Emlyn Hughes

If you don't have a really solid mechanics background, I wouldn't recommend. Lectures were very much plug and chug, not really going into the concepts (which is what you anticipate out of lecture). If you have a comfortable background in the topics however, you should be able to do fine granted you go through the textbook and work those problems. There were just a ton of questions on each midterm, opposed to 3 questions you have to write out. Again, if you're the type of person where you could realistically be in a harder physics class, this shouldn't be bad at all especially if you are good with time. I didn't have a great background and it seemed fine at first, until he started speeding through stuff. The "worked" examples weren't necessarily helpful, and there were a lot of topics on the exam that weren't explicitly covered in lecture. Granted, you should do your diligence and work through the textbook (as it is quite nice and comprehensive), but with minimal background it's slightly hard to chew through and understand the concepts when he doesn't really break down the theory in lecture. GO. WITH. RAYMER. if you have the chance. LOADS of people switched from 1600 right before the first midterm, or right after, lowering their chances of being successful in the course. Just because of the sheer volume of questions on each exam, wouldn't recommend unless you are confident you…

Let me preface this by saying I switched from 1601 first semester to 1402 second semester. This class was a let down in comparison to 1601. Dodd(the Physics 1601/1602 teacher) was the absolute best! He really cared about his students and makes an effort to learn and remember your name if you go to office hours. So if you do have some physics background and you're stuck between 1601 and 1401 from the get go, I'd say choose 1601. It's a lot of work (graded online PSET every week), but if you go to office hours Dodd helps you out. Now that I'm done gushing over Dodd... Hughes is an Okay teacher. His teaching style is basically giving you the formulas and rules on the board and going through some examples. This is good preparation for the exams which is 20 free response questions, each worth 5 points. If you go over notes, do the practice exams, and do the homework, you should do fine. Since I had some physics background, his lack of in detail explanation was ok, but I could see how someone without any physics background might not fully understand and may need to put in a lot more work. I never went to his office hours so I don't know if he was helpful. He broke his hip towards the end of the semester, so he was unable to walk around and do problem examples on the board. His teaching turned into him sending us the lecture notes via email before class and then reading from those le…

Needless to say, the December 21, 2011 review is absurd. Professor Hughes is a really cool guy, and I considered myself lucky to have wound up in his section. In addition to providing engaging and entertaining lectures on physics, he did a really nice job of leading our section with a helpful review of the material covered in the week's lecture. Professor Hughes would explain the topics in a clear and straightforward way, and would emphasize the topics we needed to be sure we knew for the exams which I appreciated. His grading on the midterm seemed a bit harsh - but this was perhaps meant as an encouragement to work hard on the term paper and on preparing for the final. I enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of his section and thank him for a pleasant and enlightening semester.

Hughes is a great professor and very organized lecturer. It's too bad less than half the class regularly attends lecture. He'll often tell you what's on the agenda for the class, and occasionally finishes early. He also says whether he thinks the topic is easy or difficult, which I find strangely reassuring (like he understands if you don't get it or something) Homework isn't collected or graded, but I recommend you do them (and the practice tests) before his midterms. Midterms (3 of them) are difficult. By the time you finish the third one (which is about 2 weeks before the final) you are done studying for the final. Average was around the 60s. He gives 20 problems (rather than the standard 3 multi-part problem tests), progressing in difficulty. Last 3 or 4 are really tough. Work steadily but don't expect much time to re-check answers. Try to attend the last lecture before the test because he'll give a few hints (nothing huge, but rather nice.) He'll spend some time talking about his research at CERN in Geneva ( it seems like he flies there every weekend) but it is interesting stuff and relates to the course material. He spends the last few lectures on topics not on the final (quantum mechanics and more on his research). As far as science lectures go, this was an enjoyable class.

