PHYS 1429

I've only seen Prof Bychkov a handful of times, but the TAs who ran the lab were both really nice and always helpful (shoutouts to omar and katie). The lab is very structured and you do all your work in a group, so the people in that group basically make or break your semester. I've heard they made the class more manageable for my year, and I gotta agree, but I still think it's way too much work for just 1 credit.

This class is extremely difficult for the one credit it is worth. There are so many different assignments to keep track of, including prelabs, inlabs, and postlabs. The lab reports are very difficult to do well on, and your grades are entirely dependent on the ta you get. Just hope you get a good group to work with and have a routine of who does which part of the lab report.

You won't actually see Maksim, the class will be taught by TAs who are usually nice but not always helpful. This class is a lot of work for 1 credit and not a class you take for fun. Timed quizzes every week or two were the bane of my existence. Lab reports also depend on your grading TA and my group would seemingly get 18/20 or 14/20 for the similar efforts put forth and points were taken off for very minor things. This semester, an A was > 93.5 and an A- > 89.5. I barely got an A- but will be taking CR. Don't leave writing lab reports until the day they are due. Also DO NOT take the Wednesday 6:00 pm lab if you are taking PHYS 1425 because you will have a 2-hour lab then a test right after, which while doable, is not idea in the least. This class is very stressful for no good reason.

Overall, this class was fine but did ask a lot for a one-credit class. Labs were not that bad, but the amount of writing for each lab, the difficulty of some post-lab questions, and ambiguous and repetitive nature of some warm-up questions felt unnecessary. However, the TA's, who run the class, were quite helpful and kind when you ask them questions.

I've never really liked physics and this lab didn't do anything to change my mind. There was a lot to keep track of with prelabs, in lab reports, out of lab reports, and postlabs and each week alternated which assignments you had. The prelabs were usually pretty easy and only took a few minutes. The postlab quizzes were timed and often included some crazy calculations and trial and error. You get a few responses without losing points so it's not too difficult to get the right answers even if it takes a few tries. The reports really sucked though. The TAs grade them and they don't tell you what you need to be including in the reports. You can answer all the questions that the lab asks for and still get points off for missing something else. The comments on the reports are no help because they don't tell you what you can do to fix them. I had an awesome group but our grades for the reports were never great. The grading seems really arbitrary too because my group got anything from 60% to 85% for the same amount of effort. With all the assignments for this class, it definitely felt like more than just 1 credit. I think I spent more time on this class than some of my 3 credit classes, which is messed up. Overall, I did not enjoy this class, but it was required for my major. Hope for a good group and good TAs and just do your best. Good Luck!

Honestly, this lab should be worth way more than 1 credit. The lab times are incredibly long- an hour and 50 minutes, but it goes by pretty quick. The groups are randomized so just pray you get a good one. Each week the lab is usually focused on a different physics "topic", and then there is either a written or online "quiz style" postlab. The quiz type post labs are a little tedious, and the lab write ups are tough cause the graders can just take off points for no reason. There are two TAs assigned to each section, and it really just depends on if you get good TAs for your section.

It's hard to tell whether the professor has a vendetta against his students or just hates his job. He is extremely unapproachable (no office hours, doesn't respond to many emails, etc.) and the grading of the assignments are so arbitrary you could submit a nobel prize winning paper and get a 95 or a 60 on the lab report based on how the grader is feeling. The grader is incredibly difficult to talk to, and even after talking to other TA's several times to discuss revisions and ways to improve the lab report, do not expect more than an 80-90 on it unless your physics knowledge makes you one of the 4 people of out a class of 26 who received an A in the course. You will lose points for nonsensical parts and you will have to argue with the TA for points back if you do not want a grade lower than an 80. The pre labs are very easy, and the post labs are not bad, this is what prevents people from failing the course. In our section, 4 people got C's, 18 people got B's, and 4 got A's, so odds are you will most likely get a B and just move on. The only good thing is that its a 1 credit class, not because the work is equivalent to 1 credit (more like 2-3), but because if it was any more than that peoples GPAs would definitely fall. There's not really any way for you to miss this class, so just brace for it and do what you can! You will survive this course, get the required credit, and move on.

For lab courses one's experience typically depends on the quality of your groupmates. My group was good but this course was still difficult! The labs themselves vary in quality but the reports are always a chore to write for the results received. My group consistently got 80-85s on ours regardless of what we put on.

