Professor
Shanna Shaked
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Professor Shaked teaches in the 2nd quarter of the food cluster and she does a really good job making sure her presentations are organized which I appreciate and her teaching style was very clear and to the point. I also liked how she would use example questions in the slide so we would know what to expect when we got to the test. Overall this was a really good portion of the food cluster! (and overall, i would highly recommend the food cluster, very interesting material if you are interested in sustainability and not way too much work like some of the other UCLA cluster classes).
Winter 2022 - Professor Shaked teaches in the 2nd quarter of the food cluster and she does a really good job making sure her presentations are organized which I appreciate and her teaching style was very clear and to the point. I also liked how she would use example questions in the slide so we would know what to expect when we got to the test. Overall this was a really good portion of the food cluster! (and overall, i would highly recommend the food cluster, very interesting material if you are interested in sustainability and not way too much work like some of the other UCLA cluster classes).
Most Helpful Review
Before going into any evaluation, let me tell you a brief overview of the grading scheme. Lab: 15% Midterm 1: 20% Midterm 2: 20% Final Exam: 40% Real-World Applications: 5% Participation Grade: Only used to replace the worse midterm Lab: 15 points total. 2 points per lab for 7 labs, 1 free point I guess. Labs are graded based on COMPLETION. You just have to be there to complete the lab and get full credit. Real-World Applications: These are rather my most painful experiences in the class. They require a lot of work: 1 full hour of PHYSICS (do not count in like processing, presentation-preparation time…) and are graded rather harshly by the TA. There are 3 RWAs for my class, and the topic of each RWA has to be up-to-date with the progress of the class. The best of the first two RWAs and the 3rd RWA are graded, and the average is like 82%. So you can definitely do well in these, as long as you are willing to put a lot of time in this: like about 2 hours of Physics plus 1-2 hour for processing and preparing presentation PER RWA. Lectures: They are fast-paced, but rather engaging. I rarely feel asleep in this class. A lot of demo. The lecture slides are posted afterwards, but I would say that take some time to condense them. They contain every single slides from the lecture, but most of which are either examples, clicker questions… So take some time to review them, type the notes in a separate documents, you will be glad that you won’t have to scroll through like 250 slides of mostly examples just to review for a midterm. Exams: They are very fair in my opinion. They are very generous in partial credits, so that is a really, really big plus. Just a head up: the average is like 60-70%, but that should be typical for a science class here at UCLA. Participation Grades: 15% Pre-Flights, 25% Homework, 25% Clicker, 35% Quizzes. Pre-Flights and Homework are Mastering Physics assignments. Pre-Flights are pretty straightforward and should be “free” points. Homework is trickier sometimes, but you can get away with it by solving the problems then check back the answers with the solution manual. The questions in the Homework should be either identical or changed in some numbers to the problems in the book. Clicker: should be free points. You just have to be in class, and answer 75% of the clicker questions during lectures. You can miss up to 4 lectures. Quizzes: there should be 10-12 quizzes. They are like just quick pop-quiz, 1-2 questions, and can cover 1-2 chapters depending on the quiz. If you are doing well, up-to-date with the class, you should be fine with the quizzes. You will have two participation grades. First participation grade for the first half of the class (up to the first midterm) and second participation grade for the rest. Keep up to all of these things because you can either replace the first midterm with the first participation grade OR the second midterm with the second participation grade, whichever will give you a higher boost in your class percentage. There are some extra credits opportunities here and there, but for me, they don’t boost my grades by that much, more like 1%. So Dr. Shaked is definitely a good teacher for 6A. The class is fun, engaging, and I have definitely learnt a lot from the class. However, I would say that: she did not give us enough problems for us to practice to become fast in solving test problems. If you have time, do some extra ones in the book, and that might be helpful. And if you have MORE time, look up some AP Physics C: Mechanics tests or books (such as go to the bookstore and buy a AP Physics C book from Barron’s or PR…), those are study-guide books, so I would say that they might be more concise with their explanations, and their styles might fit you better. Hope this helps!
