Rebecca Grossman

I learned how to structure lab reports and how to be a taem leader.

Each module has its own associated grade and you just need to get a good grade on that module once. After you’re satisfied with that module grade, you dont ever have to attempt that module’s exam question again. There is an “integrated problem” at the end of each exam that integrates multiple modules. To get an A in the class, you need to get an A on each module and on all 3 integrated problems. I regularly spent more than 3 hours a on the weekly p-sets (6-13 problems).

Becky made the material in this class incredibly approachable. As a student who has very little history with physics, I was incredibly apprehensive to start the physics sequence. She took each lecture step-by-step, doing both lecture and problem-solving in each class. Hands-down my favorite class this semester. You definetly need to be attending some combination of her office hours and the rescitation section to get a good grasp on how she’s thinking about the material and to help prepare for her exams. You do not need to know calculus for this class. I think taking it as a co-req is a good idea just so that you are more fluent in the language of the field but Becky teaches around the integrals. If you’re a physics major, she does still include the proofs and math in the slides but largely leaves it up to you to learn. The exam questions are definetly more challenging than the homework and even the practice exams which can be a bit disheartening. She changed the grading system this semester which also complicated things and meant that the class was no longer curved.

I learned the basics of lab work as well as practical applications of many physics topics

I have taken physics mechanics two times already (since high school credits did not carry over), and this is the most confusing way I have ever had it taught to me. I understand that Becky is trying (she's a really nice person) and that she herself is very good at physics, but I think she often forgot what her students knew and did not know. The only way to get 100% on the homework was to attend office hours every week, where the problems were essentially done out for us. This did not feel like a helpful way to learn physics. The tests themselves were very very difficult and had almost no partial credit awarded. Most people I know finished with an ok grade in the class, but I feel like I understand physics less than I did before. Youtube and the textbook taught me more than the actual class itself did.

helped make. what we learned in class applicable in real world settings. Illustrated topics from class well.

We applied the concepts learnt in the lecture in the lab setting.

It's a requirement; labs are generally tedious.

How to propagate relative and absolute error, conservation of momentum, conservation of energy, and other energy laws.

How to calculate error, how to write a physics lab report, how to relate experimental findings to real-life scenarios