Professor
Justin Lancaster
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - I do agree with the other reviews that the tests were very rushed and that sometimes we would have to teach ourselves the concepts, but in all honesty this was something I expected, especially with COVID. Prof. Lancaster gives us practice tests about a week before our exams which are pretty much the same as our exams, and he will solve them with us in office hours and post the notes for those who couldn't go. While this does help, often times his notes are all over the place and it will be difficult to understand them if you don't go to office hours. The mastering physics, which is our homework, can take a while, and after a week or two you'll start to notice a trend which is that lectures teach you the basic concepts, the homework is significantly more difficult than the lectures (most of these questions are on slader, chegg, brainly, etc., with steps so you'll always be able to figure it out), and the discussion homework, which is most similar to our exams, are really difficult to work out alone in my opinion. If you take this class with prof Lancaster (which a lot of people are bound to bc of how quickly 5a fills up) here are some tips: - Do the discussion problems with a friend (it's better to do it with one person than a group of like 5 people because then it just gets overwhelming) and also do the practice exams with them - After doing the practice exam write out a list of the steps you did to solve each part that you can refer to during the exam, and also write out a formula sheet - Also look at what values you had to make up in the practice exams and make up a second set that you can use for the actual exams so that you don't waste time making them up. - Always try to do the more difficult options in the discussion homework so that you can get used to it since these points help a lot in the tests (discussion homework is graded on completion not accuracy) - as much as you might want to just read the slides, watch his lectures (I watch them at 2x speed) because he might write some things that aren't in the slides that can be helpful. Overall, this class can be a lot, but it's definitely doable. While a lot of people complained (and they had a right to because he was not very accommodating) the average on both midterms was a high B, and I have a feeling the final will be the same. He gives you a lot of resources that you can use to practice, and those practice tests that he gives out will be the absolute best thing you can use. I'm putting out this review before we take the final but I have a feeling that a large portion of the class will have an A just based on our averages. Mastering Physics: 5% Discussion Sections: 5% Labs: 15% Midterm 1: 25% Midterm 2: 25% Final: 25%
Fall 2020 - I do agree with the other reviews that the tests were very rushed and that sometimes we would have to teach ourselves the concepts, but in all honesty this was something I expected, especially with COVID. Prof. Lancaster gives us practice tests about a week before our exams which are pretty much the same as our exams, and he will solve them with us in office hours and post the notes for those who couldn't go. While this does help, often times his notes are all over the place and it will be difficult to understand them if you don't go to office hours. The mastering physics, which is our homework, can take a while, and after a week or two you'll start to notice a trend which is that lectures teach you the basic concepts, the homework is significantly more difficult than the lectures (most of these questions are on slader, chegg, brainly, etc., with steps so you'll always be able to figure it out), and the discussion homework, which is most similar to our exams, are really difficult to work out alone in my opinion. If you take this class with prof Lancaster (which a lot of people are bound to bc of how quickly 5a fills up) here are some tips: - Do the discussion problems with a friend (it's better to do it with one person than a group of like 5 people because then it just gets overwhelming) and also do the practice exams with them - After doing the practice exam write out a list of the steps you did to solve each part that you can refer to during the exam, and also write out a formula sheet - Also look at what values you had to make up in the practice exams and make up a second set that you can use for the actual exams so that you don't waste time making them up. - Always try to do the more difficult options in the discussion homework so that you can get used to it since these points help a lot in the tests (discussion homework is graded on completion not accuracy) - as much as you might want to just read the slides, watch his lectures (I watch them at 2x speed) because he might write some things that aren't in the slides that can be helpful. Overall, this class can be a lot, but it's definitely doable. While a lot of people complained (and they had a right to because he was not very accommodating) the average on both midterms was a high B, and I have a feeling the final will be the same. He gives you a lot of resources that you can use to practice, and those practice tests that he gives out will be the absolute best thing you can use. I'm putting out this review before we take the final but I have a feeling that a large portion of the class will have an A just based on our averages. Mastering Physics: 5% Discussion Sections: 5% Labs: 15% Midterm 1: 25% Midterm 2: 25% Final: 25%
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - Not sure what changed, but this professor is actually one of the worst I've ever had at UCLA. From the previous reviews, I was expecting an easy, educational quarter in physics 5B and was even pretty excited for the material. However, this quarter the professor must have changed his way of teaching, and not in a good way. The class is asynchronous, but his lecture videos are basically just reading off the textbook and the concepts are not explained well. Each week, I had to go to office hours to re-learn the material because it was so poorly explained in the videos. He is also not active on Campuswire, and he changed his time for office hours midway through the quarter to a time that many students couldn't attend due to time conflicts. Oh, and his exams are only 35 minutes. So yea, if you are not comfortable learning physics completely on your own with minimal help, don't take this professor for 5B.
Winter 2021 - Not sure what changed, but this professor is actually one of the worst I've ever had at UCLA. From the previous reviews, I was expecting an easy, educational quarter in physics 5B and was even pretty excited for the material. However, this quarter the professor must have changed his way of teaching, and not in a good way. The class is asynchronous, but his lecture videos are basically just reading off the textbook and the concepts are not explained well. Each week, I had to go to office hours to re-learn the material because it was so poorly explained in the videos. He is also not active on Campuswire, and he changed his time for office hours midway through the quarter to a time that many students couldn't attend due to time conflicts. Oh, and his exams are only 35 minutes. So yea, if you are not comfortable learning physics completely on your own with minimal help, don't take this professor for 5B.
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