PHYS 2010

#tCFspring2021
Awful. The entire semester was self-study, the lectures were not understandable at all. The exams were so ridiculously hard that most people failed. The entire time, he said it would be curved but my grade was not curved at the end. Some peoples were. When I emailed him, the grader, and the TA to ask to see my grades (our access was taken away after the final) and to ask how they curved, they all ignored me. Multiple times. Finally I gave up and it ruined my GPA. Would never recommend, even to my worst enemy.

only take PQ if you're planning on teaching yourself from the textbook, class only really for clickers. If you know all of the practice problems from the HW and problems from within the reading in the book you will be fine but don't expect to learn anything from the prof

Overall this course was terrible. Make sure that you stay on top of your work and if you have questions try to ask other people who you know are good at physics. There are a total of 3 tests throughout the semester and then there is the final exam. I'm sorry to say but you need to do well on the three tests, you cannot afford to fail one of them especially if you want an A in the class . Originally PQ (the teacher) seemed promising, but towards the middle and end he was terrible. He would drag on and he would never finish lecture material. I went to his office hours on two different occasions and they were far from helpful--I did not get help for how to work out a problem, just some useless hints. Only take this class if you're going for pre-med because then you have to do it.

Tough course; both of the professors could use revision.

I took this course solely to fulfill the pre-med requirement. I like physics, but I did not enjoy this course. Unless you have to take this for your major or pre-med, I would not recommend. I rarely understood a word PQ was saying, so attending lecture was pointless except for the iClicker questions (which only came up in about two lectures, anyway). Homework assignments were unnecessarily difficult. Exams written by PQ were substantially easier than those written by Hirosky. Blessedly the final for PQ's class was written by PQ so it was very reasonable and fair. PQ himself is a kind man with good intentions, but the language barrier posed a major issue and he didn't explain things very clearly.

Structure of the Course:
Midterms: 3 of them, each worth 15%, 20 multiple choice questions, very difficult when written by Hirosky, fair when written by PQ.
Final: worth 40%, 40 multiple choice questions.
Homework: weekly online assignments, worth 11%, difficult and not directly related to material covered in lecture.
Pre-Lecture Assignments: really short online assignment due before each lecture, worth 1%, pretty easy.
iClickers: only showed up rarely, worth 3%, you get half credit just for answering and full credit for answering correctly, usually conceptual questions designed to trick us.

Tips to Succeed: Sit close enough to the front so you can try to read PQ's lips - this might help you better understand what he is saying; read the chapter after lecture and do the practice problems that are scattered throughout the chapter, including the "enhance your understanding" questions; do the homework with friends; do the pre-lecture assignments; before exams do as many practice problems at the end of the chapter as possible and maybe re-do the problems from in the chapter. Re-do all the example problems from lecture and make sure you can do them on your own. Also make sure you have a good grasp on the fundamental concepts and when/how to apply them. Conceptual questions show up on exams! Attend lecture as much as possible because if your grade is borderline at the end you will want those 3% iClicker points. To study for the final, brush up on the topics you struggled with and do practice problems pertaining to those topics, re-do the mid-terms, and read through the textbook's explanation for solving the in-chapter problems, particularly the ones you wouldn't know how to solve on your own.

Very difficult course

PQ is my favorite - he's so cute. Unfortunately, he teaches physics..
This class is awful, but I just really hate physics. The lecture and homework questions make it seem like its doable, but the tests are simply impossible. Warning: never before seen material will appear on tests.
You get an equation sheet - it's more than enough.
But, tests are impossible. I'd like to say it's Norum's fault. PQtie is blameless. But that's my opinion..