| Information | Review |
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Zackaria Chacko
PHYS121 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/17/2024 |
This class was odd. Chacko does not care in the slightest about this class, but with that he does not care enough to make you fail. His curve was the most insane curve I have ever seen in a class, which makes up for his lack of enthusiasm about teaching. Here is a basic breakdown of his grading policy/class Labs- Labs are pretty terrible, but he didn’t write the lab manual and I’m pretty sure that’s out of his control. They are worth 20% of your grade, but if you score over a 75% average on the reports that counts as a 100% Homework- These can be really easy or really suck. He’s uses the platform ExpertTA which is the worst, however about half of the test comes directly from the homework just with different numbers so I recommend doing it. Homework is with 20% of your grade, but if you get over a 66.7% that counts as a 100% Midterms- There were only two midterms, each worth 15% of your grade, and most of the problems come directly from the homework. The problems that don’t come from the homework you will not be able to solve :') Final- The final is literally just an extra midterm but worth 30% of your grade. Same format, noncumulative Quizzes- Discussion quizzes are all extra credit and can add on 5% to your grade. There are 12 of them, worth 2 points each, and if you get 20/24 points that counts as the full 5% So while this class is painfully confusing the curve makes up for it. By the time the final came around, if I just didn’t take it I would have had a B and I only had a 70% average on the tests. Other people had 50% averages on the exams and still would have passed if they didn’t take the final. Also the grades on canvas aren’t your actual grade which is kinda annoying, by my angel of a TA made us a grading calculator. If you have a bad TA this class may be terrible, I genuinely think my TA is who made my experience bearable. I love you Ina <3 |
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Zackaria Chacko
PHYS121 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/07/2024 |
Chacko is super great and his lectures are informative. He explains things very well. Lecture and discussions aren't mandatory, but are definitely helpful! I really don't like physics so I can't say I've been to many lectures or discussions, so you totally can get good grades without going as long as you put in some work outside of class. The homeworks lowkey suck and expert TA is annoying to use, but if you take the time to learn the material on the homework, you'll be fine on the exams since most of the questions come right from the weekly homeworks. |
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Zackaria Chacko
PHYS121 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2023 |
He curved a gigantic amount for my class (Spring 2023). I had an 88 pre-curve and an A post-curve. |
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Zackaria Chacko
PHYS121 Anonymous 10/26/2023 |
class was difficult but chacko made it engaging and was helpful in office hours. Lab definitely was difficult and took help and time from the TA to get excel to work right and lab reports took a while. Exams were medium difficulty but manageable if you study and could do the Expert TA hw questions. |
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Zackaria Chacko
PHYS373 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/21/2021 |
Dr. Chacko gets a bad rap, but he's a pretty good professor. He was a bit rough but was extremely open to changing styles when requested by the students, and jumped through hoops to make this class easier on us. The TA we had was honestly much less helpful than he was. The exams are hard sometimes but the curve made up for them with no problem. |
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Zackaria Chacko
PHYS373 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/13/2021 |
Definitely avoid taking him if you can. I know that teaching math online is a pain for the teacher, but his class was extremely unhelpful. I don't think the fault is his completely, as I believe that math classes should be taught by math professors, not physics ones. His tests were super hard, but at least he made them open everything during the pandemic. Brace yourself for 40% averages, but a huge curve at the end of the semester. And pray that you get a better TA than we did. |
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Zackaria Chacko
PHYS373 Anonymous 01/09/2021 |
Dr. Chacko is a good professor and a decent teacher, but he expects a lot from his students. I felt that his exams were fair but definitely difficult. He was open to class criticisms and advice and actually improved based on what we said which was nice. The lectures were at times a bit dry and sometimes he could come off as a bit impatient or even rude, but I dont think he means to be. I just think he holds his students to a high standard, and really cares that we reach it |
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Zackaria Chacko
PHYS373 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/30/2020 |
Dr Chacko a rude and unhelpful professor. He expected us to know much of the material before taking the course. He would often ask the class a question that nobody new the answer to, then spend the next 10 minutes of class time waiting for somebody to guess the right answer rather than teaching. Additionally, when nobody knew the answer to the question, he would tell us its "pathetic" that we don't know, and remind us that we "weren't trained properly". In terms of teaching ability, he was average at best; he got the material across, but could do better. He did little more than write out examples from the book. Do not take a class with Chacko if you can avoid it. He will insult your intelligence every chance he gets, and other professors can teach the material just as well if not better. |
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Zackaria Chacko
Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/19/2011 |
The other reviews seem to hit the nail on the head with Chacko. He has been one of my favorite professors to have and though the course was tough I really enjoyed it and actually looked forward to lecture. My favorite thing about him is how clear he is with tests/assignments. He lays out exactly what subjects will be on the tests and very lenient when it comes to pushing an hw due date back if it needs to be which is great. If you have the chance of taking him in a physics course I would definitely make the suggestion to do it. |
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Zackaria Chacko
PHYS410 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/02/2010 |
Chacko's grading scheme is pretty fair. If you attain maximum points on the homework (14 assignments worth 2 points each, maximum points to earn is 20), get the one homework question completely correct on the midterm, and both homework questions completely correct on the final, then you get a C. He makes it clear from the get-go that getting an A is not an easy task. That said, if you work hard on the homework, it'll probably carry over the midterm. I felt like I did terribly on the midterm, maybe getting a C but bracing for worse, but I ended up getting an A. He engages the students in questioning during lecture to keep them active in coming up with physical reasoning or making observations about physical systems that lead to the course content he wants to deliver. His examples, while right out of the book, were still very helpful and usually presented with much more clarity than in the text. I think I learned more in this class than any other physics class I've had up to this point (and there are still things I should go back to review!). (And don't get me wrong - while I worked hard and think I should go back and study even more, I'm not an exemplary student. When Chacko said we should be working extra problems from the text, even should be reading the text, and said we should be reading extra textbooks, I was mildly terrified that that was what was expected of me if I was to ever succeed in physics. I mean, when do I get the time to do all this stuff? I think if you have good attention to the physics of classical systems, and good intuition about how systems should behave, then you'll do fine.) |
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Zackaria Chacko
PHYS410 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/17/2009 |
Thinking about taking 410 with Dr. Chacko? Here's what will probably happen to you if you're like most people in the class right now: -You'll spend a lot of time working some tough homework problems -As a result, you'll have gained a lot of knowledge which may be personally gratifying -Then you'll take his exam -After the exam you'll feel like an incompetent idiot who has not learned anything Dr. Chacko is very likeable, and more than anything I respect the man because he's undoubtedly a genius. His lectures mainly follow the book, but he also adds in tidbits here and there that I think will be very useful. And you can tell that he really cares about preparing students for graduate-level classes. What I didn't like is that there are only two exams (a midterm and a final) which together make up 90% of the grade. And the exams are hard! Knowing all the material extremely well will get you about half the points on an exam. Don't bother telling him his tests are hard either, because he'll just chuckle and say, "I thought it was easy." I expect there will be a curve, though. Overall, the class has been great, and who cares about the grade you get as long as you learn something, right? |