Objectively worst class I've ever taken in my life. The TA grades you on things you possibly can't know (ie centering charts, or your text is too large, or your lab report has gaps that are too large). You almost feel bad cause it's the terrible professor making the TA grade so harshly. Overall, this class is spitting in the face of UCLA's physics department and should be reevaluated/removed entirely. You will not learn anything.

This class is a blemish on the academic standards of UCLA

I lost 10 points in my report due to a pretty silly "mistake" (they can define anything to be a mistake to create an artificial curve) .
Had to drop because this class was ruining my quarter.

Retook it, made sure to correct that mistake. -10 again:-
Why did you do it this way? You were supposed to do this *exactly how I did it last quarter*

Fuck this class, fuck the TAs, fuck the professor (who never shows up btw). Hope this class comes under the probe of academic senate and he pays heavily for it

This class is absolutely ridiculous and poorly run. Most of what I have to say has already been said below, with regard to the failings of this class to actually teach any useful physics or have a consistent grading scheme. I did have a nice TA, but unfortunately niceness does not make up for petty grading and a lack of clarity in what was expected for lab reports. Nevertheless, he did have a great quote about this class - "It's not a physics class, it's a report writing class" - with which I agree wholeheartedly. This class does NOT teach you any physical concepts - you are working at a much higher level of complexity in the 1 series. Yet beyond that, it barely even teaches you scientific writing. The majority of the red marks on my returned lab reports had nothing to do with the quality or style of my writing - they were petty points taken off for graphs or other formatting that didn't look EXACTLY as the professor desired (even though many of these requirements were written exactly NOWHERE in the lab manual). What would make this class more palatable is a required format for lab reports listed at the top of the lab manual, so one doesn't have to search through the 100 page long lab manual to find what the professor wants for each section. Beyond this, however, would be a much greater emphasis on physics and a lesser emphasis on the style of writing Prof. Campbell wants grad students to come into his lab with. My only theory for why Prof. Campbell tells the TA's to grade the reports with such a laser focus on minutiae is that grad students were coming into his lab not knowing how to write physics papers. For the 5% of the class who are physics majors, this MAY be a worthy use of their time (and that 5% is a generous estimation). For the VAST majority of the other students, this class is a waste of up to 13 hours a week (including lab time) for a 2-unit class who's grading scheme punishes smart classes. Overall, this is an extremely poorly designed class that is useless for many majors (especially CS, which I am). Hopefully, departments throughout South Campus will begin to realize how useless this class is for their major and STOP making it a prereq.

The professor is a sick sociopath. The lab reports which may well be over 20 pages are due the third day from each lab (at least in summer). I was knocked out by heat stroke and had a nosebleed, consequently I submitted a report 1 day late. The TA wanted to give me at least some partial points, but the professor instructed her to give me a 0 even though I had a verifiable doctor's note.

Oh, he also instructed the TA to bring the average of my section down because this section was, and I quote, "scoring too well".

Perfect example of why monopolies are bad. With only one professor teaching this course that's requisite for many, he can do absolutely anything he likes. There's no standard to compare him against, no alternatives, no threat to his reign.

I have taken tough classes (heck I even enjoyed many), I have also taken bad professors, but this class is downright UNFAIR. Everything the other reviews say is true. Word for word. If anything, probably it's only getting worse. But if you're reading this you probably don't have a choice, do you? Lol, goodluck

This class is ass.

This is an annoying requirment for engineering students. Start your labs early and look at old ones to succeed. Lab is somewhat intersting but the reports are tedious and graded exessively hard.

This class is ass.

It is exactly like Physics 4AL . TA's do not want to grade hard, but they are forced to because the Physics department wants grade deflation. As an engineer, you just have to suck it up and take this class to graduate.

4BL is a lot like the older, cooler brother of 4AL. In my opinion, 4BL is a lot more manageable than 4AL. Although the labs are often longer than 4AL, where you could usually leave after 1-1.5 hours, the reports are graded far more generously than in 4AL. If you're ever confused in lab just make sure you ask your TA a bunch of questions, because the manual can be painfully vague at times. It's not like you have any choice whether you take this lab or not, so just be appreciative that it's better than 4AL. Oh and make sure you start early on your lab reports.

This class is the worst class and the professor does not even make a appearance why is he even listed as a professor for this class. Why is he allowed to disguise this class as two units. This class is single handedly the worst class that anybody needs to take. This class should be taken out as requirement because it is waste of time both because of its content and the way the professor designed its structure. Horrible class