General Physics I Lab · Physics
I learned how to structure lab reports and how to be a taem leader.
I completely disagree with the previous two reviews of Oleg. I feel that he really cares that we fully understand what we are doing in the lab and he does grade fairly. It generally took me close to the full 3 hours to finish the lab, but why shouldn't it - that is the time that the course is alotted - I was rarely was pressed for time even though I stayed the full 3 hours. In addition, I rarely went to physics lab library to prepare - the maximum amount of times I went was 2 and it was only to glance at the experiment for a few minutes. Furthermore, the TAs in the lab were very unhelpful as opposed to Oleg, who explained the concepts well in the lecture. Overall I was very satisfied with Oleg and thought that I learned a lot from the course.
4 hrs to read/understand weekly labs in addition to class time.
Annoying: There are problem sets every week, some very difficult and long and others are short. 2 exams and 1 final.
He says to put in effort and time but that you shouldnt work on the lab more than 5 hours but then has the most impossible expectations for you to read his mind on his pickiest things.
Oleg is an excellent lab instructor. He gave informative lectures before the lab that highlighted key points we needed to know throughout the lab. He always answered all of our questions and was both knowledgeable and friendly. He makes a boring lab as painless as possible. The major frustrations (too long labs, poorly written instructions, etc...) with 1200 P. lab come from poor structuring of the course, not from the lab instructors.
Brandon's laidback style well-received by class. Pre-lab writeups of any kind not allowed, though several flaunted this rule. Grading seemed arbitrary with little evidence or explanation for point deductions. Students not once told how they were doing relative to other students gradewise. Affable, likeable character interested in making labs fun and reducing stress. A-pluses supposedly not given. You could do much worse.
What to say about Professor Tuts. I will say that he is a good lecturer, I absolutely hate physics but Professor Tuts was able to make the class fly by with his little jokes about his bald spot and whatnot. In the beginning of the semester, I actually believed that he was probably the greatest science professor I ever had because for someone having 2 Ph D's, is a graduate of MIT, and is a brilliant physicist, he was able to "dumb" down the material and present physics on a level that everyone could understand, which for someone like me, was great. All the changed after our first exam, which was brutal. No matter how hard you study, do practice problems and ace the problem sets, you will not be prepared for the exam. The exams are so beyond the scope of the course that you will feel like you're a moron and have no right to either be a science major or a pre - med. And Professor Tuts seems to take the stance that we are a bunch of retards, even though most people that I know in the class, know and understand physics (including myself) but can't do his exams. That's just plain unfair. This year, his exams were brutal in comparison to the past two years. Also, just one side note, when the TA's look at the exam and can't do the problems, something is wrong. Though I have to say, Tuts is very generous when it comes to grades and even if you score about 15 to 20 points below the mean…
So picky over the smallest things and will see your work in class and not correct you. And the grading rubric is harsh as it is. Mind you this is physics lab so there is no office hours and you cant contact the lab instructor outside of class, so it is only the 3 hours you have in lab to clarify. SO useless, and the department is so unfair in the way they just assign the head of physics labs as the professor so you are completely blind to what instructor you get and can't really switch out because you cant really fit a 3 hour lab in another place on your schedule. I dont know what else to say other than good luck and try to princess your way through if that works idk.