Taught class like a 300 level. Thick accent, and wasted class time. Tough quizzes, and tests. Mostly conceptual even though all homework is problem based. TA Raman sucks, and grades unfairly. Alarcon is a fair grader if you point out Ramans mistakes. Take this class with someone else if you actually want to learn physics instead of riddles.

HORRIBLE teacher but the online class was set up well. Online lectures were nice for review but he is hard to understand and simple does a horrible job explaining. I emailed him four times during this course and he only responded to one of them, so don't expect any outside help from him. The class was curved like crazy for the B and C students.

do. not. take. this. class. Physics is had enough as it is, but when taught online its even worse. I did all of the mastering assignments and kept on top of the lectures and received 40s on my unit tests! The tests are very conceptual and are all mulitple choice, which can be good or bad, but its hit or miss. The class is precurved so a D is a C.

When I took phy 121 I was like, man this is thought , I was always lost during lecture and it got really boring but I still manage to pass the class. When I picked phy 131, I thought it was a great idea to take it online because than I can go back and watch the lectures again if I was ever lost. I did that for the first two lectures and that was it

DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS. I put in 15+ hours a week preparing. Understood every homework problem and example. Did homework and practice tests 3x over. Got a 37 test average. The tests are NOTHING like the homework. I only recommend if you want to fail and cry a lot. My only advice is that he should stop teaching.

His lectures and the homework are not related to the exams in any significant way. I have never taken a class of such a poor quality. The exams are taken from a random collection of questions in an online database, and many students cheat. He is lazy in teaching and does not respond to emails.

His online lectures woefully under prepare you for the tests and the tests are very different from the homework and make little sense. Most test questions could have been written by a blind caveman who doesn't know what a keyboard is. They make little sense and are way harder than the homework problems.

Take this class at your own risk. His lectures aren't clear, his exams are nothing like any homework or practice tests. Basically, if you don't know anything about physics 2 already, you're screwed. There is an absurd amount of cheating that goes on, and there is nothing done about it.

Do yourself a favor and DONT TAKE HIS CLASS. Tests are not even closely related to Homework, Practice Tests. Talking about Lecture videos, he likes to derive formulas for no apparent reason even though we get a formula sheet. 12 Questions each Test. If u get 1 MCQ wrong, 8% drops. No respond on emails or Piazza. Worst class I ever took in Mech Eng.

12 problems in 1 hour tests on concepts not taught. Compensating lower grading scale. Serious learning gaps impact students future job prospects. Professor rarely posts on Piazza. TA gives condescending, sarcastic, demeaning, late, short, unresponsive Piazza replies. Unfortunately he is the only professor for Physics 131, wait for new teacher!

Tests are randomized from a question bank. You take them in a room with other students, sometimes there is cheaters using their phones. Homework and test reviews do not help with tests since they are randomized. Lectures are abstract and extremely few examples are covered. Honestly worst class I've taken. Professor knows his stuff but bad delivery.

Professor Alcaron lives in his own world where every concept is solved in his head but never communicated to his students. Id sign up for any other professor at all costs.

I tried watching the lectures but found Prof Alarcon difficult to listen to. He jumped around a lot and made the material more confusing in the end. I did all of the homework and worked hard to be sure I understood how to solve the homework problems. Even with this much effort, I still tanked one of the midterms and got only a C on the final.

Professor Alarcon teaches in his own way that is incredibly hard to understand. He is lenient with class grading but in order to learn the material, you must do the HW THOROUGHLY to understand course material and do well on your exams. I had to teach myself the material in order to get through this class.

Professor Alarcon, although is very passionate about the subject, is just not a great lecturer. They are very bland, confusing, and fast. When he shows examples, he will derive formulas out of nowhere and not explain why (skip steps). Tests don't relate to lectures very well and the practice test and formula sheets are also very unhelpful.

