Kusenko is a snazzy dresser, has great demos, and allows cheat sheets for his exams. He did do a variation of clickers about halfway through the quarter using some software a friend of his developed... meaning there was no need to buy a $60 clicker. Not sure if he will continue doing that, but it worked fairly well (with a few bugs as it was new software).

Grading
HW/in-class questions: 20%
Midterm 1: 20%
Midterm 2: 20%
Final: 40%
About 1/3 of the class receives As, 1/3 Bs, 1/3 Cs, etc.

Homework is with Mastering Physics, so the questions aren't really what you see on exams, but maybe they work for you. Basically, workload is pretty chill. I recommend doing practice problems in the textbook or elsewhere so you know how to apply all the numerous formulas you derive/get in this class. The cheat sheet helps, but not if you have no idea how to use them.

The midterms and final were fair in terms of the questions, nothing really tricky or devious, but they were still hard. You got marked off for conceptual errors more than algebraic errors since he wants the physics to be right, but the math is more of a meh requirement. The averages on both midterms were fairly high (80s I think?) but the final had like 50% or lower average I believe. This is because some of the questions on the midterms were very familiar, and the final just covered a lot of material and was slightly trickier. It was fair though. Just hard.

Overall, this is a good class to take, definitely easier than Corbin, not too bad of a workload. Exams are totally doable, and he ended up curving in the end.

Kusenko is a very good professor. I really enjoyed his class, and am very glad that I took him. Kusenko decided to use Kudu, an online textbook/HW/in-class quiz system. It had a decent amount of bugs and problems, but overall it was very convenient, and I am glad that it was used. The class has 20% MT1, 20% MT 2, 20% HW/in-class quizzes, and then 40% final. Overall, it’s pretty easy to do well in advance of the final. For MT1: Median was 112/120 (93%), mean was 107.4/120 (90%), and for MT2: Median 63.5/80 (79%) and Mean was 61.7 (77%). For HW, you had to get over 50% to get 100% on the HW assignment, and the in-class quizzes were participation only, so really, up until the final everyone does really really well. Of course, this class is curved, so as long as you do pretty okay on everything else, pretty much your grade depends on the final. The final was 6 questions, pretty difficult, with the median being 123/180 (68%), and the mean being 124.7/120 (69%), which is surprisingly high because everyone walked out of the exam feeling pretty defeated by the exam.

Overall, I am very glad that I took Kusenko. His lectures are always engaging, and he has really cool demonstrations of topics. He’s pretty good at explaining the phenomena behind these experiments, and I feel like I learn a lot taking his class. The midterms were also extremely fair and pretty easy. I think that it’s really generous of Kusenko to allow us to have an entire piece of paper (front and back) for a cheat sheet on every single exam. Honestly, it’s nice to not have to worry about memorizing formulas, and you can also put example problems on the paper that can potentially save you on an exam, although the final was still hard even after putting a lot of effort into the cheat sheet. Just a note, the cheat sheet takes an unexpectedly long amount of time to make if you want to really stack it with problems, so start early! . The process of going over everything and making these sheets is what really allows us to learn the material, so I think that it’s a good way to trick us into studying. Overall, I’d rate Kusenko highly for being a snazzy dresser, for having a good sense of humor, and for having cool demos. It’s a fun class that I always enjoy going to. He also always lets us out 30 minutes early, which is very nice, and we often spent like 20 minutes or so on the quizzes. There are so many plusses to his class! Fantastic! I’m really really glad that I took this class with him. I mean sure his final was pretty tough, but just do a ton of practice problems and it should turn out alright.

I'm not really a physics person, and this class didn't change that. This was my first physics class at UCLA so I might be dragging Kusenko a little more than I should (he's probably a much more interesting professor than some of the others), but I personally found the lectures boring and hard to follow either because I couldn't see anything or because lots of calculus was going on and I couldn't really catch up. So if you're the kind of person who gets easily distracted in class, you won't learn much here.

