Hanguo Wang
Department of Physics
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3.5
Overall Rating
Based on 20 Users
Easiness 3.4 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.4 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.4 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.6 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
  • Tolerates Tardiness
  • Useful Textbooks
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
19.2%
16.0%
12.8%
9.6%
6.4%
3.2%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

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Reviews (11)

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: N/A
April 25, 2017

Professor Wang I believe is a really nice guy but not a good teacher. He barely speaks english so his lectures are unfortunately boring. Not only that but they are straight from the textbook and his class is only based on the tests so there's really no point of them. My main issue with him was the carelessness and ambivalence he showed with grading issues. On the 2nd midterm he miscounted my grade by about 30 points and when one of my answers was right according to answer key but was marked wrong incorrectly I had to fight tooth and nail for a fix. I am not sure if its the language gap or something else but it was extremely hard to communicate my issues with the grading. For the final I had a similar issue where he again miscounted and he even said when I asked to see the test that there were some that looked like I got partially right but were marked completely wrong but still refused to change the grade. This is all his right as a teacher and he did still curve the grade but I just believe with a different teacher I would not have been put in this predicament. Overall I would not take his class again since the headaches with the careless grading caused way to much stress that took away from me studying for other hard finals.

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: B
April 22, 2017

Seems like most of what I have to say has already been said so I'll keep it short.

Professor Wang is a really nice guy. Funny at times and does a lot of demonstrations during lecture. His teaching of the source material is pretty basic - he gives you the equations straight from the book and doesn't really go in depth conceptually, but for this class and for his tests it doesn't really matter. A lot of the lecture is spent on examples with complicated derivations that are interesting but not super important for you to know. You could get by perfectly well without going to lecture.

Homework is not graded - don't do it unless you need to learn the material. The two midterms are very easy (averages were in the 90s and 80s respectively), just study the practice tests he gives you and you'll do fine. The final is considerably harder and had a ~65 average.

Overall I'd recommend him for this class. He's not difficult but teaches the material and is a friendly guy, he even showed us some of the research/work he did at UCLA outside of teaching.

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Quarter: Winter 2016
Grade: B
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
April 5, 2017

Midterms were easy. Final was hard, most likely to determine a curve. Lectures are pretty boring. He has an accent and he's soft-spoken, and he uses slides which are taken right out of the textbook with a few of his own notes. He was a little hard to understand and I didn't learn too much from lecture, but he was helpful in office hours when I asked questions. This class was a good experience overall, and I'd take physics with him again. It's really not that bad.

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: B-
March 31, 2017

Better to take him over Corbin or the other teachers. Midterms were super super easy but final is VERY VERY VERY hard. But what got me salty was the fact despite the fact I got around the average as a lot of people did, he didn't curve it very well. I hoped i got an A but instead he gave a B-. But besides that, he is super nice, chill, and funny someone who is really passionate about his work and physics in general. Spends his time deriving equations, working through book examples, and doing demos in class. Hw is not collected just book problems so no mastering physics kind of bullshit. Discussions were mehhh sometimes productive but other times dry. But back to the final..... he was very ungenerous in terms of grading and curving. If you have a heavy workload for other classes like cs32, definitely try to get this guy. But if you're the brainy physics nerd, take Corbin.

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: A-
March 25, 2017

Lectures:
Hanguo teaches from slides and the slides are directly from the book. A lot of people just don’t show up which is fine, but I like coming to class. He did a lot of demonstrations in class that were all really funny and cool to watch, so those days were worth it. He’s a really funny guy and I would totally hang out with him at some other time outside of class. He’s very memeable and says some really hilarious stuff and I really enjoy listening to him about his research and life experiences. However, I do have to say that he’s not the clearest lecturer. He speeds through things and his lectures aren’t really useful, but I still like going to his class.

Exams:
Midterm 1: 90.1/100
Midterm 2: 83.8/100
Final: 65/100
Overall Average: 75.9
Grades are 25% midterm 1, 25% midterm 2, and then 50% final. Wang gives you a practice midterm before each midterm, and they’re almost exactly the same, save for some multiple choice here and there. The midterms are relatively easy, just study the practice exams and you’ll be fine. The exams are like 10 multiple choice or so and then 5 or free response. Easy stuff, and the class obviously did really really well. Then we took the final, which was obviously killer. It was mostly pretty easy up until the last two questions which were 30% of the final. It was just unsolvable for most of the class. The midterms were so high but since the final was so bad, he had to curve the class. I don’t know much about the grade distribution, but I’m sure it followed the standard departmental policies. Basically, study all of the practice he gives, and then just hope you do well on the final, which is only the last third of the class, not cumulative.

Homework:
Homework is completely optional and he provides all of the answers. There’s no online HW and you can basically do the HW whenever you want. It’s very chill which is nice.

