Professor
Rene Ong
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - Out of all of the 1H series, this class was by far the "easiest", but that does not mean that the class itself is not difficult. The material is rather more straight forward to learn compared to the material of 1BH and the problems are not as difficult as 1AH. You start off the class reviewing some Waves and E&M and then go into optics and sound, with the more conceptually difficult portion being that of diffraction. You then cover some fourier analysis and special relativity. Overall, Professor Ong is a really approachable guy that has really engaging lectures and often brings demos every lecture. If you want to take a class that is a bit more challenging and covers topics that you probably aren't going to see in regular 1C, take this class.
Spring 2022 - Out of all of the 1H series, this class was by far the "easiest", but that does not mean that the class itself is not difficult. The material is rather more straight forward to learn compared to the material of 1BH and the problems are not as difficult as 1AH. You start off the class reviewing some Waves and E&M and then go into optics and sound, with the more conceptually difficult portion being that of diffraction. You then cover some fourier analysis and special relativity. Overall, Professor Ong is a really approachable guy that has really engaging lectures and often brings demos every lecture. If you want to take a class that is a bit more challenging and covers topics that you probably aren't going to see in regular 1C, take this class.
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Most Helpful Review
one of the worst professors i've ever had...he simply spits out facts and information without offering any valid explanations or understanding. do not take him for astro 3; we had substitute profs a few times, and they were sooooooo much more effective than ong. he seems like a really nice guy, but don't fall for it! when it comes to exams and grading, he's a hard-ass.
one of the worst professors i've ever had...he simply spits out facts and information without offering any valid explanations or understanding. do not take him for astro 3; we had substitute profs a few times, and they were sooooooo much more effective than ong. he seems like a really nice guy, but don't fall for it! when it comes to exams and grading, he's a hard-ass.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Ong is one of the best teachers I have had so far at UCLA. He's a really nice guy and really does care if you learn. If you pay attention in class and do the problems that he suggests for review and look at his review notes, you're good to go. He's very fair and made physics bearable! Awesome teacher! Take him if you have the chance, you won't regret it.
Professor Ong is one of the best teachers I have had so far at UCLA. He's a really nice guy and really does care if you learn. If you pay attention in class and do the problems that he suggests for review and look at his review notes, you're good to go. He's very fair and made physics bearable! Awesome teacher! Take him if you have the chance, you won't regret it.
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Ong is the best professor I have ever had the pleasure of learning from at UCLA. He teaches a class the way it should be taught. Everybody has their say in the homeworks, due dates, time for reviews. All the information on the exams are covered in lecture. His lectures are inspiring, for those that care to listen, touching on information that he views as important as opposed to slamming you with way to much to cram before an exam. He has a lot of trust in his students, something not very many professors do any more. I say all of this even though I didn't get an A in his class. If I get anything across let it be that if you have the opportunity, "Take Professor Ong!!!"
Professor Ong is the best professor I have ever had the pleasure of learning from at UCLA. He teaches a class the way it should be taught. Everybody has their say in the homeworks, due dates, time for reviews. All the information on the exams are covered in lecture. His lectures are inspiring, for those that care to listen, touching on information that he views as important as opposed to slamming you with way to much to cram before an exam. He has a lot of trust in his students, something not very many professors do any more. I say all of this even though I didn't get an A in his class. If I get anything across let it be that if you have the opportunity, "Take Professor Ong!!!"
Most Helpful Review
While he could have spent a little bit more time explaining the significance of his lectures at the beginning of the class, Professor Ong is pretty good. He is always willing and eager to see students during his office hours or whenever. Only exceptions are the frequent trips that he makes to go just about everywhere in the world and do cool physics stuff, which he loves to talk about. Homework assignments are not bad, though he has a habit of assigning stuff before we learn it in class. Tests are very well written: they require some thinking beyond just plugging stuff into formulas, and he ends most problems with some kind of conceptual question that will test how well you actually understand what is going on. First midterm was a little too long for one hour, though the class is curved so that was not a huge problem. Some minor qualms, but generally a great professor.
While he could have spent a little bit more time explaining the significance of his lectures at the beginning of the class, Professor Ong is pretty good. He is always willing and eager to see students during his office hours or whenever. Only exceptions are the frequent trips that he makes to go just about everywhere in the world and do cool physics stuff, which he loves to talk about. Homework assignments are not bad, though he has a habit of assigning stuff before we learn it in class. Tests are very well written: they require some thinking beyond just plugging stuff into formulas, and he ends most problems with some kind of conceptual question that will test how well you actually understand what is going on. First midterm was a little too long for one hour, though the class is curved so that was not a huge problem. Some minor qualms, but generally a great professor.
Most Helpful Review
- For this class, you really do have to have a strong foundation in physics to have traction in this class. The prerequisites are the 1-series or the 6-series, but even with that foundation, I struggled for the most part. I had heard from Professor Ong surveying the students that they took other classes like 17 and 18, as well as concurrently taking another upper division physics class, and they were the ones who did better in 105A, so I would suggest doing that as well first to get better footing for this class. - As for 105A, Professor Ong teaches this class with the assumption that you have a solid foundation in the lower-division courses because he goes right into the topics and does a few examples in that manner. In the 50-minute period, those are done fairly quickly, which was another factor that made it difficult for me (before using an audio recorder). - There are 9 weekly homework assignments (15%), 2 midterms (20% each), the final (35%), and a recently-added series of 6 Mathematica homeworks (10%). - In the case of Mathematica, another professor, Brent Corbin, is the professor to go to for questions, to turn in those homeworks, and anything Mathematica-related. - Workshops were provided twice a week to get help, though from Winter 2012, the hours were questionable because it was Tuesday and Thursday at the same time, which didn’t work for everybody. Mathematica proved to be more a hindrance than anything because of the time it took along with the regular homework, but hopefully, the kinks get worked out to where it benefits instead of hinders. - Discussion section was also based on the fact of having a strong physics background, so for me, I didn’t see it very useful. - Overall, though Professor Ong is willing to help as much as possible, putting in the time and having a strong physics foundation is vital to success in this class.
- For this class, you really do have to have a strong foundation in physics to have traction in this class. The prerequisites are the 1-series or the 6-series, but even with that foundation, I struggled for the most part. I had heard from Professor Ong surveying the students that they took other classes like 17 and 18, as well as concurrently taking another upper division physics class, and they were the ones who did better in 105A, so I would suggest doing that as well first to get better footing for this class. - As for 105A, Professor Ong teaches this class with the assumption that you have a solid foundation in the lower-division courses because he goes right into the topics and does a few examples in that manner. In the 50-minute period, those are done fairly quickly, which was another factor that made it difficult for me (before using an audio recorder). - There are 9 weekly homework assignments (15%), 2 midterms (20% each), the final (35%), and a recently-added series of 6 Mathematica homeworks (10%). - In the case of Mathematica, another professor, Brent Corbin, is the professor to go to for questions, to turn in those homeworks, and anything Mathematica-related. - Workshops were provided twice a week to get help, though from Winter 2012, the hours were questionable because it was Tuesday and Thursday at the same time, which didn’t work for everybody. Mathematica proved to be more a hindrance than anything because of the time it took along with the regular homework, but hopefully, the kinks get worked out to where it benefits instead of hinders. - Discussion section was also based on the fact of having a strong physics background, so for me, I didn’t see it very useful. - Overall, though Professor Ong is willing to help as much as possible, putting in the time and having a strong physics foundation is vital to success in this class.
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