Professor
Michael Fitzgerald
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - I would consider taking this class again. If you have time to study/memorize some textbook stuff, you will be fine. The grading distribution was the midterms were 45%, the labs were 20%, and the final was 35%. There were three midterms but your score is best out of two. So if you get 0% on one, 50% on another, and 100% on the last one, your midterm grade will be 75%, not 50%. The two best scores are averaged. The midterms are week 4, 6, and 9; each midterm is NOT cumulative and will be based on an average of 4 chapters. There are, I believe, 10 lab assignments (10 pre-lab short pdfs and 10 lab pdfs). I think you only needed to do 8 out of 10, so you could miss two pre-labs and two labs. Other than that, you ABSOLUTELY need to go to lab. It is extremely easy, the TA will walk you through it but you do need to go. Make sure to submit the pre-lab before the lab starts; they are easy but you can email your TA for help if needed. To do well in the class: Go to every single lab, check every lab question with your TA before submitting, do every pre-lab and check with your TA, read every single chapter (a lot of boring, you got this), and answer/study every single end of chapter question/study review questions. The end of chapter questions that ask for answers (not group discussions) WILL appear on the midterms/final, as well the study questions. If you know every single one of those questions and nothing else, you will most likely get at least a 95% on every single midterm. While I had taken an Astronomy class before this, the majority of this content was new to me. By doing the method described above, I consistently score the highest or second highest on every exam. Please study the questions! The final is cumulative and will contain questions from every single chapter, I think, so about 19 chapters. In full honesty, this class was in 147 Dodd which I believe is cursed and I fall asleep there every time. So, I usually skipped class. Still got an A+. Take this class, do the work, and you'll be fine. Misc things: the lectures are boring unfortunately, the room will be cold so bring a jacket, the curve will be amazing every time (highest score goes to 100%), and your bruinlearn is automatically curved at the beginning but the curve may change so beware. Good luck and you got this!
Winter 2025 - I would consider taking this class again. If you have time to study/memorize some textbook stuff, you will be fine. The grading distribution was the midterms were 45%, the labs were 20%, and the final was 35%. There were three midterms but your score is best out of two. So if you get 0% on one, 50% on another, and 100% on the last one, your midterm grade will be 75%, not 50%. The two best scores are averaged. The midterms are week 4, 6, and 9; each midterm is NOT cumulative and will be based on an average of 4 chapters. There are, I believe, 10 lab assignments (10 pre-lab short pdfs and 10 lab pdfs). I think you only needed to do 8 out of 10, so you could miss two pre-labs and two labs. Other than that, you ABSOLUTELY need to go to lab. It is extremely easy, the TA will walk you through it but you do need to go. Make sure to submit the pre-lab before the lab starts; they are easy but you can email your TA for help if needed. To do well in the class: Go to every single lab, check every lab question with your TA before submitting, do every pre-lab and check with your TA, read every single chapter (a lot of boring, you got this), and answer/study every single end of chapter question/study review questions. The end of chapter questions that ask for answers (not group discussions) WILL appear on the midterms/final, as well the study questions. If you know every single one of those questions and nothing else, you will most likely get at least a 95% on every single midterm. While I had taken an Astronomy class before this, the majority of this content was new to me. By doing the method described above, I consistently score the highest or second highest on every exam. Please study the questions! The final is cumulative and will contain questions from every single chapter, I think, so about 19 chapters. In full honesty, this class was in 147 Dodd which I believe is cursed and I fall asleep there every time. So, I usually skipped class. Still got an A+. Take this class, do the work, and you'll be fine. Misc things: the lectures are boring unfortunately, the room will be cold so bring a jacket, the curve will be amazing every time (highest score goes to 100%), and your bruinlearn is automatically curved at the beginning but the curve may change so beware. Good luck and you got this!
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Most Helpful Review
I took Physics6A with Fitzgerald. He is a good lecturer I admit. But his exams are extremely hard. And they are not at all predictable. Some times you see like one question in the exam that's the same or similar as his sample exams. But his exams are soooooo challenging. And his homework and sample exams don't prepare you well for them. The average for the final exam was like 56%. And his curves don't do you any favor either. Apparently he inflated the curve for people who got below a C- after he realized he failed too many people probably. But this is a very difficult professor. Don't take him if you don't want to have a hard time and a poor grade, unless of course you are a natural in physics.
I took Physics6A with Fitzgerald. He is a good lecturer I admit. But his exams are extremely hard. And they are not at all predictable. Some times you see like one question in the exam that's the same or similar as his sample exams. But his exams are soooooo challenging. And his homework and sample exams don't prepare you well for them. The average for the final exam was like 56%. And his curves don't do you any favor either. Apparently he inflated the curve for people who got below a C- after he realized he failed too many people probably. But this is a very difficult professor. Don't take him if you don't want to have a hard time and a poor grade, unless of course you are a natural in physics.
