PHYS271 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Matt Severson PHYS271 Anonymous 02/18/2024	ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS CLASS. USELESS AND A WASTE OF TIME. NOTHING TAUGHT IN THE LAB WILL BE RELEVANT IN THE REAL WORLD. I DON'T CARE IF IT IS AN EASY A. I STILL HAD TO PAY A TRUCKLOAD OF MONEY FOR A STUPID XPERT TA ASSIGNMENT WHICH WAS SETUP WITH MINIMAL EFFORT. JUST A MONEY GRABBING SCHEME!
Matt Severson PHYS271 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/26/2021	You barely really interact with Dr. Severson at all. He handles the logistics of the online pre-labs and the final exam. If you email him with a question that is already addressed in the syllabus or a previous announcement, he might call you lame.
Matt Severson PHYS271 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/05/2021	PHYS271 is a continuation of PHYS261. Your grade is comprised of pre-labs, labs, and a final exam. The course overall is an easy A as long as you do the pre-labs and read the lab manual before each lab. Be aware though that the labs for PHYS271 are longer than the labs for PHYS261 and more in depth. The final exam review was extremely helpful and problems from it appear on the final exam.
Matthew Severson PHYS271 Expecting an A+ StardustGogeta 08/15/2020	This lab class seems to act as a companion for both physics 2 and 3 in terms of content covered. The experiments are not very difficult (on the contrary, they are largely self-explanatory), but equipment malfunctions and the like can cause you to lose points at random on every assignment. After repeatedly voicing my complaints to the TA, I was told, “don’t worry about it,” since the class is curved. I maintain my belief that this part of the course should be properly fixed rather than relying on the curve to fix random grading errors. (Note that, as with PHYS261, Severson was never there in-person, only the TAs.
Matthew Severson PHYS271 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2018	Straightforward and you can get an A if you just look over the material a little bit before the exams.
Wendell Hill PHYS271 Expecting a B jschel 12/09/2014	Avoid if at all possible. He's suuuper lazy. I think he's fine with the idea of helping students, but on those rare occasions (lol) when it actually requires any effort to do so, he doesn't bother. Disorganized lecturer, pretty bad at explaining concepts. He likes transcribing long derivations from his notes, but without really explaining them very well or discussing practical applications. So hard to follow. Used MasteringPhysics for homework, despite student protests, and never really bothered to give students help or slack when they would frequently have trouble with it. He always talked like he was going to "look into it" or do "something" about it, but he never did. He isn't (in my experience) explicitly dismissive of student questions or concerns, but he just doesn't really try.
Wendell Hill PHYS271 Anonymous 05/02/2014	Only reason he got 1 star was because 0 isn't an option. If you have any passion or interest in physics do not take his class because he will ruin all of it. Horrible teacher so take literally anyone else possible. Tests are impossible and he is unreasonable. Stay away
Min Ouyang PHYS271 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/25/2011	It takes a while to get used to his accent, but once you do he's a pretty good teachers. Lectures can be boring; i often did homework during lecture. However, he uses detailed powerpoints and will post them online so you can look over them. There are random lecture quizzes, but just for completing them you get a 9/15 so they help boost your grade a little. Also the weekly problems you get for hw are often taken right from the book, so take a look in the book to see if there is anything in there that might help you solve the problem. Also Min makes sure that students know he cares about their grade and wants to help them succeed, and this was good to have from a professor.
Min Ouyang PHYS271 Expecting an A+ a778999 01/19/2009	This class was very tedious and time consuming but I had an awesome TA who made it bearable. The culminating labs were not bad since we all worked together.
Min Ouyang PHYS271 Anonymous 12/22/2008	For a what can be a tough class, a pretty good professor. He's really helpful whenever you ask him questions, and his exams are of middling difficulty.

Matt Severson
PHYS271

Anonymous
02/18/2024

ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS CLASS. USELESS AND A WASTE OF TIME. NOTHING TAUGHT IN THE LAB WILL BE RELEVANT IN THE REAL WORLD. I DON'T CARE IF IT IS AN EASY A. I STILL HAD TO PAY A TRUCKLOAD OF MONEY FOR A STUPID XPERT TA ASSIGNMENT WHICH WAS SETUP WITH MINIMAL EFFORT. JUST A MONEY GRABBING SCHEME!

Matt Severson
PHYS271

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
06/26/2021

You barely really interact with Dr. Severson at all. He handles the logistics of the online pre-labs and the final exam. If you email him with a question that is already addressed in the syllabus or a previous announcement, he might call you lame.

Matt Severson
PHYS271

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/05/2021

PHYS271 is a continuation of PHYS261. Your grade is comprised of pre-labs, labs, and a final exam. The course overall is an easy A as long as you do the pre-labs and read the lab manual before each lab. Be aware though that the labs for PHYS271 are longer than the labs for PHYS261 and more in depth. The final exam review was extremely helpful and problems from it appear on the final exam.

Matthew Severson
PHYS271

Expecting an A+
StardustGogeta
08/15/2020

This lab class seems to act as a companion for both physics 2 and 3 in terms of content covered. The experiments are not very difficult (on the contrary, they are largely self-explanatory), but equipment malfunctions and the like can cause you to lose points at random on every assignment. After repeatedly voicing my complaints to the TA, I was told, “don’t worry about it,” since the class is curved. I maintain my belief that this part of the course should be properly fixed rather than relying on the curve to fix random grading errors. (Note that, as with PHYS261, Severson was never there in-person, only the TAs.

Matthew Severson
PHYS271

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/22/2018

Straightforward and you can get an A if you just look over the material a little bit before the exams.

Wendell Hill
PHYS271

Expecting a B
jschel
12/09/2014

Avoid if at all possible. He's suuuper lazy. I think he's fine with the *idea* of helping students, but on those rare occasions (lol) when it actually requires any effort to do so, he doesn't bother. Disorganized lecturer, pretty bad at explaining concepts. He likes transcribing long derivations from his notes, but without really explaining them very well or discussing practical applications. So hard to follow. Used MasteringPhysics for homework, despite student protests, and never really bothered to give students help or slack when they would frequently have trouble with it. He always talked like he was going to "look into it" or do "something" about it, but he never did. He isn't (in my experience) *explicitly* dismissive of student questions or concerns, but he just doesn't really try.

Wendell Hill
PHYS271

Anonymous
05/02/2014

Only reason he got 1 star was because 0 isn't an option. If you have any passion or interest in physics do not take his class because he will ruin all of it. Horrible teacher so take literally anyone else possible. Tests are impossible and he is unreasonable. Stay away

Min Ouyang
PHYS271

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/25/2011

It takes a while to get used to his accent, but once you do he's a pretty good teachers. Lectures can be boring; i often did homework during lecture. However, he uses detailed powerpoints and will post them online so you can look over them. There are random lecture quizzes, but just for completing them you get a 9/15 so they help boost your grade a little. Also the weekly problems you get for hw are often taken right from the book, so take a look in the book to see if there is anything in there that might help you solve the problem. Also Min makes sure that students know he cares about their grade and wants to help them succeed, and this was good to have from a professor.

Min Ouyang
PHYS271

Expecting an A+
a778999
01/19/2009

This class was very tedious and time consuming but I had an awesome TA who made it bearable. The culminating labs were not bad since we all worked together.

Min Ouyang
PHYS271

Anonymous
12/22/2008

For a what can be a tough class, a pretty good professor. He's really helpful whenever you ask him questions, and his exams are of middling difficulty.

Reviews for PHYS271