PHYS 2415

This class was the hardest class I have taken this semester. As far as I know, the curriculum in the spring is very different than in the fall, which is when I took this class. In the fall, there are 3 homework assignments every week: 2 MasteringPhysics sets and 1 written HW. It would be in your best interest to keep up with the material, as you definitely don't want to cram it in days before the exams, which is something I did. The Mastering was fairly easy. For the written homework, people either went to office hours or copied off of their peers. The midterm exams consisted of MC and FRQ's, which allowed partial credit. The final exam was all MC. With all this in mind, Professor Sackett really knows his stuff and is extremely helpful during his office hours. Good luck!!

Cass Sackett is one of the best professors I've had at UVA. He cares about your success: every week in office hours he stays later than scheduled to help students who are struggling with the homework, and if he has to leave he makes sure to give hints before he goes. This class is hard -- our test averages were around 50%, and we had three homework assignments per week -- but if you put in the work you'll learn a lot and Sackett makes the experience better.

Physics 2 is just a class you have to get through. Lectures are very dry and the homework, especially the written homework can be tough. If you attend office hours with Professor Sackett you will do fine in the course.

Instructor is a nice guy and pretty much a genius, but the class is really brutally hard. I felt like a lot of other students had already taken AP Physics C or equivalent and were taking this class for a grade boost.

Physics II is just a class you have to get through. It is a pain and it takes up time to study for other classes.

Homework is made up of two MasteringPhysics assignments per week. These will make up 20% of your grade, and most of the answers can be found online. But just a word of warning, I don't know of anyone who got above a B- that googled the questions every week. In addition to MasteringPhysics there are written assignments due every Friday. Though I don't recommend buying it, the written problems usually come out of the textbook.

Tests are challenging. A couple multiple choice questions can change your grade by an entire letter. The best way to study for the multiple choice is probably memorizing the homework problems - written and MasteringPhysics. There are free response questions on the test as well. Most of the time you do an example of some kind during lecture that resembles a free response question so definitely keep good notes.

Overall Physics II and APMA 3100 are two of the most annoying and time consuming classes required in a lot of engineering course paths. Professor Sackett is very helpful, and I would try to go to his office hours if you get lost.

Professor Sackett is knowledgeable and not so bad at explaining concepts. Although he had a problem with getting the big lecture hall to settle down. He's naturally kind of soft-spoken, and even mic'd he can trail off and you'll lose him. The fact that there are idiots in the back that show up solely for clicker points and don't have the respect to quiet the fuck down for 50 minutes doesn't help either.

Like Physics I, it's curved quite a bit. Weekly written homework in both sections taken from challenging book problems. Two online assignments a week. Midterms were quite tough, but are written so there's room partial credit. The final was not so, but like I said, curved.

Overall, Sackett is one of the better physics professors I've I had experience with, and he's a very approachable guy. He also puts together very condensed review sheets for the tests and makes a significant effort to be available for office hours. Physics is a pain, but Sackett is not.