Professor
Matthew Malkan
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Most Helpful Review
DON;T TAKE THIS GUY UNLESS YOU HAVE HAD A GOOD BACKGROUND IN PHYSICS IN HIGHSCHOOL. If you have taken physics before, with a good teacher, then this is the easiest class you will take, ever. If you haven't taken physics before, you are screwed. The guy cannot teach. This guy does not teach. If you are an engineering major, like me, and need to do more physics later on, you are screwed. You will establish no base in this class. So run away if you haven't had a good physics teacher before. For the rest of you, sit back, relax, and enjoy your A's. (P.S. If you are getting a bad grade in the class, go and talk to him, he may be able to help) He cannot teach. But he is a nice guy.
DON;T TAKE THIS GUY UNLESS YOU HAVE HAD A GOOD BACKGROUND IN PHYSICS IN HIGHSCHOOL. If you have taken physics before, with a good teacher, then this is the easiest class you will take, ever. If you haven't taken physics before, you are screwed. The guy cannot teach. This guy does not teach. If you are an engineering major, like me, and need to do more physics later on, you are screwed. You will establish no base in this class. So run away if you haven't had a good physics teacher before. For the rest of you, sit back, relax, and enjoy your A's. (P.S. If you are getting a bad grade in the class, go and talk to him, he may be able to help) He cannot teach. But he is a nice guy.
Most Helpful Review
I took Astronomy 3 with Malkan, and found his lectures to be incredibly informative and lively. Although his tests are difficult, he offers a lot of help to guide you through them. I found his last lecture for the quarter to be particularly uplifting and epic. He teaches a lot more than what's in the book, and is very knowledgeable and experienced.
I took Astronomy 3 with Malkan, and found his lectures to be incredibly informative and lively. Although his tests are difficult, he offers a lot of help to guide you through them. I found his last lecture for the quarter to be particularly uplifting and epic. He teaches a lot more than what's in the book, and is very knowledgeable and experienced.
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Most Helpful Review
This professor is, quite honestly, the worst professor I've had at UCLA. I'll be very honest in evaluating him. How he "teaches": Malkan does not teach. He simply walks to the front of the class and literally blabs nonsense for about 30 minutes, and then fills up the rest of the class period doing pointless demonstrations. Remember guys, we're no longer in high school, and since you don't have to go to class, I think time-wasting demonstrations are perfectly useless. In terms of the material, I can only say the following; with one of the TAs as my witness, he once spent 40 MINUTES discussing how to calculate electric flux through a surface - about the equivalent of discussing how to calculate force given mass and acceleration. He spends a ridiculous amount of time on very simple concepts, leading many of his students to believe his tests will be just as easy. How he tests: However, if he tested the same as he taught, everyone would get 100%. So he goes and takes tests he hasn't written (typically from Professor Cowley) and then tests you on material which is appropriate to the level that the class SHOULD be taught. Most people had a terribly difficult time with this though, because they learned from the lectures. What to do if you decide to take him: Don't go to class, but learn how to do all the type II problems in the book. I attended most of the lectures prior to the first midterm and did well, attended perhaps 25% of the lectures prior to the second midterm and did very very well, and attended 2 lectures prior to the final. And it worked, simply because I learned from the book (which by the way, he likes to bash for "including everything"). This professor is good for you if: 1) You are good at studying alone. 2) You don't wish to learn more physics than is necessary for just that class.
This professor is, quite honestly, the worst professor I've had at UCLA. I'll be very honest in evaluating him. How he "teaches": Malkan does not teach. He simply walks to the front of the class and literally blabs nonsense for about 30 minutes, and then fills up the rest of the class period doing pointless demonstrations. Remember guys, we're no longer in high school, and since you don't have to go to class, I think time-wasting demonstrations are perfectly useless. In terms of the material, I can only say the following; with one of the TAs as my witness, he once spent 40 MINUTES discussing how to calculate electric flux through a surface - about the equivalent of discussing how to calculate force given mass and acceleration. He spends a ridiculous amount of time on very simple concepts, leading many of his students to believe his tests will be just as easy. How he tests: However, if he tested the same as he taught, everyone would get 100%. So he goes and takes tests he hasn't written (typically from Professor Cowley) and then tests you on material which is appropriate to the level that the class SHOULD be taught. Most people had a terribly difficult time with this though, because they learned from the lectures. What to do if you decide to take him: Don't go to class, but learn how to do all the type II problems in the book. I attended most of the lectures prior to the first midterm and did well, attended perhaps 25% of the lectures prior to the second midterm and did very very well, and attended 2 lectures prior to the final. And it worked, simply because I learned from the book (which by the way, he likes to bash for "including everything"). This professor is good for you if: 1) You are good at studying alone. 2) You don't wish to learn more physics than is necessary for just that class.
