Ernest is the best! I heard physics is harder over the summer, but he made it so much fun! This is the only class I never missed a lecture. He is a GREAT guy, and has the funniest jokes ever. Tests are straightforward. DO the practice tests and you'll get an A.
Professor Freund was great! I was nervous about taking physics because I had heard it was so hard from the people that took it during the school year, but Freund made everything understandable and kept the class engaged. Really funny!! Text book wasn't really necessary. CLAS helped a lot too, Vince was great!
Without a doubt, the best physics professor I have ever had. He does an amazing job of making material to easy to understand. 10/10 would recommend!
Professor Geller is great! He's a very kind person and makes lectures interesting by focusing on more interesting topics and frequently using demonstrations. Super fortunate to have him for Physics.
Awesome professor and you only spend about 2 hours a week on the class.
DONT LET THE NAME FOOL YOU. Its a really hard class and the Geller is just a horrible teacher. He speeds throughout the lecture and expects us to already understand the concepts without him really explaining them. He shows no interest in having his students succeed and his midterm was ridiculous. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS! NOT FUN!!!
Best Physics professor at SB. The physics departments needs to make this guy a full-time professor and not jut the summer. He simplifies all the concepts so that bio majors like myself can actually understand and "enjoy" learning the topics
Professor Geller is a great professor. He is so willing to answer questions that he would often stop lecture just so we could ask questions. For the midterm and final, really understand the CONCEPTS he teaches in class, and keep an ongoing list of equations, you get to use a cheat sheet for both tests. By far my favorite professor
Great Professor. Definitely recommend taking any class he teaches. Tests are straight forward.
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. I had no interest in physics whatsoever. Freund made it interesting and engaged students as much as possible. Very cool prof. His exams were very straight forward and gave practice exams that helped A LOT.
Funny, easy-going professor. Lectures are somewhat mandatory to attend because of iclicker points, but you will want to go anyway because he has great demos, explanations, and makes the lectures entertaining, plus he is probably the most attractive professor at UCSB. His exams are VERY similar to the practice exams, so learn those and you're golden
Great professor. Tests are very similar to practice exams. Easy going, funny. Makes physics a lot more enjoyable than other professors. Easily the best physics professor at ucsb
Cool professor that really tries to do his best to engage his students in the material. If you pay attention and do the homework you'll do fine
Geller is a good professor but you will have to study for his tests. He provides plenty of demos to reinforce the general concepts of physics and as long as you can understand these principles, you should do well. The tests are difficult, but are manageable if you study both the book examples and the homework assignments, you should be fine.
There is no way to prepare for his midterm and final. The only reason why you need to go to lecture is for the iClicker because the rest of it is full of pointless demos. Do the mastering physics and understand it, and hopefully make some good guesses on the test and you will be okay. Just don't expect an A.
Geller is a nice person not a good teacher.I felt like I exhausted all my options with this class & still did not pass.I attended clas,did the homework & studied for the exams.The midterm and the final were very difficult,no way he prepares us for the exams.He does some cool demos but I mean I don't think I could've done anything else to do better.
He wastes his time on demos that don't even work. Class is useless, the textbook is useless because he gets the questions from the test out of NO WHERE. He expects you to just know everything, when he is inept at teaching crap. Don't take him unless you absolutely must. or if campagnari is your only other choice.LOL
Really interesting lectures but his tests are SUPER DIFFICULT. Homework is much more challenging than the lecture material and the tests are completely impossible. His advice is to do the book problems before the test so I would do everything and I still ended up with a bad grade. The class isn't really curved, there's just a grade bump to help..
while he may be a good physics lecturer he makes his tests extremely difficult. you can do all the homework and problems in the book but he throws a curve ball at you on the tests presenting you with problems that are 10 times more difficult than the ones in the book/hw.
Geller's lectures are very interesting and he is extremely good at clarifying difficult concepts. The course will be extremely easy if you are math oriented, but not impossible if you aren't. Weekly homework from the textbook, i-Clicker during lecture. 90% of test material is from lecture. I got an A without doing much textbook reading.
Geller's great! His lectures are clear, and he keeps astronomy pretty interesting/fun. The class isn't that difficult if you start the homework early and if you have some interest in science/space. Make sure you understand basic concepts before tests. I never went to section and still got an A-. Still wish he curved though!
Seemed like a nice guy and performed some interesting demos in class, but other than that his class was extremely boring. Class was also very hard. there were weekly hw assignments that took a long time to do. i assumed all this work would prepare me for the midterm and final but those were still extremely hard. DONT TAKE THIS CLASS!!!
BEWARE: Geller is a nice guy and is very helpful. However, if you're thinking about taking Astro for a GE, don't. The class is VERY challenging. Attendance is mandatory (for clarity on complex concepts and iclicker). He gives weekly HW assignments and CLAS is absolutely neccesary. Class average for midterm was a D-/C- and he didnt curve.
Geller is awesome. He's funny, teaches fairly well, and keeps the class light-hearted. The material may seem a bit daunting at first, but if you read the book and go to lecture, it's quite easy and interesting.
