Professor

Nicholas Rombes

AD
4.3
Overall Ratings
Based on 53 Users
Easiness 3.1 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.4 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 4.5 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 4.5 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (53)

2 of 5
2 of 5
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Dec. 15, 2022
Quarter: Fall 2022
Grade: A

Rombes is an average lecturer. There’s nothing inherently special about any of the classes he instructs. He just goes through his slides which are summaries of what the book discusses. His exams are pretty fair in terms of content. He answers questions in lecture if you have them. I was worried about physics, but in reality, if you attend lecture, focus, and study there is nothing to worry about. Using Campus Wire is very helpful in this class as it gives a bit of a boost to your overall grade, and you can easily access help/help others. The biggest bone I have to pick with Rombes is that he selfishly left us to our own devices in an already stressful situation, the strike. As a professor, I think he should have continues to teach class. Instead, he left us with nothing. His actions were completely unprofessional. It was quite obvious that he simply didn’t want to work during the strike. I did not hear of any other professor completely stop teaching at all. Furthermore, the TAs were not really helpful when it came to learning the material, so other than grading, I do not really see how their abs ende really impacted Rombes. My TA would write a linear algebra problem on the board and then go on their phone for 20 minutes while we worked on it, and then we would come together as a class to go over it, but this was completely unhelpful. Overall, I am very disappointed in Rombes and quite frankly embarrassed on his behalf as he highlighted his complete lack of work ethic by going on strike and leaving hundreds of students in the dark. I need this knowledge as a pre med student and I feel that the 1500$ my parents have worked incredibly hard to front for my education was made a mockery of by Rombes and his lack of regard for how his actions impacted students.

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PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Aug. 12, 2021
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: A

I took both Physics 1B and 1C with professor Rombes and it's safe to say he is among the top tier of lower-division professors at UCLA. His lectures are clear and focused, but the best part of his teaching is the amount of time and importance he dedicates to students' questions. He was willing to answer them at any time, which was monumental in my mastery of the material, as I was able to have my misconceptions remedied almost instantly. Professor Rombes' class format was a little confusing at first, as the grade consists of two types of homework (Mastering Physics problems for accuracy and written problem sets for completion), with the former being more standard short problems that one would expect from a physics class and the latter being long-form and often exploratory. Before the first exam, I was quite curious about which form the test would take, but in all honesty the tests are an even mix of both problem types, but rarely had something that we had never been introduced to, they were mostly questions similar to the written problem sets but often with another layer of complexity. Interspersed with these questions were conceptual or plug-and-chug questions more similar to the Mastering Physics problems. Overall, I would highly recommend taking Professor Rombes' class, and although the exams are challenging, if you ask questions in lecture and office hours and understand all of the homework assignments, you'll be in a good position to succeed

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PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Sept. 29, 2020
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A+

As a CS major trying (struggling) to get through the physics requirements, Rombes was an amazing professor. I tend to forget old physics material from 1A and 1B, but he often reviewed the necessary material before diving into new 1C content, which made it much easier to follow along in lecture.
His HW are "problem sets" of maybe one or two problems that he writes himself, and around 4 problems from the book. Some of the problems were pretty challenging (the three dot problems in the book), but for the most part they were...doable. It was more of getting burnt out in the continuous HW cycle because of summer session constraints, but I think in regular quarters it might be less stressful.
The midterm and final (cumulative, emphasis on second half) were both 24-hr, open note, open internet, exams. It honestly depends on how much time/effort you spend on it, because I think they were fairly made and definitely not made to be impossible.
Overall, I really enjoyed 1C with Professor Rombes!! He's a very clear lecturer, and he was very accessible either through office hours or through campuswire to ask further questions.

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PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Sept. 28, 2020
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: B+

Loved the professor. He was very good at explaining all the concepts, even when they were difficult to grasp. Tests were decently tough, but he gave us 24 hours for them, so it was totally okay, and felt very fair to all the students in the class. The only reason I feel like I didn't get an A was because my effort wasn't quite where it needed to be during the summer. I feel confident that anyone taking this class with Rombes who puts in the time and effort can achieve an A, as tests are overall very fair and he definitely teaches all the things he tests on. Overall, great class, would definitely take another class with this professor.

