Reviews for PHYS402

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Theodore Jacobson PHYS402 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/22/2024	Professor Jacobson has a very good approach to PHYS402. In my personal experience, the course was well taught at a perfect level of difficulty. The material we were taught was very relevant to modern research. The only thing that I was not a fan of was he skipped certain important topics like Bloch's theorem and scattering theory.
Ian Appelbaum PHYS402 HyperFine 11/20/2014	One of the best physics lecturers I had: 1)extremely thorough and clear presentation of QM, with lecture notes posted; 2)put effort into designing the course, supplementing Griffiths' textbook with his own derivations which are often more insightful; 3)challenging but well-written homework problems focusing on physics concepts. That being said, he held (perhaps righteously) high standards for his students therefore gave difficult exams. But, even when the problem seemed really hard, you could manage to solve it if you followed and understood all his lecture notes (which I should have done but didn't). I definitely learned a lot in his class and did not regret taking him. It's not an easy ride, but neither is QM.
Ian Appelbaum PHYS402 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/20/2014	Probably the worst professor I've ever had. He had unrealistic expectations of the students, a monotonous classroom experience, and did not provide nearly enough support to his students. His exams were purposeful attempts to fool students, a fact of his teaching strategy that he shared with us. Moreover, he made me really dislike QM, something I would have thought impossible. Avoid at all costs.
Steven Rolston PHYS402 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/27/2010	Definitely the best undergrad physics teacher I have had yet. Tests were hard, yes, but they were either open book or take home. hes also the director of the JQI (joint quantum institute), meaning he really knows his stuff.
Victor Yakovenko PHYS402 Anonymous 05/30/2010	Yakovenko is one of the better professors in the physics department, probably the second best physics prof. I have had after Hall. He lectures directly from the book, but I think his lectures are informative and helpful even though many people decided to skip them. His grading scheme is also very unique: 50% homework and 50% tests, and there are two tests, each counting 25%. He does assign a lot of homework though, and it is difficult, although the problems are not his own but are from the book. He sometimes makes up additional parts to questions which are pretty straightforward. Tests were impossible, however. I think the averages were below 50%. The curve at the end of the semester was something like above 70% weighted homework and tests was an A. I would recommend taking a class with Yakovenko, because he is one of the better lecturers in the department and the grading scheme really rewards those who work hard on their homework. You end up learning a lot in the class.
Victor Yakovenko PHYS402 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/29/2010	Yakovenko is a instantly likeable professor. He's funny, smart, and he's definitely effective at communicating the material. He has a habit of dropping constants in equations, which is okay, but you will need to include them in the homework or lose points. Of course, the first couple of times he does it, he re-introduces them at the end, so you kind of learn to do it yourself. He adapted the course structure to the students' incoming knowledge very well, he answered any questions directly (though he sometimes missed the point of a question), and he rapidly responded to any questions you might email him. I personally had an incident where I was sick and emailed him asking if I could scan my homework and email to him. He said I could and said he would give it to the TA. The next week, it turned out that the TA never got my homework, and Yakovenko said that he was not a conduit to the TA and that he hadn't agreed to give the TA my homework, that I would have to go directly to the TA. I double checked the email, and I wasn't making up our conversation, so I was a little peeved. I gave the homework to the TA and it didn't get marked down for lateness though, so from a practical standpoint there wasn't really a problem. In the end, I am looking forward to having Yakovenko as a professor again in PHYS404, which I guess says more than the rest of this review.
Steven Anlage PHYS402 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/27/2008	I'd heard a lot of really bad things about Anlage before taking the class, and was really nervous. However, he's actually a great physics professor. His weekly homeworks force you to learn the material, and learn it well, and his tests were a good level of challenge without being incomprehensible. He offered extra office hours to those who needed them, which I heard were very helpful. He can go fast and sometimes explanations aren't the best, but the text fills in any blanks quite nicely.