PHYS 2030

I took this in Fall 2020, but for some reason, the website isn't recognizing him as an instructor for this past semester.

This class is just a pain in the ass. Way too much work for one credit, and it was unnecessarily challenging; ie. the concepts weren't that terrible to understand, but the way that they were presented in the class was super randomly and unneccessarily complicated. Just try to think in very basic terms and concepts, (eg. think "what is the professor trying and failing to make me understand here") and you'll start to get the hang of the labs. Make sure that you have a friend (or friendS) in the class with whom you can collaborate because the assignments that you can work together on are often, again, unnecessarily complicated, and very challenging. Most people end up with an A or A-, but you will feel like you did the work for a 3 credit lab. I took CHEM 2811 (accelerated organic chemistry lab) at the same time and literally did more work for this "BASIC PRINCIPLES of physics" lab. Emphasis on "basic" and "principles." Also, make sure you go to grader office hours, and argue for points back. Literally, don't be afraid to be aggressive, because you can and will get the points back if you have even a thread of an argument. One TA grader literally admitted that he sometimes takes off extra points just so students would have to come to office hours. For some reason, Professor Bychkov seems to think that office hours should be a mandatory part of the class, when in fact, they are designed for students who need supplementary help. Shouldn't feel necessary. Also note, the grader TAs and the in-lab TAs will often give you different information; just listen to whoever is grading you/holding the rubric in their hands. This class is very formulaic and once you understand exactly what the graders are looking for, you'll get a hand on how they grade and start to do better.

Overall, super annoying and dumb class, especially considering literally nobody in the class is a physics major, they just need it for pre-med or another STEM major requirement (I'm biochem). Pray that you have good lab partners, collaborate as much as humanly possible, go to all the office hours, and you'll be okay. You might literally break 5 hours a week for this 1-fucking-credit class, but you'll get an A.