Hailu Gebremariam

This professor has taught: PHYS121, PHYS122, PHYS142, PHYS161, PHYS260, PHYS270, PHYS273

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Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting a B Anonymous 08/08/2024	[Taken Spring 2024] I do not like Hailu Gebremarium. His lectures are psychological torture if you attempt to pay attention, as the man has the voice and cadence perfectly crafted to induce a deep, restful slumber. In conjunction with the incredibly boring, perplexingly convoluted (mainly referring to diffraction and quantum mechanics here), and ridiculously impractical material, his lectures diminish your will to follow along and take notes (if you care to do so only bother copying the example problems- the theory does not help). It will feel manageable at first, but that hour and fifteen minutes is an eternity and will chip away at your mental fortitude. You will likely give up taking notes or even showing up at some point and this is understandable if not the norm. As far as the exams go, from my experience all except the first one resulted in an absolute dumpster fire of an experience (ESPECIALLY the final). Assuming the course remains the same, you will be given zero practice material prior and will have to cram as many homework problems and lecture examples as possible to give yourself a fighting chance. You are also encouraged to practice using former quiz problems, but they are of no service as they are insultingly easy. Like I alluded to previously, aside from the first exam, which included especially easy material, you will be racing against the clock to conjure up any semblance of work (in an attempt to garner partial credit) that you can conceive of. What makes the exams terrible is the time limitation (in a cruel twist of fate you are given an hour to complete said exams despite having to sit through hour and fifteen minute lectures) and the fact that Hailu commonly attempts to insert questions that are either unnecessarily difficult variations that you have not seen before or are simple but require incredibly niche equations that exist outside your knowledge (since they are never emphasized anywhere and are thus easy to neglect on a formula sheet). Another thing about the exams that I hated was the very strict grading. Partial credit was handed out incredibly sparingly and you could even lose points for not including units on intermediate answers! The final was the cherry on top. Hailu showed up at the last minute and looked incredibly ticked off for no reason at all before giving us the holy grail of horrible final exams. Every problem was a hard variation of what we had learned and everybody ended up BS'ing the entire thing, especially the quantum mechanics which I don't think a single soul figured out. The only saving grace of this class is that there is enough of a curve so that if you are close to the average on each exam you will succeed no matter how bad things are. I would also like to add that my review has been undoubtedly influenced by the fact that I had this man for two semesters in a row and thus had to deal with him for an entire year, but I'm sure you will find enough commonalities between my review and others to validate what I am saying. Avoid him if possible. Having him is not the end of the world but you will be absolutely sick of him by the end.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B- Anonymous 06/06/2024	The other reviews are right so I'll keep it brief. Hailu is boring, it is hard to stay awake. If you can, pay attention in class, as going back to the slides after the lecture isn't really helpful. He doesn't post his solutions to problems we go over in class, so try to follow along. Quizzes are disproportionally easy compared to the exams. You won't need to worry about the quizzes at all, as long as you understand the basics.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/27/2024	Overall, he taught the content well, which succeeded in making me interested in the content and preparing me for the exam. He teaches in a chill style, and while he does get monotonous at times, I could deal with it and the solution is to sit near friends. Homework was assigned on a great site which gives us five attempts for problems and does not deduct us for hints or incorrect answers. For tests, we were allowed to use a cheat sheet and they were all fairly graded, and we were provided with a practice test to prepare us. Definitely take him for Physics 161.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/27/2024	Overall, he taught the content well, which succeeded in making me interested in the content and preparing me for the exam. He teaches in a chill style, and while he does get monotonous at times, I could deal with it and the solution is to sit near friends. Homework was assigned on a great site which gives us five attempts for problems and does not deduct us for hints or incorrect answers. For tests, we were allowed to use a cheat sheet and they were all fairly graded, and we were provided with a practice test to prepare us. Definitely take him for Physics 161.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/23/2024	Worst lectures I have ever been to. Skipped for like 2 months because they are useless unless you learn while sleeping. He only posts PowerPoints of the questions he goes through, not the solutions he works through during class so after going a couple of times, make some friends who can send you the notes. The tests are not too hard or tricky which was nice, but the homework kind of sucked just try to stay current on the material. Try and take Aria Heidarian, her class was late but my friend said it was much easier. She dropped the worst test and actually taught well. Although the homework and content for tests were a bit different so you can't study or do homework with your friends in Hailu's class. Overall the class isn't bad, all tests and final were fair. It is also easier if you took or are taking ENES102 or took AP physics in high school.