Physics is really hard for me but Bauer was a good professor to take it with, everything was straightforward in his class and his quizzes and tests were appropriately difficult. I felt challenged but not stressed and I learned a lot more about physics.

Dr. Bauer is a good professor, BUT I feel like most of his quizzes and exams this summer have been unnecessarily challenging. I don't consider myself to be a smart person, and this class has definitely stolen the very TINY bit of confidence in myself that I did have. I worked my ass off , studying for quizzes and still managed to fail them. Overall, I would say this is a tough class.

I actually took him for 5A summer 2020 session A (taking him for 5B rn as well) I thought he was amazing. He made physics clear. I absolutely hated physics from high school, and I attempted to take this class with another prof the quarter before for a week but that prof was ridiculously confusing. I'm so glad I dropped then and took it with Dr. Bauer. Not only did he make things super simple and clear, he was also extremely understanding given it was a pandemic. He always considered students request, and he did his best to accommodate. All you really had to do was put effort in and you could easily get an A with no problem.

Break down:

5 quizzes (lowest dropped) 20% (I found them super easy and similar to hw and textbook problems (literally if you just did the problems you were fine idk why other people always were tripping over his quizzes))
3 Free Responses 20% (lowest dropped) as long as you put effort in, you were given a 90% for sure, and if you got it correct then you would get 100
Mastering Physics HW 15% due every week the day before the quiz at 11:59pm (pretty easy not too bad max 2 hours a week)
Discussion 10% (you can miss 2 discussions) attendance is mandatory, worksheet graded on completion
Lab 15% lab is completely separate from dr. bauer, but shout out to JOSH!!! Best Ta ever, hella chill, hella understanding
Final Exam 20%, was definitely tougher than his quizzes, but still pretty decent, did take me the whole three hours tho

Thanks to COVID I never had to see Nick in person, because trust me I would not get near a 6ft radius of this man (not even just because of the social distancing guidelines). This man is rude. He grades unfairly and honestly lets hope he never ends up being your TA because he will just count you off points for absolutely nothing. I hope he does not intend on being any sort of teacher in the future because not only can he not teach, but hes not approachable. He was my TA and honestly made discussion sections far more confusing than they are supposed to be. How, oh how, did UCLA allow you to be a TA. BUT:Do take Dr. Bauer, he was one of the kindest and most responsive professors I've ever had. Legend.

I loved this class, because in Physics 5A, I always felt behind and I couldn't comprehend half of it. However, this class helped change my perception of physics. I loved how Professor Bauer would handwrite everything on the board, it made it easier for me to follow and understand. He also would show us interesting labs and demos during class, which helped make class even more amazing. The grade distribution is: 10% Homework (Mastering Physics), 15% Lab, there are 2 Midterms and whichever one you did better on would be 20% of your grade and the other one 15%, and finally the Final is 40%. You could get up to 0.6% extra credit from Campuswire. Overall, he also was funny and made lectures go faster, so I would highly recommend this class!

Okay, let's set the record straight. Bauer is a fantastic guy and a great lecturer. Yes, he writes things on the board and is occasionally pretty dry. But the class is about waves; it's really not that interesting. He has original notes that aren't from a powerpoint and is clear about what you need to learn. I agree the tests were a bit tricky but not impossible and he more than prepares you for it, although the practice ones were easier. Overall, he honestly is the best professor I've had at UCLA and made me love physics after the math series railed me, so kudos to him for doing that. Take him for any class if you can.

Bauer is okay, he writes all his notes on the board, which can get a little exhausting / isn't very engaging. But Physics 5B is a genuinely easy class to work through, just do the mastering physics problems and the practice midterms / finals (though when I took this class he was still figuring out how hard to make it so the practice midterms were a gross overestimation of how easy his paper was going to be, so don't trust it, and just work hard to really get the concept if you want to do well). He was really accommodating with the shift to online, so he's an overall sweet guy. Not a bad class :)

Like other reviewers have said, Bauer cares a lot about student learning and it shows. He's very supportive of the class in general and is always active on Campuswire giving advice and communicates regularly by email. That being said, his lecture style didn't work well for me. Definitely dry and not particularly exciting, and I felt that he spent way too much time on derivations instead of examples (which is mainly how I learn). It was difficult to tell which equations were actually important for the class. I personally thought his exams were challenging because of wording and the lack of in-lecture examples. As mentioned in the other reviews, he is NOT good at judging the difficulty level of his own exams so always be wary.

TLDR; Class was manageable, and Bauer is a great person. Not the best lecturer and I wouldn't take him again, but I wouldn't be too worried about my grade if I had to.

Not much to say about this class other than Bauer has trouble making a test that is at the correct level of difficulty. He made the first midterm way too hard and promised to make the second midterm easier but the second midterm was still hard. Then he promised to make the final easier, but because of covid-19, a lot of people opted out. Just be aware when taking his class. Other than that, nice guy. Decent lecturer.

Really enjoyed this professor and his course! Just be weary that he writes in chalk on the blackboard and doesn't use slides so showing up to class is kind of a must. He doesn't take attendance or clickers or anything but if you want the notes from him you should go. He does upload a notes paper to CCLE but its not the exactly same thing. His tests were straight forward and honestly I thought they were decent. It's physics so as long as you memorize the formulas and what they are for you're already halfway there. His exams were kind of just knowing how to correctly interpret and apply formulas, pretty good. Also he allowed an opt out option for the final!! (COVID 19) which was amazing and I really appreciated that. I opted out because I already had an A because the midterms were decent for me. Overall he was a funny and great professor and I really enjoyed his classes and lectures and would definitely recommend!