I took both Physics 1B and 1C with professor Rombes and it's safe to say he is among the top tier of lower-division professors at UCLA. His lectures are clear and focused, but the best part of his teaching is the amount of time and importance he dedicates to students' questions. He was willing to answer them at any time, which was monumental in my mastery of the material, as I was able to have my misconceptions remedied almost instantly. Professor Rombes' class format was a little confusing at first, as the grade consists of two types of homework (Mastering Physics problems for accuracy and written problem sets for completion), with the former being more standard short problems that one would expect from a physics class and the latter being long-form and often exploratory. Before the first exam, I was quite curious about which form the test would take, but in all honesty the tests are an even mix of both problem types, but rarely had something that we had never been introduced to, they were mostly questions similar to the written problem sets but often with another layer of complexity. Interspersed with these questions were conceptual or plug-and-chug questions more similar to the Mastering Physics problems. Overall, I would highly recommend taking Professor Rombes' class, and although the exams are challenging, if you ask questions in lecture and office hours and understand all of the homework assignments, you'll be in a good position to succeed

As a CS major trying (struggling) to get through the physics requirements, Rombes was an amazing professor. I tend to forget old physics material from 1A and 1B, but he often reviewed the necessary material before diving into new 1C content, which made it much easier to follow along in lecture.
His HW are "problem sets" of maybe one or two problems that he writes himself, and around 4 problems from the book. Some of the problems were pretty challenging (the three dot problems in the book), but for the most part they were...doable. It was more of getting burnt out in the continuous HW cycle because of summer session constraints, but I think in regular quarters it might be less stressful.
The midterm and final (cumulative, emphasis on second half) were both 24-hr, open note, open internet, exams. It honestly depends on how much time/effort you spend on it, because I think they were fairly made and definitely not made to be impossible.
Overall, I really enjoyed 1C with Professor Rombes!! He's a very clear lecturer, and he was very accessible either through office hours or through campuswire to ask further questions.

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!

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 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 recently finished his PHD at UCLA so he's pretty excited to teach and its very noticeable. His lectures are straightforward and easy to comprehend. He breaks down concepts for the students to understand easily and goes through examples problems in class step by step. Everything about this class is perfect (there's even extra credit), except for his exams. He mentioned in class due to the nature of online learning his exams must be hard because they are open book and open internet. His exams are definitely challenging but not impossible, and often times you can find intuition for the solutions online, but you really need to test your knowledge of physics to get it right. If you put the work in and study well, a B and above is very doable, but I would say getting an A is quite challenging and not guaranteed. The grading is good though, and you get lots of point just for showing some work.

Prof Rombes is a very clear and helpful professor - I would regularly go to office hours to get questions answered, and his explanations were normally very helpful. He's also really nice and approcahable. Homework was alright - it consisted of mastering physics problems and handwritten ones. I found these to be really challenging sometimes, but office hours always cleared them up. The worst part about this class, though, were the exams. They're pretty conceptual and aren't really based on any textbook problems, so it was super hard to study for them. We had 24 hours, and I would say I ended up spending a solid 10 hours on each midterm and the final. Because each exam is only weighted 20%, they're less stressful in that regard, but were still really hard. I ended up scraping an A because I did well in the first midterm and got extra credit, but the second midterm and final were really difficult for me. Overall, make sure you really understand the concepts the most, and go to office hours and really pick his brain about concepts you don't understand.

The previous reviews sum up Rombes' Physics 1B experience very well. Rombes really cares about his students' learning and is always willing to answer student questions during live lecture. His explanations are extremely clear- he cleared up many misconceptions regarding physics students had. He is helpful during office hours and it's clear he wants you to come!

His tests, while doable, were pretty challenging. Good thing we had 24 hours to complete the midterms and the final - I would definitely not have finished under a timed 1 hour setting (midterm 2 alone took me 8 hours). His exams are difficult because they in a way force you to really UNDERSTAND the material. They consist mostly of conceptual, short essay questions that ask you to explain the physics behind a certain scenario. You might know how to solve all of the textbook/Mastering Physics problems and the example problems in lecture, but if you cannot clearly explain in words the physics behind what you just solved, you will probably struggle come exam time. His tests are very different from the textbook problems and even the written Problem Sets he writes for homework.

His grading scheme is nice enough - 40 % of your grade comes from homework, and his written Problem Sets were graded for completion. The other 60 % are the exams. Exam averages were around 80 %. So overall, Rombes made physics manageable, but this class is still pretty hard nevertheless.

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.

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.