For a 2.0 unit class, I spent more time writing labs for this class than studying for my other major-required 4.0-5.0 unit classes.

The grading scheme should be updated. One visit to BruinWalk and you will read that many students agree with this logic. In this class, it is possible for a student to receive a a high grade on a report, but receive a C because other classmates averaged higher. This is by far the factor that demotivated me the most. A learning environment such as a lab should be designed to reward students for effort, and for participating in the experimental experience. A lab manual does not substitute for a professor and therefore grading should not be harsh on students' lab reports. With no professor, and only Helen's help during two hours for the entire week + email, the class should not have a curve which gives 1/3 A's, 1/3B's and 1/3 "C's and below".

Campbell, the professor, was not present to discuss the formatting and presentation of these labs. I have heard great things about this professor but unfortunately did not see him let alone learn anything from him or get any personal advice about the lab manual.

I wish the lab reports weren't so harshly graded. This is a class where you can lose a substantial amount of points if the TA does not particularly agree with the formatting of my report, even after spending multiple hours upon hours writing it. Participation grading + Completion should be more heavily weighted than the format of the report.

Just a formatting class. Don't be naive and think you will actually be learning physics or useful lab skills in this class. 99% of your grade in this class is how well you can follow the lab manual which is extremely unclear, but this won't stop your TA from deducting points from your scores. And the curved grading in this class is hell. Your final grade is purely based on how well you performed compared to your classmates, even if you get 95% in the class you could still end up with a C. If Campbell is teaching this course try to take it during the summer to avoid this hell.

I loved having Prof. Campbell for mechanical physics. He is a young guy that interacts very well with students. I thought he gave some good lectures, but you can expect to fall asleep a couple times in his class. Some people love that he gives massively curved tests (the average on the first midterm was a 37%) and others don't. He is generous with the curve though to make sure that people succeed and learn something in his class. Would definitely recommend him to anyone.

Only take this BS if you need to. They will take off points on your report for anything. Too much white space, showing consecutive figures (even though professional reports do this all the time), spelling, punctuation, etc. Legit the grading for this class is BULL#@$%. I don't understand the logic here. By their reasoning, one could have everything correct and displayed correctly, but if there is too much white space between ideas or bad spelling or pretty much anything, they could technically get a zero. This is where my 60k out of state tuition is going? Are you kidding me? Like what exactly is this crap, shoulda went to SC man. Don't take this crap, go to a CC for it.

Yeah...I don't like this class.
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Pros:
* Shorter lab reports than 4AL
* Honestly the experiments are cool
* TA's can be nice
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Cons:
* Grading is very subjective
* The class itself is hard, wires are annoying
* Time crunch in labs

This class sucks. Some ways to make it suck marginally less:
- If you haven't taken 4AL, in the first lab try to figure out how many people in your section have. 90% of the points you lose will be on formatting details if you're new to writing labs like this. People who've taken 4AL will know how to do it and jack up the curve while you have to figure it out. If more than half of the people in your section have taken 4AL, switch to a new one immediately.
- Also if your TA is unhelpful or doesn't seem to know what they're doing, find a new section as well. I had to ask mine for clarification on almost every lab because the manual is so poorly written. Also make sure you know what your TA wants format-wise so you're not losing points.
- Reading at least the introduction section of each lab before you take the quiz will help you know what equations and concepts are important - makes it easier to figure out the questions.
- You don't have to read each lab in detail before you do it, but at least get a look at the questions for the worksheet and what data you have to analyze in the report. This'll tell you what parts of the experiments are actually important and you don't have to waste time on minor parts of it (especially for the labs where you'll probably have a time crunch).
- Try to do the analysis sections (graphing, linear regressions, etc.) in lab if you have extra time. That way you know you have everything you need and if something seems off about the data, you can ask your TA about it. If you're lucky, they won't dock you for your data seeming off if your procedure and analysis follow the correct steps, but it's good to ask them in lab and make sure.
- This will sound like a broken record but START EARLY. Writing up the labs are a lot of work but much more manageable as 1-2 hours a day. Especially since you have to pay attention to a lot of details like precision and significant figures, it's better to give yourself time to review it and fix stuff.
- As said before, most of the points you'll lose will be due to nitpicky formatting things. The only real way to see what was specifically wrong with your report is to check back on the Turnitin links for each lab after a week or so following its due date. If your TA leaves comments on the labs it'll help figure out where specifically points are being taken off and what you need to fix. A lot of the things I lost points for were formatting requirements my TA did not mention at all in lab.
- See if the TA would be willing to share information about score distributions for each lab after they're graded. Since the classes are curved by section, it'll help you get a better idea of where you stand compared to everyone else.

I despise this class. It's better than 4AL, but it still sucks. Make sure to review someone else's later labs from 4AL/BL to get a hang of the formatting. This class is a formatting class. It's an absolute waste of time and the curve is ridiculous. I was in a class of 9 people, and I am pretty sure I was 3rd overall. Each rank got a different grade, from what I heard (1st - A, 2nd - A-, 3rd - B+ etc).

Make sure you ask your TA for formatting advice/show them your labs before you submit them.

On the bright side, you usually don't need the entire 3 hours for the lab. Get started early because starting the lab the night before it's due is a killer.

The quizzes are easy in that you have 3 tries. The questions stay the same, but the numbers switch.

The trick to this class is to schmooz your TA because they are likely a master's engineering student who doesn't give a fuck. Take the time to learn LaTeX before you take this class. I spent the week before the quarter started to figure out how to code and format with it and my lab reports looked very beautiful.

Make your worksheets a bit dense, not too much but minimum 2 sentences, have consistent formatting, DRAW NICE COLORFUL FIGURES! I got a 60% on my first lab report but for all the rest of them I consistently became the top score in the class as the reports got more involved since I mastered LaTeX and drew a bunch of basic figures in powerpoint. I typed up a bunch of bullshit, our experiments wouldn't work every now and then but it looked nice.

The workload gets better after the first one.

This class has been the bane of my existence and it's only two units!! There is a lab report due every week and they take HOURS. Worse than that, this is the only class I've ever had where the curve will actually hurt you: if everyone in the class gets above a 90 and you get 90, you're screwed. Luckily, the professor only gives out As, Bs, and Cs. The professor insists this is the best way to run the course, but I call bullshit.