It didn't take long to get used to his accent, but I never got used to his style of teaching. He seems to prioritize deriving equations above making sure his students understand what he's talking about, making most of his lectures incomprehensible. Because of this, homework is nearly impossible and tests are a nightmare. Good luck, you'll need it

I would not recommend this professor to anyone. His lectures are very confusing and he is not understanding of the students needs. He spends more time deriving formulas for no reason than explaining how or why he has values on the screen. Halfway through the semester, I stopped attending lectures and just focused on the hw and ended up doing better

Alarcon seems like a sweet guy but the instructor blindspot is huge. He doesn't seem to understand how little most of the class knows and therefore doesn't explain clearly. Mastering Phy hw is hard and I never came to understand his teaching style. No mandatory iclicker tho, all hw is due at the end of semester, and lecture videos on canvas.

Without a doubt the worst professor that I have ever had. His lectures are impossible to understand and his tests are nothing like any of the examples that he gives. I highly recommend not taking this professor for PHY 131 if possible.

His lecture is hard to follow because he loves deriving equations instead of showing how to apply them in situations. I had to teach myself the class by reading the textbook and looking the hw answers online when it was impossible to do. The final had a formula sheet but 20% of the questions didn't even have the formulas I needed.

His lectures were very difficult to follow both because he spent too much time deriving equations and because it was incredibly boring. Definitely the most difficult class I have taken, doesn't explain applications of formulas, and I spent so much time teaching myself. Only upside was that all homework was not due until the end f the semester.

Professor Alarcon definitely seems nice, but this class was not taught well. I know people who have taken this physics class in the past, did well, and still struggled in this class. I personally only got my grade because of a significant curvemy grade before the curve was a 70. Dont rely on a curve, dont take this professor if you dont have to

Long and boring lectures that were hard to pay attention to- even when I did manage to follow along I still was left confused and unprepared for the homework which is about 10x harder than any examples he does in class. He does examples but doesn't explain the process or the concepts used pretty much at all- tests were also unlike the reviews.

This professor does not make much effort to ensure the class knows what he is talking about. He assumes you have knowledge that you might not, skips lots of steps in problems, and gives unclear explanations. Has good energy and passion.

Do not take Dr. Alarcon for PHY 131! He is the hardest professor I have ever had. The first test had an average of 40% as his lectures did not cover anything on the exam. I highly recommend taking physics online or with a different professor! You will not learn with Alarcon and it is extremely difficult to get a decent grade.

The lectures were painfully long and I got nothing out of them. I started doing better on assignments after not going to class anymore and figuring out the material myself. The professor seemed clueless as to how much the class was struggling. Every test average was around 50%, along with the final.

Unless you already are familiar with physics or took the class before, you might be okay with him but for most of the class we struggle. The tests were difficult and not like the homework (avg. 50). The professor is intelligent, but I can't understand him. The curve at the end was generous and homework wasn't due till the end.

Would not recommend anyone take his course. Homework and other learning materials given do not reflect difficulty of material on the exams. Lectures are worthless.

Lectures/homework were very hard to understand and did not go over much content needed for exams, which make or break your grade in this course. I only did "well" since I've had experience taking Physics classes, but would not recommend this class, especially if taking for an elective.

The questions are obviously wrong. Even more, they are all multiple choices so there is no partial credits. In one of the questions, two objects A,B were moving in speed of light, opposite side to each other. It was asking what is the speed of B in the reference frame of A. The answer was 2c.... Catastrophic class.

He is equation heavy, skips the important bits in his lectures and acts like everyone in his class got an A+ in all calculus classes. Does not do a good job of explaining what equations relate to the theories. On top of all this, his tests are extremely hard, and nothing like the homework. Ended up teaching myself. DO NOT TAKE.

Very difficult class, especially considering it was online. He relied very heavily on his TA (who happened to be good) to help the class through. Being able to miss a maximum of 3 test questions for the entire class to get an A+ is just a razor thin, unrealistic margin for error. His lectures also could've been better and clearer.

Exams are hard MCQs and there is no partial credit. STUDY THE MIDTERMS FOR THE FINAL! Prof found out students were cheating halfway through the semester + basically just sent out a message saying "don't do that". Beware sending messages to him because he will only respond to the first sentence. Small curve at the end of the semester.