Brian Metzger

Would recommend to anyone who is leaning towards the astrophysics and radiation side of the spectrum. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2022 Course: PHYSGR6092_001_2022_3-ELECTROMAGNETICTHEORY : PHYSGR6092_001_2022_3 - ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY Instructor: Brian Metzger

12 homeworks with 10 textbook problems a week, drops worst two, worth 20% of your grade but it's actually worth nothing since everyone gets 100% so it doesn't affect curve 1 Midterm - 35% 1 Final - 45%

Standard physics course: - 11 4-6 question problems sets, with a shorter twelfth one added before the final to cover the last bit of material - one midterm (fairly easy, mostly conceptual questions with a few simple integrations) - cumulative final

Learned nothing. Typo in notes. Homeworks were impossible unless you already took graduate EM or were an astrophysics student. Many students seemed to be confused most of the time. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2021 Course: PHYSGR6092_001_2021_3-ELECTROMAGNETICTHEORY : PHYSGR6092_001_2021_3 - ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY Instructor: Brian Metzger

It's difficult to understand his lecturing - fortunately, he posts his lecture notes online which summarize the topics you need to know and study. Homeworks are useless as they are insanely difficult and have nothing to do with the tests, so most people just look online for the solutions. Midterm and Tests are about applying equations from an equation sheet with a few conceptual questions - the averages are usually in the 60%, which he curves to a B. I ended the class with an A- with no prior understanding of the class but still have no idea of what I have learned. Take the class if you can self study the material and watch lectures online, but don't expect to learn from just going to class and doing the homeworks, but at least his tests and finals are somewhat reasonable (unlike other teachers who have 20-30% averages).

Clear lecturer and occasionally (unwittingly) hilarious. Just do the work and you'll be fine. Also, it helps a lot to read the textbook. I have no prior knowledge and managed to sneak out an A. I actually thought it was a lot easier than mechanics.

Professor Metzger has a habit of lecturing to the blackboard. Though he says that questions are welcome, he very rarely looks up from his notes long enough to see who has their hands raised, even immediately after he asks if there are questions. His presentation of the material is reasonably clear and he only makes a few minor errors in any given class. His motivation of the mathematical material is fairly compelling, but many of the derivations covered in this course are unavoidably long and tedious, so it is just not easy to maintain one's interest for the full lecture, given the detached manner in which Metzger lectures. There were absolutely zero in-class demonstrations for this course, despite the fact that it covers very accessible results in optics and electrodynamics. Overall, not a terrible concluding course for the intermediate physics sequence, but there is no getting around that this material is hard going. If you're studying physics, you'll have to take this course. If not, you probably shouldn't.

12 hw assignments, 2 lowest dropped Midterm Final

The majority of people skipped lecture and self taught because the lectures were monotonous, all over the place, and were very fast paced. Prof didn't answer questions very much/very well, seemed to have the attitude that the questions were dumb questions. Homeworks were pretty hard, but necessary for the grade and also to learn the material. Midterm seemed fair, similar to homework. The final was a lot harder with problems I had never seen in class or on the homeworks. After the final I got what I thought was my final grade, but I checked a few months later and somehow it had dropped a letter. So be aware for surprise changes in the curve I guess. Don't take his class if you need a good lecturer, you will probably be fine in his class only if you are already good at physics or good at teaching yourself. Recitation was optional, and not useful as the TA didn't seem to know what we were covering in class.

1 midterm - 35% 1 final - 45% HW (weekly, 10 problems, basically did not factor into grade b/c everyone had the key) - 20%