“depressing”

A bit chaotic sometimes, there were mistakes on exams and so forth. But I generally found it clear what I needed to know for the exams, and Dr. Simpson was very helpful in office hours. Discussion problems were super necessary. I wish there had been more examples covered in lecture though.

AVOID THIS PROFESSOR.

When I first walked into class, I was skeptical of her teaching because of the lack of slides. "That's fine. She must know her stuff to teach without slides to guide the content of the lecture." Absolutely not. She paused every sentence or two to stare at the notes on her phone and it completely ruined the flow of the lecture. It wasn't comprehensive in the slightest. "No matter. I'll just look at the posted notes." I took a look at the raw notes, and they were a mess. Her handwriting was horrendous. "That's fine. I'll look at the typed notes from the book content." But announcements about typos on the typed notes were not uncommon. "Oh well. I'll just rewatch the lecture." When I watched the lecture recording, I could barely hear anything she was saying because she mumbled into the mic and peaked it so often that I'd just miss what she wanted to say. "It's fine. I did the homework and labs well. I should be able to do well on the exams." The averages were horrendous (52 and 57% respectively). "I'm sure she'll curve the exams accordingly." Haha.

Throughout this entire quarter, Professor Simpson has been extremely unclear about grading curves and course expectations. If her midterm scores are any indicator of her success as a professor, Midterm 1 had an average of 52%, while Midterm 2 had an average of 58%. Even her Final Exam had an average of about 69%. Given this, and knowing that the vast majority of students were able to receive close to full marks on the other coursework (i.e. homework and labs), it would be natural and logical to curve the exam scores separately.
This however was not the case. Our grades were calculated on a curve with our other coursework serving as a buffer. Because of this, many students ended with final grades in the B/B+ range, despite excelling in the exams compared to other classmates.
In previous quarters, about 50-60% of students were able to earn grades in the A/A+ range.
Naturally, a lot of students, including me, are. Irked. This class caused me so much stress and emotional turmoil, and now, because of Simpson's laziness, my GPA's been lowered. Do yourself a favor. Avoid this professor.

Lectures are like a journey into the Bermuda Triangle - you enter with hope, but your understanding mysteriously disappears. It's like a magic trick gone wrong - you start off hopeful, but end up wondering if you accidentally wandered into a comedy show instead. By the end of the quarter, students didn't even show up to lecture. I ended up just learning from my roommate and the textbook.

But hey, on the bright side, attending their class is a great way to appreciate the intricacies of the universe... by marveling at how someone can make such an interesting subject so mind-numbingly dull. You'll be taking a crash course in patience and resilience. After all, if you can survive their lectures without questioning the very fabric of reality, you can survive anything.

Professor Simpson was incredibly unclear and confusing; this class was made so much more difficult than it should be due to her lack of organization and clarity. Lectures were typically a waste of time, as she would talk at length about the derivation of complex formulas and other symbolic derivations, with ZERO time dedicated to practice problems or application of the material. Lectures were full of errors, with Simpson often pausing class for minutes on end while she ponders what to change on the blackboard as she realizes that she explained something wrong. Overall, a terrible learning experience. I had to teach most of this class to myself in order to truly understand the content, so from the teaching perspective, Simpson was a terrible instructor.
In terms of the exams, this was also a bloodbath. There were two midterms and a final. Both midterms had an average of approximately 55%. The first midterm was overly difficult considering the fact that most people in the class were clueless about the material and had no clue what to expect, requiring complex trigonometric derivations in order to successfully solve the problems. The second midterm and final were written a little easier, but the averages were still terrible, mostly because the content inherently became more difficult, and people still were not learning anything from class.
Grading Scheme:
15% Mastering Physics Homework
15% Lab
10% Weekly Discussion Worksheets
15% Midterm 1
15% Midterm 2
30% Final
After the atrocious Midterm 1 results, Simpson promised us that she would curve the exam such that the average score (of 55) was curved up to a B level (of 85). However, she later backed out of this promise and said that she would instead curve the entire class as a whole, including all assignments, after the quarter is finished, if the class average still remained lower than an 85.
All in all, Simpson kept changing her grading policies and accommodations, but the final outcome was the following: She allowed us to count our higher midterm score as the score for both midterms. This was maybe a tad helpful to some, but again, the average for both midterms was in the 55-58 range, so it didn't seem very consoling to most. Finally, after releasing the final exam grades over winter break, Simpson sent an email saying that including all assignments according to the grading scheme in the syllabus, the average grade in the class was a 77. As she promised, she curved the class up such that the composite class average of 77 became an 85 accordingly. Other than this, there was no clarity on the mechanism of what the new grade cutoffs were or how exactly the curve worked; she said the final grade she entered on myUCLA was non-negotiable, so once again, there was no clarity here.
Overall, Physics 5C with Simpson was a terrible experience. Class was incredibly confusing, unclear, and disorganized, so I feel like I did not learn much in this class; whatever learning did happen was on my own through Youtube videos and online practice videos/problems. Moreover, the exams were extremely challenging, evident by the very low class averages, and Simpson was very unclear about her grading policy. For your own sake, I would highly recommend to NOT take 5C with Simpson; you will not learn anything and will find yourself struggling and stressed out for 10 weeks.