*During COVID, so completely online [#tCF2020]
If you are coming into this course with NO prior knowledge of physics, you're going to have an insanely difficult time with the way this course is structured I would think - it's just so fast, and it's not easy to understand/absorb and keep up.
I came to this with AP Physics knowledge, and at the beginning I was surprised that the course didn't start with the basics of the basics such as force diagrams but instead kinematics but that's just the way the textbook was structured.
Another thing - get ready to read. You're going to be reading and taking notes on every section, and the homework is going to take a LONG time despite seeming easier (some of them are just like problems in the reading as well) but it's only one assignment every week so it's manageable.
The grade breakdown was: 40% Weekly homework assignments (a Tuesday “minute paper” which are your condensed notes/summary of the reading pretty much + a Thursday problem set (10 questions) with written down solutions), 15% Weekly quizzes, and 15% each from the three exams (2 midterms, 1 final which isn't cumulative it just covers the last third of the course so it's basically another midterm).
The midterms and finals weren't like the homework problems to me, they were a lot harder if you hadn't come across that type of problem before and you wouldn't know where to start. But almost at the very same time, they were "simple" as many of them are only in terms of variables - no need to plug in numbers or get straight answers it's just conceptually knowing what's going on. I probably averaged a 70 to 75 on each exam, but the curve bumped up grades well enough that you can still get an A in this class because the homework problems and quizzes will CARRY you so you have to get 100% on them both if you can and it's doable.
Another note on the quizzes - you do them with a group, so if you have a good group and don't know what's going on you'll be carried well. If you get a bad group, good luck, you'll be able to figure out some of it but sometimes you're just gonna get lost. If such a thing happens, ask for help from the moderators during class because they'll help.
I got an A- in this class, and I thought I would get a B- because of how much I struggled on those exams. The prof is really nice, held a lot of office hours from what I remember but I didn't go to any of them. She also had extra lectures for when a lot of people didn't understand what was going on.

I loved the way Prof. Zheng structured the class. She graded things quickly and gave us clear deadlines on when to turn things in. The material was difficult for me, but reading the textbook and watching her recorded lectures helped me understand the concepts.

I had to take this course as a major requirement and wasn't very excited about it, but was surprised that I ended up not minding it (which is surprising for me as I usually hate physics). With things being online, this course was largely self taught. Prof Zheng would post ~2 hours of lecture material a week to watch, with ~4-6 hours of textbook readings to go with it. The lectures were mostly the textbook readings summarized with some examples included, so if you only read the textbook without watching them you could be fine. There were weekly homework assignments and group quizzes, but you could easily get 100% on both. The class moved at a pretty fast paced (multiple chapters covered a week), so if it could be easy to fall behind. While it was definitely time consuming, it was not super difficult to get a good grade in the class. Also, there was no synchronous meeting on Tuesday's, only on Thursdays to complete the quiz with a group. Prof Zheng is a good lecturer and super helpful if you have any questions! She's very understanding and really makes herself available outside of class, but I'm not sure if anyone really takes advantage of it.

#tCF2020

The physics department at UVa just isn't very good. I hate physics because of how it was taught to me, while the subject of physics is actually extremely interesting. The whole premise of Zheng's class was just to write down formulas and know when to use which formula on specific problems, which is absolutely NOT what physics is about. While yes the formulas and all are needed, more time explaining concepts and arousing an interest for each topic should have been done rather than just jumping into notes writing formulas down.

I took Zheng because I heard she was the lesser of 2 evils (Shivaram), but then I found out that a new physics professor (Matthew Joyce) was coming to UVA, and he had great reviews. I was too late to switch over, so I was stuck with Zheng. I know that physics covers a lot of material and we missed a couple of days due to snow, so we had to go fast, but she was not very clear. Also, it's almost impossible to stay awake. Show up for the clicker questions, see a demo (might or might not work), and fall asleep. Homework can be hard at times. Tests weren't bad, but the final was unnecessarily hard, and the huge curve at end of the course that I have heard every previous engineer talk about was almost nonexistent. Had Joyce for lecture once when Zheng was out, and he was so clear, and from what I've heard his tests are easier. Take Joyce if you can, but take Zheng over Shivaram.

Definitely avoid Zheng. Her accent/grammatical errors get in the way of understanding the material (especially when she doesn't speak clearly), and her notes are organized very poorly. She doesn't seem comfortable in front of people and as a result the class doesn't have any respect for her, so you won't be able to hear anything over everyone talking.
Also, the homeworks, midterms, and the final are incredibly inconsistent with regard to content and difficulty. The class as a whole is structured quite badly and Zheng's teaching certainly doesn't help that.