Okay so here it goes. I got an A- in the class, so mind you, even though I am bitter, it is not because I wasn't satisfied with my grade. Professor Hughes was a HORRIBLE professor. He never wanted to be there. He told us he only came to Columbia because he wanted to shorten his commute to Geneva for his research. For our first practice mid term, he gave us another classes exam. On it was material we had never even covered. So the weekend before, while I should have been studying for stuff that was on the exam, I spent 50 bucks with a tutor and a couple of hours learning new material, only to discover on Monday morning that none of it was relevant to the test. The tests are VERY difficult. The average was 50 for both midterms and a 56 for the final. Obviously, the curve fared well for those who could keep above it even by just a little. But the work load is enormous. You'll either have to spend three hours a week in reciatation to figure the problems out, or hire a tutor. The problems and VERY heavily calculus based. The physics II material is difficult. But instead of using the whole class to teach, professor Hughes would just seem to wing a lecture it seemed he hadn't looked at since he last taught at Cal Tech. And he would even end class early. Many time he said, "You're just not going to get this." or "Just stare at it if you don't get it." One time when I asked him a quest…

Reinforcement of quantum mechanics knowledge at much higher mathematical difficulty Perspective is very physics - and very particle physics focused

Hughes' class is meant for students with a relatively strong physics background--which I didn't have. His lectures are very fast paced and consist of him writing down a few equations, quickly working through some hard problems with little explanation, and moving on to an entertaining but not useful demonstration. Also, he does everything on chalkboard so it's difficult to take notes if you're not sitting in the front half of the lecture hall. He got through the "general physics" topic a lot faster than the other professors, then decided to include stuff from E&M in the last few lectures (THEN TESTED AN ENTIRE TWO PAGES OF THE FINAL ON IT). He didn't post any slideshows, practice exams, just any resource to help prepare for the midterms so I was left to my own devices--which didn't work out too well. His homeworks were also so different from the midterms and didn't help review much, if at all imo. So again, unless you're already knowledgeable in physics, I'd strongly recommend taking this class with someone else like Raymer.

Take him, he's great. He broke his hip this semester, and has been cracking jokes nonstop about morphine and his hip. He's hilarious. He is also a clear lecturer, and I understood all of his chalkboard work. However, after he broke his hip he switched briefly to reading off the slides - which was not that helpful. The textbook presents all the material, so you can study from the textbook, but sometimes he does slip in some hints about the exams in lecture, so I would encourage you to attend the lectures before exams. Three midterms - the last one is right before finals week, so be prepared for some cramming. The lowest equivalent is dropped (so either a midterm, or half the final if you bomb the final). The midterms are fair - they're usually short answer, and range from easy to difficult. And no homework!

Professor Hughes clearly did not want to teach FoS. It was very evident that it pained him to reduce the complexities of particle physics and quantum mechanics to a group of students that frankly didn't want to be there. This underscores an interesting phenomenon of FoS: neither the instructors, nor the students, want to engage. It's a curious thing when a physicist attempts to explain neurobiology (though I guess I am lucky in that I didn't have a neurobiologist trying to teach quantum mechanics). Professor Hughes also indicated that he's not at Columbia because it's Columbia, but merely because it "lessens the length of his trips to Geneva, which he frequents." This class is insulting, uninspiring, and a plain tedium. Everyone raves that the Core educates you, makes you a better person, etc. While this may be true for LitHum and CC, it is certainly not the case of FoS. This class made me question my choosing to go to Columbia.

he's a great teacher although he goes really quickly but i think that's how all the general physics 1200 level classes go.... he has 4 exams and a final exam.... the reason he has so many exams is because there is a lot of material to be learned in the course.... however.... he drops the 2 lowest exams... and if u do well on the 4 exams throughout the semester he will drop 2/3 of your final exam grade because the final exam grade is the equivalent of 3 exams. Therefore, you will have 7 grades in the end (4 from each of the 4 exams and 3 of the identical grade coming from the final exam so he dropped the 2 lowest grades).... his exams are fair but you should definitely know the material as well as possibly.... he said that he gives 40% of the class at least an A- in the end.... the averages on his exams were in the 70s so if you know your stuff pretty well you should be able to beat the average.... the problem sets aren't graded and you should definitely keep up with them because you will just have a ton of problems to do for the exams otherwise.... i wouldn't listen to the other reviews because he changed the curriculum of his course because it's his 2nd year teaching now and i think he heard the complaints.... all my friends who took him in the past and failed miserably were jealous that he changed his grading policy... he's a nice man and i would definitely recommend him