Thomas Humensky

hefty, but serves it purpose. 8-12 hrs out of class.

I remember reading the reviews about Humensky before I signed up for his Physics 1 class. After taking 2 semesters with him I feel obligated to change the tone of his reviews. Preface: I am a Postbac Premed and I finished my undergrad 8 years ago. I was very apprehensive going into this class, as physics was never fun or easy for me in high-school, and remembered NOTHING. YES Humensky has a SIGNIFICANT work load. You will work, but you will LEARN physics. I went from zero understanding to a reasonably thorough conceptual understanding of the material. Humensky gives quizzes on Sundays and Tuesdays, but they're usually just 3-4 preparatory problems that make sure you read some of the material before you go into class for lecture...its online...its a quiz grade. It's SUCH a good system. Unless you're one of those people that reads every chapter before going into class on your own accord...cheers. I'm happy for you. Perhaps a bit jelly too. His hw ensures consistent lecture prep, and the problem set every Friday is a recap of the material he lectured that week. It's on wileyplus, you have 4 tries to get full credit,8 tries total. Beneath each problem is: a link to the specific chapter in the text, videos of similar problems being done, math help, a hint to help you if your stuck, and sometimes a step-by-step tutorial which walks you through the problem. Yes it has it's annoyances…

Weekly problem sets, with 3-4 problems due to turn in and biweekly prelecture quizzes. Of course the problem sets can be copied right from the solutions manual or found with an account on chegg.com. Understanding the material well enough to do problems on your depends on your previous level of exposure to the material as well as your general aptitude. I can see a scenario where 10-15 hours/week are needed to solidify the material, and extra time the days leading up to an exam.

I was instructed by Professor Humensky for the Physics I and II cycle this past academic year. Unfortunately I cannot recommend him as a professor at this or any institution. An amiable enough guy, its clear that after 4 or 5 semesters of teaching that it doesn't suit him. Via reports from my peers who were with him during his first semester, back in the spring of 2013, he has made little to no improvement in his lecture style or the format of his course. Please note that I did well both semesters, receiving grades in the "A" range, so this is not the review of a slighted, disgruntled student. Professor Humensky is unable to do what I feel is the most important job of a professor in the sciences: distill complex information from the text into meaningful, understandable ideas that the eager student can use to navigate problem solving. While lecturing, he stays exclusively to his prepared notes which he reads almost as if they were a script. Later, these notes are posted to courseworks; the language and structure of the notes, and thus his lectures, are almost carbon copies of the textbook. What's wrong with this? We already have the textbook, which of course we have paid an inordinate amount of money for. To sit in lecture where it is read back to us, equations derived in turn with little additional explanation, is a disregard for the value of the instruction that should be exp…

Fairly time-demanding workload: online pre-lecture questions based on textbook readings (10%), weekly homework assignments (20% total, lowest homework dropped), best two out of three midterms (each worth 20%, the third is dropped), and a three-hour final (30%). Midterms and final were a combination of conceptual multiple choice questions and long-answer problems.

Professor Humensky was a good instructor. His lectures were ambiguous at times (especially when solving some of the examples that were intended to supplement/clarify concepts). However, he reviewed the theory and math behind all of the important concepts, and didn't base his tests on the material that wasn't covered in a thorough fashion. I believe the biggest strength of the course was the amount of practice material made available for review. Homeworks and pre-lecture problems reappeared on the exams, with slight variations. Furthermore, the Professor instructed his TAs to be very generous with partial credit for work, emphasizing method and conceptual understanding over mathematical calculations (plug 'n' chug). This class was certainly challenging, but not impossible by any means.

20% problem sets of varying lengths, 10% pre-lecture problems, 40% tests (best 2 of 3), 30% final

Professor Humensky genuinely tried to be a good professor. He made us use WileyPlus (which is ridiculously expensive considering you can only use it for one semester) and he assigned problem sets and posted the answers on his coursework's in a timely manner. From his class design, he had the makings of a solid professor. The problem with his class is that he would only go over how to do problems during the class period rather than go over theory. Those promises he made to go over topics people had difficulty with in the pre-lecture problems were never fulfilled. He does seem to be a nice, down to earth guy, but he isn't an effective professor. There was no balance between teaching theory and going over problems. The redeeming quality of the class is that if you can do the problem sets he assigns, you can do the tests. I was in his first class of General Physics I and so we didn't have any practice tests or material to prepare for exams. The class has a generous curve since the average is somewhere between 50%-60% for each test. If you're premed, I would highly encourage you to take Shaevitz instead of Humensky. Humensky is not an easy A (you can get an A, but it won't be easy) and he does not make it easy to take his class with Mowshowitz bio as he unwittingly has tests scheduled for the day before Mowshowitz bio tests. He's not the worst option and it really depends on what y…

Moderate, what you put in is what you get.

I have to admit I was at first hesitant about taking Humensky's section of Intro Physics; he was a new professor but I decided to give his class a try. At the end of the semester, I have to say I was pleased with my decision. Not only do I feel extremely prepared for the MCATS but the tests were pretty fair. His teaching methods improved throughout the semester, thankfully. The workload isn't that bad and the quizzes made sure you were keeping up with the material. If you actively understood the material, and didn't just cram for the midterm/final, then you didn't really need to study at all for the exams. In comparing Shaevitz and Humensky, I would definitely recommend taking Humensky if given the choice. You actually LEARN the material in his class, compared to getting a "GPA booster" class and stumbling on the MCATS which actually matter. I never had taken physics before, so it was a struggle learning everything with Mowsh's class, but it was worth the pay off. The class average was around B+/A-.