Professor
Ni Ni
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Professor Ni is one of the most disorganized professors I have had at UCLA. On our midterm, she forgot to include the right answers on the multiple choice and stopped us every 5 minutes to say that there was a typo on her free response. When students say they are confused, she openly doesn't explain it and just moves on and sees no issue. She is a nice person, but a terrible teacher. The TAs often didnt know anything about the class because it wasn't communicated to them and what we did in discussions were completely different than lectures because our TAs said they weren't told what was going on in lecture. Professor Ni is the kind of professor who still gives a midterm even when classes are cancelled due to fire warnings (this happened). She also doesn't post the lecture notes until ~2 days before the exam for you to study. This class is basically "how well can you teach yourself physics". Take another physics professor if you can.
Fall 2019 - Professor Ni is one of the most disorganized professors I have had at UCLA. On our midterm, she forgot to include the right answers on the multiple choice and stopped us every 5 minutes to say that there was a typo on her free response. When students say they are confused, she openly doesn't explain it and just moves on and sees no issue. She is a nice person, but a terrible teacher. The TAs often didnt know anything about the class because it wasn't communicated to them and what we did in discussions were completely different than lectures because our TAs said they weren't told what was going on in lecture. Professor Ni is the kind of professor who still gives a midterm even when classes are cancelled due to fire warnings (this happened). She also doesn't post the lecture notes until ~2 days before the exam for you to study. This class is basically "how well can you teach yourself physics". Take another physics professor if you can.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2025 - TAKE THIS CLASS WITH PROF. NI. I loved her! She was super sweet, and her pace was on the slower side which was particularly helpful for the first half of 1C. She only has one midterm and one final, but the final isn't cumulative. She offered corrections for the midterm, so basically you can correct what you did wrong on the midterm and earn up to half of the lost points. Also, since the second half of 1C is a lot easier than the first half, you can do okayish on the midterm and still end with an A. My biggest tip for this class is to read the textbook before lecture and take notes from the textbook. Prof. Ni follows the textbook quite closely, and her lectures can be a little confusing without having read the textbook. It's been a while since I took the class but I think she used Mastering Physics, and you get unlimited attempts for the calculation questions. But for the MCQs, you lose points each time you get the answer wrong so just a heads up.
Spring 2025 - TAKE THIS CLASS WITH PROF. NI. I loved her! She was super sweet, and her pace was on the slower side which was particularly helpful for the first half of 1C. She only has one midterm and one final, but the final isn't cumulative. She offered corrections for the midterm, so basically you can correct what you did wrong on the midterm and earn up to half of the lost points. Also, since the second half of 1C is a lot easier than the first half, you can do okayish on the midterm and still end with an A. My biggest tip for this class is to read the textbook before lecture and take notes from the textbook. Prof. Ni follows the textbook quite closely, and her lectures can be a little confusing without having read the textbook. It's been a while since I took the class but I think she used Mastering Physics, and you get unlimited attempts for the calculation questions. But for the MCQs, you lose points each time you get the answer wrong so just a heads up.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Prof Ni is the sweetest person. Physics 17 is kind of a boring/shallow class on its own since it is sort of just an introductory dabble in quantum/stat mech, but she explained the concepts very clearly and the workload is light. The exams are long but not hard. I don't really care for the class itself as it is mostly just taking textbook formulas and applying them without derivation, but Prof Ni is like a mother to us, her kindness brings me joy in the dark times of COVID.
Fall 2020 - Prof Ni is the sweetest person. Physics 17 is kind of a boring/shallow class on its own since it is sort of just an introductory dabble in quantum/stat mech, but she explained the concepts very clearly and the workload is light. The exams are long but not hard. I don't really care for the class itself as it is mostly just taking textbook formulas and applying them without derivation, but Prof Ni is like a mother to us, her kindness brings me joy in the dark times of COVID.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - Pros: Professor is nice, she follows the Griffiths book closely and tightly, so you feel secure about what you learnt. She has all materials pre-posted, notes (handwritten)/lecture videos. Plus the book, you know where to find answers for things. Cons: She finishes all the content exactly the class before the final. You get homework during Thanksgiving and before finals week, on new content. Also, there's 4 in-class quizzes (one cancelled due to the strike) and a midterm. Overlapped with other classes, you get no week of break and constantly have to deal with it. Quizzes are fine though, they are just simplified HW problems, with integrals and formulas provided. It's just the class is constantly on you and stressing you. You probably have to pick between her and Regan and I think it's 50/50. Regan throws lots of stuff at you without notes/context, but you'll be delighted. This is a normal book-following class, not as exciting, but you won't feel imposter syndrome and study at YRL until 6. Workload is 50/50.
Fall 2022 - Pros: Professor is nice, she follows the Griffiths book closely and tightly, so you feel secure about what you learnt. She has all materials pre-posted, notes (handwritten)/lecture videos. Plus the book, you know where to find answers for things. Cons: She finishes all the content exactly the class before the final. You get homework during Thanksgiving and before finals week, on new content. Also, there's 4 in-class quizzes (one cancelled due to the strike) and a midterm. Overlapped with other classes, you get no week of break and constantly have to deal with it. Quizzes are fine though, they are just simplified HW problems, with integrals and formulas provided. It's just the class is constantly on you and stressing you. You probably have to pick between her and Regan and I think it's 50/50. Regan throws lots of stuff at you without notes/context, but you'll be delighted. This is a normal book-following class, not as exciting, but you won't feel imposter syndrome and study at YRL until 6. Workload is 50/50.
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