I adored Geller's Astro 1 class. You can tell he loves teaching it. The class was thought-provoking and made me appreciate life more. If understanding the universe, stars, planets, and other celestial phenomena sounds boring to you don't take the class. His physics courses artificially lower his rating. Don't let that deter you from taking Astro 1!
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%
Geller is so funny and his lectures are so interesting yet easy to understand. Homework is pretty simple. Lectures and hw correlate directly to exams so they're pretty easy. Since he wrote the textbook, his lectures basically follow the textbook so if you miss one it's not a big deal. Loved Geller and this class!
Freund is a sweetie pie and you can tell he cares but he also is super frantic and anxious and seems to struggle getting his ideas out in an understandable way. Chiller though
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!!
DONT TAKE HIS ASTRO 1!! RUN!!!
He does a good job explaining concepts and makes us laugh during lectures. The homework can look heavy, but it's all easy stuff that takes an hour max. The weekly essays can be daunting but it's seriously not bad at all and in the long run helps you understand things better for the tests. Overall an enjoyable time even though the midterm was rough.
TLDR: Take Geller physics for easy A. When I got to UCSB, I was clueless about physics. Everyone else discussed energy while I was still learning kinematics. When I got one module, my peers were light-years ahead. I wanted to cry into my textbooks, but it was this demon called Achieve. All my friends in 6A with Geller had it easier than me. :(
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.
He made quizzes and tests worth 50% each. Daily quizzes were only one try each, and became increasingly difficult. Practice quizzes did not reflect quizzes. Lecture videos are very disorganized and confusing. I haven't learned a thing.
Freund is the GOAT. The exams are exactly like the practice ones posted online so it is very easy to score high (test averages for 6C were in the 90s). Attendance isn't mandatory since videos are posted on Canvas, but I would recommend going as he is pretty entertaining. Make sure to go to the last class of 6C!
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.
Freund is a very good professor, there's demos each class, everything he mention is important and so it is crucial to learn how to take notes in his class. The assignments are hard but he only assigns a few for each modules. He would mumbles sometimes but it is not a big problem as he tries to cover all the materials
I did not like his lectures at all. He is all over the place and made it hard to learn. I would recommend watching his videos instead as they are much easier to gain an understanding from. I absolutely would not take him again if there was a better option.
i love freund. i wish he was the professor for all of my classes. his lectures are funny and engaging. his tests are fair and homework is manageable. he has recorded lectures on the topics if you miss them and he works through practice problems to help you understand better. 11/10 would take for every physics course
He's a funny guy and a real G.
If you are not good at logic solving then probably not the best course to take. Thought professor was fine, just that the hw's did not scale properly so you would get hw that was really easy then it immediately became really difficult and you would not know how to solve it. Hws usually took a while so prepare for that.
If you haven't taken AP physics DO NOT TAKE GELLER.
Freund is great! his exams are VERY fair, you won't see a problem you haven't seen before on exams. lectures are meh, he jumps around a lot. u can def get an A w/out lecture & just watching his videos instead. u WILL have to study LOTS for this class if physics isn't your thing, but if u put in the work Freund won't make it hard for u to do well
Be ready to pay 60 USD to access the textbook and hw for a quarter. There are 3 online HW due dates per week and a mandatory in-class essay administered during sections each week. The exams are entirely MCQs so it is very easy to get thrown to B-. Lectures are fine but don't provide sufficient insight. Just take someone else's class...