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/22/2024	He taught the course well, clearly explaining all topics in a chill (as in not harsh) style. That allowed me to understand all topics well enough to do well on tests and be interested in them. During office hours, he is willing to answer any question about homework or content and he answers in a non-critical way. Regarding tests, they are administered in a fair way in which we are allowed to bring in cheat sheets which he does not check, allowing us to write what we want. The homework is assigned on a great website called expertTA which usually gives us five chances to get questions correct and does not deduct us for wrong answers or hints. Overall, he is a great man and an amazing teacher who I am excited to take again for PHYS261, you should definitely take physics with him if he is a choice. Regarding ratings that say he is boring, he does speak in slight monotone but the tip to not getting bored in class is to sit by friends.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2024	Pretty slow and boring but gives good practice material and fair exams. He also explains problems well.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2024	Had Hailu for 270 and 260; he can definitely be a bit boring during lecture but he generally explains things pretty clearly and is happy to answer questions. Quizzes were generally very easy, and exams were pretty fair(moreso in 270 than 260), but were difficult to prepare for as no practice materials were released. My advice would be to be familiar with the example problems covered during lecture and the hw, as these were generally very similar if not identical(with different numbers) to many exam problems.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/10/2024	I never understood why students would criticize professors for being boring until I took physics with Hailu. I fought so hard to stay awake during his lectures that I genuinely could not divert any of my energy into actually understanding the topics. He does not post lecture notes or videos, just his slides which are a jumbled mess of textbook screenshots. The only exam prep he provides is one old exam (posted two days before the exam) with no answer key. I went to his office hours once and he literally cost me points off my homework assignment; not only was it unproductive, but his explanations felt condescending and rude (not a comfortable environment to learn in). The quizzes are pretty easy and the homework is helpful (both for your grade and understanding). The only reason I would recommend Hailu is because he provides feedback and hints on the hw with no deductions.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/04/2024	This guy is so boring. If you have prior knowledge of Physics 1, you'll be fine skipping class. If you need a review, you need to go to lecture. He goes kinda fast and the screen is hard to see from the back. If you pay attention, you will pass the class.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/17/2024	misunderstood goat just know the formulas
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Anonymous 02/09/2024	ONE OF THE WORST PROFESSORS EVER. Not only is he boring, but his lectures are composed of copied slides from somewhere else and writes messy stuff. He should be fired. I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW HE STILL HAS A JOB.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/30/2024	As other reviews have mentioned, the greatest challenge in Hailu's class is staying awake. While he does effectively teach you the concepts, he does so in a way that will have you making sketches in your notebook within 5 minutes. Lectures were extremely boring, but did get across core concepts of each unit. Properly learning the material only really happened when doing the homeworks, but to be fair, they were quite useful. Quizzes weren't bad. Exams were hit-or-miss; with only three questions per midterm, if you missed one, you were a little screwed. Overall not a bad professor per se, but I would avoid his class if you have alternatives.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 01/24/2024	Getting mad at hailu is like getting mad at a textbook, all the information is right in front of you but its not all that interesting to learn and its even less engaging because of how its delivered. I fought hard to not fall asleep in class. Please go to office hours and do your due diligence with practice problems from the textbook.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/25/2023	Everyone saying that Hailu is a boring lecturer is right for the most part. He spends the majority of his lecturers doing practice problems which I think is great because the key to success in physics is practice problems, and more practice problems. The class problems along with the weekly homeworks are great review for the midterms and final. On the last final, one of the problems was actually an exact one that we did in class. This course isn't easy, but if you apply yourself by doing enough practice problems and actually try on the homeworks, you'll succeed. As far as curvature goes, he curves so that the top 60% of the class will get an A or B. My final grade of 83% god curved up to a B+. However, if you are not within the top 60% of the class, you will not get a curve. You are awarded your own cheat sheet for each test, which is helpful.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/22/2023	This semester's PHYS260 class with Hailu was harder than it should've been; a course redesign resulted in no practice exams being given out for the midterms and finals, with the averages for these being around a 60% on each exam. In the end, the class ended up being curved as specified on the syllabus. Overall, it was a very stressful experience that I would prefer to not repeat, and could've been prevented if he had provided additional practice material for the exams; after all, the purpose of a redesign is to improve the course for students.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/21/2023	Decent professor, I didn't find much use going to lectures. Most of the class didn't. There is an expertTA every week and they're not super helpful. Quizzes are very easy, testing conceptual understanding. The exams are 3 questions, 20 points each, not too bad if you understand the material. The final was much harder. Doesn't record lectures or post the work of him solving problems from his slide decks. The online textbook and youtube videos will be more helpful than the professor.