She's better at lecturing than most other profs I've had, but it's very fast-paced and at 8 am. Definitely interrupt her to ask questions in lecture, otherwise she will keep talking forever. ALSO, if you are a DSP student, you will have to fight her for accommodations. She has the mindset "if you're failing, just work harder and don't be lazy."

This class was insane. Although it is only 3 units, it easily occupied the most time out of all of my courses (and I took 4 upper division physics courses). Keep in mind that the homework takes a LONG time to complete, and that the exams are incredibly difficult. Moreover, there is no curve.

half of the assignments in the class are completely useless. their only purpose is to pad your grade. a better solution would be just to curve the class. my time spent on all these assignments would be better spent reviewing lecture and solving actual helpful HW problems. so many of the HW problems do NOT reinforce what we learned in class. useless

There are a lot of padding assignments and EC in this class so its fairly easy to get a good grade. But it's hard to learn anything from the 2nd half of this class. The lectures become overly complicated and dont prepare you for the HW. You basically have to teach yourself, but the textbook is also useless because its meant for review, not learning

Do not take - so many homework and active learnings (plus section requirements and problem presentation) means you'll be writing about trivial obvious problems step by step for hours. This is more of a handwriting class than a math class. So mind numbing.

Her lectures are a bit too fast, but the lecture notes do help. Tests are fair, there is a practice final that is very similar to the real final, and lots of extra credit. You need to write a paper for the course (which is kind of weird), and it takes a lot of effort, so be ready to spend 12 - 15 hours each week on this course.

She is incapable of speaking in a clear and direct way. She overcomplicates everything. The topics are not too difficult, but she goes out of her way to put everything in terms of pure math, so lectures are impossible to follow unless you think that way too Lectures are super fast paced, attendance is required, and you'll have to learn on your own

It's in the shorter summer session so her lectures are always out of pace and not very-well-explained, but the 250 pages of lecture notes do help. Get ready to read and study more beyond the textbook and lecture notes. Homeworks are from Boas, though could be a bit challenging but really helpful. Exams are fair. Lots of extra credits.

Dr. Carlson cares a lot about her students and the effort she puts into her lectures and lecture materials makes this clear. Although she is not the greatest lecturer ever, her tests are usually very fair. Heavy on homework, but gives extra credit and willing to help her students succeed.

Terrible teaching style, and incapable of explaining course materials clearly.

She cares about her students and loves the topic. Her lectures are fast paced but engaging and thorough. There's a paper assignment you work on the whole quarter and is an easy grade boost if you put in the effort. Her tests are long but doable if you do all hw and recommended problems. This class is difficult, put in the work to get a good grade

DO NOT take Carlson if you can avoid her. PHYS 101 is one of the hardest classes, her unreasonable demands and poor teaching skills do NOTHING but make it worse. Not only are her lectures practically incoherent, on the off chance she actually lets you ask a question (raised my hand repeatedly, never called) she does nothing to explain the material.

She is the most average professor I have every have. You could honestly find her expected value if she was a system of particles each observed in the same way. Her characteristic teaching trick is to give relevant and helpful homework examples on the day that the homework is due. The hardest homework questions will be the midterm.

She's a good professor and explains concepts well. But the midterms had too many questions for a 50 minute test (everyone I asked agreed) and felt more like a race to write as fast as possible rather than problem solving. I get that this makes a nice bell curve, but I knew how to do all the problems and still walked away with a 61% on midterm 2.

Solid professor who explains concepts very well. The homework is consistently long and hard but nothing way out of the ordinary. Her tests are somewhat hard, but it's the length of them (especially midterms) that will get you.

Grade based heavily on in class iClicker questions, 2 weekly homework assignments that are very difficult, and an in class midterm and final. Section is very helpful and you shouldnt skip section or lecture. all lecture sliders are online. Carlson is nice enough but not a great teacher

If you're taking Physics 20 and you didn't take AP Physics in high school, don't even bother. With the way she lectures, you need a really good foundation in Physics otherwise you won't stand a chance at passing. Her grading is moderately generous, but beware that for Physics 20, the person who actually grades the HW (not her) is quite tough.

Her lectures are messy and all over the place. She is extremely smart but isnt able to teach very well. If you can I reccomend taking Dr.B's lecture. He is much better at teaching the material and is also very enthusiastic about the subject. if it's too late to switch or if you cant get into his lecture just go to it instead. Its the same material.

Not an easy class. Lecture is clear and straightforward, though very fast paced. Homework is difficult but invaluable. Prior experience with physics a must. Exams are hard, but she gives lots of partial credit.

She writes ridiculously fast, everything is in variables that she never explains and I never understand the homework because it never runs in line with what we do in class (normally both the homework and the lectures and on similar subjects but the content is totally different). I would highly recommend Dr. B, he is really helpful and engaging.

She writes LIGHTNING fast, so fast she breaks like 2 pieces of chalk/lecture. Don't bother writing down all her proofs, just take the end results and know those. You will never be tested on the derivations of the formulas, only on applying them. just sit back and watch lecture and you will learn more than if you scribble everything down.

Professor Carlson is very personable and clear. The class is very tough and rigorous. Make sure to study any of the past midterm problems given by the TA. Also, she posts all her lecture notes online. I advise printing them out prior to class because she goes very fast and it is difficult to both listen (learn) and write at the same time.