PHYS 2030

This class was changed from last year apparently, and now we are graded on our participation, preparedness for the lab, and ability to answer questions as determined by the TAs. It is very subjective, and depending on the TA, can be good or bad. The labs are usually easy, and if you finish up faster, I think you get a better score. The Prelabs are open for groupwork, and are easy (Should be 100% for all). The lab grades were generally between 8-10, depending on what I said about, and were 40% of your grade. Lastly, postlabs are worth 40% of your grade, and vary in difficulty greatly each week (Got a few 100s, also got a few <60). I don't think the grades were curved down this year, as the postlab avgs were not too high and the TAs were stingy with giving 10s in lab. The highest grade in my section was in the lower 90's. Definitely not a fun class, and not very easy. Should honestly be worth 2 credits.

Also, Song was an awesome TA! Very helpful.

The key to this class is getting good TA's. You hardly ever see the professor, and your TA's grade everything. If you've never taken physics before, this class is TOUGH. There is a ton of work every week for this one-credit class, and post-labs are not for the faint of heart. They are timed and exceedingly difficult for the simple topics covered in lab. In addition, there is a weekly pre-lab, not to mention the points scored in lab itself as you fill out your lab manual. In order to score points in lab, ask a lot of questions, and read ahead so you are prepared to answer coherently to earn your grade. The experiments are fine, just be prepared to do way more than 1 credit's worth of work in this class for very little payoff.

I had the best TA (Kapila), which made this class semi-enjoyable. I just felt like it was too much work for just 1 credit. I also got top 3 in my class but still got an A-. Get every possible point you can on the prelabs and answer all of the TAs questions.

Prelab, lab, postlab (drop lowest two, but that's because you have to do a "diagnostic" in the beginning WHICH COUNTS even though I've never had physics ever and basically got a 17% on it........)
I don't know how people get As in this class. I don't know what TAs are looking for. My TA (Luo) also didn't speak English/know what he was talking about so that was fun.
Answer questions super in depth. Invest in chegg.
Your prelabs will probably be 100%, post labs are impossible, labs will probably be ~85%.
Hate this 1 credit class.

This class really sucks, and it should totally be worth more than 1 credit. Prelab (20%), postlab (40%), and reports (40%) make up the grade. Labs are done in groups and only one report per group is turned in/graded, and then only 3 or 4 questions are actually graded. If the class grades are too high, they will be curved down. There's no way around taking this class if you're premed, but if you don't absolutely need this class then don't take it because it's the worst. Read the labs beforehand, understand the pre-labs as well as you can, and try to get a TA that speaks english.

Ugh, what a pain. This class was way too much work for only 1 credit. Every lab period was so rushed because they seemed to be designed to be way longer than necessary, and they all ended in each lab group just scribbling down some sort of answer to be able to turn something in. I can't say I learned much from this technique. Luckily you can work with people on prelabs, but the TIMED postlabs were too difficult in my opinion. Don't take it if you don't have to...

This class is just plain awful. The concepts of physics are easy but the lab questions that go with the lab somehow twisted the concepts so that they end up being harder than they should be. Pre-labs are doable, so they should be a grade booster. Labs are graded by some unknown TA that is arbitrary and just love to take off random points and you will have no idea why. Post-labs are difficult, but if you know the concepts very well or pay close attention to labs then they shouldn't be that bad. Overall, people do horribly on the post-labs, but if you manage to get hundreds here and there and 80's range on post lab, then you should get a decent grade. But do avoid this class no matter what.

This class fucking sucks. Make sure you have a friend in the class that you can work on the pre-labs with! You want do to well on the pre-labs because they will save your grade. They only make up 20% of your grade though. The other 80% is made up of lab worksheets and post-labs. You do the lab worksheet in lab with your group, but the questions are usually pretty hard. The labs themselves always feel really rushed--there were times when my group members and I had to stay after to complete the worksheet. The grading for the worksheet is so arbitrary--it has like 20 questions on it, but the TAs just end up grading like 4 of them. Honestly, I think they probably just look for the 4 questions that were most commonly missed and grade those , just so they can dock points from you. You usually end up getting an 85% on the labs. And then there are the post-labs. These you take 24 hours after completing the lab. They are usually only like 5 or 6 questions, except they're usually not at all related to anything you did in lab! Needless to say, they're super hard. Maxim technically drops your 2 lowest post-lab grades, but he makes you take a pre-diagnostic test at the beginning of the semester that counts as a quiz that can be dropped. Everyone obviously does poorly on that one, so everyone drops that one. So really, you are only allowed to drop one actual post-lab quiz. This class just frustrated me so much, and it was so much stress for one credit. It made me miss Orgo Lab honestly.

Don't take this class unless you have to, because it just sucks a lot of time away that can be better spent doing something else. Not too hard of a workload, but make sure that you collaborate on the homework assignments with other people to make sure you understand how to do the problems. Labs themselves felt really rushed, so if you're the writer for that week, try to get as much done before lab as possible.

This class is too much work for one credit. Make sure you know someone you can work with that can help you on the pre-labs. You have the pre-labs which are usually easy As, the in-lab document which the grade varies (the grading TA will only grade 4 out of the many questions that you have to answer) , and the post-labs which pretty much everyone does poorly on. Some of the post-labs you can get a 100 on but some are downright hard. Most people end up getting in the B range because Maxim is stingy about giving people As. If you're pre-health and need to take this lab, just do your best and be prepared to take in whatever grade you get.