PHYS 1425

out of the two professors ive heard of, she is definitely the better one. though she seems to go fast in class and it may be hard to keep up, she is generally nice and light-hearted. if you go to her asking for help she'll do her best to help you out and make sure you succeed. definitely pay attention to the group quizzes/examples, as they are helpful for preparing for the exams. the exams aren't too difficult, just make sure you keep up with the concepts. person homework is annoying but get them done.

Take this class with Prof. Zheng if you can. I'm gonna steal what one of the other reviews says and say it again; "Gem of an instructor in the dungheap of UVA Physics." She really and truly absolutely cares.

I've taken AP Physics 1 & 2 in high school so I didn't have to undergo the mindset shift that physics requires to succeed so those new to physics may struggle in that way but don't worry. The class is graded heavily in your favor and the focus did not at any time feel like it was about the grade.

As the same review I already stole from said, her lectures aren't insanely important. She would post a more bare copy of her notes (later in the sem she just posted the full version instead) and then would go through them in lecture filling them in and doing some examples. I usually sat bored and tried to pay attention but that could be difficult sometimes. Due to the class structure, you should have already self learned the content by doing the chapter summary/reading beforehand (I only ever read the short version she would post instead of the full book chapter) so you can probably also not pay a whole lot of attention.

Chapter summaries are free points, just do them and turn them in; you get out what you put into them though so keep that in mind.

We would have weekly quizzes in our groups and would usually have groups do their solutions on the board and she would point out mistakes (basically you're almost guaranteed to have the right answers-- the focus is on trying the problems and attempting to get the answers)

The weekly homeworks could be time consuming and tedious but the TA's were very helpful in OH. Make sure your Show Your Work has full units and everything as they are actually graded (not just completion).

Exam 1 I felt was very fair (average was ~80)

Exam 2 was difficult. She is a very strict grader in some aspects but also tries to give as much partial credit as possible. She told us this exam was the lowest average she has ever had in 16 years of teaching but she gave us the chance to redo problems 2 & 3 (the exam was 3 problems; 1 was 20 pts, 2 & 3 were 40 each) for what ended up being roughly 33/40 % credit for each problem and our original work 7/40 % for each.

The final was not bad (its also non cumulative). 4 problems. She gives a quiz design project ~1 month beforehand that is optional but the grade you get on it can replace 1 final problem. I.e. get a 22/25 on the project and you can replace 1 of the 4 problems with that score.

Also apparently grades are scaled across the sections to allow for the average to be a B. I've also heard but can't confirm that a 95 is an A

TLDR: Very good prof who cares and tries to make the focus not be on grading

Professor Zheng makes this course much easier and less scary than it's made out to be. She is very understanding, makes herself available, and is genuinely invested in her students' individual success. The structure she chooses focuses largely on examples and group work, which is very conducive to learning this particular material. She leaves plenty of room for error in her grading, as she drops certain assignments, doesn't make exams huge portions of the grade, and gives partial credit wherever she can. I honestly enjoyed this class because of Professor Zheng. She is very kind, approachable, helpful, and overall an excellent instructor. As long as you actually do the work (and the readings) as assigned, you shouldn't have much trouble doing well in the course. The homework assignments did tend to take a lot of time so starting them well ahead of the deadline helped a LOT. If you do struggle, there is a team of TAs that is also pretty available and willing to help in my experience.

TL;DR: Gem of an instructor in the dungheap of UVA Physics (although her lectures aren't the most helpful), tough but doable class even with close to zero prior experience in physics, exams are bonkers but she'll give you test corrections, active learning format rocks

Xiaochao is the truth. I have never met a more gracious and empathetic professor in my two years at UVA. She is generous with deadline extensions on quiz submissions and, on multiple occasions, asked ME if I needed an extension when she saw that I hadn't completed one of the weekly mastering physics HW assignments. In lecture, she talks wicked fast and with a moderately strong accent, but she explains the concepts fairly well. She sends out the lecture notes before class and expects everyone to have read them, so you can get lost fairly quickly - that being said, you'll be fine if you read up in the textbook for any concepts that are confusing. However, what she lacks in lecturing she more than makes up for with the classwork she gives you and the lengths she's willing to go to for you to succeed.

In terms of difficulty, I came into this class 3 months of high school physics under my belt because of frequent moves in high school. I got a 56 (raw) on the first midterm, 69 (raw) on the second, and 88 on the final (with the quiz design option). I got a B+ in the class overall. That should give you an idea of both the course difficulty and how feasible this class is with this professor, even if you come in with only a vague memory of drawing free body diagrams in a ninth grade physics class. If you come into this class with more than that, you should be set. The exams are rough, but Xiaochao retroactively gave us the opportunity to do corrections for the first two and then gave us the option of designing our own quizzes to replace up to 2 of the 4 final exam questions. She graded these pretty harshly (i.e. don't just tweak a textbook problem and call it a day), but if you find something you're genuinely interested in and are prepared to spend a few hours on it, you'll get some major points back on your final (in my case, from a 72 to and 88). The weekly mastering physics assignments are only about 8 questions each, but they can end up being a major pain in the rear and taking several hours. Go to office hours if you're struggling, the TA's were awesome for this class and are super helpful on HW problems.

Lastly, the active learning format was hugely helpful for me. Instead of sitting in a lecture hall trying to stay awake for an hour and a half, I was at a table with 9 other students and either taking notes from the professor, doing an in-class quiz in which we could work in groups, and working together on homework problems. Additionally, the way she weights the the HW, quizzes, and chapter summaries (all of which should average out to at least a low A if you have a pulse) means that the exams are massively counterbalanced by classwork.