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/16/2023	I would say that Hailu is very organized with his lectures but his monotone voice will bore you and make it harder to pay attention in class as time drags on. Also, since this semester the course was restructured there were no practice exams, which made studying for the course challenging. I did okay since he based his problems of the slides but I think I could have done a bit better if had given more practice material. Overall, a decent professor who teaches pretty well and gives hard but fair exams.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/09/2023	Aura. Confidence. Passion. Vigor. Tenacity. These are some of the words my fellow students and I have used to describe Dr. Hailu Gebremariam. When he takes the podium in the lecture hall I am ready to be captivated for the next 75 minutes. The man could sell ice to an eskimo, his communication method is nothing short of immaculate. I am purely in awe hearing him break down R-L circuits, and his lecture notes on electric potential belong next to the Mona Lisa. Work. of. Art. Hailu is a good professor. Hes very straightforward and if you show up to lecture, participate in discussion, and practice with textbook you are bound to succeed.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting an XF Anonymous 12/09/2023	This man is passionate
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/07/2023	Went into this class expecting a horrible professor and came out realizing most of his bad reviews for 161 are from freshmen who aren’t used to having to go to discussion or pay attention in class. His exams were fair, he was a very efficient lecturer, TA’s were helpful. Homework every week but I really liked the ExpertTA platform because it gives good hints and feedback. Structure of class sets students up for success (doing the homework & going to lecture/discussion will definitely help you pass). Great first semester of physics.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/05/2023	it all depends on what you want/if you have any experience with physics, but overall he's a fairly good teacher. he posts his powerpoints ahead of time and works through all the examples in class, and he gives a practice exam for each midterm. you get a single-sided cheat sheet for each midterm (8.5x11) and a double-sided one for the final. weekly Expert TA homeworks, 3 midterms, weekly quizzes in discussion (lowest is dropped and if you're sick you can get one excused), and a fairly large curve at the end of the semester (top 15% get As, next 40% get Bs, next 25% get Cs, and the rest get Ds and Fs) so its not too bad even if you don't do well. if you've taken AP physics 1 you're basically set. little to no calc needed as well.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/05/2023	While the material itself isn't the hardest thing in the world, the exam questions can be much more abstract then any of the homework or quiz questions. It doesn't help that Hailu is an incredibly dry lecturer, and it makes the lecturers feel like a chore when 80% of every lecture is just him solving practice problems.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/02/2023	I feel like some things about Hailu's class are really good and some are really bad, and whether you should take him depends a lot on what you personally like in a professor. Good: Lectures are very organized. He doesn't dwell too long on theory and spends most of the time doing problems. He writes on his iPad and uses colors which is nice because you can see what's going on easily. The weekly discussion quizzes are generally not that difficult and I think they do help you learn. Expert TA homeworks could be a little tricky but you got 5 attempts per problem+hints and feedback without point deductions. If you have an issue he's pretty accommodating and communicates well over email. Bad: This man will put you to sleep. He has the most monotone voice ever. Also, his midterms this semester were super hard. He's generally known for having relatively easy exams so it may have been an issue with the course redesign. We also didn't get any practice material for the exams because of the redesign, which really sucked.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Anonymous 11/29/2023	every review is right just wanted to say that because this semester is when the class got restructured we did not get any practice mids. So effectively we only had expertta hwk and textbook problems(which was actually pretty good) for practice. 2 midterms , 1 final, quiz almost every week, and hwk every week.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/26/2023	If you have taken AP Physics A, this class will be a review. Hailu's lectures aren't the most entertaining, but he usually gives you all the formulas you need by the end of each lecture. Hailu will try and prove every formula which can sometimes be confusing/boing. However, the exams are very fair and doable. The practice exams are the same difficulty as the actual ones, so there are no surprises at all.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/26/2023	Really slow lectures that were difficult to learn from (probably because they were boring and monotone) and no curve this semester. No one asked questions during class because no one actually pays attention and does anything else to at least use their time productively. Only the TAs were the saving grace for this course, so definitely go to office hours if you can. The course itself isn't difficult to grasp (coming from someone who didn't even take high school physics) because doing the homework and learning from it is the most important thing and will prepare you for the quizzes and exams.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Anonymous 06/22/2023	cool guy, boring lectures, practice exams waaayyy easier than actual exam. But not too terrible. Practice you can do ok.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/25/2023	Hailu is pretty boring, but if you go to lecture and somewhat pay attention to the practice problems he does, you will do well in the class.