Review for 1B: EXAMS way too HARD (even harder than Corbin's). Please choose other professors if available.

Wow!

REVIEW FOR PHYSICS 1B!
Pietro, Pietro, Pietro… where to begin.
At first glance, Pietro Musumeci seems like the kind of professor you’d want to take. The reviews are glowing, the ratings look solid — it all sounds promising. And I thought so too. First day I walked into class, I saw that joyful twinkle in his eyes, that unmistakable spark of someone who genuinely loves what they do. There was this honest enthusiasm, that passion to teach us — as one particularly kind review phrased it — a “far less educated audience.” Everything was going fine, that is until he actually started teaching. The first real issue you’ll notice is his handwriting. It’s not just bad, it’s actively trying to be unhelpful. You’ll be introduced to what’s affectionately called the famous Pietro variable. What is that? Oh, it’s some circular, spiraling, vaguely P-shaped figure he uses in almost every physics problem. Is it a theta? A rho? No — it’s a screw you. Decoding his notes becomes exhausting. Then there’s the pace. He tears through material at a speed I’ve yet to see. I mean, he does make a valid excuse — he said it’s tiring standing in class for so long so late. Concepts are introduced without context, examples come without explanation, and before you can process what just happened, he’s already three topics ahead. The homework assignments? Fair. Manageable, even. It gives you the illusion that maybe, just maybe, you’re keeping up. Unfortunately, this sense of security lasts exactly until the first exam, where you’re greeted with problems so detached from what was covered it makes you wonder if maybe Pietro gave the wrong test. You might start questioning whether you just didn’t study enough, but then you take a look at the exam key — and realize no, that problem was actually impossible. Maybe Pietro likes problems that are unsolvable and are just meant to be suffered through. To his credit, Pietro cares about physics. He’s kind, approachable, and passionate about his subject. But passion alone doesn’t make a good class, and no amount of enthusiasm can compensate for poor execution. The frustrating part is that it feels like it could be a great course — the foundation is there, but something went seriously off. So if you see those older, glowing reviews thinking you’ve found a safe pick, don’t fall for it. Whatever version of Pietro they had, it’s not the one teaching now.

REVIEW FOR PHYSICS 1B (no listing for 1B in registrar database):
Professor Musumeci is a wonderful teacher who is greatly accomplished in his field but retains the ability to connect with a far less educated audience. He does not rely on slides to teach and instead draws on a digital whiteboard and derives formulas live. Exams are very fair, and even more fairly graded. There are 2 midterms and one final. Homework consists of 8 questions per week of moderate to high difficulty. Overall, I highly recommend choosing Professor Musumeci as your instructor for this course!

Musumeci is by my favorite physics professor I've taken physics with. His first midterm was very easy but the second was a lot more difficult. I think it is clear he cares about his students and explaining concepts as best as he can. I would note that his handwriting is a bit messy and hard to read sometimes, but you do get used to it. I really enjoyed his class and you can tell he is very knowledgeable but also a clear explainer. He is passionate about physics. I would recommend reviewing example problems he goes over in lecture and homework questions. He likes to use questions that combine several topics on exams. Overall I would definitely recommend taking physics 1b with this professor

this dude is funny! haha. i only went to a few lectures but he was cool. The average on the midterms was around 70%. he has my recommendation

Hands down, one of my favorite upper-div professors. The material is difficult (105A and B), but he explains it pretty well and assigns very good homework problems. I like how he doesn't bother with really bullshit topics. He'll ask fair questions on the midterm that are homework-difficulty, so if you can do the harder homework problems without the solutions manual, then you'll do well. Take him if you can; I wish he taught all the upper-div physics classes.
He's also hilarious and nice and seems to enjoy the class as well as his students.

Just wanted to help all those people with a first pass that couldn't get corbin. Corbin's the best, but differently your second choice should be Holczer, yes he's hard to understand but every class I took with him the majority got A's. I love Musumeci as a professor, but only like 15 out of 150 got A's, it was the worst curve ever, or maybe it was just my bad luck. My other friends also took Jura and said he was also easy. Btw when I say it was easy I mean regarding the professor, because physics 1A itself is not an easy class.

Musumeci is a good professor. He has an accent and is limited in some respects with the English language, but if you ask questions and listen carefully, he is an easy professor to understand. He is very smart and actually very funny. His jokes catch you off guard and he is just a hilarious person. I mean very funny for some reason. lol anyways he has my recommendation.

Professor Musumeci is a great teacher. He has an accent, but you can understand him most of the time, and his accent makes the lectures more interesting. Most of the time he will try to keep students interested. His tests are not too easy or too hard, but I recommend that you take the time to study for it. There are three questions on midterms, just like other physics teachers.
Reading will greatly help in this class, but the problems Musumeci does in class are very similar to what appears on tests. He also provides old tests for students to study. Students would have to use Mastering Physics to do homework, but thats as worst as it gets. Otherwise, I recommend him over other teachers if you want a class that isn't difficult.