Before going into any evaluation, let me tell you a brief overview of the grading scheme. Lab: 15% Midterm 1: 20% Midterm 2: 20% Final Exam: 40% Real-World Applications: 5% Participation Grade: Only used to replace the worse midterm Lab: 15 points total. 2 points per lab for 7 labs, 1 free point I guess. Labs are graded based on COMPLETION. You just have to be there to complete the lab and get full credit. Real-World Applications: These are rather my most painful experiences in the class. They require a lot of work: 1 full hour of PHYSICS (do not count in like processing, presentation-preparation time…) and are graded rather harshly by the TA. There are 3 RWAs for my class, and the topic of each RWA has to be up-to-date with the progress of the class. The best of the first two RWAs and the 3rd RWA are graded, and the average is like 82%. So you can definitely do well in these, as long as you are willing to put a lot of time in this: like about 2 hours of Physics plus 1-2 hour for processing and preparing presentation PER RWA. Lectures: They are fast-paced, but rather engaging. I rarely feel asleep in this class. A lot of demo. The lecture slides are posted afterwards, but I would say that take some time to condense them. They contain every single slides from the lecture, but most of which are either examples, clicker questions… So take some time to review them, type the notes in a separate documents, you will be glad that you won’t have to scroll through like 250 slides of mostly examples just to review for a midterm. Exams: They are very fair in my opinion. They are very generous in partial credits, so that is a really, really big plus. Just a head up: the average is like 60-70%, but that should be typical for a science class here at UCLA. Participation Grades: 15% Pre-Flights, 25% Homework, 25% Clicker, 35% Quizzes. Pre-Flights and Homework are Mastering Physics assignments. Pre-Flights are pretty straightforward and should be “free” points. Homework is trickier sometimes, but you can get away with it by solving the problems then check back the answers with the solution manual. The questions in the Homework should be either identical or changed in some numbers to the problems in the book. Clicker: should be free points. You just have to be in class, and answer 75% of the clicker questions during lectures. You can miss up to 4 lectures. Quizzes: there should be 10-12 quizzes. They are like just quick pop-quiz, 1-2 questions, and can cover 1-2 chapters depending on the quiz. If you are doing well, up-to-date with the class, you should be fine with the quizzes. You will have two participation grades. First participation grade for the first half of the class (up to the first midterm) and second participation grade for the rest. Keep up to all of these things because you can either replace the first midterm with the first participation grade OR the second midterm with the second participation grade, whichever will give you a higher boost in your class percentage. There are some extra credits opportunities here and there, but for me, they don’t boost my grades by that much, more like 1%. So Dr. Shaked is definitely a good teacher for 6A. The class is fun, engaging, and I have definitely learnt a lot from the class. However, I would say that: she did not give us enough problems for us to practice to become fast in solving test problems. If you have time, do some extra ones in the book, and that might be helpful. And if you have MORE time, look up some AP Physics C: Mechanics tests or books (such as go to the bookstore and buy a AP Physics C book from Barron’s or PR…), those are study-guide books, so I would say that they might be more concise with their explanations, and their styles might fit you better. Hope this helps!
Most Helpful Review
I don't know how she teaches 6B, but for 6A, she was a great professor, genuinely concerned about her students. That being said, she will make you work for the A. It's not impossible, but if you end up with an A in her class, it means you really put in the effort and you deserve it. If you are struggling, you can schedule an appointment with her and she will offer individualized suggestions on improving your understanding and study methods/approaches. She did bombard us with homework and quizzes. There's "pre-quiz" before the material is actually taught, as well as a quiz on previous material and homework due on Fridays. Unless you have a really solid background in physics, the homework can become pretty challenging, not only because of the difficulty but the many problems she assigns. Yes, her midterms/tests are crazy hard, but she tries to model them after the homework problems you do. The first midterm was especially hard because she did not go over any of the "real life science" physics problems with the weird units. After everyone failed the first midterm, she adjusted her test and offered extra credit. There were many times where she offered extra credit (she doesn't curve though). She also welcomed student feedback after every lecture (another extra credit opportunity) and actually listened and adjusted her classes accordingly. I had no previous background before taking this class. I struggled the most during the first few weeks. It does get better afterwards. If you're looking for an easy A, she won't be the best professor for that. But if you don't mind the work, she's incredibly nice, a great person, and good at presenting the material.