Overall:
I am very glad that I took Physics with Wang this quarter. First, his class is pretty well set up. He always goes over slides that are exactly the same as the textbook, so it’s pretty easy to follow along and keep up. Overall, this class is good because there’s no real strict schedule, and there’s a lot of leeway for you to go ahead or fall behind depending on your schedule for the week. Wang is pretty good, it’s pretty chill and fun, and I would definitely take his class again, even though his final was extremely hard. I would recommend.

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: N/A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
March 25, 2017

You need to be disciplined to do well in his class. He is boring and hard to understand, but he tries very hard to teach well. He has plenty of office hours and his midterms are reasonable. Nowhere near as tough as Corbin's.

I wasn't able to pay enough attention honestly, and since the homework doesn't need to be submitted you need to motivate yourself to do work. Sit in the front. That's the best way to absorb everything he teaches. Most people towards the back of the room end up doing homework for another class. It's not impossible to get an A, since I guarantee a bunch of people won't do well since they don't pay attention.

The final is much harder than the midterms, but are similar in difficulty to the practice final/midterm. I wouldn't recommend this class honestly for people with low attention spans. I ended up teaching myself most of the material. Also, the MCQs are mainly based on random, but easy enough facts from the textbook. So, if you read each chapter once you should be set for most of the MCQs.

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: B-
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
March 24, 2017

This class doesn't teach you honestly. Wang doesn't assign homework and his lectures are powerpoints straight out of the book, which only teaches basic concepts. All he does is derive equations in class and give us definitions, but never really teaches us the concept. In addition, he can be hard to understand. He's a really nice and funny guy at office hours though, but just an ineffective teacher. In addition, his tests are 90% like his practice study guide, so if you memorize the problems you'll be fine and ace it. Like the post below, if you get anxiety during tests, you should not take this class as a lot of problems are all or nothing as they are multiple choice. You won't learn much in this class, as evidenced by the final that actually tested us on whether we could apply concepts. The average was failing, despite the 80-90 average on the midterms. If you want a workload and are ok with just memorizing, take this class. If you want to learn physics, take Corbin or something.

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: C
March 24, 2017

This quarter I was extremely overworked (troubles of an engineering freshman finding himself at UCLA while taking a hard math prof in 2017 along with CS32), so my review may be slightly biased. Quite frankly, the midterms for Wang are extremely easy, however if you're someone who thinks that the midterms will be different from the practice midterms where you shouldn't need to memorize the midterm, think again. Most of the success for this class IMO came from either knowing someone who already took AP Physics and had a good physics intuition, or from memorizing the practice midterms. Most people, from what I saw, seemed to do poorly on the final (relatively speaking compared to the midterms) mostly because the final wasn't cumulative when it was implied it would be and most of the questions / concepts weren't really on the practice final (nor practiced rigorously through the homeworks). If you're someone who makes silly mistakes due to time pressure or time anxiety, consider taking a more rigorous class for a curve and a class that tests your knowledge rather than your memorization skills. The best way to success for this class is reading the textbook, doing online practice test questions from the teacher's version of the book (you can find this online if you search around deep enough, either on chegg or other sites), doing the homework, and just practicing. Some may recommend office hours, as unfortunately lecture tended to explain only the basic concepts and basic examples (and felt like it was winged to be honest), but not so much how to apply them successfully in exam-style questions. TL:DR; Professor is super chill, super nice. Would totally hang out with him if I could, but as a lecturer was sub-par. If you like easy classes where it's chill and the curve is really high for the beginning of the class, but later the lecturer feels the need to bring down the curve with a curveball'd final, take this class. Don't take it if you like tests that test your overall knowledge over the course and not 40% of the grade on one / two iterations of the same question on the final.

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: A
March 24, 2017

Okay. So when I saw Wang available as a Physics 1A professor for winter, I jumped at the opportunity to take the class. I don't regret it.

The grading scheme is all exams, but I actually kind of like that because it doesn't put pressure on you to complete the homeworks.

Even though the guy may be hard to follow since he talks quietly and has an accent during lecture, the midterms are not bad at all. Make sure you review his practice exams in detail and understand the homeworks thoroughly, and you'll do fine. However, the final was tough and pretty tricky, and definitely a step above the practice questions he gives you. BUT, make sure you do your best, and he'll be reasonable about grading.

He's a really nice guy, and he's also reasonable in office hours if you have anything you want to address regarding the course.

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Quarter: Fall 2015
Grade: A+
Feb. 4, 2016

I liked how he showed lots of videos and photos, and did lots of demonstrations in class. Not that great of a teacher though, in terms of clarity, but this class' concepts are pretty easy, so it was ok. I don't think he's going to teach lower division anymore though. That's too bad, he's a really nice guy.

