Reviews for PHYS131

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David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/27/2023	I definitely think Dr. Buehrle has the capabilities of being a good professor, but this course itself is just not well done in my opinion. The entire lecture is pretty much theoretical, with little to no emphasis on equations, when to use them, and the math needed to complete them. Therefore, when the exams come around that require this math, many cannot do it, and the average grades are in the 50s. Our final exam was so difficult and not reminiscent of content learned in class, that he didn't even release raw scores or conduct an exam viewing, leading me to believe the average was insanely low. Additionally, homeworks and labs have limited connection with what's covered in lectures, with labs not even providing solid instructions on how to complete the report. When I showed my pre-med friend (not a bio major) who is in PHYS121 what I was doing, he looked at me with confusion and said, "why are you guys even doing that?" The pros of this course are that there are a lot of free points offered, and the exams are curved heavily, therefore you should do pretty well overall when it comes to the final grade. However, if I did not have to take this course as part of being a biology major, I would have much rather taken PHYS121, and likely would have gotten more out of it.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/24/2023	This is not an easy A like everyone says, the year I took this class he stopped completely giving out A's. You need to get at least B+ avg on all the exams and absolutely crush lab and hw which are not as easy as they look. Maybe the worst teacher I have ever had lecture is pointless.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2023	Spends too much class time teaching the very basic fundamentals, and then leaves us with relatively difficult homeworks and exams. Coming from someone who has taken previous physics courses, if I didn't have that background intuition to begin with, I would've struggled a lot more in this class. Buehrle is a pretty decent and jolly class lecturer but for some reason, he seemed standoffish and intimidating when interacting with him one on one. Overall, class exams are severely curved. I would go to course center office hours to get help with homeworks, and you should be fine in this class.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/06/2023	Ok so I personally hate physics which is already a bit of a bias against Buehrle, but he really doesn't teach anything. The whole "flipped class" model is useless and you can't learn anything from it. Lectures are so abstract and conceptual that you can't do the math that's expected for the exams. The only reason that I have been doing well on exams is because I took AP Physics in high school but I was forced to take 131 because I'm a bio major. If you have little to no physics background you will do poorly on his exams, and that's why the averages are consistently 50% that have to be curved to 80%. I don't think it is hard to get a passing or even a good grade in thsi class but you will not learn enough physics for the MCAT from this class (I don't think this is specific to just Buehrle) so be ready to self-study physics if you're pre-med. Homework is mind-numbingly long, labs are hardly related to course material, and the worksheets you do for the first hour of lab don't even have answer keys for you to know if you're doing them right. Basically all I have to say is: you will not learn anything in this class but getting a good grade won't be that hard.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/28/2023	Can't learn anything in this class. Teaches kinda abstract but then tests are long, only 50min, and very hard. Luckily he drops a test and 60% of points is from lab/HW/participation. Huuuuuuge curve is only reason why I'll get a B+ (maybe a B if I fail this final). I'm pre-med bio major so I was required to take it. Get your credits and move on.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Anonymous 11/12/2023	This class is horrid, the prof doesn't teach you anything during lecture and the exams are graded without any sort of feedback to help you understand what you did wrong. The homeworks are insanely long and the labs are also pointless. Everything about this class is a joke, at least each exam is curved by 20%.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/01/2023	He's a very engaging professor but the exams and grading is hardddd. Thankfully theres a nice curve and a bunch of additional assignments to help you cushion your grade. Just study the hw problems and practice exam to prep for the exams. Make use of tophat too.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/29/2023	Heres the thing about this professor: hes a nice guy but does not know how to teach. I am a straight A student (getting As in orgo 1 and 2) and still couldn’t manage to get an A in this course though the odds were much greater. The practice exams are the only thing you can look at to prepare and even then I got 50s and 60s on the exams. During class he talks about the theories and the concepts but rarely ever includes actual problems that involve calculating anything which is an issue because half of the exam includes calculating something. You are allowed to bring an equation sheet to the exams but they arent much help when you don’t know what equations to put on it and which situations you need to use them for. As long as you get near the exam averages and do all the assignments you will get and A-, but to get an A its pure luck
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/27/2023	Decent professor, funny guy, but average at teaching. Didn't learn anything from this class. Curve was an 82 for an A- and 88 for an A. For how low the exam scores were, the curve should've been stronger. Still, labs were so tedious and annoying, but there was no pre-lab or post-lab so lab wasn't much work outside of the actual lab timing. We got out like an hour early usually which was nice.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/13/2023	Really good professor. He answers emails really quick, he cares about students understanding the content, and he is very considerate with grades. It's not a hard class if you take some time to study. Homework can be challenging so make sure you take some time to complete them. There are a lot of easy points for the class, and I recommend going to lecture. Exams are tricky, but he gives you a bunch of material to practice with... USE IT! I definitely recommend taking Buehrle.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/29/2022	Such an amazing teacher. Attend lectures. Ask questions during office hours. He really is there to help you understand and apply physics to everyday life. He truly wants his students to succeed. Take him!!!