Most Helpful Review
DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 3 ... I REPEAT ... DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 3 ... take Mclean ... Malkan does not understand that this is a GE class nor non-science majors ... his midterms and finals are very specific ... and even his take home quizzes are hard ... Astro 3 is supposed to be fun and easy ... he made it aweful and hard ... he is a super nice guy with a zest for the topic ... but don't take him and think you'll get an A in astro 3 ... you take him and pray for a B!
DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 3 ... I REPEAT ... DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 3 ... take Mclean ... Malkan does not understand that this is a GE class nor non-science majors ... his midterms and finals are very specific ... and even his take home quizzes are hard ... Astro 3 is supposed to be fun and easy ... he made it aweful and hard ... he is a super nice guy with a zest for the topic ... but don't take him and think you'll get an A in astro 3 ... you take him and pray for a B!
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - I took this class P/NP online, which I recommend doing if you are not a science major. I think like 30+ people dropped this class in the first 2 weeks because it is really not for you if you are bad at physics. Malkan often operates on the assumption that you know some physics already so he doesn't explain basic principles. The workload isn't bad. You have a weekly quiz along with homework questions and some textbook readings and two midterms and a final. The homework and textbook readings often seem unrelated to the lecture and quiz content. The first midterm was very hard but he curved a lot. The second midterm and the final were much easier because he kind of tells you what is going to be on them. DO THE PRACTICE SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS HE GIVES YOU. The grades for this class seemed all over the place so I would definitely take it P/NP. Malkan is incredibly enthusiastic about astronomy so it makes his lectures interesting (he also sometimes mentions his wife which is cute). He is the kind of passionate that makes him go one a lot of little tangents so remember to read the slides instead of just listening to him talk. Overall, an interesting but semi-stressful class.
Fall 2020 - I took this class P/NP online, which I recommend doing if you are not a science major. I think like 30+ people dropped this class in the first 2 weeks because it is really not for you if you are bad at physics. Malkan often operates on the assumption that you know some physics already so he doesn't explain basic principles. The workload isn't bad. You have a weekly quiz along with homework questions and some textbook readings and two midterms and a final. The homework and textbook readings often seem unrelated to the lecture and quiz content. The first midterm was very hard but he curved a lot. The second midterm and the final were much easier because he kind of tells you what is going to be on them. DO THE PRACTICE SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS HE GIVES YOU. The grades for this class seemed all over the place so I would definitely take it P/NP. Malkan is incredibly enthusiastic about astronomy so it makes his lectures interesting (he also sometimes mentions his wife which is cute). He is the kind of passionate that makes him go one a lot of little tangents so remember to read the slides instead of just listening to him talk. Overall, an interesting but semi-stressful class.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2017 - DO NOT TAKE MALKAN IF YOU HAVE NO PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE IN ASTRONOMY OR PHYSICS!!! Even when I felt confident about the midterm he put topics that WE DID NOT FOCUS ON. He assumed we had previous knowledge in physics, which I did not. Lectures were interesting, but the exams were by far too difficult for a GE! Would only take if you are prepared to invest A LOT of time into this class.
Fall 2017 - DO NOT TAKE MALKAN IF YOU HAVE NO PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE IN ASTRONOMY OR PHYSICS!!! Even when I felt confident about the midterm he put topics that WE DID NOT FOCUS ON. He assumed we had previous knowledge in physics, which I did not. Lectures were interesting, but the exams were by far too difficult for a GE! Would only take if you are prepared to invest A LOT of time into this class.