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Aug. 15, 2023
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A-

Rombes was a great professor who clearly cared about student learning and was very approachable. While his lectures were easy to follow and understand, they were incredibly boring. At times it was hard to pay attention because he has a somewhat monotone voice. Luckily, he records all of his lectures and also hosts them on Zoom. Other than the necessary lab materials, his homework consists of one problem set per week with about 15-20 questions. When I took this class, you had 6 attempts per question and your points would be slightly deducted with each attempt you used. However, I had Rombes for a physics class after 5A and he changed his policy that you still have 6 tries, but there is no deduction of points with each attempt. He is super understanding and lenient if you need an extension on a homework assignment. Regarding his tests, there are 2 in-class 50-minute midterms, and 1 3 hour final. He has a policy where if it would benefit your grade, he drops your lowest midterm. So either each midterm and final are worth 20% of your grade, or one midterm and the final are each worth 30% of your grade (tests are 60% overall either way). The main challenge of these tests is time. It is really difficult to complete a test in only 50 minutes, even if it is only 3 questions. For each test you get and equation sheet which is very useful, everything you need to know is on it. For the most part, you just need to understand variable relationships and how to plug numbers in. I found the final to be way more difficult than both of the midterms. The first midterm was on kinetics and the second was on forces. The way kinetics and forces were combined in the final was very confusing.

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PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 22, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: NR

I appreciated how Prof. Rombes emphasized asking questions during class and engaging with others on Campuswire, which really helped me understand the material and made me feel comfortable in the class. He really tries to focus on being clear and tends to go slower than most other professors in order to answer everyone's questions. I felt the homework and exams were pretty fair but they could often be quite challenging and time-consuming. However I think the professor made a good amount of accommodations to make this reasonable, like making the exams 24 hr and all weighted the same (no curve though). Definitely would take a class with this professor again, if this wasn't my last physics class at UCLA.

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PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 20, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A

Prof Rombes is hands down the best physics instructor I've had at UCLA. He makes sure to answer all of students' questions during lecture, and is very good at communicating difficult concepts. Tests and the final are reasonable, and you'll be fine as long as you paid attention in class. 10/10 would take again!

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PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 29, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A

Professor Rombes is the best professor I have had at UCLA so far!!! He truly cares about his students' learning, and his love for physics is evident in every lecture. I would highly highly recommend taking a class with him if you are able!

Some logistical info on the class: attendance was not required for lecture but required for discussion. Lectures were recorded. We had one problem set each week due on gradescope (with one random question graded for accuracy and the rest on effort) and one discussion worksheet due at the end of the day of your discussion (graded on completion). There were two midterms and one final, all 24 hours. The exams were hard but doable, and the problem sets were great practice for the exams. Rombes used campuswire for Q&A, and you received extra credit based on how much you participated in campuswire. Rombes was also super active on campuswire, so you're questions were always answered very quickly.

Again, I highly recommend this prof!!

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PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 31, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: B

I was considering dropping this class due to how tough it was at the start. The first midterm was really difficult but the professor adjusted the second midterm and final to be more reasonable in difficulty, which is what really saved me. After being able to pass this class with a B, it's very clear to me that the professor cares a lot about student learning and isn't just trying to make the course excessively hard. CampusWire is utilized and is extremely helpful in this course. Extra credit is awarded. Discussion section attendance is encouraged and it's basically free points toward your grade. Overall, I really enjoyed the second half of the course and love the way the professor teaches. As someone with no physics experience outside of UCLA, I came to Bruinwalk for help deciding whether to take this course. Many people make it seem like this course is a cakewalk, but it really isn't unless you have a solid physics background. In the end, I was still able to complete the last of my physics courses and am glad I chose this professor.

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PHYSICS 1B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 27, 2021
Quarter: Spring 2021
Grade: A

Professor Rombes recently finished his PHD at UCLA so he's pretty excited to teach and its very noticeable. His lectures are straightforward and easy to comprehend. He breaks down concepts for the students to understand easily and goes through examples problems in class step by step. Everything about this class is perfect (there's even extra credit), except for his exams. He mentioned in class due to the nature of online learning his exams must be hard because they are open book and open internet. His exams are definitely challenging but not impossible, and often times you can find intuition for the solutions online, but you really need to test your knowledge of physics to get it right. If you put the work in and study well, a B and above is very doable, but I would say getting an A is quite challenging and not guaranteed. The grading is good though, and you get lots of point just for showing some work.