Matt Severson PHYS131 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/29/2022	First off, I hope you don't have Ninad as a TA. Second, the professor was very dry and I couldn't tell if he actually cared about teaching. Everyone said the lectures are useles so I stopped coming to class. The key to get at least a B is to do good on the homework and lab reports. Tophat is used the entire course and the curve is amazing. I heavily bombed every exam (including the final) and still got out with a B. Also, didn't learn a single thing.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/23/2022	If you want to learn physics, do not take this class but if you want to pass easily without much effort then absolutely take physics131 with Severson. Dry but kinda funny guy, difficult exams, but a decent curve. Labs and lectures are absolutely useless but youtube videos are helpful for the content. Don't stress to much over this class.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/11/2022	Dry, disorganized, low exam averages, fat curve, but I wish was organized to teach effectively.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 09/02/2022	I took him last year for 131 and 132 and honestly he's not bad. The class itself will make you cry and throw up if you care not feeling lost. However, you're good if you're fine with being lost most of the time. The material honestly just sucks bio+physics is a horrible combo. BUT you will do well in the course. Failed all the exams but did well on hw, reading and labs and did well overall. The curve is a blessing honestly. Severson is a chill dude and honestly I found him very funny. The echo in the lecture room and lighting sucks though and makes you want to sleep so I would recommend just listening to the recordings or reading the slides and self-teaching.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Anonymous 07/07/2022	Class structure: Incredibly disorganized. Due dates constantly changing. One assignment is due, then the date is shifted, then it is no longer due. You already did it? Too bad. Am I in a physics class or a Kafkaesque fever dream? Teaching style: Goes through pre-written PowerPoint slides that make no sense even when he tries to explain things. He is not a good communicator so he dislikes teaching, which makes class a giant waste of time. Feedback style: Shockingly nasty. Says things like "it's not my job to teach you xyz..." "I guess you weren't paying attention during class..." "Any lack of success is your own doing." Office hours: One of my classmates said he showed up to office hours and Severson said he was busy "come again next week". Excuse me? Office hours is when you make yourself available to your students. Lab: 3 hours of blind confusion where you learn nothing about physics. It is just about decoding the instructions and then messing around on excel. They aren't even his labs but he doesn't care enough to change them. Difficulty: It was an easy class if you ignore him and just learn from online resources. Overall: He is an unfortunate reminder that not all teachers care about their students. He would just prefer to rant, ramble, and blame his students rather than take responsibility for the quality of his own course.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Anonymous 05/19/2022	The homeworks and the labs are very tedious. But the exams are easy as long as you review the practice exams. Plus the (required) textbook is well written and helps to understand lecture. He's a very engaging lecturer by the way. And he's willing to answer any questions you have about the material. Yeah physics might be required but at least you got Dave C Buehrle to help you out.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/13/2022	Physics is hard for a lot of people. It is even harder for a teacher to teach it in a way students can understand. My experience with Severson was positive. While the lectures can be a bit dull at moments, it is not that hard to succeed in this class. I've heard stories of my friends in this class bombing exams repeatedly and still ending up with an A. Do the work, practice problems, and go to discussion and you will get an A. Overall, not too hard of a class and good teacher!
