Self directed laboratory course where students seek to discover simple mathematical descriptions of laws governing various physical phenomena. Each student is responsible for deciding what to measure, how to measure it, and what interpretation can be placed on the results.
1
UnitsOptional
Grading1, 2, 3
PasstimeNone
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeThe TA's aren't very good at explaining the lab procedure and answering questions, and then take off points for things we already checked with them about.
Physics lab was frustrating, because whatever you submitted, the TAs would always find a way to mark at least 15% of your grade off. Sig figs are always wrong, and make you lose points too. The only good thing is that this lab is only once every two weeks. Has nothing to do with Physics lecture, and seemed useless in general.
Prof. Popescu and knows the material well, but she's only ever taught lower-division courses meant for non-majors and it shows. Avoid for upper-division physics courses.
GOAT. I had her for all of 7 series and she is such a passionate lecturer and engaging with her students in and outside of lectures. She is really good at emphasizing the intuition side of physics which can be frustrating but is rewarding. HWs can be long and attendance gives you a small boost in grade but not enough to consider "mandatory".
Phys 6CL was not bad, and the experiments were pretty interesting. Some of the prelabs are kind of long, so get ready for that. My TA was a really lenient grader, which was nice.
I don't have anything against this professor. Her lectures were fine, but boring. The section for the class was not designed too well. Sometimes I would get lost during lectures. The expectations on how to do well are made obvious by the weekly homework assignments and practice test problems. Shouldn't be too hard if you just put in the effort.