Do NOT take Dina. she is a good lecturer but this is masked by IMPOSSIBLE to do quizzes. this class makes you WORK but you do not get rewarded on your efforts. Quizzes are based off of intuition and instinct. They do not reflect strategies picked up on practice quizzes. DOES NOT REFLECT HOW PHYSICS SHOULD BE TAUGHT.

I was in Dina's class for Phy 7B/C and I gotta say she is the worst professor I've had at UC Davis. During lecture she basically reads off the slides and asks tricky clicker questions. Her quizzes do no reflect any of the DLs or practice exams she provides. I went to tutoring, workshops and office hours and I still did not do well.

She is way better in DL than in lecture. Please be prepared for hard quiz with unclear rubric. AVOID her as instructor.

Please avoid her as much as you can. Her lecture is not bad, but I never learn things. I only go to her class because of the clicker questions. Her quiz is harder than any other professor. I realized this after having her class for three quarters.

I dont know why people give too much awesome comments to this professor besides she being so hard on students and harsh too. Her notes are easy to follow yet her teaching style is completely different because what she teaches and what she puts in the exam is totally different. DONT TAKE HER.

Starting this RMP before the quarter ends b/c they are JUST THAT BAD. I strongly advise you to find someone else. Her quizzes are beyond hard compared to reading checks. The only help she provides are solns to quizzes. You have to learn on your own. She does not support actual learning, only grades on few quizzes/exams that will break your spirit.

I might be the black sheep in these comments, but I think Dina is one of the worst physics professors I've ever had. Her lectures are too dense and long and her "problem solving sessions" just go over the lecture again with no problems. The practice material is incomparable to the midterm I just took. Our quiz avgs are no joke 2/5.

the quiz averages have consistently been a 2/5. the exam was not it. i dont want to see the word amber ever again.

Great class if you want to be tested on stuff she never taught you.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Very low quiz averages & fails to offer students guidance, pre-recorded lectures from last year, lecture material is all theory then gives lots of calculation questions on quizzes, and practice problems are too simple for the difficult questions on exams/quizzes. This class has crushed my spirit & my will...

Dina is a terrible lecture. Writing this review now before the quarter ends so students can avoid her at all costs. Lecture is basic concepts with one, maybe two straightforward examples. Quizzes are impossible with 2/5 averages, reading checks are not reasonable, and her problem solving sessions are a repeat of her lectures. Do not take her.

AVOID DINA AT ALL COSTS! Her lectures seem easy to follow, but what she teaches vs what she tests you on are totally different. In our final, one of the questions literally stated how we had been taught to inaccurately apply a concept, and then told us to do it the correct way even though we never learned how. I wish I could give her a 0.

This was by far the worst class I have taken so far. Dina, while very kind, gave the most difficult exams I have experienced at Davis. Her exams covered topics which went far beyond any information taught/given in lectures or practice exams. Her niceness doesn't make up for the difficulty of her exams. Do not recommend.

Her exams are hardly reflective of the level of difficulty with which we approach concepts in lecture and DL. The questions are often overly wordy and convoluted. The exams are curved quite heavily to make up for their difficulty. The curve does not prevent students from feeling dumb for not understanding something we never learned how to do.

The exams are super hard and not even relevant to what we have learned in class. Avoid if possible!

The physics department sucks here, and so does the physics7 series. Dina has said she helped create its format, so unlike other professors, I will be blaming the enforced curve and long DLs on her. Takes advantage of the online format by turning her "office hours" into another 80min lecture. Her "extra credit" realistically only gives 0%-1%. Avoid.

Exams were pretty difficult. Was not a fan of how the questions were worded.

Would not recommend Dina as a professor. While I can credit her on her lectures, the structure of the class was abysmal, placing much of the actual teaching on TAs and mandating quizzes at insane hours for no apparent reason. Through the pandemic, she was very in accommodating of students needs and doesnt offer common courtesies expected of a prof

very generous with partial credit which is needed since the quizzes suck. several quizzes now have had problems never gone over in class because we should "struggle together" to figure them out while studying. would not recommend if there's a choice betw her and any other prof. also gives sections a hard quiz if they score too well the prev week.

Do not take her. The tests are ALWAYS 10x harder than any sort of practice problems she gives, and you have barely any time to do them.

