I had Freund for 6A/B and he was great for both! 6A is definitely harder, but in terms of both courses, as long as you know how to do his practice tests and quizzes (and I mean really know how to do those questions) you will do great on the exams :)
Prof Geller is a good professor. A bit disorganized but cares about students. Tests were not organized well and it wasn't super clear what was going to be on the test. CLAS definitely helped
Geller is genuinely a horrible professor. Although you can tell he knows a lot about the topics and wants the students to be interested, his lectures are horrible. All he talks about is conceptual ideas when the exams were all math problems. Basically had to teach myself everything for the midterm and final. Do not take this class with him.
He's great, class was terrible.
I love Professor Freund. He is so funny with his lectures, and test are heavily based on his practice questions. You do have to study because it is physics, it is not an easy A maybe like an easy C??? Course consists of homework and quizzes for every "module" aka topic and two midterms and a final. Attendance is taken by iclicker.
Freund is a great professor. The online version of this class is really nice- no midterms or finals- just a lot of quizzes, which make up most of the grade. The quizzes are not difficult especially if you do the assigned problems beforehand, as they were always very similar. No busy work, which is nice, but you will still learn a lot.
The fact that quizzes were over 75% of the grade definitely made it hard to get an A if you aren't totally zoned in and focused for the whole quarter. The lectures were solid though, and he did do a small curve to help people who were borderline. I think he's a good prof and likely would be even better in person.
Took his class for Physics 6A &C. Such a empathetic professor and very understanding of his students especially in this pandemic. He drops your lowest quiz/ hw & curves hw. I like how the quizzes arent worth majority of your grade. I used to dislike physics but Geller def made me like it a lot more.
(taken online) The majority of course (76%) is 20 quizzes, lowest dropped, two a week. Quizzes were similar to the practice problems he provides but he usually adds a problem that was more difficult and if you got that one wrong you would get an 80% on the quiz (quizzes had 5 ?'s). Made it difficult to get an A. Overall fair and decent lecturer.
Take 2 quizzes a week (20 in total) & worth 76% of your grade. Each quiz has 5q so make 1 mistake and its 80%.Def learned more from Freund than Geller BUT as someone who didn't have any past knowledge of physics from HS, it was rlly hard to do well in the quiz since he had organized but very short lectures which made it hard to grasp the topics.
The class structure was pretty straight forward with quizzes making up 75% of grade, and the rest is by sapling homework. The bad thing about this class is that there's only 5 questions for each quiz, leaving no room for mistakes. I feel that the professor could've been more compassionate with the quizzes + grading . 6A (online) had fairer quizzes
Structure of this class is really bad. Most of your grade is the module quizzes which are only out of 4 points, so making mistakes isn't really an option. He is decent at lecturing but class structure could be made a lot more fair.
He has such great lecture videos and I really appreciate how colorful notes are so it makes everything very clear and easy to find. Each video is it's own topic and very well organized. If you do the practice problems and watch the lecture for the problems where he solves them, if you don't make silly mistakes on the quiz (which I do lol) it's easy
Professor Geller seems like a cool guy, very knowledgeable on the class topics, but the class itself is very hard. Reading the textbook is a must, but it's overly complicated and hard to understand. Geller clears things up a little in his lectures, but even then things aren't explained very well. Overall, he's a cool guy, but the class is not fun.
His quizzes were way harder than any problems he did in the lecture, and you have to take them the same day you learn it. Also, each quiz only has about 4-5 points, so you cant really make mistakes and still get a good grade as quizzes are 76% of the total grade. Got an A in Geller's 6A and might not even pass this quarter, much harder in my opn.
My main issue is that majority of the grade is the quizzes and theres just too many of them. Twice a week, barely get to get through lectures and have to get quickly tested on it. quizzes are very tricky imo. If quizzes were once a week, I could have a chance to better prepare
The course structure is questionable. There are no midterms or major exams, 76% of your grade depends on 20 quizzes which you take immediately after each lecture with little time for practice/understanding. These quizzes are also sporadic, which discourages reviewing for previous questions you missed as you are constantly focused on the next quiz.
Super well organized online course for physics 6B. Love how his quizzes are very similar to practice problems, have adequate time allowed, and aren't written with the intention of the average being a C.
Let me just say how extremely happy I took Geller after Freund. I had no choice since Freund didn't teach 6B in the Winter. &thank god he didn't, I love Geller! I admired Freund and heard how Geller can be "HARD". Not true! He is passionate and easy to listen too so you don't zone out too often in class. An amazing professor!
Geller is a really good lecturer, but you HAVE to go to lecture because he doesn't use slides. His classes were very conceptual and demo heavy (especially compared to Freund) so it can be tough to study with limited practice problems, but if you do sapling and go to lecture you should be fine. I thought his lectures were always really interesting
I got straight A's in Physics 6A and 6B, then ended up with a B- in Geller's physics 6C class. He's not a terrible lecturer, but doesn't do example problems in class, just explains concepts. Definitely wouldn't recommend for 6C if you have a choice. Prepare to spend time in the PSR trying to figure out everything he doesn't explain.
Freund is the most caring and funny professor I have ever had at UCSB. He explains everything very well and he is very informative and accessible outside of class. I have never been to his office hour but he always spends time to talk to you after class. His tests are very reasonable and you really learn physics from him. Highly recommended!
I took Freund for 6A and in both 6A and 6C, he seemed a little scattered in both (probs bc of his concussion). He's super accommodating for student-athletes and is willing to work with you. He's pretty entertaining, but the material in 6C can get a little trippy when you hit time & relativity. Do his practice exams! He uses problems for the final.
I dont know why he has a bad rep, he was such an amazing professor and really tried to apply physics to the science field. Geller is better than Freund in my opinion, barely scraped by in Freunds when I studied nonstop. For Geller I could study at least 3 days ahead of time and got an A-. I love how Geller teaches, really made physics interesting!