BME 2220

For second year BMEs (or engineers looking for an good engineering elective), take this course. Blemker is both my advisor and my favorite professor at UVA so far. It's clear how much she enjoys teaching and getting to know her students. She sets up the class for the students' success. There are literally like 8 hours of OH every week (the TAs are always awesome and basically help you get through every worksheet). The weekly homework assignments are hard but again, the TAs literally kinda just relearn their worksheets with you. There are 3 exams (not rly cumulative) and she says that bc of exam anxiety, if you show improvement, she weighs the later, higher scores more heavily. You also get one full piece of paper (front and back) to bring to the exams, and one more per exam after that. So on my 3rd exam I had 3 full pages, front and back, of examples similar to the problems on the test. Because most of the exam questions are very very similar to the problems we've already seen, it's almost like taking open note exams. Not a lot of people took advantage of being able to put anything on the cheat sheets. Literally take screenshots and edit them onto google drawing and you're set. Also she dressed up for class on halloweek. She's fun and make sure to take this class FIRST SEM with Blemker because the other professors' class doesn't have the cheat sheet allowed.

Blemker is a lovely human being. She's extremely approachable, as are her TAs, and she is a really good teacher. She explains concepts very clearly, and she has enough office hours for everybody to be able to make it to at least a couple of them if needed. All her homework (one a week) is very relevant to exams, and we do them mostly collaboratively with others in office hours, so it's very manageable. There are three exams, none cumulative, and one project (which is pretty fun).

The content itself is mostly just physics with a bit of a biological perspective. It's generally explained in a way that makes it make sense, a lot better than it ever did in physics classes.

10/10 would definitely recommend this class.

biomechanics with blemker is THE move. she gives so much partial credit and a lot of the times, the tests are similar to the practice tests she posts to collab with a few things changed. don't stress too much about the group project, she has it there to help your grade if needed.

Professor Blemker is very accommodating and understanding to students. Her jokes and fun demeanor make class more relaxing and less stressful. The class is basically an extension of physics, mainly in terms of statics and motion. Homework takes quite a while to figure out. I definitely recommend going to office hours or working with a group of friends on them. Definitely do them early! Exams are pretty fair to the material that is taught in class. Additionally, the "cheat sheets" she allows removes the difficulty of the bulk of the class (i.e. memorizing). However, I found that it doesn't help if you don't do the given practice problems and go over class examples and homework before the exams, so definitely practice ("cheat sheets" won't save you)! Overall, the class is fair in what it tests and is in a way gratifying when you solve a problem. I would say the con is the time it takes to complete the weekly homework assignments!

This course pretty manageable, but it's basically a glorified physics class. Professor Blemker is super nice, clearly cares about her students, and tries to make the class as fun as possible (usually by cracking horrible corny jokes). As for the content itself, it's basically three Mech E classes combined into one at a much simpler level. I am not a particular fan of biomechanics, even when it comes to real life applications, but I'm sure I'll find the information useful in later classes.
Tips for each Assignment:
Homeworks: Don't start super late and go to office hours, where you can collaborate with people automatically. If you're not the office hour crowd, find a group to work through the homework with.
Tests: Don't forget your formula sheet! She gives ample partial credit, so don't worry that the tests are only four questions long.
Final Project: I took the class during COVID-19, so I think she graded pretty easily, but my biggest tip is to just get it out of the way. There are so many things to be thinking about during the end of the semester, and she gives you your teams something like a month in advance.