Entire grade based on 5 quizzes worth 10 points each which made partial credit hard. If you're not intuitively good at physics her quizzes are brutal because they're nothing like the few practices she releases or the DLs. Her lectures were unhelpful and if you have a bad TA leading your DL you're in trouble.

Genuinely wish I got T-boned by a semi-truck every time I had to go take one of her insufferable quizzes.

The quizzes in this class are focused heavily on mathematical relationships and not nearly as much on physics concepts. She is also pretty unapproachable and unreasonable with unanimous student requests. She also doesn’t real consider other learning styles.

Won't record lectures when people had to miss class if they got COVID, wouldn't go over how to solve certain problems because we were "expected to learn it all in DL", had comparatively easy lectures compared to the ass-kicking that was every quiz, and is overall unapproachable/not accommodating. Just don't.

Good luck because you're gonna need it. Not sure what just happened in the final. Try to take physics somewhere else tbh, or with someone else. Not a good class. At all. Have fun hehe

Quizzes/final are awful and the lectures don't represent the material expected for you to know. Be prepared to attend office hours and seek outside help to maintain a good grade in the class. The curve is very generous however, but that's only because the averages are so low.

Dina designed the 7 series at Davis, so if you did not like the structure of 7A- you're gonna hate 7B with her. There really is no way to prepare- the final is 50% of your grade and is WAY beyond the scope of anything you will see in lectures, DLs, practice quizzes, or practice finals. It really feels impossible to succeed in her class.

I'm just writing this to encourage people to take physics somewhere else. Change or major or whatever you need to do. You don't learn anything, DLs are not consistent with quizzes. Your learning experience will be far better taking this class at community college. Unfortunately given the tuition we pay.

The tests and quizzes were beyond harder than the materials we were introduced to and she didn't prepare us well for what she had written to test us on. I honestly feel like if I had a different professor, I would've been much more prepared.

The approach to this class is impossible, you have to know the material at a level more advanced than what is normally needed. DL, quizzes, and final did not feel like actual material learned. Every assignment given is written in a way that requires mastery of the subject which cannot be achieved in 10 weeks. Take at your own risk

Because of Dina, my blood pressure has skyrocketed exponentially and I think I have shaved a few years off my life expectancy. Do not listen to the reviews giving Dina a positive rating. She artificially makes the class WAY TOO stressful- it does not have to be this way (quizzes have artificialy heavy algebra) If you can delay this class, delay it.

The class was a disaster. I am a pretty strong student and take my classes very seriously, but I can just not explain this class. She is very condescending and makes you feel stupid if you ask questions. The problem starts and quizzes do not prepare you whatsoever. Please spare yourself, and take physics at a community college.

By far the worst professor I've had. Her tests are unfair and curveballs - nothing like her practice quizzes. Problem starts are useless. DL is a total time waste as it contributes nothing to what's on the test. Avoid the physics 7 series if you can, and by ALL MEANS avoid Dina for 7C.

literally worst physics professor ever. if you care about your sanity don't take her.

got desperate and opted for pass/no pass (deal w/ consequences in the future if any) but i'm not even sure if i'm going to even pass lol horrible class and professor overall but 7c felt a million times more worse than 7a and 7b. i felt like i retained NOTHING

Literally the worst professor I've ever taken in my entire life. Class is unnecessarily hard and requires way more effort and dedication than it should. Take any other professor if you don't want your life to be miserable. You have been warned!

Another quarter with Dina, another quarter of constant misery.

What a nightmare. Would not recommend if you're premed or care about your grades. Exams were waaaaay too difficult. Sure, it ended up working out because the average is curved to a B-, but man, talk about a stressful class. The quizzes are extremely limited in the time given and the questions are actually quite difficult. Final is even worse.

Does not teach at all, just flashes random examples on the board and expects you to know what is going. Hw is a joke (no real questions, you just have to look at a model and figure out as much physics as you can from it, super tedious and hard to tell if you got enough). Even my ta jokes that she has no idea what she is doing, take someone else.

lectures are useless. textbook is useless. discussion sections are useless. homework is insanely difficult, there are no questions you're just supposed to come up with physics which is difficult considering you learn nothing from this class.

I really don't want to judge someone. But she is terrible. He is the worst lecturer I have ever seen. His lectures are aimless and disorganized. I don't know how she got to be a professor.

