Samani's teaching isn't just good for passing a major requirement or getting a good grade in physics - it's good for improving your common sense in life. If you attend the lectures and office hours every week, you shouldn't have a problem with understanding how to do the problems and what the strategies are for understanding not only the formulas but the basic logic of the problems he tends to ask. I don't think he gives extra credit, but I remember the way his class was structured: he put out problem sets, and several practice exams for each test, and he would go over them more in detail during office hours, while the lectures were there for you to understand how he wants you to see the formulas. He has a great charisma in his lectures I have never seen before, you can tell he's very passionate and knowledgeable about teaching. The problem sets will take most of your time, as do the practice tests, but if you do everything, you will get an A. If not, you will fail. I would recommend this teacher, but remember to do every single question in his online textbook so you don't have to worry about it later - his textbook kind of sucks, but the questions are worth completion points and it's a little pointless to use them for studying anything in this class, so just get it out of the way first.

This class is tough, and Samani makes sure that you get every bit you can out of this class. He teaches real world applications, which is great, at the cost of your grade. He makes topics really conceptual-based but doesn't focus as much on how to apply this to calculations. He's essentially forcing you to master a concept that doesn't need mastering to do well in physics 5B. Theres 6 exams total counting the final and team test at the end of the quarter, but each one is only worth 7% of your grade. However, having to constantly study for a new test and stress consistently for a test every week or two weeks is ROUGH, so try not to take any other heavy class with this one. Lots of homework and studying is needed to do well in this class. This is not an easy A, but if you have to take the MCAT you'll retain a lot from taking it with samani. I would have gotten a higher grade if I had gotten just a few more questions right here and there, so be really careful about remembering ALL the concepts he emphasizes in class.

He gives lots of partial cred for even remotely showing you understand the concept. You can literally get half cred for just writing the right formula for FRQs. Go to office hours and discussion (which is required) because a lot of the worksheets he gives in disc ends up somewhere on the tests. He made it much harder our quarter compared to previous ones based on the sample exams he gives to study (which are old exams), so not sure if its going to get any harder.

Professor Samani is probably the best professor I've had during my time at UCLA. If you're reading this review, consider me to be BEGGING you to take the class if possible. He is by far the most fun and engaging STEM professor with the most fine attention to detail, and a level of consistency that never fails. When I say that everything in this class relates to real life, I mean EVERYTHING. This man always finds a reason to make you want to pay attention to what is being taught. In terms of the class, there is a final but there are no midterms, yet 5 tests (4 individual, 1 group) instead around every other week that break down the material into easily digestible portions and are way easier to study for. All 5 are combined for 25%, and the final is 35% of the final grade (I think, I'm writing this review a bit later). You don't get a formula sheet, but the amazing thing is that his practice problem sets and tests all pull material from the last week or two in addition to material since the beginning of the quarter. This way allows you (and actually forces you) to perform spaced repetition of material, making it way less necessary to study a bunch, and way easier to memorize things. Plus, you need to memorize these things for the MCAT anyways if that is your plan. There is also extra credit and there are mandatory readings that are due before almost every lecture that are worth 3% total of the grade, but don't worry they allow you to actually understand the fun stuff happening in lecture.

Overall, Samani has research experience in the field of education, and you can really tell by the way this class is structured. He has his students' best interests at heart, and choosing another teacher over him is definitely the wrong choice, mark my words. PLEASE TAKE THIS CLASS 11/10 RECOMMEND!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, I am shocked that Professor Samani's Bruinwalk rating is this low (should be a 5). This man was literally one of the best professors I have ever had. He is so committed to your learning, and it pays off- he was a phenomenal professor. Every textbook reading was digestible, and any questions I had on the content were promptly answered in the next lecture. He took our feedback seriously and provided some extra credit for filling out surveys and feedback forms.
I was nervous to take 5B since I thought it was going to be the hardest in the series, but it was surprisingly a pretty easy class! All exams were incredibly fair, and the harder homework assignments (which were only 5% of your grade, and 90% of each homework was based on completion) prepared you well. By the end of the quarter I understood the material so well that I didn't even study for the final and only reviewed equations the night before.
Some equations you will need to memorize, but 1) he provides a sheet of them so you know in advance, 2) they're not difficult to memorize, and 3) the memorization really helps you actually understand when/why to use them and the related concepts. Lecture participation is also required through lecture sheets, but sheets are graded on completion (only comprise about 2% of your grade) and you can miss up to 3 lectures without a documented reason.
Professor Samani structured his class really well, was incredibly kind, and was such a great professor; you can truly see his passion for teaching come out in his lectures. Overall, I had a wonderful 5b experience and would without hesitation take another class of his!!

