Professor
Christoph Niemann
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Most Helpful Review
I really didn't do anything for this class... barely did the homework, never went to lecture, just studied some formulas before the midterms and finals... which worked well for the midterms, his first two midterms were easy... like if you took physics 1B and got an A you don't have to study easy, but his final was hard. large part was conceptual questions that i probably got wrong, the other ones were do-able. either way from what i hear the EE1 teachers are hard but niemann really isn't... take him if you can!
I really didn't do anything for this class... barely did the homework, never went to lecture, just studied some formulas before the midterms and finals... which worked well for the midterms, his first two midterms were easy... like if you took physics 1B and got an A you don't have to study easy, but his final was hard. large part was conceptual questions that i probably got wrong, the other ones were do-able. either way from what i hear the EE1 teachers are hard but niemann really isn't... take him if you can!
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - I thought this was a pretty fair class! Niemann very clearly cares about his students and how much you're learning, which I really appreciated and don't always see in my lower division courses. I thought he was pretty clear in his lectures, the hard part for me is staying engaged as the quarter goes on. Bruincast is helpful for that. He goes through a lot of examples in class, especially some that are nearly the same as what you see on the homework and exams, so definitely try to take them! He used an interesting grading scheme where the two midterms were worth one "unit" each and the final was worth two "units." Your score on the best 3 out of 4 made up of 75% of your total grade. So he's pretty forgiving if you have to miss a midterm or bomb it. You have a chance at making it up later. I thought the midterms were pretty doable, but other folks have told me they're on the more challenging side. The first midterm was a little bit too long (I scribbled out an answer on the last question in the last two minutes of class), and he shortened the second midterm after hearing feedback from students. He's super understanding! Homework and lab are the rest of your grade. They're pretty par for the course if you've taken other physics 5 classes. He uses Kudu instead of Mastering Physics, which I liked a lot better. He's able to write his own questions or something? It's a lot less infuriating than Mastering Physics homework. Overall, a pretty fair class! The class feels disjointed because there are so many disparate topics in one course, but that's more a problem with the curriculum than this individual class itself. Not my favorite but also not my least favorite. I had a really heavy fall quarter and left this class on the backburner only to do weekly homework and study right before tests and did perfectly well!
Fall 2019 - I thought this was a pretty fair class! Niemann very clearly cares about his students and how much you're learning, which I really appreciated and don't always see in my lower division courses. I thought he was pretty clear in his lectures, the hard part for me is staying engaged as the quarter goes on. Bruincast is helpful for that. He goes through a lot of examples in class, especially some that are nearly the same as what you see on the homework and exams, so definitely try to take them! He used an interesting grading scheme where the two midterms were worth one "unit" each and the final was worth two "units." Your score on the best 3 out of 4 made up of 75% of your total grade. So he's pretty forgiving if you have to miss a midterm or bomb it. You have a chance at making it up later. I thought the midterms were pretty doable, but other folks have told me they're on the more challenging side. The first midterm was a little bit too long (I scribbled out an answer on the last question in the last two minutes of class), and he shortened the second midterm after hearing feedback from students. He's super understanding! Homework and lab are the rest of your grade. They're pretty par for the course if you've taken other physics 5 classes. He uses Kudu instead of Mastering Physics, which I liked a lot better. He's able to write his own questions or something? It's a lot less infuriating than Mastering Physics homework. Overall, a pretty fair class! The class feels disjointed because there are so many disparate topics in one course, but that's more a problem with the curriculum than this individual class itself. Not my favorite but also not my least favorite. I had a really heavy fall quarter and left this class on the backburner only to do weekly homework and study right before tests and did perfectly well!
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - I thought this was great class. Niemann really cares about his students and their learning, so if you put in the effort an A is very attainable. His tests weren't bad if you went to office hours and really worked to understand the material. My advice is to go over the homework questions and the practice tests and focus on how equations and concepts match up to multiple choice questions asked. As for the free response, go to Niemann's review sessions before each test, he gives you lots of hints as to what concepts he'll be testing for.