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PHYSICS 5A
Quarter: Fall 2022
Grade: A
Dec. 15, 2022

Rombes is an average lecturer. There’s nothing inherently special about any of the classes he instructs. He just goes through his slides which are summaries of what the book discusses. His exams are pretty fair in terms of content. He answers questions in lecture if you have them. I was worried about physics, but in reality, if you attend lecture, focus, and study there is nothing to worry about. Using Campus Wire is very helpful in this class as it gives a bit of a boost to your overall grade, and you can easily access help/help others. The biggest bone I have to pick with Rombes is that he selfishly left us to our own devices in an already stressful situation, the strike. As a professor, I think he should have continues to teach class. Instead, he left us with nothing. His actions were completely unprofessional. It was quite obvious that he simply didn’t want to work during the strike. I did not hear of any other professor completely stop teaching at all. Furthermore, the TAs were not really helpful when it came to learning the material, so other than grading, I do not really see how their abs ende really impacted Rombes. My TA would write a linear algebra problem on the board and then go on their phone for 20 minutes while we worked on it, and then we would come together as a class to go over it, but this was completely unhelpful. Overall, I am very disappointed in Rombes and quite frankly embarrassed on his behalf as he highlighted his complete lack of work ethic by going on strike and leaving hundreds of students in the dark. I need this knowledge as a pre med student and I feel that the 1500$ my parents have worked incredibly hard to front for my education was made a mockery of by Rombes and his lack of regard for how his actions impacted students.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2021
Grade: A
Aug. 12, 2021

I took both Physics 1B and 1C with professor Rombes and it's safe to say he is among the top tier of lower-division professors at UCLA. His lectures are clear and focused, but the best part of his teaching is the amount of time and importance he dedicates to students' questions. He was willing to answer them at any time, which was monumental in my mastery of the material, as I was able to have my misconceptions remedied almost instantly. Professor Rombes' class format was a little confusing at first, as the grade consists of two types of homework (Mastering Physics problems for accuracy and written problem sets for completion), with the former being more standard short problems that one would expect from a physics class and the latter being long-form and often exploratory. Before the first exam, I was quite curious about which form the test would take, but in all honesty the tests are an even mix of both problem types, but rarely had something that we had never been introduced to, they were mostly questions similar to the written problem sets but often with another layer of complexity. Interspersed with these questions were conceptual or plug-and-chug questions more similar to the Mastering Physics problems. Overall, I would highly recommend taking Professor Rombes' class, and although the exams are challenging, if you ask questions in lecture and office hours and understand all of the homework assignments, you'll be in a good position to succeed

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A+
Sept. 29, 2020

As a CS major trying (struggling) to get through the physics requirements, Rombes was an amazing professor. I tend to forget old physics material from 1A and 1B, but he often reviewed the necessary material before diving into new 1C content, which made it much easier to follow along in lecture.
His HW are "problem sets" of maybe one or two problems that he writes himself, and around 4 problems from the book. Some of the problems were pretty challenging (the three dot problems in the book), but for the most part they were...doable. It was more of getting burnt out in the continuous HW cycle because of summer session constraints, but I think in regular quarters it might be less stressful.
The midterm and final (cumulative, emphasis on second half) were both 24-hr, open note, open internet, exams. It honestly depends on how much time/effort you spend on it, because I think they were fairly made and definitely not made to be impossible.
Overall, I really enjoyed 1C with Professor Rombes!! He's a very clear lecturer, and he was very accessible either through office hours or through campuswire to ask further questions.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: B+
Sept. 28, 2020

Loved the professor. He was very good at explaining all the concepts, even when they were difficult to grasp. Tests were decently tough, but he gave us 24 hours for them, so it was totally okay, and felt very fair to all the students in the class. The only reason I feel like I didn't get an A was because my effort wasn't quite where it needed to be during the summer. I feel confident that anyone taking this class with Rombes who puts in the time and effort can achieve an A, as tests are overall very fair and he definitely teaches all the things he tests on. Overall, great class, would definitely take another class with this professor.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 5A
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A-
Aug. 15, 2023

