Presents concepts and methodologies for understanding physical phenomena, and is particularly useful preparation for upper-division study in the life sciences. Vectors, velocity, acceleration. Newton's laws. Work and energy. Linear momentum. Gravity. Static equilibrium. Rotational motion. Angular momentum.
3
UnitsOptional
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeNone
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeConflicting feelings. Lectures are pretty useless, purely conceptual. Homework is a large percent of your grade, so failing is pretty impossible, but that's offset by the low test averages (71, 60, 57). These were his highest averages ever, according to him. You have homework due every day. Take Freud if you can't take a mild hit to your GPA.
He's is SO DISORGANIZED and BAD. He openly stated on the first day that his class wasn't meant to be a weeder course, but it definitely felt like one. He also mentioned that the department was unhappy with the discrepancy between his class and Freund's. His teaching made class impossible. He gives 3 question practice exams with no explanations. .
NEVER TAKE PHYSICS WITH GELLER. Be prepared to spend the entire quarter teaching yourself and fail every midterm! Literally one of the worst professors i have ever had here at UCSB. His teaching is completely theoretical and does not relate to exams or homework what so ever. Incredibly hard tests. Final average was a 57%
Take literally anything else. This was the most unpleasant experience I have ever had in a class. His lectures are entirely conceptual and completely unhelpful regarding homework or exams, which are entirely mathematical. Do not expect any practice exams longer than maybe three questions. Only take if you want to teach yourself the entire course.
Overall, there is a lot of pros and cons. Pros could be his midterms are all multiple choice and Cons is that his practice exams doesn't really help much it is not structured well. His explanations on it doesn't make sense. He should post an ACTUAL practice midterms or finals with good explanation that way students can learn from him better.
Honestly, this class wouldnt be bad if geller could actually teach. I feel like ive spent the entire quarter teaching myself physics because this man could not teach a class to save his life. That combined with how tough he makes his exam questions is horrible. He expects you to be a physics major with extensive background in an intro class. RUN!!