There's an online textbook in this class which you have to pay $20 for or something, and the text/assignments on it aren't like the questions on the exams. The midterms in this class are very fair and nothing to stress out about if you study, but the final in this class was admittedly difficult and on a much higher level. So don't underestimate the final!

On a final note, this class has "mandatory" attendance in that there are (sometimes) in class quizzes that count towards participation. I'm not sure how much they're actually worth though because I missed two of them and was still able to get a good grade. Kusenko clearly wants his students to show up early though, because he started making the quizzes at the beginning of class to punish students who sleep in like me.

Meh. Basically the entire class.

I honestly hated this class. I am usually a straight-A student, but I hated this class from the very beginning because it goes very fast and the TA for our term was not cohesive with the professor. Kusenko does not answer emails and does not do a whole lot of teaching. Instead, he chooses to attempt experiment after failed experiment and leaves the students to do a lot of the learning.

Going in to the class, the tough grading distribution for Spring 2016 kind of scared me. But the ride got so much better once I got into the flow of things. Much of what I am going to say has already been said, but I think that Kudu was a really good resource to use to complement the class. Midterms aren't bad, but there are some concepts that you might want to go further into (e.g. how conductors work) since they're not really covered in depth in lectures or the book. For the final, what I said above applies even more, for you really need to know the ins and outs of things to do well. Though you are allowed a cheat sheet for the exams, I really suggest doing as many different types of problems as you can (as Kusenko himself says), because that is what will truly help. I did the problems from the textbook, and I found that pretty effective. Sometimes, Kusenko may be hard to follow when he's deriving formulas of proving relatively complicated results, but once you get on Kudu and do problems, you'll understand the material more. As a bonus, the dude's pretty funny and has cool demos.

I think a lot of people walked out with A's this time compared to last year. We did historically better compared to previous years (with the final having an average of high 60's versus an average of mid 50's in the past and midterm 1 having an average of 90), and I do believe that Kusenko is willing to reward a good class by giving out more high grades. So don't be too deterred by the rather tough distribution for Spring 2016. Kusenko's pretty good, and I would take him again.

Review for 1A: Amazing prof in every way, class is little too easy however

This is a horrible horrible class. If you must take it, you have no choice and you will survive. If you have a choice do not take it. Kusenko is the worst teacher ever. The discrepancy between teaching conceptual things and testing on mechanics is so frustrating. I ended up doing poorly in his class even though I'm an As and Bs student simply because he threw curve-balls at us FOR THE FINAL. I hated physics before this class and I hate it afterwards too. If you're good at physics, you'll do well. Just because a person has credentials and is intelligent does not mean they can teach.

Kusenko’s Physics 10 class was surprisingly fun and enjoyable, and he made physics interesting. He’s very humorous, and you start to recognize it the further the quarter goes on. We also did lots of cool and neat experiments in class.

Class consisted of homework assignments, reading, two midterms, and a final. The homework is doable, but some questions can be confusing and frustrating. Reading is optional, and totally dependent on whether you want to get background information on the concepts. The midterms were relatively decent if you have a strong understanding of the concepts and how to solve problems; the final’s difficulty was the same as the midterms, but just twice the number of questions.

One thing to note: while the course description may recommend the course for those who did NOT take AP Physics in high school, I would have to disagree to some extent. It’s manageable, but I feel like having a prior background and understanding of physics is necessary to do well. Luckily I did, but many other students who did not were struggling very hard. So be careful when deciding whether or not to take Physics 10!

Absolutely outstanding! Prof. Kusenko did a brilliant job of covering the main concepts of Physics in an easy-to-understand and engaging way! The constant demonstrations were fabulous and kept class exciting. VERY good approach to new concepts, taking an inquisitive sort of view. Showed a lot of concern for students, always taking time to answer questions and explain things. It was my first Physics class, and I worried about my grade, but the exams were not hard at all, like the homework and the book. Overall, a very nice experience and a great class.