I don't know how she teaches 6B, but for 6A, she was a great professor, genuinely concerned about her students. That being said, she will make you work for the A. It's not impossible, but if you end up with an A in her class, it means you really put in the effort and you deserve it. If you are struggling, you can schedule an appointment with her and she will offer individualized suggestions on improving your understanding and study methods/approaches. She did bombard us with homework and quizzes. There's "pre-quiz" before the material is actually taught, as well as a quiz on previous material and homework due on Fridays. Unless you have a really solid background in physics, the homework can become pretty challenging, not only because of the difficulty but the many problems she assigns. Yes, her midterms/tests are crazy hard, but she tries to model them after the homework problems you do. The first midterm was especially hard because she did not go over any of the "real life science" physics problems with the weird units. After everyone failed the first midterm, she adjusted her test and offered extra credit. There were many times where she offered extra credit (she doesn't curve though). She also welcomed student feedback after every lecture (another extra credit opportunity) and actually listened and adjusted her classes accordingly. I had no previous background before taking this class. I struggled the most during the first few weeks. It does get better afterwards. If you're looking for an easy A, she won't be the best professor for that. But if you don't mind the work, she's incredibly nice, a great person, and good at presenting the material.
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Most Helpful Review
I took Shaked in Spring 2015. I'm going to be objective as possible saying these things, but I'll address the usual 3 main concerns with a personal opinion at the end. 1. Class Layout MT I MT II Final Exam Optional: Participation to replace one MT score Optional: One Real World Application project to replace 10% of your overall grade (and reduce your final exam from being 45% to 35% worth of your overall grade) Participation, if you choose to take it, includes: Clicker questions, Mastering Physics ‘pre flights’ (they’re like chapter overviews you have to take before she teaches the actual chapter in class, usually about 1hr+ long), HW due once a week, discussion attendance mandatory, and quizzes (I may have missed a few things, idk). Note: Shaked will drop MANY of the participation things (such as 2 of you lowest quiz scores and 6 clicker days or something like that). Many opportunities for extra credit. Piazza will be the class website you use to post questions, etc. Lecture slides will be linked through CCLE. There will be optional surveys/questionnaires you can take for extra credit (through another website). If your final exam grade is higher than your MT she’ll replace it with the final exam grade. 2. Teaching Style Shaked is all over the place in her teaching. The main issue is that she is that since she does clicker questions in her class, she will spend 5 minutes worth of class on one clicker question. She is extremely concerned with whether or not you fully understand the material, so she will spend class time to make sure everyone clearly understands it. This takes away from her clarifying other concepts and skipping through some slides so that she can stay on time. She also has OH and a platoon of TAs and peer tutors. She is not very good at explaining concepts (6B is more conceptual than 6A). She will curve generously and understands she’s not perfect right now, so she will alter things in class as time goes on in response to feedback she gets. Though this is nice, it’s also sometimes annoying because your syllabus is never really set and things always change. 3. Exam Layout She will expect you to estimate values and do calculations on your exam without a calculator. Get used to it. And it’s not 2+2 is more like (9x10^12)(1.6x10^-19). Don’t let the numbers scare you though, you’ll get used to it. Leave calculations for last. She gives you a flashcard to have your formula sheet + notes on for MTs and a sheet of paper’s worth for your final. Don’t freak out by low scores and low averages, I know lots of people aren’t physics majors but 60% as an avg is normal for a physics class. Again, she will 'curve.' Personal Opinion: I disliked her teaching style and the style of her exams. If you have not ever taken a Shaked exam, it smacks you silly. The questions in her lectures and HW doesn’t really mimic her questions on exasm. You’ll pretty much just have to take it the first time and get used to it after that. Invest in whatever freaken iClicker she asks of you. I said there’s a curve, but really it’s really an extra credit quiz based on the midterm to boost your score. It can only be taken in class and with the specific iClicker she wants, so get it. Her course material is scattered everywhere and all the crap she says is confusing. Piazza sends notifications to your email which is really annoying (even when I unsubscribed I still got them). Read her instructor’s notes, sometimes they inform you of changes and links to extra credit. Otherwise ignore her. What I did was: MT I, MT II, Final exam (because fuck all that participation it’s insane) and I missed the deadline for the RWA project. Do all of the extra credit you can. The RWA drafts and stuff are dumb, but she said she’d replace our draft scores with our final RWA score if our final one was higher. Grades: MT I (without curve): 60%. Avg: 60% MT II (without curve): 78% Avg: 70% Final (with curve): 87% Avg: 74% Final grade: A Note: I did most of her extra credit and studied very hard for the class since I took it with only the MT and Final grades. I really liked her as a person, she was a generous grader, I disliked her teaching style and methods. I got a lot of help from my friends who are good at Physics. A LOT OF HELP.
