MSE 2090

Took this class my first year first semester with Groves. First, let me talk about the class. You learn about a variety of materials and their behaviors, pretty much. That's the really simple version of the course- trust me, it's much more complicated than that. Unless you're into that stuff coming into the class, the material that the professor covers will likely be not that engaging most of the time. My advice would be to just read the chapter that the professor will be discussing in lecture before you go to class and just use class time to take some notes and clear up questions you had on the reading. Do that and study your book/notes regularly and you'll be fine. But that kinda applies for any class, I guess. Next, the professor. Groves is a fantastic professor. Easily the best professor I had my first semester. He's very friendly and approachable, and is very ready to help at office hours. His lectures, while not too exciting (due to the course content) do what they need to do, so I can't complain. He used Learning Catalytics when I took the class and usually he'd sort of talk through the questions each day and guide us toward an eventual answer. So yeah, Groves is great. His tests are pretty difficult, but they're fair. If you work a lot of practice problems and really solidify yourself on the concepts (much easier said than done), you can make things work. Another thing about the tests. You only get 1 class period and the tests take a very long time to finish due to the intricacies of the "short answer" (more like long answer) questions. On top of that, he does a "many choice" multiple choice section which means that more than one answer per question could be correct, or even just one answer for a question. On the bright side, his tests are open resources. Meaning open textbook, open internet, etc. This does not make the tests easier, however. You still need to study a lot. I learned that the hard way. All in all, I'd say that if you're willing to put in a lot of hours and want a great professor, take this class with Groves.

This was a pretty good course. James Groves is a good teacher, but the course was very hard. He gives open book tests which is nice but you still must study very hard for the tests or you are not gonna make it. Kelly is a very good teacher, one of the best I have seen, so if the choice is there take him into account too. Groves is really nice and helpful, but dont take it looking for an easy A.

Professor Groves teaches a different style of class. On all tests and homework you are allowed to use the Internet, your notes, even the textbook. Some of the material can be challenging but any misunderstandings can be cleared up at office hours, which are very helpful. The homework is frustrating sometimes, but for the most part it is straight forward. Homework and class participation are heavily weighted (15%) each, so getting a decent grade is not extremely difficult. The tests can be hard but you have access to the Internet so time is the biggest issue. If you want to take materials science definitely start out with Groves, he really cares about how well you do in the class.

The course started off with extremely difficult/intimidating homework assignments, but they rapidly changed to a very manageable load. My first homework took me the entirety of one day (no kidding like 8 hours), but the more work I put in at the beginning of the course, the easier the course got with time. By the end of the course when my other classes were bogging me down, MSE 2090 took little to no time out of my schedule. Very rewarding class with an excellent professor that gives great lectures. Groves will often show the real world applications of what you're learning and make the material relatable.