| Information | Review |
|---|---|
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/22/2023 |
The only thing I would say that I didn't like about this course was the the grading scale cutoffs. The whole semester I thought an A was a 93% or above (I skimmed through the syllabus and didn't look at that part) but it was a 95%. I understand it's probably because of the extra credits on her exams but even though my midterms averaged at 101 and I got a 90 on the final, I was not able to get an A because of lab assignments. I just feel like she shouldn't have changed the grade cutoffs but she herself is a great professor. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/21/2023 |
Dr. Heidarian is a kind and considerate professor, and very helpful during office hours. I would say she goes a bit fast in class, often times it's hard for me to keep up, but perhaps that's a me problem. Her tests are very fair as long as you do the practice problems. She provides a formula sheet for all exams. I highly recommend going over the practice problems she provides and looking at her recorded videos on how to solve them. There are 3 midterms and a cumulative final. She doesn't curve unless the average is below a C. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS161 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2023 |
Dr. Heidarian is an excellent physics professor at UMD. With only a limited time to cover lots of content, she did an excellent job putting the conceptual understanding over any formula. She gives so many opportunities to succeed in the class. Her midterms are highly based on what's learned in class and there are 10 extra credit points at the end of each midterm. There are also in class 2-3 question lecture quizzes that are almost word for word a concept we discussed in class. On top of that, she drops your lowest midterm and lowest quiz grade. In terms of homework, she will help you on any problem you're struggling with and stay after lecture to discuss anything physics. She's also very helpful via email and during her office hours. The only "downside" is her class is not a free "A" because of the final exam. The exam average was a 75 so she curved it 5 points to an 80. However, it's only 20% of the final grade and everything on the exam is 100% doable and genuinely proves you've learned a lot over the course of the year. Highly recommend for a calc based physics course. My favorite class this semester! |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS161 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/13/2023 |
She is such an amazing professor!! She makes everything sound so exciting so that you're actually interested in the class. There is a minimal workload but enough to keep you involved in the class. Definitely take her if you can. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS122 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2023 |
I took PHYS121 with her and now 122, she is a wonderful professor! Really helpful and explains all the topics, even content covered in labs. Her practice sets and solutions are super helpful in studying for exams and I feel that the grading is very fair. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS122 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/20/2023 |
Took PHYS121 with her and currently taking PHYS122. She is a great professor and makes sure you are on track. She provides practice sets for each exam which is similar to the actual exams. Also, she is accommodating to the exam scores and will curve if necessary. Very patient and overall a great professor. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS122 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/14/2023 |
Heidarian is a great professor. I took her for 121 and 122. Love her engaging lectures, I actually looked forward to class. The labs, which are run by TAs, are relatively easy - just do your best and you'll be fine. Tip: Make your formula sheets for exams incrementally - as you learn/are introduced to a new formula, add it. It will make exam prep much easier because you can just get right into practice questions instead of spending forever making your formula sheet. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/14/2023 |
Heidarian is a great professor. I took her for 121 and 122. Love her engaging lectures, I actually looked forward to class. The labs, which are run by TAs, are relatively easy - just do your best and you'll be fine. Tip: Make your formula sheets for exams incrementally - as you learn/are introduced to a new formula, add it. It will make exam prep much easier because you can just get right into practice questions instead of spending forever making your formula sheet. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/21/2023 |
She is a wonderful professor, I highly recommend going to office hours as she is super helpful and explains everything in a way that is very easy to understand. She provides lots of practice questions which are very similar to exam questions. There are 3 midterms and the lowest grade gets dropped, and she provides extra credit questions on each exam. Highly recommend taking this class with her. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/05/2023 |
I had Dr. Heidarian for both physics 1 and 2. She provided a ton of practice problems which were super similar to the exam. If you can do those, you will do really well on her exams. She also provided a lot of extra credit on the exams as well which helped a lot. I ended her class with a 105 from all of the extra credit she gave out. She is super sweet and I highly recommend taking her! |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/01/2023 |
Her exams are very similar to the practice problems. If you are able to do everything on the practice problem sets, you should be fine for exams. You do have to study and put in the work, but it is a very fair class. She is also very generous with extra credit on her exams. She gives at least 10+ points on each exam. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting an A+ wmy78b 05/25/2022 |
Prof. Boroujeni is nice and helpful, she gives curve so that the average grade is around 80. However, this course is not easy at all. It has too much knowledge for you to learn within one semester. I've learnt all the things in China many years ago and I always solve these questions easily. I still think the midterm exams are so time-limited. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/15/2022 |
she's good. exams are straightforward, just practice problem set questions. she drops the lowest exam score too. take her |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2022 |
I didn't show up to a single lecture after the first week, except for exams. All exams are curved, lowest exam grade is dropped. All the problems are very reasonable for a class of this magnitude. Can't really speak to her lecturing abilities since I never went, but her slideshows have all the information that you need to do well in the class. Labs often come across as incredibly pointless, but put in the time and you'll get a decent grade on the lab reports. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting an A+ mren 05/09/2022 |
I took her 121 last semester and now am working on her 122. She is a great professor even though she just started teaching at UMD since 2018 I got A+ for 121 and it's near the final of Spring2022, I'm also expecting an A+ for 122 The advantage of her course is that her lecture is clear and you can feel that she really wants you to understand. She gave two extra problems that account for 20 extra points for each exam(and these problems are not difficult, I can say that it's totally the same level as the other free-respond questions). Besides, she has three midterms and she drops the lowest one, you can see that she gives you chances to make mistakes. She sometimes curves the grade if she thinks the average is below her expectation(usually around 80) but there's no guarantee. You can ask questions on piazza or just directly email her/send a message on elms, she usually responds very soon. She also provides enough materials for you to review before each exam. The disadvantage is that they didn't grade exams very fast, usually takes 2 weeks or 3 three weeks. But on this point, I didn't care at all. Nevertheless, she will never curve/change your grade(for example if you are like 0.1 point below and get a B+ not an A-) on a personal basis because she already gives you chances to earn extra points at exams. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Anonymous 04/19/2021 |
Honestly I feel like it is absolutely do-able to pass the class, but this professor/course bothers me a lot. Maybe just not translating well to an online course, I'm not sure. Don't get exam grades back until the week before the next test (almost a month later). You have to rush so much on the exams that it definitely took a toll on my grade, prof blames it on poor time management when we are not able to finish. I am generally an A student with over 4 years of college behind me, I've always been a good test-taker and never have I struggled to complete a test in the allotted time this way. Cutoff for an A is a 95. All of this compounded with the fact that she very specifically outlines how to succeed in the class and get the grade you want, yet I do every single thing she says (plus my own tried and true methods), do just about every single practice problem supplied, and I still have a low B in the class rather than the A that I wanted. Makes me hate physics which is sad bc I was excited for physics and to learn some of the concepts behind calculus, which I enjoyed despite the difficulty (and did well in). Also since the TA's grade the exams, and we pay for the expertta homework which is autograded, I'm not sure what exactly the professor does for our class besides record lecture videos with the textbook powerpoints. I do not feel that this class provides value compared to what I am paying for the course |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS122 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/06/2020 |
Lectures can be really dry but she's super nice and accommodating. Gives 20+ points worth of extra credit questions for each exam. |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/17/2019 |
weights the final the same as the homeworks, so if you’re not a good test-taker, there is still a lot of opportunities to pass the class |
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Negar Heidarian Boroujeni
PHYS121 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/19/2019 |
Great Professor, gives tons of extra credit so you're not left pulling your hair out to get an A. |