Roger Freedman - University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA

Professor: Roger Freedman

Department: Physics

College: University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PHY1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

One of the worst professors. A sadistic sense of humor and complete disregard for the success of students make this class a struggle. Hard to approach, lectures are disorganized and difficult to understand. Very arrogant.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PHYS1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Freedman was very knowledgable about course material, however his class was "flipped", meaning we watched online lectures and solved problems during class. Definitely lots of homework. I found his class very difficult, although I did not have any previous Physics experience. I recommend doing difficult book problems for exam prep.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PHY1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Freedman made lectures mandatory yet never went over anything in class. He expected you to know everything about physics despite never teaching it.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PHYS2
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Well, this guy is the epitome of an wasted talent; he can teach, and listening to his explanation, I can see how such phenomena are happening, but this man. He doesn't try. With his ability to teach, he decides to make it hard on purpose for us.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PHYS2
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This was my second quarter of having Freedman. Very difficult class and having a flipped classroom (online lectures, in class problem solving) only made it worse. Professor is the complete opposite of concise and has taken 30+ minutes during review sessions to go over very simple problems.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PHY2
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO TOUGH

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PHYS2
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

I really like this man! Some students don't like him because his exams are hard and he has a lot homework, but his passion to physics are really respectable. Also, he prepared sufficient for every lecture and is kind to every student.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PHYS1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I LOVE this mans passion for physics and learning! Its definitely contagious. Although, it seems his goal to make his class the most important thing in your life for 9 weeks. Ridiculous amount of HW. Tests/finals aren't that bad if you understand the material AND basic algebra. I actually loved how unique his tests were. Great lecturer as well.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PHYS1
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Freedman has the class structured so that you'll completely master physics in every aspect, but that means tons of homework and very challenging tests. He knows the material well and can teach it, but has no understanding or regard at all for how the students feel, expecting the students to spend all their time on his class.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PHYS1
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

I have a heavy math background and still found this class extremely difficult. Seriously, if you are a freshman do NOT TAKE HIM. He treats students like children, assigns homework like you have no other classes, and his tests are ridiculous. He just wants to trick you and see you fail. He does not care about his students or their success.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PHYS1
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Freedman is so close to being an amazing professor, but falls short in the worst ways. All lectures of new material are mind-numbing online videos. It's a "flipped classroom" style course, but for physics, it just doesn't work. iClickers are used during the in-person "lectures" so attendance is pretty much mandatory. Exams aren't horrible.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PHYS2
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Freedman gets a bad rap because his class is HARD. He forces you to put in a ton of work to properly understand the content and though that makes it difficult to get a good grade in the class, it forces you to really learn the material. He knows what he's doing, you just have to be prepared to dedicate a lot of time to his methods. They work though

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PHYS3
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Incredibly hard final, but I learned so much in the course. He was the first physics professor who really forces you to understand the concepts. Lectures aren't that helpful, but the book and homework definitely were. Homework load wasn't fun but I know it helped me in the long run.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PHYS6A
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

I really disliked him as a person, but he was an organized professor with set schedules for homework and online lectures. He also treated all of us like children with simple rituals like "raise your iclickers" and the "physics mailman". He wasn't helpful outside of class. I personally ended up going to CLAS and reading the textbook a lot for help.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PHYS2
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Long hours of homework each week where he expects you to pre-read, do the homework, and come to class actually understanding material when he doesn't even teach. Spends half the lectures discussing iclickers rather than focusing on real content. Tests are extremely hard but doable. Expect to do the full reading and hours of prep that he demands

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PHYS2
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Taking his class you need to spend 4 hours on the stupid mastering physics questions each week. Many questions are easy to misunderstand since there will be no picuture. If you had taken AP physics and want to learn deeper instead of wasting your time on basic but massive hw choose physics 2x series in which you can learn more and possibly less hw

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PHYS6A
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Freedman was one of the worst professors I've had. I don't understand why he is a teacher when he clearly doesn't want to teach. You're required to watch an automated lecture online before every class and then you go to class and he explains one iClicker question for the entire 50 minutes. If you want to do well take physics with anyone else.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PHYS6B
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This is the most difficult course I have ever taken at UCSB. Freedman is a brutal teacher and a assshole when it comes to passing this class. Take it with another teacher. Trust me.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PHYS6C
• Grade Received: D+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Friedman is awful he assigns out of class work as if you are not taking a single other class. There is homework like 4 times a week both in online assignments and video lecture. the class takes way to much time out of class.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: PHYS6B
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Honestly can say that Freedman is the worst professor I've had at UCSB. Insane amount of work + nearly impossible tests. Biggest problem with him is his complete lack of respect for students. He makes you feel stupid for asking Q's and is extremely demeaning. He thinks he's all that because he wrote the textbook.. he's not. AVOID HIM IF YOU CAN!!!