If you know nothing coming into this class, seek help and you will succeed. If you're already a physics prodigy, just milk the corrections for all they're worth and take the easy A.

Since the last time Professor Zheng has taught 1425, she has completely changed the course for the better. The class has a lot more practice inserted throughout the course: "minute papers" summarizing the main topics and formulas, hefty homework problem sets, and a quiz every week. Overall, with lectures and videos, this amounts to a significant time spent per week. It is, however, low-stakes work in that there are many resources you can use and as much time as you need to do it all, and it provides a very good buffer from the tests. If you really do the work though, you don't even need the buffer because the tests are achievable after the ways to solve the problems is ingrained in you. Prof. Zheng was caring and accommodating, definitely take this class with her if you can.
#TCF2020

*During COVID, so completely online [#tCF2020]
If you are coming into this course with NO prior knowledge of physics, you're going to have an insanely difficult time with the way this course is structured I would think - it's just so fast, and it's not easy to understand/absorb and keep up.
I came to this with AP Physics knowledge, and at the beginning I was surprised that the course didn't start with the basics of the basics such as force diagrams but instead kinematics but that's just the way the textbook was structured.
Another thing - get ready to read. You're going to be reading and taking notes on every section, and the homework is going to take a LONG time despite seeming easier (some of them are just like problems in the reading as well) but it's only one assignment every week so it's manageable.
The grade breakdown was: 40% Weekly homework assignments (a Tuesday “minute paper” which are your condensed notes/summary of the reading pretty much + a Thursday problem set (10 questions) with written down solutions), 15% Weekly quizzes, and 15% each from the three exams (2 midterms, 1 final which isn't cumulative it just covers the last third of the course so it's basically another midterm).
The midterms and finals weren't like the homework problems to me, they were a lot harder if you hadn't come across that type of problem before and you wouldn't know where to start. But almost at the very same time, they were "simple" as many of them are only in terms of variables - no need to plug in numbers or get straight answers it's just conceptually knowing what's going on. I probably averaged a 70 to 75 on each exam, but the curve bumped up grades well enough that you can still get an A in this class because the homework problems and quizzes will CARRY you so you have to get 100% on them both if you can and it's doable.
Another note on the quizzes - you do them with a group, so if you have a good group and don't know what's going on you'll be carried well. If you get a bad group, good luck, you'll be able to figure out some of it but sometimes you're just gonna get lost. If such a thing happens, ask for help from the moderators during class because they'll help.
I got an A- in this class, and I thought I would get a B- because of how much I struggled on those exams. The prof is really nice, held a lot of office hours from what I remember but I didn't go to any of them. She also had extra lectures for when a lot of people didn't understand what was going on.

I loved the way Prof. Zheng structured the class. She graded things quickly and gave us clear deadlines on when to turn things in. The material was difficult for me, but reading the textbook and watching her recorded lectures helped me understand the concepts.

I had to take this course as a major requirement and wasn't very excited about it, but was surprised that I ended up not minding it (which is surprising for me as I usually hate physics). With things being online, this course was largely self taught. Prof Zheng would post ~2 hours of lecture material a week to watch, with ~4-6 hours of textbook readings to go with it. The lectures were mostly the textbook readings summarized with some examples included, so if you only read the textbook without watching them you could be fine. There were weekly homework assignments and group quizzes, but you could easily get 100% on both. The class moved at a pretty fast paced (multiple chapters covered a week), so if it could be easy to fall behind. While it was definitely time consuming, it was not super difficult to get a good grade in the class. Also, there was no synchronous meeting on Tuesday's, only on Thursdays to complete the quiz with a group. Prof Zheng is a good lecturer and super helpful if you have any questions! She's very understanding and really makes herself available outside of class, but I'm not sure if anyone really takes advantage of it.

#tCF2020

The physics department at UVa just isn't very good. I hate physics because of how it was taught to me, while the subject of physics is actually extremely interesting. The whole premise of Zheng's class was just to write down formulas and know when to use which formula on specific problems, which is absolutely NOT what physics is about. While yes the formulas and all are needed, more time explaining concepts and arousing an interest for each topic should have been done rather than just jumping into notes writing formulas down.

I took Zheng because I heard she was the lesser of 2 evils (Shivaram), but then I found out that a new physics professor (Matthew Joyce) was coming to UVA, and he had great reviews. I was too late to switch over, so I was stuck with Zheng. I know that physics covers a lot of material and we missed a couple of days due to snow, so we had to go fast, but she was not very clear. Also, it's almost impossible to stay awake. Show up for the clicker questions, see a demo (might or might not work), and fall asleep. Homework can be hard at times. Tests weren't bad, but the final was unnecessarily hard, and the huge curve at end of the course that I have heard every previous engineer talk about was almost nonexistent. Had Joyce for lecture once when Zheng was out, and he was so clear, and from what I've heard his tests are easier. Take Joyce if you can, but take Zheng over Shivaram.

Definitely avoid Zheng. Her accent/grammatical errors get in the way of understanding the material (especially when she doesn't speak clearly), and her notes are organized very poorly. She doesn't seem comfortable in front of people and as a result the class doesn't have any respect for her, so you won't be able to hear anything over everyone talking.
Also, the homeworks, midterms, and the final are incredibly inconsistent with regard to content and difficulty. The class as a whole is structured quite badly and Zheng's teaching certainly doesn't help that.