Definitely should've studied more. Also wished he curved. However, he is my favorite professor. I am confident that I can most of the concepts due to how his class was structured. I literally love him and he's the GOAT and completely restored my confidence in myself. even though I kind of flopped (first two midterms) I ate up that final and I've never done that well on a physics exam before. He's amazing and I will always wish him the best.

Samani is a truly an amazing teacher. He explains concepts perfectly and keeps students on track with his 4 tests + team test before the final. He leaves you very well prepped if you wish to take tests like the MCAT.

10/10 recommend.

I seriously wish there was a rating higher than 100% for Professor Samani. My friends were probably tired of me talking about how after 4 years of undergraduate schooling I finally got a professor who teaches the material in a way where I grasp the material best who I feel genuinely cares about my learning. Prior to this class, I had little to no knowledge of physics. I was actually dreading this class because Physics 5A, the pre-requisite, went horribly for me in the sense that I failed every exam and left the course not feeling confident in any of the learning objectives. He does a lot of things right like how he speaks clearly using terms we can understand, provides extremely engaging examples that genuinely make us excited and determined to discover the behind-the-scenes physics phenomenon of every day activities, plays music prior to lecture getting suggestions from students which builds connections, offers chatting office hours to connect with students, asks questions we can answer as a class, and so much more. I knew Professor Samani had our best interest in mind when he started off the quarter with a lecture on how the human mind retains information most effectively giving real data and examples of how to study in general, and he implemented those tactics in class in order to give us our best opportunity at understanding the material. I really appreciate how he continues to include content from all of the prior weeks in the current week's exams because I spend almost no time studying since the learning method he suggested on day 1 of class truly works and the information sticks with continuous practice. I also appreciate how he incorporates collaboration with your seat partner for every lecture. It honestly helps me with my understanding as it gets me thinking out loud and it allows me to process what I'm learning as opposed to just copying down and answer and moving on like in most of my lectures. It also keeps me accountable to pay attention during class because I want to be able to contribute to the collaboration with my seat partner and not appear as if I haven't been paying attention. It's also nice because most of the time in pair-share, when I don't know how to answer a question my seat partner also doesn't know so exposing that builds my confidence to let me know that I am not falling behind in the class, but rather that everyone is at the same pace generally. I also like it because I found new solid friends who I communicate and hang out with outside of class because of the pair-sharing opportunities, since we spent so much time powering through these physics concepts together, simultaneously getting to know each other. I love that on every worksheet professor samani asks for feedback. It shows that he actually cares and wants to make sure that everyone is learning and keeping up to the best fo their abilities. He shows he cares even in the little things like going out of his way to buy high quality expensive chalk to use on the chalkboard for students in the back to follow along more easily. I also like that he goes through the tougher, more difficult angles of applying the physics concepts he teaches on the homework and in class as opposed to on the exams. He understands that exams are stressful enough as it is and throwing curveballs by adding question types that we have never seen before to test our abstract knowledge is time consuming, frustrating, and inefficient for successful learning so he refrains from doing it and that is very admirable as most professors do it the opposite way. I've learned so much from Professor Samani that I also take with me to my other courses, such as applying how to best learn which is by recalling rather than the common misconception that reviewing material is the optimal study method. Overall, Professor Samani is an 11/10. I wish he could teach every class I take from here on out!

Easily my favorite professor at UCLA so far, very concerned about his students and genuinely wants students to succeed and more importantly learn the material in his course. Class was very enjoyable and course load was fair and manageable as well. Seems to enjoy teaching and is a great communicator and lecturer who makes difficult concepts approachable and uses bite-sized approaches to teaching. Again, an amazing professor whose class I will always be glad I took.

Samani was a great professor actually one of the most passionate organized and on top of it professors at UCLA. The only thing I would suggest is that making lecture attendance mandatory is not really necessary for my own learning in the class. It felt like more of a burden than something helpful.

Prof Samani is actually the goat. He is SO GOOD at teaching. I heard he won an award for it but he deserves more. He's really good at breaking down concepts in a way that a physics pleb like me can understand. Samani's definitely one of my favorite STEM professors. Exams are straightforward, class attendance is mandatory.