She's very difficult to follow in lecture as she just lectures from the slides that are from an online textbook which is very subpar and lacks explanation. I recommend finding another textbook instead of trying to use their libretext. She assumes you'll start the class with an understanding of physics principles so that made it very difficult.

This class is actually ridiculous. The professor assigns questions that are absurdly difficult and only teaches the minuscule concepts that apply to them. She also has extremely hard midterms which are a huge majority of your grade. I've had students in Physics 9C and 9D tell me that my homework is extremely difficult.

GL! Problem starts teach you nothing unless you dedicate your whole life to physics (which she wants). I had a friend who literally got hospitalized and she was so gracious and benevolent to give him an extra day to take the last midterm. She spends more time telling us how little Newton and Aristotle knew about physics than teaching us physics.

Please believe all other reviews, all elements of this class are bad. Tests that are significantly harder than HW consist of 90% of your grade, class averages of 40% on homework that the TA's don't know how to do. She doesn't post or record her lectures that don't even prepare you for HW or exams. Save yourself and avoid her, esp if new to physics.

Dina's lecture runs quick, so get ready to learn all knowledge after lecture, homework and tests are hard......the average of exams maybe 50% and she curved to 80%, feel painful every week, office hour is helpful for homework, don't take her if you have choice.

I compliment Dr. Zhabinskaya for being truly terrible, to be honest I had zero clue that lecturers can get this vague and incoherent. She jumped around all over the place in lectures, and insufficiently explained anything. She gave incredibly difficult exams and homework. If you put in a little bit of effort, you'll pass, but this was unpleasant.

If you father is not a physics professor and teach you every day you will not get good grades in this class.

she does not post any notes you have to write all notes in class

so much homework and lectures aren't recorded. She explains matters in a very complex way that will have you confused.

I went into Physics having taken AP Physics 1 and passed with a 4. I really enjoyed physics going into this class and was excited to take it on a university level. Dr. Z crushed my very soul. At the end of the quarter I simply wanted it to be over. She uses an incredibly ineffective teaching style which leads to 20% midterm averages. DO NOT TAKE

Just finished midterm#2 today, and she just posted 4 homework due in 3 days!!! I believe she thinks that every college student's schedule only has one class, which is PHY009B. The fact that this course is five credits does not mean that the workload of this course is five credits, but UCD only allows a maximum of five credits per course.

She's trying to monopolize the physics department. evil.

She made a math-heavy subject all multiple choice with no partial credit. Why? I admit her lectures are okay but her midterms do not reflect the full scope of a student's ability to interpret and apply. I really hope she does not take over the entire physics department because she's awful at being a professor.

Awful attitude and awful tests. She does not give practice exams in the same format as her actual exams, and her lecture practice problems are more conceptual and less mathematical (unhelpful). Overall, annoying course and an unhelpful professor.

avoid.

Save yourself

RUN.

Want to save yourself some tears, time, and self-doubt that "Am I dumb"? Well, you are not. Just don't take her class pls. There are much better ways to learn physics < 3

I don't think I've met a single person who likes Dina. Quiz averages consistently

Take physics at a community college. The PHY7 series is on a downward slope. Implementing multiple choice so no partial credit is just cruel. Quiz averages are around 40%. No matter how hard you study and know the content, the questions being asked will ask it in a way you cannot understand. AVOID.

Worst professor in the physics department. Completely changed the testing format (all multiple choice/fill in the box/select all) with limited partial credit. Responded to student feedback with lack of empathy; does not care about students at all. Avoid at all costs. I only did well by putting in a ton of work outside of class.

Her lectures are good, but the quiz format makes the class very difficult. Use the problem starts she provides bc they help a lot on quizzes. DLs are not very helpful in learning the material (but also depends on if you have a good TA or not). Overall, the physics department in davis is horrible, but at least the curve makes it hard to fail.

I attend a 80 minute lecture for her to read her off her slides, and it is mandatory. Now I normally wouldn't complain, but I unironically learn more with the help of my TA and the internet. Thanks Dina but you should go over more worked examples if you are going to grade so harshly.