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a D Anonymous 05/23/2023	Super boring and was not a fan of his teaching style. He has a PowerPoint he goes through with some basic formulas and definitions and practice problems. He posts the PowerPoint but not the notes that he writes during class that actually shows you how to solve the practice problems. TA was not really helpful. Physics is clearly not my thing but taking Hailu certainly didn't help.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/12/2023	His lectures are pretty boring and hard to follow, but sometimes he draws diagrams and those are pretty helpful.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/10/2023	Hailu is a smart guy and not the worst teacher but I found him so incredibly boring that it became really difficult to pay attention for a 50 minute lecture. Would not recommend.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a D+ Anonymous 04/25/2023	I hate hailu. So boring.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 04/14/2023	You know he is a good teacher the problem is you might fall asleep in his lectures.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/28/2023	Dr. Hailu is a very straight forward teacher. If you attend lecture and do practice problems, you will do well in his class. You have multiple attempts on homework, but he doesn't give extensions. My TA helped with homework problems I did not understand. His exams are exactly like the problems he demonstrates in lecture. I only relied on the textbook for extra practice problems.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B- Anonymous 01/09/2023	UMDs physics department is not strong. Very boring lecturer, does not explain anything well, and he’ll put you to sleep. There’s about a 5% curve in the class. Weekly homework, quizzes, and that’s it. The exams are the majority of your grade. The final is extremely hard.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/03/2023	Regardless of which professor you take, PHYS260 is just a hard class. I enjoyed having Hailu as a professor, however, his lectures are extremely boring. Coming from someone who has never fallen asleep in class, Hailu will almost certainly put you to sleep. The practice problems in class are great and extremely relevant to homework and the exams, however, the formula derivations are confusing and unecessary (just don't bother trying to understand them, you'll do fine not knowing derivations). The homework was usually okay. The quizzes are either extremely difficult or extremely easy. There is no in-between so be prepared for either. Overall, you should do fine with Hailu if you come to lecture, take good notes, and do practice problems before exams.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Anonymous 12/23/2022	A very slow and boring professor. There is never a curve and you'd be better off skipping class and just reading the textbook because Hailu makes no sense whatsoever and will send you to sleep in a matter of minutes.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/20/2022	A good, if not a bit slow, professor. A lot of the class is learning a concept, learning an equation, and doing a few fairly easy practice problems with it. This style took a lot of time, and not much material was covered in each individual lecture which is good if you need a thorough overview, and hate professors who blitz through lectures. This did become a bit dull, and I admit I zoned out on my phone for most lectures and then caught up on anything I missed via the textbook. The exams were fair, although do not expect to be given any practice or old exams to study off of. I found the best way to study was doing old HW problems, as the exams were about as hard, if not very slightly harder, than the HW problems. Which is to say not really all that hard if you know which equation to use. Knowing which equation to use is basically two-thirds of the class. Thank god you get a formula sheet.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/19/2022	If you want to have a professor with thorough and easy-to-follow lectures, Professor Gebremariam is not the professor to take for PHYS260. His lectures are almost pointless, as they are tough to follow and are seemingly all over the place. There is very little to no review material for exams and your grade is highly dependent on how good your TA is. I was lucky to have an amazing TA who saved my grade and gave amazing review material for the final. Professor Gebremariam is a great person, but I found myself struggling to attend lectures due to their lack of practicality.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/11/2022	Hailu is okay, and you'll learn the material you need to if you can manage to pay attention. He's incredibly boring (literally spent most classes trying not to fall asleep), but his practice problems in lecture are relevant. However, he does tend to derive formulas which sucks up a LOT of time, and makes you feel very confused. Furthermore, he often goes over formulas that are NOT in his power point slides posted online, so you really do need to attend class for those formulas and lecture examples. Overall, so long as you attend class and ask your TAs questions early and often, you'll be fine. He could be better, but could be WAY worse.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS273 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/17/2022	Had an amazing time studying PHYS273 over the summer with prof. Hailu. The course was straightforward, the material he went over was quick for me to grasp onto, the TA was very accessible, the Homework wasn't difficult and same with the midterm. If you have to get your credit for waves over the summer, I strongly recommend taking it under him, you will not regret it.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Anonymous 01/31/2022	People here are saying he's boring, but honestly, there are worse things. He knows what he's talking about in and out. His teaching style is clear and he is patient with any questions that are asked. He was accommodating, when people were having trouble seeing the blackboard he switched to the projector in the next class. He does a lot of examples in class. If you do/understand those with him, it's a huge help. Quizzes are not that bad. Midterms were hard but not a crazy level of hard, especially because you get an entire sheet of paper. I would take him for the rest of my physics classes if I could.