Holczer is a very kind professor who genuinely wants his students to succeed. However, he's not the best lecturer. After the first lecture, I never watched another one, even the recordings. His teaching style is vague and his handwriting is difficult to read. Honestly, just read the textbook and you'll be fine. It does a great job explaining concepts and also gives plenty of example problems. The homework for this class is typical for a physics 5 class. There's a weekly problem set and weekly mastering physics questions, but they shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours to complete. In my opinion, the exams (2 midterms, 1 final) were pretty easy, considering that I only watched one lecture throughout the entire quarter. Going through the example problems in the textbook and the problem sets will definitely help you prepare for the exams. So if you want an easy A, which most people do, take Holczer. However, if you want a more engaging lecturer, maybe try a different professor.

Dr. Holczer is not a very clear lecturer because he tends to repeat himself and his handwriting is difficult to read. That is why I did not attend most lectures, but took notes on the powerpoints and read through the textbook for understanding. The exams in this class are not difficult — they are essentially an extension of the weekly homeworks that we complete. The questions mostly rely on you knowing which formula or equation to use, and from there it's usually plug and chug. Optics was a little more confusing for me, so I would recommend paying extra attention at that time.

Professor Holczer is an extremely fair professor and is very generous on his exam grading. He doesn't do mastering physics and instead does written problem sets of 3-4 questions once a week for homework.

I did however stop going to lectures about halfway through the quarter. The lectures were very conceptual, focused too much on derivations of equations, and ultimately did not contribute to my learning of the material. His handwriting is also messy making answer keys not very useful. But, if you do the readings and work through the homework sets with TAs you can still do well. Overall, I'd recommend taking this class with him if you okay with teaching yourself the material, and if so, it will be an easy A.

Grade Breakdown:
15% Lab
15% Homework (the weekly problem sets)
15% Midterm #1
15% Midterm #2
40% Final

I will not lie I went to a singular lecture and then never went again. That being said, 5B is completely self-study-able given you regularly read the textbook and watch videos for concepts you don't understand. Holczer also links some of Samani's videos in his syllabus, which were very helpful. There are weekly homework assignments consisting of 3-4 problems and each discussion session goes over 2-3 different problems. As long as you understand these 7 ish questions every week and how to solve them, you can get an A on all the exams, they're not super complex and some might even consider them easy. Don't be discouraged by the fact that you might have to learn on your own, I'm not good at math at all but I was able to do it with some effort!

Honestly, this class caught me off guard. I came from getting a C in physics 5A and this class was pretty much a breeze. Warning (1/2): This professor is NOT a good lecturer, I could not understand more than 4 words that came out of his mouth due to his heavy accent, his handwriting is probably the worst I have seen ever and I had stopped showing to lectures after week 4. He is paid to read off slides in broken English. Other then that, he is open to answer questions after class, he is extremely kind and is very very very very very generous with points such as partial credit on exams. It is astonishing how much partial credit he can give you! I solved almost everything correctly but did not get the correct answer and he gave me an 18/20 for the question. The next question I was completely lost, I drew a diagram and explained my thought process and I did not come close to solving the question and still received a 12/20, quite simply the most generous professor in terms of grading. The first midterm I scored over 100% as all questions on mt1 and mt2 are usually from the homework/discussion problems. Warning (2/2): The final was absolute CHAOS and caught A LOT of people off guard. Not only is it worth 40% of your grade, when taking the final I could not believe how difficult these exam questions were! I studied pretty hard for this exam and felt like I knew nothing and they were NOT anything I've seen from our HW! It is almost as if he had purposely made mt1 and mt2 on easy mode just to banish those who got comfortable in the class and thought this was a no study easy A class. Thank God, I did not trust his final exam and studied and ended up doing well somehow (he is generous) but I knew for a fact if I did not study the way I did I would have ended with a B or C. Over all 7/10 rating considering his grading style.

A lot of people were super harsh and disrespectful to Holczer, but he is actually a super nice and understanding professor. I've rarely had professors who were so understanding when it came to having covid during exams or needing extra practice outside of regular office hours. I hate physics and really struggled in physics 5a, but this class was SUPER easy. All of the exams had a ton of partial credit to the point where you could get the entire problem wrong and still only be marked off like 3 out of 20 points. The homework problems are also really short and simple, despite being more difficult than the actual exam problems. Also, all of his midterms and finals have problems directly from the book, so if you practice those you can memorize problems that will be on the exams. Regardless of his confusing teaching methods, I would definitely take this class again (but I would not recommend this if you are a physics/engineering major because you won't learn much from the actual lectures.)

Professor Holczer is very kind, but not a good lecturer. His lectures are entirely conceptual and did not equip us with the knowledge we needed to complete the homework or the exams. You're better off reading the textbook and only attending discussion (Jesus was a SAINT). I only passed because his exams are very easy and exactly like the homework questions, so it was an easy A. I would recommend this class only because the tests are super easy, but you will have to teach yourself the material because the lectures are super vague and completely different from the homework assignments.

Professor Holczer is one of the most kind and understanding professors I've had at UCLA. Due to COVID he has made all his exams 48 hours and open note. His exams were very similar to the problem sets he provides each week. Overall, I do not think the exams were difficult and the problems sets provided good practice for what would appear on the exams. If you ever had any questions about mastering physics or the problem sets he was very helpful during office hours. I will say he is not the best lecturer but everything he lectures about comes straight from the textbook so it was easy to look up stuff that I didn't understand from lecture. Overall, I think Holczer was a good professor, I definitely recommend taking Physics 5B with him. Also, if you ever get the chance, go say hi to him during office hours because he is honestly such a kind person.

I'd give this professor a one star rating. If you are looking for a professor who will lecture and teach you the material than avoid like the plague because all you'll get is useless derivations of equations you'll never be tested on and handwriting that you wont be able to read. You will be teaching yourself from the textbook all quarter and good luck to you understanding waves and oscillations. He doesn't solve ANY problems in lecture and when you ask him about it, he says that you have a textbook that you could read the examples. Additionally, he has multiple "optional" sections that should mean hes not covering it yet he still does and expects you to know it for exams. Bottom line: If you are the kind of student who needs a professor with a guiding hand and shows you how to approach physics problems avoid this professor at all costs. If you are the kind of student who doesn't need lecture and just needs a textbook and a "nice guy", than this is your professor.

Dr. Holczer was a great teacher and he is very understanding! Take him for 5B if you can. You won't regret it.