MECH&AE 103
Elementary Fluid Mechanics
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, two hours; outside study, six hours. Requisites: Mathematics 32B, 33A, Physics 1B. Introductory course dealing with application of principles of mechanics to flow of compressible and incompressible fluids. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Lagha is a wildcard. His lectures are disorganized and don't totally follow the curriculum, but he's a homie and makes the class as easy as possible. I ended up relying a lot on the TA to learn the subjects, but with that the class is very easy. Lagha gives you all of the diagrams that will be on the exams, so it's pretty easy to figure out what the questions are going to be and solve them beforehand. Overall Lagha is a great guy and his class is pretty easy, but if you're really trying to learn all the basics of fluid mechanics I would try to take it with another professor.
Winter 2019 - Lagha is a wildcard. His lectures are disorganized and don't totally follow the curriculum, but he's a homie and makes the class as easy as possible. I ended up relying a lot on the TA to learn the subjects, but with that the class is very easy. Lagha gives you all of the diagrams that will be on the exams, so it's pretty easy to figure out what the questions are going to be and solve them beforehand. Overall Lagha is a great guy and his class is pretty easy, but if you're really trying to learn all the basics of fluid mechanics I would try to take it with another professor.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2023 - Professor Karim is a great professor who really cares about his students. There was a time I was very confused by the material, but his office hours helped clarify every question I had. One piece of advice I have is that in the lecture before the exam, he goes over practice problems that are essentially the exam questions, which makes the grading for this class was stress-free, meaning I could stay focused on simply learning the material. The notes he uploads to BruinLearn are high quality and in depth. They helped me review the material very well and they were easy to follow and understand.
Spring 2023 - Professor Karim is a great professor who really cares about his students. There was a time I was very confused by the material, but his office hours helped clarify every question I had. One piece of advice I have is that in the lecture before the exam, he goes over practice problems that are essentially the exam questions, which makes the grading for this class was stress-free, meaning I could stay focused on simply learning the material. The notes he uploads to BruinLearn are high quality and in depth. They helped me review the material very well and they were easy to follow and understand.
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So I read this Bruin walk and thought to myself, "I have to take 103 now or else, so I'm just gonna man up and study my ass off and get an A." not the greatest idea....1. Owen is an awful lecturer. I definitely could not stay focused in class. He just rambles...2. The tests are haarrrrd. Similar to homework, but very hard. 3. He always throws screwballs at you on tests. Ex: Manometer on flowing fluid problem, with manometer fluid density less than the flowing fluid - causes manometer to operate oppositely. This caused me to freak out not understanding why I had to take a square root of a negative number and waste 30min on my midterm. The finals had similar screwballs - I am not going to list them now, but its really annoying and doesn't test knowledge of material but wittiness. DONT TAKE HIM.
So I read this Bruin walk and thought to myself, "I have to take 103 now or else, so I'm just gonna man up and study my ass off and get an A." not the greatest idea....1. Owen is an awful lecturer. I definitely could not stay focused in class. He just rambles...2. The tests are haarrrrd. Similar to homework, but very hard. 3. He always throws screwballs at you on tests. Ex: Manometer on flowing fluid problem, with manometer fluid density less than the flowing fluid - causes manometer to operate oppositely. This caused me to freak out not understanding why I had to take a square root of a negative number and waste 30min on my midterm. The finals had similar screwballs - I am not going to list them now, but its really annoying and doesn't test knowledge of material but wittiness. DONT TAKE HIM.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2016 - Professor Taghavi had crazy hard tests. The median on the first midterm was 62 and on the second was a 71. The paper format is a little nonsensical as he puts a 35 point question at the end. Hence even if you get the rest of the paper correct but are stuck on this last problem you are not going to do well. This is exactly what happened with me in the second midterm. Get his old tests if possible and go to T.A office hours and practice as much as you can. The lectures were a constant battle to stay up and understanding his lectures were very difficult as well. However he says that he believes that if you show up to lecture and do the homework then you should be fine.; however this is not always the case. Just practice a bunch of problems and try to stay at the top of the class because his curve is horrible. Avoid him if possible as there are other amazing professors for fluid mechanics and you will get to learn much more with them. Also he is super picky about the submission of home works. Be sure to be not more than 2-3 minutes late or else he will not accept your home work.
Spring 2016 - Professor Taghavi had crazy hard tests. The median on the first midterm was 62 and on the second was a 71. The paper format is a little nonsensical as he puts a 35 point question at the end. Hence even if you get the rest of the paper correct but are stuck on this last problem you are not going to do well. This is exactly what happened with me in the second midterm. Get his old tests if possible and go to T.A office hours and practice as much as you can. The lectures were a constant battle to stay up and understanding his lectures were very difficult as well. However he says that he believes that if you show up to lecture and do the homework then you should be fine.; however this is not always the case. Just practice a bunch of problems and try to stay at the top of the class because his curve is horrible. Avoid him if possible as there are other amazing professors for fluid mechanics and you will get to learn much more with them. Also he is super picky about the submission of home works. Be sure to be not more than 2-3 minutes late or else he will not accept your home work.
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