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/18/2022	I'll be honest I came into this class having done physics a few times before but being pretty bad at it. Content is almost exactly what one would learn in AP Physics C mechanics, honestly wished I paid more attention then. First exam is pretty easy but it gets harder from there, even then I felt his midterms weren't that bad. On exams he does allow you to bring a one sided cheat sheet, so I found that to be helpful. Discussions were honestly the worst part. There's a quiz pretty much every week in discussion in the last 10 minutes of class, and obviously you would want to focus on that content during discussion, well you would be disappointed because our TA at least would just go over stuff from the next chapter and spend all of class doing maybe 2 or 3 problems even going into the last 10 mins. I tried really hard to pay attention but it was tough to follow along. Getting exams/quizzes back was very disorganized and we never went over any of them. Grading also took really long. This semester all the office hours were online and I tried going to one once but it seems the TA stopped holding them halfway through the semester, so I was pretty much on my own. There was some in person tutoring thing in the physics building I went to once (I did go day before hw was due so maybe that's why) but it was packed and the tutor wouldn't just answer the question and no one got it for hours, I ended up just figuring it out myself later. We also got assigned a homework to complete every week, and it's pretty long. I would definitely recommend starting early (at the minimum a day or two in advance) because trying to do it all at once is really hell. I would also recommend finding people in your class to work with because it makes it easier and helps you through it emotionally as well lol. Last couple hw problems of each set were pretty hard in my opinion and def harder than quizzes and midterms so I would just try and answer it and move on without devoting too much time to really understanding. We used expertTA which could sometimes be really stupid and confusing but it does give you 5 tries, no points deducted, and the feedback can be helpful if it gives you any. I will also admit I sometimes skipped lecture, sometimes fell asleep in class, or just did not focus in class and here's what I found to be the secret to doing well. He goes over problems in class and posts the slides online. DO THOSE PROBLEMS BEFORE MIDTERMS AND QUIZZES. Follow along with the work to those problems and try understanding why those steps were taken. These problems seemed to be the most on level and usually weren't too bad. He does "post" the slides online but there's no answers. It is possible to find the answers to those problems online but sometimes its more confusing. I would recommend going to class and just writing down exactly what he does on the board even if you don't get it in the moment (sometimes I just took pictures but I ended up losing them in camera roll or just not looking back). If you keep this organized you can use it to study and it will help you a lot. Sometimes looking at the textbook may be helpful if you don't know a concept at all or you can try looking at videos online. For exams I did that^ to study and wrote down all the equations and anything I would usually forget on my cheat sheet. I got an 88, 84, and 95 on the midterms this way. Most people fail the last midterm but I studied for like 7 hours at Mckeldin (probably shouldn't take that long but I get distracted easily) for it, looking over all of that^ for each chapter on the exam. I still never felt very confident after exams but I always answered each question and showed work because he does give partial credit. There's usually "3 questions" on the exam but each has like 3 or 4 parts and some parts were not even related (pretty much different questions). I did end up working pretty much till the end of the allotted time for every exam. The final exam in my opinion was possibly the worst exam I've ever taken in my life. I had 2 exams that day so maybe that's also why but I was sure I failed. He allows a double sided cheat sheet for this and I wrote every equation that came up but it honestly wasn't super helpful. I probably could have studied more but I pretty much just re did all 3 exams and tried to really understand how to do everything (if you can get your hands on someone's past exam where they got everything or nearly everything right, USE THAT, because just going off his "corrections" is not good enough for figuring out how to do the problem and google did not help). I would recommend going over quizzes as well but I lost most of mine or just didn't get them back, and lastly look over the slides questions, and then if time do textbook stuff. The actual exam was "6 questions" but again they have parts. All of the questions were pretty hard in my opinion but I did attempt everything, and honestly BS'D my way through most of it. He looks at partial work so if you know how to do one thing and not the other just come up with something and use that in the part you know. I ended up actually getting a 71% on the final so... I had a 92.5 before the final was put in and then it went down to an 87% after. Hailu does not curve exams but he does drop your lowest quiz grade and if you're sick you can be exempted from one quiz as well. He does end up curving the class at the end so 20% of people get A's (A-, A, A+) all included, and after the curve my grade went up to an A-. What I've heard from people in the past is that after the final grades go up by ~5% so a B+ becomes an A-, a B becomes B+, B- becomes B, etc. To wrap this up, this was my hardest class in my first semester in college so maybe my view is skewed but I think physics is just a hard subject overall. I've never had a good physics teacher to compare this to but this class has more to do with the amount of effort you put in than anything else. If you've taken physics before like me you can get an A by just putting in work when needed and hoping for the best. If you have never taken physics before I would recommend maybe doing AP mechanics stuff over the break before and putting in a lot of effort and time into this class. Good luck to all of you!
