PHYS C1602

First 2.5 weeks thermodynamics, this is easy if you took accelerated chem semester one as I did, if not, better get ready to learn kinetic molecular theory in depth from the book as I felt that Dodd’s in class explanation was lacking, in his defense, its not really on the final and we don’t need to know it in that much depth for the physics that we do. Next 5 weeks, electricity. This was easy and Dodd explained it very well. Understand Guass’ law and you understand everything. This in concept even applies to the next 5 weeks of magnetism. Final 5 weeks: Magnetism, this is harder conceptually but the math is mostly the same as for electricity. The last few classes Dodd talks about bigger things such as EM waves, which is a nice capstone to the course. I studied for 3 days for the final. That was crucial to my success, but if you know this stuff already you will probably do fine. 2 midterms, Weekly PSets, final, read (you should, I didn’t and regretted it, most of the PSets are from similar problems in the chapter) Grade is from one of two algorithms: 20% each midterm, Hw 20% and 40% final or 25% higher ranking midterm, 25% Psets, 50% Final Course Grading: your final course grade is complied from the above and then curved as such: top 40% get an A-range grade (divided into thirds for the actual grade), next 40% get B-range. Bottom 20% get Cs, Ds, Fs Midterms are generally simple…

One weekly problem set (combined worth of 20%), typically ranging anywhere from 6 to 9 questions. Takes a VERY long time (maybe around 15 hrs) to complete, and expect to take full advantage of the TA's and Prof. Cole's office hours. Two midterms (each worth 20%), and a final (worth 40%).

I’m gonna go contrarian here and say it felt a little disorganized. Yes, the professor is great and the content is fun and the grading is convenient but the lack of transparency felt a little off to me.

Professor Lam Hui is one of the best professors ever. He is incredibly passionate about physics and very accommodating. He genuinely cares about his students and makes sure to answer all questions to the best of his ability. 100/10

Since most of the other reviews are from people who aced AP Physics C and took this class, I’ll say right off that my perspective is different. I did not take AP Physics, or even E&M physics in high school really. Coming into this class all I knew was V=IR. I took Dodd because I figured I could drop down if I needed from 1601 into 1401 and I probably should have because everyone in 1601 knew more than me coming in, but I stubbornly stuck with it until Christmas and then, hearing that 1602 would be a more level playing field, I decided to stick with in for semester two. On paper, Dodd doesn’t seem like the best professor, and if I were to describe what about his teaching style worked I would not be able to. He gives weekly 10-problem PSets (on masteringphysics.com), and asks you to read the book. I read the book but not in sync with the course (all at the beginning and end of the semester). I went to most lectures and feel that I got a lot out of them, I think that this is why I did better than most people, many of whom did not show up for his 10am class. I also went to recitations and felt that they were very productive (again most people forego this. bad idea). My TA Zac was amazing. It’s not exactly an easy class, but I feel like it could have been more rigorous. However, I do feel like I understand electricity and magnetism after this class. I like physics because of his cl…

Our class this year was kinda a mess tbh. I didn't take 1601 (Mechanics & Relativity) in the fall but from what I heard the class was supposed to finish special relativity but Prof. Cole instead dragged it into 1602 and spent almost the first 2 months covering it. As a result, the later topics (magnetic fields, induction, etc) were kinda rushed and he even had to upload the last topic as an online supplementary lecture. In addition, we were assigned several options for a second midterm replacement during reading week, as we did not progress through the material as fast as he planned, and still had two assignments due after finals week ended. The TA's typically do not grade assignments on time so for most of the term you are left wondering how you are faring in this class. I feel like I would advise this class only if you are strongly interested in physics/are a physics major and can deal with some of his organizational problems--which from past reviews, seems to be an occurring theme.

10 psets, 2 midterms, and a final (although ours was cancelled due to the protests). All the questions were pretty similar to the ones we did in-class, and she provided practice exams. Professor Perez really cared about us actually learning the material, so if we went back and made test corrections on our exams, we could get up to 50% of points lost back. Considering the tests weren't too bad, this meant most people did pretty well in the class. PSets could be long, but she answered questions during her office hours. I had some friends who switched to 1402 because they were worried about the workload/difficulty of 1602 and later regretted it because of how amazing Professor Perez's grading policies and curriculum were. Even if you aren't a physics major, I would highly recommend you take this class.

Favorite Columbia professor so far. Engaging lecturer, extremely organized, and an overall great educator. I took Physics C in high school and struggled a lot with E&M. Professor Perez explained each concept clearly and made sure to do several in-class example problems where she would identify the type of problem and create steps to help us approach it. She wrote on slides using her iPad and projected them to the front of the lecture hall so everyone could see and would afterwards post the slides with annotations to courseworks, making it easy to go back and check past lectures (Dodd, God bless his soul, could never). She also did frequent poll questions (not for credit) that encouraged class participation and collaboration. Overall, as someone who was initially really scared of E&M, I loved her class. As a physics major, it also helped that she did some pretty cool research that she would sometimes tie into lecture.

Weekly PSets which were pretty fair. Sometimes a little difficult but she helped a lot during OH. Grading was very fair.

Amazing professor. I did E&M in high school and didn't have a great experience with it, but she did a great job at explaining everything. Very engaging classes, great answers to questions, very helpful OH. Best professor I've had at Columbia so far.