Rombes was a great professor who clearly cared about student learning and was very approachable. While his lectures were easy to follow and understand, they were incredibly boring. At times it was hard to pay attention because he has a somewhat monotone voice. Luckily, he records all of his lectures and also hosts them on Zoom. Other than the necessary lab materials, his homework consists of one problem set per week with about 15-20 questions. When I took this class, you had 6 attempts per question and your points would be slightly deducted with each attempt you used. However, I had Rombes for a physics class after 5A and he changed his policy that you still have 6 tries, but there is no deduction of points with each attempt. He is super understanding and lenient if you need an extension on a homework assignment. Regarding his tests, there are 2 in-class 50-minute midterms, and 1 3 hour final. He has a policy where if it would benefit your grade, he drops your lowest midterm. So either each midterm and final are worth 20% of your grade, or one midterm and the final are each worth 30% of your grade (tests are 60% overall either way). The main challenge of these tests is time. It is really difficult to complete a test in only 50 minutes, even if it is only 3 questions. For each test you get and equation sheet which is very useful, everything you need to know is on it. For the most part, you just need to understand variable relationships and how to plug numbers in. I found the final to be way more difficult than both of the midterms. The first midterm was on kinetics and the second was on forces. The way kinetics and forces were combined in the final was very confusing.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: NR
March 22, 2021

I appreciated how Prof. Rombes emphasized asking questions during class and engaging with others on Campuswire, which really helped me understand the material and made me feel comfortable in the class. He really tries to focus on being clear and tends to go slower than most other professors in order to answer everyone's questions. I felt the homework and exams were pretty fair but they could often be quite challenging and time-consuming. However I think the professor made a good amount of accommodations to make this reasonable, like making the exams 24 hr and all weighted the same (no curve though). Definitely would take a class with this professor again, if this wasn't my last physics class at UCLA.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A
March 20, 2021

Prof Rombes is hands down the best physics instructor I've had at UCLA. He makes sure to answer all of students' questions during lecture, and is very good at communicating difficult concepts. Tests and the final are reasonable, and you'll be fine as long as you paid attention in class. 10/10 would take again!

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A
March 29, 2021

Professor Rombes is the best professor I have had at UCLA so far!!! He truly cares about his students' learning, and his love for physics is evident in every lecture. I would highly highly recommend taking a class with him if you are able!

Some logistical info on the class: attendance was not required for lecture but required for discussion. Lectures were recorded. We had one problem set each week due on gradescope (with one random question graded for accuracy and the rest on effort) and one discussion worksheet due at the end of the day of your discussion (graded on completion). There were two midterms and one final, all 24 hours. The exams were hard but doable, and the problem sets were great practice for the exams. Rombes used campuswire for Q&A, and you received extra credit based on how much you participated in campuswire. Rombes was also super active on campuswire, so you're questions were always answered very quickly.

Again, I highly recommend this prof!!

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: B
March 31, 2021

I was considering dropping this class due to how tough it was at the start. The first midterm was really difficult but the professor adjusted the second midterm and final to be more reasonable in difficulty, which is what really saved me. After being able to pass this class with a B, it's very clear to me that the professor cares a lot about student learning and isn't just trying to make the course excessively hard. CampusWire is utilized and is extremely helpful in this course. Extra credit is awarded. Discussion section attendance is encouraged and it's basically free points toward your grade. Overall, I really enjoyed the second half of the course and love the way the professor teaches. As someone with no physics experience outside of UCLA, I came to Bruinwalk for help deciding whether to take this course. Many people make it seem like this course is a cakewalk, but it really isn't unless you have a solid physics background. In the end, I was still able to complete the last of my physics courses and am glad I chose this professor.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PHYSICS 1B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2021
Grade: A
June 27, 2021

Professor Rombes recently finished his PHD at UCLA so he's pretty excited to teach and its very noticeable. His lectures are straightforward and easy to comprehend. He breaks down concepts for the students to understand easily and goes through examples problems in class step by step. Everything about this class is perfect (there's even extra credit), except for his exams. He mentioned in class due to the nature of online learning his exams must be hard because they are open book and open internet. His exams are definitely challenging but not impossible, and often times you can find intuition for the solutions online, but you really need to test your knowledge of physics to get it right. If you put the work in and study well, a B and above is very doable, but I would say getting an A is quite challenging and not guaranteed. The grading is good though, and you get lots of point just for showing some work.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
2 of 5
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