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/25/2021	I think this is one of the few professors where the TAs are much worse than the professor, and not in a good way. As other reviews stated, he's very boring and spends class deriving equations and solving problems. Don't take him in the morning if you don't get much sleep, you might doze off. The TA I had was horrible, always late to discussion, took long to grade, and get aggressive if you asked questions how she solved a problem.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Anonymous 12/24/2021	most boring prof ever. Spends half of class deriving a single equation no one cares about just to show us what the equation is right after. Gives no practice to study for midterms or finals and final was based on nothing we ever learned.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/24/2021	I literally could not make it through Hailu's lectures without falling asleep because he speaks in a monotone and is so disinterested in his own words. Eventually, I stopped going to lecture and taught myself the material. I actually was doing better in the class this way until I bombed the final because it was a common final exam and was completely different from Hailu's midterms, quizzes, and homeworks. There was no good way to prepare for midterms or the final because students are given no practice problems, no old exams, no feedback on anything you submit, nothing at all to give any vague idea of what an exam problem might look like. Also, I had to speak with Hailu on two different occasions about special circumstances that affected my ability to do work, and he was cold and unsympathetic, providing the bare minimum accommodation of one make-up quiz, then not telling me what the quiz would be on so that I ended up with a zero on it because I had no idea what to study.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/19/2021	Hailu is fine as a professor. He tends to get frustrated with students who ask questions in lecture which makes it a hard environment to be in when you're confused. The reason this rating is so low is because the TAs for this class were absolutely terrible. They take up to a month to grade quizzes, and don't know what has been introduced in lecture. Multiple times my TA has done in-depth practice problems in discussion on a topic that students had never seen before. Exams also aren't graded with feedback. You just get a little x next to your answer with no notes, meaning that you lose points but don't gain any knowledge from messing up.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting an A florm 12/18/2021	Hailu is decent, pretty boring, but decent. He goes very slowly through the material, so we wound up around two weeks behind the syllabus by the end of the semester. The slides are usually easy to follow, but he'll occasionally go off onto a separate screen and start deriving an equation or something, which we often don't need to know. He spends a lot of time going through example problems in lecture, which is somewhat helpful but wastes time since he goes so slow. There are weekly homeworks on Expert TA with 10 or so problems, usually a couple of which are quite hard. He doesn't take off points for incorrect attempts though, which is great. There are also weekly quizzes in discussion which are really easy, save for a couple hard ones, but you'll always get the equations and constants you need. Discussions themselves aren't that helpful, the TA will just go through a bunch of problems from the textbook and that's it. Most people just left after the quiz was over. There were only two midterms which were not bad at all, and you get to make your own formula sheet for them. The averages were in the high 70s/low 80s. With the homeworks, quizzes, and midterms all being pretty manageable, you could build up a strong grade buffer for the final exam. The final was slightly more challenging than the midterms, but still doable. There were 6 questions, but we only had to do 5 of them, so you could just skip whichever one looked the hardest. All 260 professors use the same final, which made me quite worried since Hailu was pretty far behind schedule, but there wasn't anything on there that he didn't cover. Overall, Hailu is fine and he makes 260 straightforward, but he's just a bit dull.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/26/2021	Some may say his lectures sound monotonous. This is true and he speaks so incredibly slowly—still, I think they were good quality lectures that were easy to understand and had plenty of examples. His quizzes are easy and exams are fair. He typically will curve the final grades to a B- average, but since our class average was already doing this well, we didn't get a curve this semester.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Anonymous 05/23/2021	The most cold-hearted and cruel professor that I have met so far. He even made the expectations of us learning online being higher than in-person settings. For some weeks, he made the HW problems extremely difficult and he didn't care if most people are immensely struggling. Instead he always would say that these problems are easy and made people feel even worse. He basically doesn't know how to show empathy towards his students and. If he would help us out, then everyone could be benefited that way!
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Anonymous 05/21/2021	He is very nice and the class is straightforward. Exams and quizzes were fair. Lectures were monotone and mostly examples, just makes sure you actually pay attention.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/17/2021	He’s both ok and extremely boring. If you’re ok with listening to boring, monotone lectures that give the information necessary for homework and exams, then go with him. His exams were mostly ok, but the final exam seemed way harder than necessary. If you need an ok professor, then he’s your guy.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/19/2021	I had him during fall 2020, so class was completely online. His lecture videos were somewhat monotonous but actually taught you the material if you paid attention, and he had good examples so I never felt the need to read the book to supplement in-class instruction. Make sure to watch out for numerical mistakes in his examples though! Quizzes were simple FRQs which reflected the main concept of the content for the week, and homeworks were pretty consistent with what was taught in class. (Some problems were hard, but that's normal). Midterm exams were pretty ok, final was really hard, but the curve takes care of it.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Anonymous 01/25/2021	Hailu is absolutely awful. His lecture videos are mind-numbingly boring and his ego is off the roof. Don't bother emailing him unless you want a snarky response that makes you feel stupid. His final exams are also incredibly hard, leaving everyone to wait anxiously for the curve to save their final grade. Save yourself and find a different prof