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: N/A
April 25, 2017

Professor Wang I believe is a really nice guy but not a good teacher. He barely speaks english so his lectures are unfortunately boring. Not only that but they are straight from the textbook and his class is only based on the tests so there's really no point of them. My main issue with him was the carelessness and ambivalence he showed with grading issues. On the 2nd midterm he miscounted my grade by about 30 points and when one of my answers was right according to answer key but was marked wrong incorrectly I had to fight tooth and nail for a fix. I am not sure if its the language gap or something else but it was extremely hard to communicate my issues with the grading. For the final I had a similar issue where he again miscounted and he even said when I asked to see the test that there were some that looked like I got partially right but were marked completely wrong but still refused to change the grade. This is all his right as a teacher and he did still curve the grade but I just believe with a different teacher I would not have been put in this predicament. Overall I would not take his class again since the headaches with the careless grading caused way to much stress that took away from me studying for other hard finals.

Helpful?

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: B
April 22, 2017

Seems like most of what I have to say has already been said so I'll keep it short.

Professor Wang is a really nice guy. Funny at times and does a lot of demonstrations during lecture. His teaching of the source material is pretty basic - he gives you the equations straight from the book and doesn't really go in depth conceptually, but for this class and for his tests it doesn't really matter. A lot of the lecture is spent on examples with complicated derivations that are interesting but not super important for you to know. You could get by perfectly well without going to lecture.

Homework is not graded - don't do it unless you need to learn the material. The two midterms are very easy (averages were in the 90s and 80s respectively), just study the practice tests he gives you and you'll do fine. The final is considerably harder and had a ~65 average.

Overall I'd recommend him for this class. He's not difficult but teaches the material and is a friendly guy, he even showed us some of the research/work he did at UCLA outside of teaching.

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Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2016
Grade: B
April 5, 2017

Midterms were easy. Final was hard, most likely to determine a curve. Lectures are pretty boring. He has an accent and he's soft-spoken, and he uses slides which are taken right out of the textbook with a few of his own notes. He was a little hard to understand and I didn't learn too much from lecture, but he was helpful in office hours when I asked questions. This class was a good experience overall, and I'd take physics with him again. It's really not that bad.

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: B-
March 31, 2017

Better to take him over Corbin or the other teachers. Midterms were super super easy but final is VERY VERY VERY hard. But what got me salty was the fact despite the fact I got around the average as a lot of people did, he didn't curve it very well. I hoped i got an A but instead he gave a B-. But besides that, he is super nice, chill, and funny someone who is really passionate about his work and physics in general. Spends his time deriving equations, working through book examples, and doing demos in class. Hw is not collected just book problems so no mastering physics kind of bullshit. Discussions were mehhh sometimes productive but other times dry. But back to the final..... he was very ungenerous in terms of grading and curving. If you have a heavy workload for other classes like cs32, definitely try to get this guy. But if you're the brainy physics nerd, take Corbin.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: A-
March 25, 2017

Lectures:
Hanguo teaches from slides and the slides are directly from the book. A lot of people just don’t show up which is fine, but I like coming to class. He did a lot of demonstrations in class that were all really funny and cool to watch, so those days were worth it. He’s a really funny guy and I would totally hang out with him at some other time outside of class. He’s very memeable and says some really hilarious stuff and I really enjoy listening to him about his research and life experiences. However, I do have to say that he’s not the clearest lecturer. He speeds through things and his lectures aren’t really useful, but I still like going to his class.

Exams:
Midterm 1: 90.1/100
Midterm 2: 83.8/100
Final: 65/100
Overall Average: 75.9
Grades are 25% midterm 1, 25% midterm 2, and then 50% final. Wang gives you a practice midterm before each midterm, and they’re almost exactly the same, save for some multiple choice here and there. The midterms are relatively easy, just study the practice exams and you’ll be fine. The exams are like 10 multiple choice or so and then 5 or free response. Easy stuff, and the class obviously did really really well. Then we took the final, which was obviously killer. It was mostly pretty easy up until the last two questions which were 30% of the final. It was just unsolvable for most of the class. The midterms were so high but since the final was so bad, he had to curve the class. I don’t know much about the grade distribution, but I’m sure it followed the standard departmental policies. Basically, study all of the practice he gives, and then just hope you do well on the final, which is only the last third of the class, not cumulative.

Homework:
Homework is completely optional and he provides all of the answers. There’s no online HW and you can basically do the HW whenever you want. It’s very chill which is nice.

