PHYS 115A
YOUNG A F
Andrea Young
2.6
37 reviews

37
2.6
PHYS115A . Young A F 6 Months Ago

Professor Young is an incredible lecturer and gives creative, challenging, and enjoyable homework problems that test your understanding of the subject and occasionally explore more advanced topics in the field (e.g. coherent states in quantum optics). His exams are notoriously hard; do lots of practice problems and be efficient come test day.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS115A . Young A F 7 Months Ago

One of the best lecturers I've had so far. Very knowledgable and can answer any question thoroughly. Homeworks are hard and so are the tests, but he helps you learn the material very well. Quantum is always going to be difficult but he makes the ride enjoyable.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS115A . Young A F 7 Months Ago

Good enough lecturer. Very good lecture notes, and tough exams. Attendance not required; I went to lecture a grand total of 4 times during the quarter, but was still able to keep up due to the good lecture notes.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 2 Years Ago

Prof. Young is a great lecturer. He really knows how to get his points across. If you pay attention, read the textbook, and complete the homework you will do fine. He rarely fails students. His exams are as hard as everyone says (expect 40-50% averages), but the curves are very generous in the end.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 2 Years Ago

He is so unpredictable. Course content is not well-organized. DOn't expect what you learnt will appear on the exam. What makes his exam diffcult is that you never see the concepts or learn them before. Try your best to avoid. You learn almost nothing, and get a terrible grade.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 2 Years Ago

Professor Young is obviously passionate about the material he is teaching. His lectures are great, and the homework/discussion section problems (specifically the ones not from the textbook) are really enjoyable. On the other hand, his exams are tough. He does a generous curve at the end of quarter, and it seems that most people end up fine.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 2 Years Ago

AVOID HIM!!! Homework is harder than any courses I've ever taken but much easier than his exams, and you only have two days to work on the homework since it's due Friday. The mean for the midterm (after regrade) is 55% and for the final is 60%. The lectures are absolutely UNORGANIZED, and he uses the old version textbook for Thermodynamics.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 2 Years Ago

The midterm average is 47%, the final might be even lower. HWs were way too easy to prepare us well. Lectures were clear on introducing basic ideas, but often unorganized, thus confusing.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHY22 . Young A F 2 Years Ago

Don't get me wrong, Dr. Young is a genius and you will enjoy the lectures. They are interesting and very informational. But this class is extremely difficult, the pacing is very off and the workload is very heavy. But the main drawback from this class are the: not helpful at all and are extremely tough graders – will not give partial credit.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 2 Years Ago

AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS. Loads of homework, tons of quizzes, harshly graded. Exams are insane, midterm average is 47%, so low that even he can't stand it and gave an overall regrade. HW due Friday than Sunday and late by 10 mins gets 50% off punishment. Good news is PHYS 22 now can be taken in spring and with different profs. You CAN avoid him!

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 3 Years Ago

He often goes is to derivations way above the math prep required for the class. The understanding and manipulation of those derivations are then on tests. He is, also, hard to access during OH, often late. The homework, also, lulls you into a false since of security. Makes sure to COMPLETLY understand his notes and textbook.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 3 Years Ago

Took this in Spring 2021. Exams are 10 times harder than HWs. Expect the average to be around 40%. He adds upper division materials into the lectures and exams. His notes contain errors and handwriting is terrible. He gets frustrated easily in his office hours so be patient. Go to TAs for questions are much more efficient. Avoid him at all costs.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 3 Years Ago

Young's homework generally looks like this: two or three past exam problems (quite difficult) and about ten problems from the textbook (too easy). Exam problems will be impossible if you do not truly understand the material, but if you have really thought through every point in the lecture, they will become doable. Test average is about 50-60%.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 3 Years Ago

Yeah, so, I cried during the entire three hour final. �� The only good thing about the tests is that theres a MASSIVE curve, so youll end up being okay. He also said that the only people that fail are people they caught cheating. Hes a really smart and cool person but theres no reason for his tests to be so difficult.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 4 Years Ago

I've always heard he is one of the toughest physics profs. But he is actually not so bad. The lectures are nice and the homework does help you a lot. Though his exams are difficult, it's always possible to get a nice grade once you really work on it. The negative point is that he made so many mistakes here and there on online exam questions.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 4 Years Ago

Young's lecture might be kind of difficult, but if you pay close attention it is inspirational. He talks about things that are not covered in the textbook, such as the derivation of formulae, which is extremely helpful for understanding the physics. Exams are not that difficult as long as you have an idea of what's going on.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYSICS22 . Young A F 4 Years Ago

The class was online due to the pandemic. He is great professor. The class will seem to be hard, but if you work properly and try to learn, it will be fun. I won't say the exams were really tough, but you'll feel the pressure. Even though the course might've been a bit easier due to the situation, but it was a great learning experience.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 4 Years Ago

Youngs homework wont help al all. There are no good textbooks either. The exams end up being extremely difficult for the depth of knowledge taught in class. If you have to take it, I recommend read some upper division or grad level thermodynamics books.

1 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 4 Years Ago

Tests are really hard but there was a big curve at the end of the quarter. Prof. Young is brilliant and enthusiastic. He is one of the professors who really care about their teaching. I am writing this because he treats physics and education seriously and deserves a much better score.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 5 Years Ago

Worst professor for ever. His exams are never related to his lectures and homework. Also, he provided a fake practice midterm which was very easy to confuse you, and then give you an extremely hard midterm with average of 41%. Don't take his class if you can, but phys 22 is mandatory for physics major and only offers once a year. Good luck.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 5 Years Ago

Young's test is really hard, get ready for get a 40 present on his tests. Test material is much harder than his lecture and homework, sometimes his test problem seems even not connected to his lecture. He himself is a genesis, he is a smart person, yet he is not a good teacher at all! Also, his handwriting is awful. Don't take his class if u can.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 5 Years Ago

Worst professor I have ever had. Homework is too easy, tests are hard beyond belief. Forgot about midterm so he copied the test from the year before with material we had not covered yet. Know your derivations. He may test u on anything. Expected to know vector calculus. Tests are worthless besides the grades. Horrible horrible professor. AVOID!!!!!

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 5 Years Ago

his lecture is good, and his notes is really detailed. but his homework is toooo easy but exam is soooooo hard. if he can make homework and exams in a same difficulty it's gonna be better

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHYS22 . Young A F 5 Years Ago

The exams make up most of the grade. The exams also focus heavily on derivations and proofs, but you aren't given any homework or quizzes that can prepare you for it. Rather, the homework problems come from the RHK textbook, which consists of many useless "chug-and-plug" type problems that are so unfun that they will make you reconsider your major.

3 helpful 0 unhelpful