I took Shaked in Spring 2015. I'm going to be objective as possible saying these things, but I'll address the usual 3 main concerns with a personal opinion at the end. 1. Class Layout MT I MT II Final Exam Optional: Participation to replace one MT score Optional: One Real World Application project to replace 10% of your overall grade (and reduce your final exam from being 45% to 35% worth of your overall grade) Participation, if you choose to take it, includes: Clicker questions, Mastering Physics ‘pre flights’ (they’re like chapter overviews you have to take before she teaches the actual chapter in class, usually about 1hr+ long), HW due once a week, discussion attendance mandatory, and quizzes (I may have missed a few things, idk). Note: Shaked will drop MANY of the participation things (such as 2 of you lowest quiz scores and 6 clicker days or something like that). Many opportunities for extra credit. Piazza will be the class website you use to post questions, etc. Lecture slides will be linked through CCLE. There will be optional surveys/questionnaires you can take for extra credit (through another website). If your final exam grade is higher than your MT she’ll replace it with the final exam grade. 2. Teaching Style Shaked is all over the place in her teaching. The main issue is that she is that since she does clicker questions in her class, she will spend 5 minutes worth of class on one clicker question. She is extremely concerned with whether or not you fully understand the material, so she will spend class time to make sure everyone clearly understands it. This takes away from her clarifying other concepts and skipping through some slides so that she can stay on time. She also has OH and a platoon of TAs and peer tutors. She is not very good at explaining concepts (6B is more conceptual than 6A). She will curve generously and understands she’s not perfect right now, so she will alter things in class as time goes on in response to feedback she gets. Though this is nice, it’s also sometimes annoying because your syllabus is never really set and things always change. 3. Exam Layout She will expect you to estimate values and do calculations on your exam without a calculator. Get used to it. And it’s not 2+2 is more like (9x10^12)(1.6x10^-19). Don’t let the numbers scare you though, you’ll get used to it. Leave calculations for last. She gives you a flashcard to have your formula sheet + notes on for MTs and a sheet of paper’s worth for your final. Don’t freak out by low scores and low averages, I know lots of people aren’t physics majors but 60% as an avg is normal for a physics class. Again, she will 'curve.' Personal Opinion: I disliked her teaching style and the style of her exams. If you have not ever taken a Shaked exam, it smacks you silly. The questions in her lectures and HW doesn’t really mimic her questions on exasm. You’ll pretty much just have to take it the first time and get used to it after that. Invest in whatever freaken iClicker she asks of you. I said there’s a curve, but really it’s really an extra credit quiz based on the midterm to boost your score. It can only be taken in class and with the specific iClicker she wants, so get it. Her course material is scattered everywhere and all the crap she says is confusing. Piazza sends notifications to your email which is really annoying (even when I unsubscribed I still got them). Read her instructor’s notes, sometimes they inform you of changes and links to extra credit. Otherwise ignore her. What I did was: MT I, MT II, Final exam (because fuck all that participation it’s insane) and I missed the deadline for the RWA project. Do all of the extra credit you can. The RWA drafts and stuff are dumb, but she said she’d replace our draft scores with our final RWA score if our final one was higher. Grades: MT I (without curve): 60%. Avg: 60% MT II (without curve): 78% Avg: 70% Final (with curve): 87% Avg: 74% Final grade: A Note: I did most of her extra credit and studied very hard for the class since I took it with only the MT and Final grades. I really liked her as a person, she was a generous grader, I disliked her teaching style and methods. I got a lot of help from my friends who are good at Physics. A LOT OF HELP.
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