Spring 2022 - I thought this was great class. Niemann really cares about his students and their learning, so if you put in the effort an A is very attainable. His tests weren't bad if you went to office hours and really worked to understand the material. My advice is to go over the homework questions and the practice tests and focus on how equations and concepts match up to multiple choice questions asked. As for the free response, go to Niemann's review sessions before each test, he gives you lots of hints as to what concepts he'll be testing for.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - The previous reviews are pretty weird and unhelpful, so I'll try my best to help out future bruins taking his class. Also, on a side note, this dude apparently has two bruinwalk pages, his name is Christoph Niemann, and an electrical engineer with the physics department. On his other page, there is a grading distribution for the class for you to look at if you need that stuff. Anyways, he's probably the best physics lecturer I've had for electro-mag. He really focuses on making sure everyone has a conceptual, intuitive understanding of the material rather than a heavy math based one. Also, its lifesci physics so he can't really get that in depth. Most of the conceptual bits he goes over regard relationships. If you separate the capacitor, what happens to electric field? etc. To succeed here, I strongly recommend attending lecture and paying fullest attention. This quarter his class was in 9am so it was quite a challenge, but he goes over a ton of examples of problems you might be encountering. Also, his powerpoint slides feature information that multiple choice questions will ask about, so pay extremely close detail to each slide, since I missed some details and got it wrong on a midterm. Finally, he uploads 3-4 practice tests before each one. As for the tests themselves, they're kinda annoying. The midterms are only 30 points so every point is absolutely crucial. Succeed on them for a buffer.The first midterm was buttfuck easy, the second one not so much (but that's because I started skipped some lectures and fell asleep in others) , and the final seemed ok. For homework, its masteringphysics (again, forever always). Labs are the same bullshit get it done and get out lab, although it depends on the TA's niceness. I think the best part about his class are the sheer amount of demos he does. I think almost every single lecture featured a demo to showcase the concepts he was trying to teach, so that was a great help to visualize the relationships of stuff he will ask about. In office hours, he was extremely helpful. I pestered him for detail past the course material and level of understanding and he was willing to help out. He's also a pretty funny guy, although unintentionally. Or at least I thought so.
Spring 2017 - The previous reviews are pretty weird and unhelpful, so I'll try my best to help out future bruins taking his class. Also, on a side note, this dude apparently has two bruinwalk pages, his name is Christoph Niemann, and an electrical engineer with the physics department. On his other page, there is a grading distribution for the class for you to look at if you need that stuff. Anyways, he's probably the best physics lecturer I've had for electro-mag. He really focuses on making sure everyone has a conceptual, intuitive understanding of the material rather than a heavy math based one. Also, its lifesci physics so he can't really get that in depth. Most of the conceptual bits he goes over regard relationships. If you separate the capacitor, what happens to electric field? etc. To succeed here, I strongly recommend attending lecture and paying fullest attention. This quarter his class was in 9am so it was quite a challenge, but he goes over a ton of examples of problems you might be encountering. Also, his powerpoint slides feature information that multiple choice questions will ask about, so pay extremely close detail to each slide, since I missed some details and got it wrong on a midterm. Finally, he uploads 3-4 practice tests before each one. As for the tests themselves, they're kinda annoying. The midterms are only 30 points so every point is absolutely crucial. Succeed on them for a buffer.The first midterm was buttfuck easy, the second one not so much (but that's because I started skipped some lectures and fell asleep in others) , and the final seemed ok. For homework, its masteringphysics (again, forever always). Labs are the same bullshit get it done and get out lab, although it depends on the TA's niceness. I think the best part about his class are the sheer amount of demos he does. I think almost every single lecture featured a demo to showcase the concepts he was trying to teach, so that was a great help to visualize the relationships of stuff he will ask about. In office hours, he was extremely helpful. I pestered him for detail past the course material and level of understanding and he was willing to help out. He's also a pretty funny guy, although unintentionally. Or at least I thought so.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - I took Physics 5B with Professor Niemann. Professor Niemann is a great professor who is direct in what he expects. His grading scheme is very generous in that you can drop a midterm of half a final. He doesn't look like it, but he is very understanding when it comes to grades and the concerns of students. His tests although a bit tricky sometimes are never unfair, though the first exam was long for the 50 minutes allotted. Overall, I really recommend Niemann. He has a very generous grading scheme, and I would take him again.
Fall 2019 - I took Physics 5B with Professor Niemann. Professor Niemann is a great professor who is direct in what he expects. His grading scheme is very generous in that you can drop a midterm of half a final. He doesn't look like it, but he is very understanding when it comes to grades and the concerns of students. His tests although a bit tricky sometimes are never unfair, though the first exam was long for the 50 minutes allotted. Overall, I really recommend Niemann. He has a very generous grading scheme, and I would take him again.
Most Helpful Review
*Taken 6B and 6C He's the greatest physics professor ever. I got a A in 6B with him so I'm taking 6C with him now. I highly recommend him. He only tests what's in lecture which is great so you don't have to look at the book at all. He doesn't care about the homework either as long as it gets done. The homework is basically irrelevant for the tests. I would recommend recording the lectures and really understanding everything he says (ie every demo and practice problem). Pay special attention whenever he says various possibilities of variations of an example can appear on the test, hes not kidding. He's very straightforward, and honestly if you can't get an A in his class you can't get an A in any physics class at ucla. Very doable.
*Taken 6B and 6C He's the greatest physics professor ever. I got a A in 6B with him so I'm taking 6C with him now. I highly recommend him. He only tests what's in lecture which is great so you don't have to look at the book at all. He doesn't care about the homework either as long as it gets done. The homework is basically irrelevant for the tests. I would recommend recording the lectures and really understanding everything he says (ie every demo and practice problem). Pay special attention whenever he says various possibilities of variations of an example can appear on the test, hes not kidding. He's very straightforward, and honestly if you can't get an A in his class you can't get an A in any physics class at ucla. Very doable.
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