Mechanics · Physics
10 psets, 2 midterms, 1 final. Don't remember if anything was dropped.
Each module has its own associated grade and you just need to get a good grade on that module once. After you’re satisfied with that module grade, you dont ever have to attempt that module’s exam question again. There is an “integrated problem” at the end of each exam that integrates multiple modules. To get an A in the class, you need to get an A on each module and on all 3 integrated problems. I regularly spent more than 3 hours a on the weekly p-sets (6-13 problems).
10 problem sets or so every week, which were graded and handed back to us a week after we turned them in. 1 midterm and 1 final, which were very fair. They tend to be application based problems, so if you review all the problems he did in class and assigned for hw, you should be fine. On top of all that, he curves to an A-!!
Weekly problem sets that can take quite a bit of time. Two tests and a final - none of them are very bad, but the curve is much nicer for the first one.
No that much, but the midterms and finals are very hard.
This class almost made me drop the physics major. Cory Dean is quite possibly one of the driest, most boring professors at Columbia. I wish I had recorded his lectures just so that I could use them to fall asleep at night. I took this class a semester ago, and I genuinely cannot remember anything this man said. And I don't think it's a me problem because since taking the course, I have loved all my other physics courses and professors. He just sucks all the life and joy out of physics. But being boring isn't a crime. What's a crime are his evil ass tests. Our first midterm had the distribution of a flat line, which he seemed pretty shocked yet proud of. He is known for making difficult exams. For what purpose? No idea. I'm just glad to never have to take his course again.
Becky made the material in this class incredibly approachable. As a student who has very little history with physics, I was incredibly apprehensive to start the physics sequence. She took each lecture step-by-step, doing both lecture and problem-solving in each class. Hands-down my favorite class this semester. You definetly need to be attending some combination of her office hours and the rescitation section to get a good grasp on how she’s thinking about the material and to help prepare for her exams. You do not need to know calculus for this class. I think taking it as a co-req is a good idea just so that you are more fluent in the language of the field but Becky teaches around the integrals. If you’re a physics major, she does still include the proofs and math in the slides but largely leaves it up to you to learn. The exam questions are definetly more challenging than the homework and even the practice exams which can be a bit disheartening. She changed the grading system this semester which also complicated things and meant that the class was no longer curved.
Excellent professor and great class. Blaer is one of the best physics professors I ever have had. He is one of the few lecturers who have mastered the fine art of being detailed and thorough while still being clear and concise. Blaer goes over every concept he holds you responsible for in his lectures. As other reviews have mentioned, he gives all his lectures from memory and does a much better job than most other professors who have their notes in front of them. His delivery is smooth and his pace is well measured. All his points are well connected and tend to reinforce each other. He presents a healthy mix of proofs and applications, so you not only understand the concepts but also know how to use them to solve problems. In the first portion of the class, he covered all the basic classical mechanics topics from the Newtonian perspective i.e. projectile motion, momentum and angular momentum conservation, energy conservation and oscillations. In the second portion of the class, he introduced calculus of variations and langrangian mechanics, which is essentially an alternative to newtonian mechanics. He also spent a good amount of time on the two-body problem where he went over Kepler's orbits among other things.
Professor Weinberg is all right. He teaches the material fairly well, covers everything we need to know, and is fair with grading, but he isn't really an exceptional teacher. While it's clear he knows the material inside and out, he can stumble over himself sometimes at how best to write out a formulation or where to begin with a derivation. In the end, though, whatever concept or formula he's trying to explain ends up on the board. The only difficulty sometimes is staying awake through all of it, but he pretty much sticks to the textbook anyway so it's not a problem. The weekly problem sets are usually on the tough side, since he tends to pick from the hardest textbook questions, but they're not excessive for a mechanics course. The tests are a little easier than the problem sets, with a mix of working with formulas and remembering important results from the material. Note that the composition of the class (and, therefore, the curve) will change over time. This course is a requirement for a handful of majors, so the first test will have a very generous curve as people who struggled through introductory physics will continue to struggle here. By the second test, those people will have probably dropped the class, more or less only leaving the people who know what they're doing.
This is one of the hardest undegraduate class because of contents. Nobody should try this unless he is prepared to take the challenge. There is no doubt about Professor Mawhinney. He knows the stuff very well. He explains things very well and gives you enough time to discuss after class or in his office hours. Exams are hard as it should be for this course. However, it would be better for students if he could made up problems like midterms or finals in his weekly homework problems. The best thing is he makes sure everybody gets his / her grades based on her work as well as conceptions on materials.