Most Helpful Review
Physics 6A This was my first time taking Physics ever in my life, and I found it to be extremely interesting, but challenging. Professor Fitzgerald is a decent lecturer, but he literally used all of Professor Shaked's materials. I think that it may have been his first quarter teaching Physics, because almost none of his materail/powerpoints/practice exams were his creation. He even used the EXACT same midterms that Shaked uses, and there was a huge controversy in class because some students had already seen the midterm from previous quarters and were therefore prepared for what was on the exam. To fix this, Professor Fitzgerald threw out the group portion of the second midterm so that it somehow scaled everyone's grades so that some people didn't have the advantage. There really isn't a curve in this class. He offers extra credit opportunity, but it ONLY affects the participation portion of the class, which is a very small percentage. Also, you can't get higher than 100% for participation, so there comes a point where you can't earn any more extra credit even if you keep doing all the extra assignments he gives out, which SUCKS for those that are trying to boost their grade any way possible. Go to office hours. It really does help. I went to as many OH of my TA's as I could (I had Chris Schnaible btw, he was a good TA!) and I also went to Fitzgerald's OH. He has people sign in so he can keep a record of who actually comes, and he does do a really good job of remembering people's names. He knew me by name which really helped at the end of the quarter when I was teetering on the edge of a C+/B-. So he is a good teacher to go to if you want to make an impression and actually be remembered. There seemed to be a larger than average portion of students who downright failed this class. Many ended up with a D+ because they thought that there would be some type of curve at the very end of the quarter, but it never came. There were quite a few angry students who had to retake 6A this summer because Fitzgerald didn't pass them. So be prepared to work hard and put in the extra time that's needed, especially if you've never taken Physics before. It's definitely true that Physics at UCLA is much more difficult than the abroad programs, because there is so much to learn in such a short amount of time, and the professors really expect the students to understand the processes taking place. Physics requires time and exposure, so PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. I even hired a private tutor to help me a couple of weeks before the final exam. If Fitzgerald continues to teach this course, I really hope that he starts to create more of his own materials and incorporates more of a curve into this class! Otherwise it will continue to be very challenging.
Physics 6A This was my first time taking Physics ever in my life, and I found it to be extremely interesting, but challenging. Professor Fitzgerald is a decent lecturer, but he literally used all of Professor Shaked's materials. I think that it may have been his first quarter teaching Physics, because almost none of his materail/powerpoints/practice exams were his creation. He even used the EXACT same midterms that Shaked uses, and there was a huge controversy in class because some students had already seen the midterm from previous quarters and were therefore prepared for what was on the exam. To fix this, Professor Fitzgerald threw out the group portion of the second midterm so that it somehow scaled everyone's grades so that some people didn't have the advantage. There really isn't a curve in this class. He offers extra credit opportunity, but it ONLY affects the participation portion of the class, which is a very small percentage. Also, you can't get higher than 100% for participation, so there comes a point where you can't earn any more extra credit even if you keep doing all the extra assignments he gives out, which SUCKS for those that are trying to boost their grade any way possible. Go to office hours. It really does help. I went to as many OH of my TA's as I could (I had Chris Schnaible btw, he was a good TA!) and I also went to Fitzgerald's OH. He has people sign in so he can keep a record of who actually comes, and he does do a really good job of remembering people's names. He knew me by name which really helped at the end of the quarter when I was teetering on the edge of a C+/B-. So he is a good teacher to go to if you want to make an impression and actually be remembered. There seemed to be a larger than average portion of students who downright failed this class. Many ended up with a D+ because they thought that there would be some type of curve at the very end of the quarter, but it never came. There were quite a few angry students who had to retake 6A this summer because Fitzgerald didn't pass them. So be prepared to work hard and put in the extra time that's needed, especially if you've never taken Physics before. It's definitely true that Physics at UCLA is much more difficult than the abroad programs, because there is so much to learn in such a short amount of time, and the professors really expect the students to understand the processes taking place. Physics requires time and exposure, so PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. I even hired a private tutor to help me a couple of weeks before the final exam. If Fitzgerald continues to teach this course, I really hope that he starts to create more of his own materials and incorporates more of a curve into this class! Otherwise it will continue to be very challenging.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - There were no exams for this course, just projects. Homework assignments and projects are quite tough if you don't have a coding background beyond the prerequisites, and I had to go to office hours every week to figure them out. The professor was very nice but often quite unclear on the assignment rubrics, making the homework a good bit more difficult than I think it was intended to. The lectures also sometimes felt pretty disconnected from what we were doing in class, but were still interesting. Discussion was super helpful tho! I'd definitely still recommend this class though, it covers so much necessary material if you are considering a career in astrophysics. It helped me so much with my own research and I'm honestly shocked it hasn't been introduced before!
Fall 2023 - There were no exams for this course, just projects. Homework assignments and projects are quite tough if you don't have a coding background beyond the prerequisites, and I had to go to office hours every week to figure them out. The professor was very nice but often quite unclear on the assignment rubrics, making the homework a good bit more difficult than I think it was intended to. The lectures also sometimes felt pretty disconnected from what we were doing in class, but were still interesting. Discussion was super helpful tho! I'd definitely still recommend this class though, it covers so much necessary material if you are considering a career in astrophysics. It helped me so much with my own research and I'm honestly shocked it hasn't been introduced before!
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