Matt Severson PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/25/2021	He’s a great and funny lecturer but honest to god the material is horribly presented at times. If this will provide some hope, I got a D average on all his exams (including the final) but came out with an A. Honestly was shocked when I checked my grade, but it’s a Christmas miracle. Just try to aim a bit above or around the exam average and you’ll be fine. When you flunk an exam during this class, it will be a shitty blow to your grade temporarily but once everything else comes in at the end of the semester that bitch will go up. He also curves. Focus on doing well on the HW, work hard in lab, and keep up with TopHat. Your other efforts can balance out your horrible exam grades lol. Came out learning some physics so that’s a plus too.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Anonymous 12/21/2021	Honestly I don't even know where to begin. The structure of this lecture, discussion, and lab is something that I have never seen before in my 5 semesters at UMD. To begin, there is no syllabus for the course. There were supposed 10 homeworks, 10 quizzes, 2 exams, 4 labs and a final. Half of our quizzes were never even posted, the homeworks are incredibly difficult and never align with what we are "learning" in class. As other people have said, the due dates were constantly changing throughout the semester. The TAs hardly know what is going on during lecture which makes discussion and lab 10x more difficult (as they assume we know more than we do). The labs have no real rubric or structure, however you will receive poor grades on them if you do not follow exactly what they want (even though you don't know what that is until after your grade is posted). I can confidently say that I didn't learn a single concept in this course, somehow something as simple as gravitational force was made almost impossible to comprehend. Nothing in this class is straightforward and I really don't recommend it at all. If you can avoid PHYS131, do it.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Anonymous 11/14/2021	Nice guy but my god is this class awful. If you can take another physics. Genuinely have no clue what my grade will be in this class and the exams have made me reconsider pre-med. Survived orgo and all the other bs weed out classes just to get to physics and feel completely lost. The class is like 80% intuition and is overly complicated so it just really screws you over. I thought I would be fine because I loved physics in high school but I was wrong. We're almost done with the semester and I am genuinely panicking.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Anonymous 11/09/2021	I agree with the person below (10/28/2021) and I'm coming from similar credibility, but I honestly give him a pass this semester due to family issues. He's a nice guy and I actually think he's a decent lecturer, people just need to stfu during class. That being said, the class is still disorganized (quiz and HW due dates not predictable) and is based on another professor's material. Homework sucks. It is often only loosely related to material from class, and requires unnecessary digging around and reading between the lines to sometimes understand what to do. It usually isn't super long though. Recitation currently sucks because there seems to be a disconnect between him and the TAs; the recitation content is often one or two weeks ahead of lecture, so you have no idea what's going on and the TAs don't seem to know that. They don't know where we are in lecture or even when our exams are. It's possible this will change though. Lab sucks but what's new. The experiments themselves are actually interesting but analyses and lab reports are a pain. It's true it's hard to prepare for exams or homework. It's not a straightforward physics class, there is a lot of time spent explaining concepts in-depth. Basically, they know we're premeds who don't actually care about in-depth physics so they build the class around trying to get us to learn how to think about physics instead of learning 50 million equations. Class isn't great, could obviously be better (will hopefully be better in the future), but if you take him you're not 100% doomed, just takes extra time.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Anonymous 11/08/2021	Do not recommend this professor for anyone taking physics for the first time. Some of the material is intuitive, but he doesn't teach it like it is. Many times he takes the more complicated route to explain it than is necessary. Also, he is terribly disorganized and likes to push back dates of exams. The homework assigned is astronomically difficult because it does not always line up with what is being taught in class, so you just have to figure it out on your own, since he releases textbook chapters sequentially depending on how much you get through in class. I took one physics class in high school and it has helped a little, but this class isn't worth the time you put in.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Anonymous 10/28/2021	Honestly, if you want to learn physics, take any other professor. For credibility - I am a pre-med student with a near 4.0 gpa. Dr. Severson has failed to teach his students effectively at all. He is incredibly unorganized, continually moving homework, exam and quiz due dates. I am under the impression he does not write his own material. It is impossible to prepare for the course. I took AP Physics in high school and was capable of understanding all of it and succeeding. This class has been a fraction of what I can remember from high school but I somehow unable to learn any of it with his horrible teaching. He has no power over the class. People constantly talk over him. This is due to the fact he has shown his students no respect and therefore shouldn't expect to get it back.... I am not cold hearted, nor have I ever written a review on PlanetTerp before... this class is just so awful. Every recitation students stare blankly at the screen as we haven't been taught how to do anything. The homeworks are far beyond anything learned in class. Can't recommend not taking this guy enough. I am halfway through this course and don't have much hope - nor do I have any idea what my grade could be at the moment as he doesn't input any grades. I hope he does better in the following weeks.