The postlabs vary in difficulty but generally skew towards the hard side. This is especially true for the latter ones. The class uses WebAssign for the postlabs so there is no partial credit for work or anything. The cumulative postlab at the end was exceedingly difficult. You have been warned!

The basic physics labs just aren't great at UVA. It's all group based, so if you don't have a good/ motivated group you're kind of screwed. You don't have any interaction with Prof Bychkov, its mostly all run by the TAs (the physical lab and the grading), which can be frustrating as there's kind of a lapse in communication between them, making it unclear what is expected of you. The actual labs themselves aren't too bad, but are mostly confusing based on the wording of questions/ scenarios. You have a lab report due typically every other week, with weekly prelabs and biweekly postlab quizzes. The lab reports aren't super time consuming, but the graders can be super knit-picky and you have to fit a ton of information on a single page which can be really annoying to format. If you don't have to take the class as a requirement, then I really wouldn't recommend it.

#tCF2020

*During COVID so completely online [#tCF2020]
If you have a good group, you will be somewhat okay if not great. If you don't, you better get ready for the semester to suck or hope you can kick them/get a new one as that is an option in the class syllabus.

Class breakdown is as follows:pre-lab homework is worth 15%, in-lab assignment is worth 15% (they randomly pick a group to grade, pick random questions?, and it's graded 2-3 times per semester), the post-lab is worth 30%, and lab report is worth 40%.
Didn't see the professor AT ALL, you're gonna be relying on your TAs and your group mates so you best hope you get a good group. Thankfully, I did and we all got As in this class - that is NOT the case for many and even then the graders on the lab reports are going to screw you over sometimes.
My group (3 people) early on decided that we were going to meet up on zoom each week to write the report together. 2 of us wrote it in sections while 1 edited as we went along and we all kind of wrote the conclusion together. When we got confused, we just asked each other questions. ALSO SOMETHING EXTREMELY IMPORTANT - the graders meet on Friday, the lab reports are due on Monday. YOU CAN GET THE GRADERS TO REVIEW YOUR LAB REPORTS - and get their commentary for what to improve - this will come in important later.
Here's what I ended up doing towards the end of the semester which helped immensely as I had no memory, in steps:
1. You are not going to remember JACK after completing the lab - and sometimes your group won't either, so immediately after the lab do a rough draft of the first half of the lab (overview, quantitative+qualitative predictions, and measurements section) just get it done real quick. At the very end of the class, ASK THE TA's DIRECTLY what should be focused on when explaining the qualitative prediction/how it should even be explained without using calculus, if the quantitative prediction is an EQUATION or an actual number, and ask about the conclusion section's questions. If a rough draft is too much, you better take notes when asking the TA those questions, and take screenshots of what they write down if they write down the formulas needed for the predictions.
2. Establish what your group is doing. My group met up for ~3/4 hours on zoom to write this lab every week (on Thursdays) before I started making the rough draft directly after the labs which cut down time immensely as it just needed to be edited and the conclusion had to be added. This is also because we got distracted sometimes as we talked, if your group just ultra focused you could probably get it done in 2.5/3.
3. On Fridays, bring your lab to the grader you have that week and get them to look over it and fix the paper right after. Ask about the prediction section, and the conclusion section. They will tell you if you're using the correct numbers in your calculations, and if your answer is within the ballpark of what is acceptable. If it's not, ask them about your math/how to do the math if there's time (sometimes this is pushing it). IMPORTANT, the graders are on a rotation. Some are harsher than others, but you can argue for half points back/full points back and we were successful in doing so 3 times which helped immensely as each lab is worth 20 points and a 17.5/20 is much different than an 18.5 or 19/20 when it's 40% of your grade. Your labs will make or break your grade.
4. By doing this, tou get to relax over the weekend, or have additional time to fix the lab over the weekend. Also, sometimes the TAs hold emergency/we pity you office hours on Sundays to go over the conclusions sections/problematic sections, or the postlabs which can be crap sometimes.
Honestly, if the postlab is hard that week go to office hours, sometimes the way to get the answer isn't clear at all and you're gonna need help. If you do well enough on the labs, the POSTLABS are going to boost you to an A, or bring you down to a B.
Honestly, you don't need an A in this course it's 1 credit you'll be fine, but if you really want it this is what worked best for me.