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/30/2020	Dr. G is a very fair professor. His lectures are monotoned and slow, but his lecture videos are simple and easy to follow. The homework goes well with the lecture content but may get stuck on a few which is normal. Dr. G's quizzes are very fair and relate to the previous lecture content as well. He provides the equations and contents needed, so as long as you complete the homework (or most of it) before the quizzes, and are caught up on the lectures you are in good shape. Exams are fair, but studying with book problems does help. Book problems are more challenging than exam problems but are a good tool for understanding the content more.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A ILSboi 12/26/2020	class was fully online due to covid Imagine learning physics by reading a textbook. It's informative, but not particularly exciting. Now turn that textbook into a powerpoint. Literally just screenshot the equations from the digital version of the textbook and stick it in a powerpoint. Mix in an excessive amount of practice problems, usually solved wrong and usually easier than anything the test will give you. Now have a man read this powerpoint, veeerrryyy slooowwwlllyyy, unconstrained by the normal class schedule due to the asynchronous format of the class online. Thats Hailu. Looking back, I'm pretty sure that if I skipped every lecture and just read the textbook, I probably could have learned the same amount in half the time. The class had quizzes every week over zoom. They were timed for 10 minutes, so if you had internet issues, you were kind of screwed. The quizzes varied wildly in difficulty, from high school trig to problems we haven't learned yet. The class uses expert ta for all homework, which is actually very nice. It gives you hints and specific feedback if it knows why your answer is wrong. The class is curved, but hailu seemed to be deliberately vague about how much, or whether he would curve down if final grades were too high. In the end, the 67% average on the final meant there was a generous curve up of at least a few percent. Ultimately, take Hailu if you have to. He's not necessarily a good teacher, but he's also not actively bad.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/13/2020	I would give him 0 if that was possible. I think he doesn't deserve one dollar of his salary. He posted the lecture videos and never held class once, only proctored exams and quizes which is so nice of him honestly. He also never ever gave any study material for any test.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/05/2020	I had Hailu for 161 and i loved him, however this year for 260 his setup is a little different due to covid and Im struggling a bit. Hes a very understanding prof and is so helpful if you have questions but the lecture videos are sooooooo boring i can barely get through them.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/23/2020	Professor Gebremariam is one of those professors that you can just tell that he is being forced to teach students, which is clear when you email him, as he talks down to his students and acts like he is gods gift to physics. His lectures are mind numbingly boring and pointless. To make it even worse, the TA that i had was somehow has worse Hailu. Would stay away from this professor if possible.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/18/2019	Hailu's style of teaching mechanics is by completing examples during lecture, so if you do not make the effort to attend, you will likely have a hard time. He's a pretty laid-back professor and likes to occasionally joke during class too. His home work assignments are pretty easy and only take around one hour a week. He is not a perfect professor and definitely will not make you love physics if you already don't, but I would recommend him in general.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B+ casimir_pulaski 12/17/2019	He is the definition of an alright teacher. You will get in what you put out and his exams are fair representations of the material covered in class. I do advise you work out a significant number of problems in the book, since just doing the ExpertTA homework is unlikely to earn you and A unless you have past experience with physics. He's a good guy and writes very clearly. Lectures consist of mainly slides with supplemental work on the chalkboard.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting an A+ StardustGogeta 06/09/2019	Hailu is a fantastic professor and I definitely recommend taking his class. He is very careful in explaining complex topics accurately and makes few mistakes in lectures. His exams were incredibly easy (except for the final, which was not as much difficult as it was time-consuming). If you pay attention in lecture and try to understand the content, you should have no problems.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/28/2019	Whatever you do please don't take this professor. Three exams, doesn't drop any, doesn't narrow down on topics covered in the exams he will say to "study everything" which is no help at all. His lectures are super boring but he does do a lot of example problems which help a little at first but definitely doesn't prepare you for the exams. His exams are such curve balls there's aways one problem that will throw you off and he gives like 2 problems, so if you screw up one, you fail. He curves a lot at the end but you gotta have at least a 70% or higher to get a B. Which isn't bad but his exams are bad so that might be hard to get. The course isn't bad as long as you read the textbook and do practice problems, but just make sure you have a good professor.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/24/2019	By far one of the worst professors at UMD. He teaches via PowerPoints and uses the simplest examples in class, and then when the exam time comes nothing is the same. The exams are much more difficult than anything offered in this course, although you can expect a 10%+ curve at the end of the semester. nevertheless, I would not suggest you take him unless you have to!
