I highly recommend grasping the concepts and not just doing the homework for a grade.
Attendance is required for the discussions, but you can miss two I think. The discussion worksheets were super hard, but I never encountered them on the exam or anywhere. Good thing they are graded on completion/some work shown.
My only thing is that the final was kinda hard. Like I sat there for the first 30 minutes and I was like damn I don't know what to do. Anyways, it got graded and they were pretty generous with the partial credit so I still ended with a B in the class.

His grade cutoff is very generous. A is 93, A- is 90, B+ is 85, B is 80, B- is 75, C+ is 70, C is 65, C- is 60, D+ is 55, D is 50, D- is 45, and F is <45. No curve, but I think the cutoff is good enough.

Also lol he wore the "Tax the Rich" sweater, one lecture that was funny. If the previous statement is in any way incriminating, for legal reasons, it is a joke and he never wore that.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A+
March 23, 2023

Honestly, Professor Bauer is a pretty good professor and lecturer. His lectures were very clear and I think he covered the material at an appropriate pace. He also records all of his lectures and broadcasts them on zoom, so most people never came in person except for exams lol. The weekly homework is light and shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours max, but I would definitely recommend doing the optional textbook problems. The exams range in difficulty because he adjusts them based on student performance, but they are always fair. The midterms were pretty straightforward, although the final exam was a bit hard. He does not curve, but honestly, it wasn't really necessary for his exams. His discussion worksheets are hard, but they're nothing like the exams and they aren't graded based on accuracy.
Overall, I would recommend Bauer for Physics 1B!

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: Summer 2021
Grade: N/A
Aug. 13, 2021

Dr. Bauer was a pretty good professor.
I felt that his lectures and notes were pretty solid overall. Unlike other phyics professors who just scribble jargon down, Dr. Bauer's notes were actually pretty organized and easy to follow, albeit he wrote all of his notes using OneNote which made it a pain to go back to review his notes later.
Class was on a straight scale, but the cutoffs were pretty lenient, 60% for a C- and 75% for a B-
The class had no midterms but instead had a weekly quiz and a final, each timed, 40 minutes for the quizzes, and 3 hours for the final, so as we move back to in person classes, your experience will probably stay relatively the same.

I felt that the quizzes were a bit on the difficult side, but Dr. Bauer seemed to account for this and made the final much easier.
(He did mention that he had to do the opposite in another quarter: where he made the quizzes way too easy and had to adjust by making the final much harder, so if you feel that the quizzes are too hard or too easy, expect the final to be the opposite)

My only gripe with the class was that Dr. Bauer barely gave any example problems in lecture, if at all. This made studying for the quizzes a pain because it truly felt impossible to know exactly what we would be tested on. All it felt like you can do to prepare was do all of the practice and challenge problems he assigned to get the overall idea and hope for the best.

Overall I enjoyed the class and I managed to pull off a better grade than I expected thanks to the easier final. I didn't do very well in 1A and I was nervous moving on to 1B, but Dr. Bauer manages to teach the course in a very clear manner and I actually felt like I understood what was going on for the most part.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 1
3.5
Overall Rating
Based on 10 Users
Easiness 2.2 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 4.0 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.8 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.0 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

There are no relevant tags for this professor yet.

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