Overall:
I am very glad that I took Physics with Wang this quarter. First, his class is pretty well set up. He always goes over slides that are exactly the same as the textbook, so it’s pretty easy to follow along and keep up. Overall, this class is good because there’s no real strict schedule, and there’s a lot of leeway for you to go ahead or fall behind depending on your schedule for the week. Wang is pretty good, it’s pretty chill and fun, and I would definitely take his class again, even though his final was extremely hard. I would recommend.

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Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: N/A
March 25, 2017

You need to be disciplined to do well in his class. He is boring and hard to understand, but he tries very hard to teach well. He has plenty of office hours and his midterms are reasonable. Nowhere near as tough as Corbin's.

I wasn't able to pay enough attention honestly, and since the homework doesn't need to be submitted you need to motivate yourself to do work. Sit in the front. That's the best way to absorb everything he teaches. Most people towards the back of the room end up doing homework for another class. It's not impossible to get an A, since I guarantee a bunch of people won't do well since they don't pay attention.

The final is much harder than the midterms, but are similar in difficulty to the practice final/midterm. I wouldn't recommend this class honestly for people with low attention spans. I ended up teaching myself most of the material. Also, the MCQs are mainly based on random, but easy enough facts from the textbook. So, if you read each chapter once you should be set for most of the MCQs.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: B-
March 24, 2017

This class doesn't teach you honestly. Wang doesn't assign homework and his lectures are powerpoints straight out of the book, which only teaches basic concepts. All he does is derive equations in class and give us definitions, but never really teaches us the concept. In addition, he can be hard to understand. He's a really nice and funny guy at office hours though, but just an ineffective teacher. In addition, his tests are 90% like his practice study guide, so if you memorize the problems you'll be fine and ace it. Like the post below, if you get anxiety during tests, you should not take this class as a lot of problems are all or nothing as they are multiple choice. You won't learn much in this class, as evidenced by the final that actually tested us on whether we could apply concepts. The average was failing, despite the 80-90 average on the midterms. If you want a workload and are ok with just memorizing, take this class. If you want to learn physics, take Corbin or something.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: C
March 24, 2017

This quarter I was extremely overworked (troubles of an engineering freshman finding himself at UCLA while taking a hard math prof in 2017 along with CS32), so my review may be slightly biased. Quite frankly, the midterms for Wang are extremely easy, however if you're someone who thinks that the midterms will be different from the practice midterms where you shouldn't need to memorize the midterm, think again. Most of the success for this class IMO came from either knowing someone who already took AP Physics and had a good physics intuition, or from memorizing the practice midterms. Most people, from what I saw, seemed to do poorly on the final (relatively speaking compared to the midterms) mostly because the final wasn't cumulative when it was implied it would be and most of the questions / concepts weren't really on the practice final (nor practiced rigorously through the homeworks). If you're someone who makes silly mistakes due to time pressure or time anxiety, consider taking a more rigorous class for a curve and a class that tests your knowledge rather than your memorization skills. The best way to success for this class is reading the textbook, doing online practice test questions from the teacher's version of the book (you can find this online if you search around deep enough, either on chegg or other sites), doing the homework, and just practicing. Some may recommend office hours, as unfortunately lecture tended to explain only the basic concepts and basic examples (and felt like it was winged to be honest), but not so much how to apply them successfully in exam-style questions. TL:DR; Professor is super chill, super nice. Would totally hang out with him if I could, but as a lecturer was sub-par. If you like easy classes where it's chill and the curve is really high for the beginning of the class, but later the lecturer feels the need to bring down the curve with a curveball'd final, take this class. Don't take it if you like tests that test your overall knowledge over the course and not 40% of the grade on one / two iterations of the same question on the final.

Helpful?

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Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: A
March 24, 2017

Okay. So when I saw Wang available as a Physics 1A professor for winter, I jumped at the opportunity to take the class. I don't regret it.

The grading scheme is all exams, but I actually kind of like that because it doesn't put pressure on you to complete the homeworks.

Even though the guy may be hard to follow since he talks quietly and has an accent during lecture, the midterms are not bad at all. Make sure you review his practice exams in detail and understand the homeworks thoroughly, and you'll do fine. However, the final was tough and pretty tricky, and definitely a step above the practice questions he gives you. BUT, make sure you do your best, and he'll be reasonable about grading.

He's a really nice guy, and he's also reasonable in office hours if you have anything you want to address regarding the course.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2015
Grade: A+
Feb. 4, 2016

I liked how he showed lots of videos and photos, and did lots of demonstrations in class. Not that great of a teacher though, in terms of clarity, but this class' concepts are pretty easy, so it was ok. I don't think he's going to teach lower division anymore though. That's too bad, he's a really nice guy.

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1 of 2
3.5
Overall Rating
Based on 20 Users
Easiness 3.4 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.4 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.4 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.6 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
    (8)
  • Tolerates Tardiness
    (7)
  • Useful Textbooks
    (7)
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