The professor was willing to answer questions during lecture and was approachable in office hours. The exams and homework were fair. Mastering physics assignments were particularly helpful for my learning. I think he rushed content at the end of the term and went too slow at the beginning of the class. My biggest critique of this class has nothing to do with teaching , organization , or the work, but with the fact that the professor was unavailable to lecture synchronously on several occasions. The lectures were engaging and definitely worth attending live.

If you take Physics 1C with Rombes, be prepared for a challenge! While he is a clear lecturer, he goes really deep into theory during his lectures and expects you to be very confident in your math skills. Consequently, his tests are rather difficult - his problems aren't similar to homework. They require you to really UNDERSTAND important concepts he mentions in his lecture and apply those concepts to a problem you've never seen before. When Rombes says his exam questions can't be found on the internet, he really means it (because all of the questions are those Rombes himself writes).

That being said, his grading scheme is rather generous. Homework is weighted a total of 35 percent of your grade. Try to get full credit on the HW so you will feel less pressure come exam time. Weekly HW consists of ~ 20 Mastering Physics problems and a written Problem Set Rombes writes himself. The written Problem set is graded on completion, while you have infinitely many attempts to solve the Mastering Physics homework, so getting 100 % on HW isn't a struggle. Acing the exams, on the other hand, is more difficult.

I initially found it challenging to study for this professor's rather unpredictable exam questions. But as the course progressed, the lectures became more and more essential. Rather than doing all the textbook problems, I spent more time making sure I felt confident about all the lecture material, going to Rombes' office hours to ask questions. Being able to understand physics from Rombes' perspective (which is different than the textbook) was super helpful for exams.

If you want an easy professor, you might want to choose someone other than Rombes. Otherwise, I highly recommend Prof. Rombes if you are willing to invest effort in understanding (not memorizing) theoretical physics and are ready for a challenge.

I really appreciate Rombes. He has a much greater understanding of what excites students. I hated physics before his class, during, and after. But I sure enjoyed doing the problems he assigned us during. He has a great intuition for interesting (but not overly challenging) problems and his class was certainly the most welcoming of all the physics classes - this despite being of the hardest material.

I was considering dropping this class due to how tough it was at the start. The first midterm was really difficult but the professor adjusted the second midterm and final to be more reasonable in difficulty, which is what really saved me. After being able to pass this class with a B, it's very clear to me that the professor cares a lot about student learning and isn't just trying to make the course excessively hard. CampusWire is utilized and is extremely helpful in this course. Extra credit is awarded. Discussion section attendance is encouraged and it's basically free points toward your grade. Overall, I really enjoyed the second half of the course and love the way the professor teaches. As someone with no physics experience outside of UCLA, I came to Bruinwalk for help deciding whether to take this course. Many people make it seem like this course is a cakewalk, but it really isn't unless you have a solid physics background. In the end, I was still able to complete the last of my physics courses and am glad I chose this professor.

Professor Rombes is the best professor I have had at UCLA so far!!! He truly cares about his students' learning, and his love for physics is evident in every lecture. I would highly highly recommend taking a class with him if you are able!

Some logistical info on the class: attendance was not required for lecture but required for discussion. Lectures were recorded. We had one problem set each week due on gradescope (with one random question graded for accuracy and the rest on effort) and one discussion worksheet due at the end of the day of your discussion (graded on completion). There were two midterms and one final, all 24 hours. The exams were hard but doable, and the problem sets were great practice for the exams. Rombes used campuswire for Q&A, and you received extra credit based on how much you participated in campuswire. Rombes was also super active on campuswire, so you're questions were always answered very quickly.

Again, I highly recommend this prof!!

I appreciated how Prof. Rombes emphasized asking questions during class and engaging with others on Campuswire, which really helped me understand the material and made me feel comfortable in the class. He really tries to focus on being clear and tends to go slower than most other professors in order to answer everyone's questions. I felt the homework and exams were pretty fair but they could often be quite challenging and time-consuming. However I think the professor made a good amount of accommodations to make this reasonable, like making the exams 24 hr and all weighted the same (no curve though). Definitely would take a class with this professor again, if this wasn't my last physics class at UCLA.

Prof Rombes is hands down the best physics instructor I've had at UCLA. He makes sure to answer all of students' questions during lecture, and is very good at communicating difficult concepts. Tests and the final are reasonable, and you'll be fine as long as you paid attention in class. 10/10 would take again!

Take him if you can get the chance!! He's definitely one of the easier 1C professors because he's actually fair with his tests. There's no curve because he gives tests you can actually complete if you study. If you go to lecture and discussion and do the homeworks, you will be okay. He's pretty funny and a really cool person as well and he's hella smart. Discussion counts for participation as long as you turn in the discussion worksheet. Def recommend, Niko is so cool and made 1C wayyyyy less miserable than what I was expecting.

I thought Rombes was a great professor who both cared about his students and kept the workload reasonable. Midterms were graded pretty easily, homeworks weren't very difficult, and overall I felt like I learned a decent amount of physics without really being stressed by this class. All midterms/final were full-day open notes and weren't too challenging.

This man is the one, take this class. He is the most understanding and helpful professor I've had, no other professor was this invested in making sure that everyone in the class understood the material. He would often spend 10 minute tangents just answering questions from chat to make sure the concept was fully understood. The homeworks and exams were all well structured and reasonable to complete in a timely manner (even though we were given 24 hours for exams). Seriously, just take this class.