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Winter 2018 - DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 6 ... I REPEAT ... DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 6 ... I am currently sitting in Week 6 of Malkan's class, and let me tell you, it will be the worst class you have ever taken at UCLA. In the beginning, he claims that the class is designed for nonmajors (I'm a polisci major) but is taught in similar ways as he teaches his astronomy major classes, which is the first red flag. However, I thought I had a general enough knowledge of math/science to get through this class (I took AP bio, chem, calc BC, and stats in high school). Boy was I wrong. It wasn't until later in the quarter that I realized unless you have taken college chem and/or physics, you are absolutely screwed for this class. He claims this is not a math-based class, but literally the whole free response is complicated math problems which he doesn't even teach. I have not taken physics, and I was literally screwed for almost all the free response. Mind you I had a 4.46 GPA in high school and took 10 AP classes and 2 community college classes, and I al afraid I'm going to fail the class. Don't put yourself through this.
Winter 2018 - DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 6 ... I REPEAT ... DO NOT TAKE MALKAN FOR ASTRO 6 ... I am currently sitting in Week 6 of Malkan's class, and let me tell you, it will be the worst class you have ever taken at UCLA. In the beginning, he claims that the class is designed for nonmajors (I'm a polisci major) but is taught in similar ways as he teaches his astronomy major classes, which is the first red flag. However, I thought I had a general enough knowledge of math/science to get through this class (I took AP bio, chem, calc BC, and stats in high school). Boy was I wrong. It wasn't until later in the quarter that I realized unless you have taken college chem and/or physics, you are absolutely screwed for this class. He claims this is not a math-based class, but literally the whole free response is complicated math problems which he doesn't even teach. I have not taken physics, and I was literally screwed for almost all the free response. Mind you I had a 4.46 GPA in high school and took 10 AP classes and 2 community college classes, and I al afraid I'm going to fail the class. Don't put yourself through this.
Most Helpful Review
I took Astro 3 because my counselor advised me to take an easy GE science class... Well Astro 3 with Malkan WAS NOT an easy science class. The only reason I did well in the course was because I had taken a physics class. Compared to the other Astro 3 class, Malkan seemed like a really hard professor. I ended up with an A- in the course, but I definitely had to work for it. HOWEVER, Prof. Malkan did give us fair warning about the intensity of the class. In one of his emails, I quote "That is why my section of Astro 3 teaches it as a SCIENCE COURSE (not a course about science ideas, or history and philosophy of science). Unless you are ready to THINK SCIENTIFICALLY, you should enroll in a different section, or course." Altogether he was a really good lecturer though. He is very passionate about the subject, so it's really amusing to watch and listen to him. Most of the material on his midterms & final are from past midterms (that he posts online with the answers to) and from the Mastering Astronomy homework. The only nice thing about the class is that it's 5 units, and the lab that goes along with it, always gets out early (like between 1/2 and hour to an hour early). But if you're looking for an easy Science GE, don't pick Malkan haha
I took Astro 3 because my counselor advised me to take an easy GE science class... Well Astro 3 with Malkan WAS NOT an easy science class. The only reason I did well in the course was because I had taken a physics class. Compared to the other Astro 3 class, Malkan seemed like a really hard professor. I ended up with an A- in the course, but I definitely had to work for it. HOWEVER, Prof. Malkan did give us fair warning about the intensity of the class. In one of his emails, I quote "That is why my section of Astro 3 teaches it as a SCIENCE COURSE (not a course about science ideas, or history and philosophy of science). Unless you are ready to THINK SCIENTIFICALLY, you should enroll in a different section, or course." Altogether he was a really good lecturer though. He is very passionate about the subject, so it's really amusing to watch and listen to him. Most of the material on his midterms & final are from past midterms (that he posts online with the answers to) and from the Mastering Astronomy homework. The only nice thing about the class is that it's 5 units, and the lab that goes along with it, always gets out early (like between 1/2 and hour to an hour early). But if you're looking for an easy Science GE, don't pick Malkan haha
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