I had a good experience with professor Jura. His homework was definitely a bit challenging but I went to his office hours most of the time and got a lot of help from there. He wouldn't give students the answers but he does do a good job leading the discussion and let us figure out problem independently. His tests and grading scheme are very fair.

If you want to learn physics, don't take his physics class.

If you want to learn how to manipulate equations, do take his class.

Unlike other physics professors, Professor Jura teaches calculus-based physics, and his course is biased by the fact that he is in the astronomy department, so he teaches stuff about black holes and accretion of mass that the other professors don't.

The first half of lecture is him deriving a bunch of equations, and the last half is him rambling on some tangent that is irrelevant to the problems that we see on homework or tests. That time would be better spent doing example problems.

His homework and test questions are extremely difficult, but he grades the tests surprisingly easily. I got a B in the class without knowing wtf the entire course was about since every day, all he did was derive calculus equations. The problems rely on your ability to manipulate a bunch of equations instead of having an understanding of the physics at work.

If you manage to regurgitate derivations of equations for the midterm and final, you could probably get a C. None of the problems use numbers; they all use variables.

The homework is hard af and a lot of the time, you have to assume some information is given, so it is very ambiguous.

The class is difficult. Professor Jura is very approachable and likes to explain a variety of material to his students. His class can be difficult because he does not really teach out of the textbook and tends to teach astronomical applications. The homework really requires some thinking and can be quite tricky as well as time consuming. He will never directly answer your questions in office hours but rather urge you to think. The time rush on the midterm exams can cause some difficulty. One important point is to memorize the equations and formulas he presents or know very well how to derive them. I would try to take some time to memorize them over the quarter. Mostly his homework and exam questions involve leaving the answer in variables but that did not bother me. If you are really into physics and astronomy then I highly recommend that you take his class. However, his style can be a little bothersome but if you will invest a good amount of effort in his class then you can do well.

Jura is a really sweet man, who really wants his students to learn. He does expect quite a bit of students, so you should try to fully understand the previous lecture before going to the next one. His homework problems are ridiculously hard sometimes, but don't get too fazed by that. The exams were all pretty fair (definitely do the practice ones). If you're having trouble, I'd really recommend going to his or a TA's office hours, that's something I wish I had done.
While this is a hard class, it's possible to do well if you put in the time to understand the material. You don't need the textbooks, his notes and problems are pretty thorough in relation to the exams.
If you're an astrophysics major, I highly recommend him. If not, then he has a very different style than the other 1A professors which you may or may not like.

This guy would be great for upper divisions, for the students in those classes would know how well he applies the concepts to the universe. However, for a lower division class, half of his lectures are almost useless applications of concepts to the universe. Also, there was one thing about heat conductivity, which was almost completely unrelated to classical mechanics. On tests... midterms are rushed for time, while the final is extremely slow-paced. Overall, if you are familiar with physics, you will have no problem following this guy. However, the hard part is actually paying attention.

Not my type of class, and I'm sure it's the same for many others. Most of the time, 30 minutes of confusing material not out of the book then 20 minutes of seemingly incoherent rambling. If you are able to comprehend what he says, you will get much out of it. Or if you're like me, not that much. The class isn't too hard though, but you basically have to memorize midterm questions for the final, since some of them appear verbatim. I luckily got a B. However, if you spend a lot of time on the material, you should be able to get something out of it, but this isn't my type of class.

I found Jura to be an absolute horrible professor. Just horrible. Half the time I stared blankly at the bored while he jotted down incomprehensible notes. He assumes that we're familiar with half the stuff he writes on the board. He tries to link many examples to stars, the solar system, etc. I see him more of a calc or astro professor rather than a physics professor (he wouldn't make a good calc or astro professor though). His lectures usually only take 30 minutes out of the 50 minutes and he rambles for the next 20 minutes about "interesting" applications. Also, his homework and finals do not have ONE number written in them. In other words, all of his exams/homeworks are all purely variables/concepts and are extremely tough.

As a person mentioned before, all he does is recycle all his questions. Some of his questions from his homework and sample midterm/final and sample problems from notes will appear on the exams. The expensive physics package (almost 200 dollars) we had to buy from the bookstore was completely useless. There was no need to even open our physics books. He makes up his own homework problems and does not follow the book. I ONLY took physics with this man because he was the only professor teaching it at the time. If you need to take physics, avoid this man at all cost. If you NEED to take physics and this is the only professor, memorize the sample midterm/final/homework and his notes and you will do fine. Easier said than done.

Listen to me...don't take this guy for Physics 1A. He is the worst professor I've had here at UCLA. I took his class Winter of 2003 and the class average was a C+. If that doesn't tell you much, I don't know what else will. I really hope he stays away from the introductory Physics course for everyone's sake. @?&!?@?!*

he is not an effective teacher at all, the students who do well in his class is not because he tought them well but because they knew it from high school, he doesnnt know how to teach at all. He is a caring guy but doesnt belong teaching physics 1a because he doesnt know how to teach at all!!!!!!!!!!!