Discussion Worksheets 10
Labs 15
Final Exam 25
Quizzes 50

A+ 99
A 93
A- 90
B+ 87
B 83
B- 80
...

His lectures are very Khan Academy-esque. He talks, draws diagrams, and writes notes. Overall, I personally am not a fan of this style. Some people were, but I did not feel like it was conducive to my learning.
He has 1 lecture per week that covers all of the content for the chapter and then 2 more lectures during the week that he basically just does 1 example problem in each. I felt like those 2 lectures were not very helpful at all. Discussion took the cake for the biggest waste of time, though. You have to memorize EVERY physics equation covered in this class for the quizzes and the final, which I found incredibly ridiculous. Many people were upset how everything for the class was offered online except the final which had to be taken in person. Overall, this was the most difficult class I've taken at UCLA just because of the memorization alone.

Samani was the best professor I've had at UCLA. The class was hard, but I definitely felt like I learned a lot in every lecture and through every assignment. Plus, his taste in music is solid

Prof. Samani had very engaging lectures, and made me understand the material even though I went into Physics 1B thinking I wouldn't understand anything. Grading is based heavily on homework for online Spring 2020, but also on two midterms and the final. Lectures were very nicely broken down with a Spotify session before and after lecture, and he gives a break during the two-hour block. He's very nice and checks chat often for questions, and is tech savvy when it comes to using Zoom and CCLE. Homeworks were the only thing submitted every week, but very difficult to complete on the day due (7+ multi-part problems), so definitely collaborate with friends. Midterms were 24 hours, but he is very worried about cheating, so the final was 3 hours :/

Professor Samani is a chill guy that is easy to follow during lecture, but his exams are pretty tough. For the first midterm, very few people finished and I saw people frantically write random shapes for their graphs as the TAs came to collect the exams. Since you are not allowed calculators on exams, calculations can get a bit stressful and tedious especially when you start dealing with huge values that need to be plugged into Newton's equations. The good thing about his exams is that he gives you 15% of the points that you missed back if you do a redo. The class is slightly curved up to account for the averages on the exams.

Do not be mislead by the grade distribution from Fall 2017 or the reviews below that say this class is easy. While Samani is a nice guy and does provide many resources for us, this class was still extremely hard, and I do not recommend taking it. I am not sure if Samani changed the way he grades, but I find it hard to believe that as many people got A's in Winter 2019 as they did in Fall 2017. The class is not curved AT ALL, but there is extra credit. The class is out of 100 points, and if you do all the extra credit, it will bump your grade by a little over 5 points. The grade you get after extra credit is factored in is the grade you get. There is no scaling, rounding, or curving. Samani does give engaging lectures, but his exams are killer. When I say killer, I mean it. The things he teaches in lecture are not sufficient enough for us to do well on the exams. The tests are ridiculously hard, and you end up not learning anything. This class has a TON of homework. Nearly every week, you have Mastering Physics, Practice Exam Packets, Discussion Worksheets (Discussion is mandatory btw), Pre-lab, and Post-lab. These are only the required assignments, and do not include the extra credit assignments that are given every week. The Exam Packets are super hard, and he expects you to kinda figure out things on your own. Luckily, these are only graded on completion, but even then, it is hard to come up with a reasonable solution for the problems. Samani does offer midterm redos, which I did appreciate, but even then it is a struggle to do super well in the class. Take Physics 5A with a different Professor.

Hands down the best professor I've ever had at UCLA.
One of the previous reviews here that begins:
"Professor Samani is by far the best physics professor I have EVER had. There are a ton of recent negative comments about him on here, but these are just some of the reasons why people might have left them:" is an accurate description of the class.

He was overly accomodating throughout the quarter. Everyone is spam-hating because they've been cheating all quarter so when he made the exam in person they had absolute cry baby meltdowns. If you actually keep up with the material then an "A" is 100% attainable with minimal stress. People feel so entitled without having to lift a single finger and it's so fucking sad because he was an absolute GOAT. Some students still haven't been weaned off their pacifiers.

It was 4 am when I heard the fire alarm go off in my apartment. I revived from the stench of smoke to tall flames encircling me. I screamed for help from the top of my lungs, and then, almost immediately, Professor Samani showed up and carried me to safety. Once secure on the side of the road, we calculated the amount of heat produced by the fire given the materials in the affected area. Luckily, this took us no time at all because I took Physics 5B with Professor Joshua Samani. Samani was by far one of my favorite lecturers that I've had thus far. The lectures are super engaging as long as you pay attention, and the class itself is pretty easy to catch up on if you're the type to fall behind easily. For the class breakdown, there were lecture participation sheets, so make sure you go to as many lectures as you can because even though it's only worth 5%, the participation affects your grade more than you would think. Plus, in a couple of the lectures, Samani gives out practice exams that you take for extra credit. Discussion sections are also mandatory excluding one section. Lab sections are also fairly easy to follow along. The homework was assigned weekly for completion, but make sure you understand how to do all the problems because they are almost carbon copy the type of problems that appear on the midterm and final. The midterm is composed of both an individual portion and then a group portion which is exactly the same as the individual portion, much like LS7A. The final however is solely an individual exam. Also, there is no equation sheet so you have to memorize all of the equations. Overall, the class is easy if you put in the effort. If I were to give any advice, I would say to practice, practice, practice! Samani gives so many practice exams so make use of them!

5B was a lot of content but Professor Samani was extremely clear with his expectations and focused a lot on different strategies to increase memory retention that I will definitely bring into future courses! It is a pretty fast-paced class and you learn a new topic every week but he is one of the best professors I have ever had. He relates all of the topics to real-world scenarios and the content is exciting/ He also grades homework and discussions on completion, and you get multiple attempts, which encourages you to keep trying until you understand. He is also very good about giving solutions to every single worksheet, practice quiz, practice exam, and assignment. He probably gave out over 25 different versions of quizzes and midterms for you to study off of so if you put in effort, you will do well! There is also the opportunity to earn up to 1.3% extra credit.

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Samani is the single best Professor/Teacher I have EVER had. He is a wonderful person and I felt like I had a lot to learn from him, both in terms of Physics and life. He is incredibly down to earth, easy to talk to, and wonderfully clear in his lectures. Going to class was a treat.

100000% I would take another class with him.