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS260 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2019	The course material was not difficult, but the lectures sometimes were pretty hard to get through because they were pretty dry and his tests were quite a bit more difficult than the homework. He does curve though in his class, which helped quite a bit.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/28/2019	He's a pretty decent professor even though most of his teaching is based off his slides. His TA is pretty bad however, and discussion sections are basically useless aside from the required quizzes. One big thing about his class though is that there's no curve which you'll want at the end of the semester
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2018	In my experience in all 3 general physics classes here, I thought Hailu was the most well-rounded when it comes to teaching the material and going through examples in class. Although the first exam is pretty hard, he lightens up the second and third exam. He also curves the class on average 2-3%.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting a W Anonymous 05/05/2018	Took him for PHYS161. I would not recommend him. His classes are mainly done from Powerpoint . He did many examples during class but the exams were a lot more difficult than the examples. Worst part was that he does not curve at all. And trust me, you'll want curving.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A coolkat142 01/21/2013	I love Bantu, he is the best! go to his office hours and befreind him he is a great guy. I already graduated two years ago but he has become my freind and mentor for a long time. What an amazing guy. so damn nice. godman
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2012	Bantu makes PHYS270 a decent experience. There are two midterms, each worth 12% of your grade, which is nice because most of the PHYS270 professors do 3 midterms. Overall, they were pretty easy, with a few of the questions being very similar, or even direct questions from the homework. Lab is 25%, but that is the same regardless of your professor. Lab was, in my opinion, the worst part of the class. There are only 4 labs (plus the culminating lab), but they all pretty much took the full 3 hours and were pretty tough. Your experience is going to depend entirely on who your lab TA is. If you get a good one, lab shouldn't be bad. Quizzes are 10% of your grade, and there is one at the end of each chapter. He does not announce the quizzes beforehand, but if you follow his lectures and the schedule, you should know about when they will be. They are almost always very easy and require only basic knowledge of the chapter. Write down the equations as he is teaching, or start the homework before he finishes the chapter, and quizzes will be simple. Homework is 21%, with 14% being masteringphysics and 7% being written. The written is just to do 3 of the masteringphysics problems by hand on paper and turn it in, so it's not really extra work. The masteringphysics tends to be pretty easy, so the homework isn't a huge burden. Do check often if there is an assignment though because he does not announce when he posts them. Do not copy from the solutions manual because they are watching for that and a large portion of the class did just that on the first homework. The exams were each 3 problems and were usually pretty simple. The only issue is that since they are only 3 problems, if you are completely lost on one question, you already lost a large portion of your grade. Study hard for these, redo the masteringphysics, and you'll be fine. The final exam was a common final across all the sections, and was actually pretty easy. It's hard to say if he curved the class because we did not get our final exam scores back, but I have a feeling that he did.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS161 Expecting an A+ MooseNinja 05/22/2010	To be honest, the only reason I ever went to lecture was because of the unannounced pop quizzes. Bantu's lectures are pretty boring (and that's with a laptop). Mastering Physics (online HW) is more difficult than any of the tests (or the examples done in class). If you have even marginal experience with physics this class is a review. (but a 3 on AP C Mech doesn't place you out).
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting a B jahs389 03/03/2010	This guy isn't that bad, but he isn't that good. He should illustrate some more example problems. Instead, he primarily just uses Power-Point slides which are identical to the book, so if the book confuses you Bantu won't help that much. Also, I didn't like that he gives no sample exams whatsoever; on Fri. before a Mon. exam he just tell us "3 problems 1 is on Chap 35, 2 is on 36, 3 is on 37". However, his exams were really straightforward, everything was an example in the book or an assigned homework problem - no curve balls.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/28/2009	Bantu is a really nice guy and a decent lecturer, although he can be kind of boring. He goes through the material pretty slowly, which means his tests end up covering less material than usual for 270, so they are not very difficult in general. He grades very fairly and I think there was a curve at the end of the semester. He usually does one pop quiz a week, but the questions are so easy (as long as you have the equations written down). The Mastering Physics hw is not too bad, especially since he gives you 5 chances to answer each question correctly, with no loss of credit until the last chance is used up. The only really annoying thing about Bantu was that he never emailed us when he posted assignments, so you basically have to check Blackboard constantly to see if there is a written assignment and you have to check MP to see if there is a new online assignment. Overall, Bantu is definitely one of the better physics professors.
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/23/2009	Dr. Bantu is a very nice, easygoing professor who made PHYS270 a relatively easy experience. He's a rather dry lecturer, but he cracks jokes in lecture occasionally to wake up the many sleepy, bored students. However, his class was not too hard., especially compared to the other professor, Jenkins. The tests were straightforward (except maybe the second one, which almost no one finished), and the final was not even cumulative! MasteringPhysics was the homework system used and there was always help available if you knew where to look. There were quizzes in lecture at the end of each chapter, but most of the time you did not really have to go to lecture since he posts lecture powerpoints online. Also, discussion is useless. My TA always went on tangents that usually ended in him talking about Maxwell's equations, which was irrelevant to most of the topics we were covering. The worst part of this class is the lab which counts for 25% of the 270 grade. Fortunately, we only had it every other week, but my experience was awful since no one knew what he or she was doing and the TA couldn't speak a word of English and explain anything! Overall, definitely take Bantu over any other PHYS270 professor!
Hailu Gebremariam PHYS270 Anonymous 01/24/2009	It only requires V5 but actually uses V3,4 and5. Does not make sense to buy 3 books. Try the full volume(ISBN:0805389601)! It will be a lot cheaper.