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Great professor. He knows his stuff well. If you goto lectures and take good notes his tests are easy. Finals can be very tough sometimes though. Make sure you understand concepts well, not just knowing how to approach certain hw problems.
a classic kiss-ass instructor. never shows up in ta meetings, very secretive about what he's covering in lectures. students like him because exams are easy for those who know the stuff, and he curves liberally at the end. (con't)
Is interesting and amusing, yet doesn't really cover much in class...hope you enjoy learning physics on your own...
Took this in HS so maybe I'm biased. Material's pretty simple, he doesn't seem to cover as much as other professors.
Class is interesting, class is cake if you have had AP physics in HS.
I love him
Very entertaining but you have to study on your own or visit your TA ALOT
Doesn't teach well at all relies on your own studying.
not clear at all
students get out way less parepared than those taught by other profs.
very clear, entertaining, didn't cover much
Einstien hair, hilarious, best physics teacher, funny, entertaining
Enthusiastic, clear, original, young, and knows his physics
Conflicting 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!!
His lectures are all conceptual and have nothing to do with calculations. After asking friends, I heard a majority of his questions are mathematical-based. In addition to his teaching, he also does not post any resources. His notes are from a student, not himself. And he does not provide any videos of himself explaining those mathematical problems.
Geller's 6A class is quite challenging, but with diligence and the right resources, you can succeed. The homework can be time-consuming, but using tools like unstuckstudy ai alongside the free textbook can really help. Attend lectures and stay engaged - the tests are difficult but manageable if you put in the work.
Exams are harder than they should be.
Geller is the harder of the two physics lecturers solely because he does not give students practice problems that directly correlate to the test like Freund. In addition, there is A LOT of homework which is the most challenging part, but overall if you understand the homework you will do good on the tests.