I think the reviews are so low because its many of peoples first time taking physics. Theres just a lot to cover no matter how its taught. The homework is pretty easy and there is a weekly quiz. His office hours are pretty helpful.

"Magical little elves write down times at every point in space bro" -Saltzberg 2k19

Saltzberg is the man! His homework assignments were very relevant to lectures and exams. They weren't terribly hard but weren't obviously easy either. He was very helpful during office hours, and in general, if asked a question, Saltzberg tries his absolute best in answering it. He only did one midterm this quarter. The midterm was fair, but the last question was a bit weird. It would've been nice if he clarified a bit more about the question (i.e. super inductance doesn't have inductance), but overall, solid midterm. His final was very solid as well. Once again, the last question was a bit tricky, but it was very doable. He tested on what he taught, and what he taught was a very complete course on E&M. He could've done a bit better with special relativity, but since he didn't, his final question on the topic was straight-forward. As for his quizzes, they were fair (and were homework problems), but one of the graders were a bit harsh. I think Saltzberg should give quizzes without numbers (and just variables), which would save some time and not bring scores down due to math errors. Otherwise, solid quizzes if you do the optional homework assignment.

Overall, professor Saltzberg is the best physics professor I've had at UCLA. His lectures are very interesting, and he cracks some funny jokes too. He was the main science consultant of "The Big Bang Theory," and being a huge fan of the show, it was an honor taking his class.

This is one of the best science GEs you are going to take. The prof is both super engaging and super nice, he always posts recordings and lecture materials after class, and he writes very reasonable tests. If you are coming in with zero knowledge, this is a perfect class. The labs can be a bit long, but the TAs are all pretty helpful and they are quite easy to finish as long as you are paying attention.

To me the lectures weren’t really useful, although it’d probably be better if you went, although you don’t need to as long as you read the textbook and can do the homework. The tests are not bad, and the homework is optional. As long as you do the homework and can ace the quizzes then the class is basically and easy B+/A. The tests are essentially just the homework except with a little more challenging material.

I genuinely thought this was a very interesting class. Professor Saltzberg always appeared happy to teach the course and really was motivated during every class. I think he really wants to see his students succeed. The workload was very manageable, besides the exams there was barely any outside of class work besides homework assignments and finishing labs which I appreciated. My TA for my labs was also super nice and was always happy to help during office hours. I'm not a STEM person and not really a math/science person in general (I took this as a GE) so the exams were pretty difficult for me. They require A LOT of studying after the first midterm. If you're looking for an easy GE and you're not a STEM major, I wouldn't consider this as an easy course at all. They teach it well, but it's just a lot of material and concepts to wrap your head around so it requires a bit more effort than most classes. I really found it interesting though, and I think it was a course very well taught. He also released practice exams before every exam which was really helpful, and it gave you a good idea of the types of questions that would be on there. But if you're not good at math or understanding scientific concepts, I'm going to be real and say that this will be a challenging class.

Saltzberg the goat. Class is pretty easy if you just do practice problems

This class is definitely manageable if you take your time with the material and come to lectures. For students who are not used to this type of mathematics, the TA's and professor were very understanding. Professor Saltzberg is good at explaining the topics and if you are interested the ideas come naturally. Honestly, just by coming to lectures, you will have a good chance of scoring a good grade. So I definitely recommend it!

Have no complaints about this class whatsoever. The class is graded on in class assignments, labs, homeworks (which you have multiple attempts on), and midterms/finals. The exams aren't hard since they cover the material the professor teaches in class. Lectures are laid back and interesting, and Mr. Saltzberg is very nice/understanding. Always willing to help in class or in office hours. Overall a very great pick for a GE.

I loved Astro 3 with Saltzberg. Learned a lot and the tests were not too difficult. It is acknowledged that the class is a GE and many students are not on math/STEM courses so there’s not a ton of math content. The class genuinely sparked my interest and taught me a lot of interesting things that I was able to retain even after tests. Classes are recorded and slides/notes are also posted which was super helpful plus there is an option to attend every lecture via zoom. Definitely recommend reading the textbook alongside the lectures though if you do decide to take this class. Thankfully I actually found the textbook pretty easy to read and insightful, and definitely necessary if you want to fully grasp the content.