Matt Severson PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2021	Dr.Severson was a great professor. I will admit that there were instances where I completely did not understand what he was teaching and sometimes he even confused himself. He uses another professor's material to teach which explains why it confused him at times, but did a decent job at explaining it. His grade cutoffs are fair and his exams are pretty difficult. I had a very hard time studying for the exams but managed to do well on other assignments like quizzes and homework. The lab is very annoying and the TA's are unhelpful, Dr.Severson has even admitted this. He responds to emails quickly and listens to all concerns that any of his students may have.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/23/2021	If you need to get physics out of the way because it is just some random requirement, then this class is for you. He puts a huge curve on the grades, so even though I knew literally maybe 20% of the content I still got an A in the class (my exam scores were 88.5%, 68%, and 135/200 on the final). His lectures are absolutely useless, because he never teaches you how to actually think through and solve a physics problem. Most of the quizzes and homeworks could be found on old UMD PowerPoints and quizlets. With all this in mind, I have never known less for a class and came out of it with an A, despite the fact that I literally don't know anything about physics. This sucks for me because I am a pre-med student, so now I have to self study physics for the MCAT since he did not teach me anything. So if you actually want to learn, I would give this class a 2/5, but if you are looking for an A with minimum effort to simply get a physics requirement out of the way I would give this class a 4/5.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Anonymous 05/15/2021	The grading scale is heavily tilted so its almost impossible to fail the class. But, don't expect to get much out of the class because its a disorganized nightmare
Matt Severson PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/27/2020	He was an easy going professor but I don't think I learned anything in his class. He seemed like he really understood physics but because he was trying to teach using another professor's course material he often seemed really unprepared for class. He was not very approachable when asking questions and usually was a little mean to the person asking. I got an A in the course but I literally do not know any more physics than I did going to into the course.
David Buehrle PHYS131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/27/2020	This class was super chill. The class focused more on theory than doing math (great for me because I suck at math!). The homework and weekly quizzes can be difficult but he repeats very similar questions on his exams. His online lectures were reused from spring and summer sessions. This made me feel disconnected from the class which was hard for me mentally and made it difficult to stay engaged. Online lab was fine because there is no work outside of the lab. You work with your assigned group over zoom through out the semester and everything is done on the computer. You can put in some effort and do fine.
Wolfgang Losert PHYS131 Expecting a B jcp5383 10/20/2014	Dr. Losert has really awesome intentions, but he just cannot teach. Also, the new physics course for biology majors is really not working out. They made this course so that bio majors can "think" about a problem in a bio-related way. Although the intentions are great, it is poorly managed and so far, none of my friends like it.
Edward Redish PHYS131 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/06/2014	This class is indeed challenging and causes you to look at physics in a much different way, meaning its not simply plug and chug physics. He makes you think critically and wants you to understand what is really happening. Overall this class seriously takes a lot of effort and work, but all in all it is highly possible to get an A. Professor Redish is one of the few professors I've had thus far that wants you to succeed and really wants all his students to pass. If you go to office hours in the course center for homework help you will be golden. Also if you have the pleasure of having Kim as your TA then you are extremely set. This class is a lot different than what you may be use to, but it really is possible to pass.
Edward Redish PHYS131 Expecting a B fea 07/26/2012	His class is difficult in that you SHOULD/WILL put 6-10 hours per week on weekly assignments. Thats how you learn in this class, from your mistakes. But this course has been the best I have taken yet; his style of teaching concepts in lecture really allows you to expand from the usual "way" of approaching science education. That's what I loved about this class, designed to make (or teach) you how to think critically, approach detailed problems using the strong foundation he instills about physics and biology. For a serious pre-med student, I strongly recommend him and this course specifically.