Worst class I've taken at Davis. The lectures are oversimplified yet we are expected to understand how to solve quizzes in under 20 minutes. The average on all of the quizzes was around 45% which should be a concern. Class is poorly organized and was very difficult to get through. All learning for this course was done on my own. DO NOT TAKE

I couldn't find anything positive to say about her if I tried. So many things are awful about her class, lectures aren't helpful, quizzes are way harder than practices, and her grading makes no sense. The more I studied I got nowhere, making it impossible to prep for the final. Class avg for quizzes is 40% and I scored progressively worse each time

They way she explains topics is very basic in comparison to the exams. Saying an average of 50% is good isn't an achievement, you're practically not even encouraging learning of the material, just doing above average. An unnecessarily difficult and awful professor.

Dina has to be the worst lecturer I've seen at Davis. Thankfully, the content is pretty easy to self study and is fairly intuitive if you've taken gen chem. Not too hard to do well in the class if you can beat the curve; a 65% on the quizzes will get curved to an A- to an A. I lwk got screwed over by the final tho.

She gives 5 20-min quizzes and will give 'problem starts' before each. Except the problem is that the problem starts are literally like one diagram and a few sentences explaining. If you submit a regrade, no matter how right you are, she WILL take points off, it happened to me and others. Her lectures are not super helpful and are not recorded.

Quizzes were so hard with averages being around a 45%. Quizzes are nothing like lecture. Overall structure of the class is awful. You rely on your TA for all your learning and lots of self studying/teaching

Avoid her at all costs

She's absolutely terrible at explaining concepts; I ended up not attending any lectures except the ones with quizzes. In terms of grading, there's no partial for work so if you make a small error with a calculation question you'll get the whole thing wrong. This ended up costing me an A in the class. Worst lecturer I've seen in my life.

Somehow she managed to organize this course in the worst way possible. You learn a topic in DL working with your classmates who are just as confused as you are, then learn about it in lecture the following week. You'll only pass if you get a good TA.

The entire design of her class is awful. The 3h weekly-labs and 1h discussions are strictly compulsory, even though they are completely useless. Difficult exams and quizzes filled with strange questions for unknow purpose. Although she claims this design is &#8220;better,&#8221; in reality it only leaves students confused and ultimately doomed to fail.

It is a shame how terribly PHY9 is taught. I've taken multiple STEM grad courses here and can confidently say that the teaching/course format of 9A is an absolutely dumpster fire and disasterly mess. Shame on the PHY department. You will feel absolutely lost in a course regardless of your background because they use their own terribly written TB.

The core problem is that she is unethical. No proper practice exams (forget solutions) means you'll never feel ready for MT = Constant anxiety since you never know WHEN you've studied enough. Forget about difficulty and 30% averages, even worse is the uncertainity with how to properly prepare. You can spend 24/7 studying, and still feel unsure.

RUNNNNN!!! She only talked about basic concepts during lectures but expected you to know everything like PhD students for quizzes. Honestly I got 3/20 for one of my quiz. This class made me feel I was so dumb.

She's chill ig but her lectures do not help with understanding the material at all. She does not actually show examples to help solve drills, she teaches the theorem and throws you in the deep end. I understand physics is a hard subject but surely there's a better way to structure your class to ensure your students don't struggle terribly.

Absolutely horrible. She just reads off of her slides and expects you to know how to do the problems on the homework automatically. I barely learned a thing in this class. Her and Tom genuinely need to be fired, I wish they didn't have tenure because I would love to get them fired.

She was not a horrible professor. Her lectures were super unorganized; she read off the slides, went through the content quickly, and expected you to just know the content from this. The course was set up in a way that made it seem like she wanted students to fail. The midterm problem starts ultimately created more confusion than help. RUN!

The physics series needs a revamp because this is just setting students up to fail.

I felt stupid. Then I took physics with a different prof at Davis. Suddenly doing well. Not stupid her quizzes are just terrible. Waste of time.

Dina made me want to end it all every day. I was hoping a scooter would run me over before every class. Please save yourself from taking her. She gives you absolutely nothing to study with for the midterms and final. No practice exam, study guide, anything! The lectures did absolutely nothing for the class either, so don't think that! SAVE YOUSELF!

Go to lectures, read University Physics (not the textbook Weideman wrote), do practice problems, and you'll be able to get an A. Don't want an A? You're in luck because you can guess on every question on exams and still get a C/B because of the insane curve. This is the worst class I've taken during my time here.