Michelle Girvan

This professor has taught: CHPH709B, CMSC828O, PHYS165, PHYS260, PHYS260H, PHYS272, PHYS272H, PHYS615, PHYS709, PHYS780, PHYS781, PHYS782, PHYS798D, PHYS798N, PHYS798T, PHYS798U, PHYS798Z, PHYS899

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Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/08/2025	Incredibly passionate and caring professor. I was scared going in seeing all the negative reviews but I had a completely different experience. She is a very well spoken lecturer and had a good balance of working out examples and focusing on the conceptual side as well. The class is difficult. It is very fast paced due to the amount of content there is to cover but I think she handled it well and didn't give too much all at once. Some of the content near the end was cut pretty hard to make time. She gave very fair exams and would move due dates around if the class was getting too stressful. She was very clear about what to expect on exams and put very similar questions from lecture. So if you go to lecture and engage with each problem you'll likely be pretty prepared for the test. Extremely transparent about grading and curving, always asking how to improve her teaching. She would always take extra questions after class and give very thorough answers; it is clear she really cares about her students understanding the material. It's a tough class but she is always trying to make it as easy as possible to succeed. One of the best professors I've had at UMD.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/23/2025	Considering how terrible most of the reviews are, I was pleasantly surprised by my time taking PHYS260 with Dr. Girvan. Compared to some of the other options available for physics classes, this professor is exceptional. Dr. Girvan really cares about her students and clearly wants them all to succeed. She is very receptive and open to student feedback which honestly borderlined on maybe being a little too self-conscious. She constantly took polls all semester to judge how people were feeling and would tailor her teaching to match that. She even moved the due dates on homework and quizzes to give people enough time to go to office hours and discussion to get help. She teaches using her Ipad and slides in which she focuses on doing examples and practice problems while tying the theory in. She would also post all of her notes and did record and post extra videos occasionally throughout the semester. She is very engaging and well spoken when teaching, which is in stark contrast to some other physics teachers. Her exams were difficult, but the content is difficult so its hard to lay that blame onto her. On that same note, she did make the exams as easy and accessible as she possibly could by reusing questions from quizzes, her lectures, and handing out recommended problems to study from past lectures and homework's. She would also give out a practice exam that mirrored a lot of what was on the midterms. Overall, I would recommend taking Dr. Girvan as she is one of the best bets when it comes to good physics professors at UMD.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/09/2025	Good professor, but curve does absolutely nothing for you if you are above a B.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 01/04/2025	hard class. just learn on your own. her exams are hard but she gives practice so STUDY and PUT THOSE ON UR CHEAT SHEET. remember to practice the problems in class no matter how tedious they are. pray too.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/03/2025	TBH I stopped going to lectures in September because she wasn't really engaging at all, made things seem more complicated then they were, and was just pretty boring. This is naturally a hard class so I just depended on self teaching myself and hoping I did well enough on the exams to get on the good side of the curve. Take advantage of the homeworks and quizzes being generally easy and open resource. There's a lot of them so it adds up and gives your grade a good boost if you do good on them. Exams are obviously very difficult but do the practice exams (some problems were exact repeats) and get a good understanding of the conceptual stuff and you should be able to do above average. I went to max 10 lectures all semester and ended with an 84 which ended up being a B+ with the curve. Really just need to aim to do better than the worse half of the class.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2024	Dr. Girvan is a great lecturer, she really emphasizes the conceptual aspects of this course, like equation derivations, which are more difficult than just learning how to use the equations, but more interesting and better in the long-run. She allows a full page equation sheet for each exam, which is incredibly helpful, and the questions were very similar to those presented in class or given through homework assignments or practice exams. She is very transparent about curving each exam and the final class grade, as well. I felt that I truly understood the concepts she taught, which is not always the case for challenging physics classes, and that can all be attributed to her teaching style. She is also incredibly helpful, good at explaining concepts, and accommodating.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Anonymous 12/16/2024	Don't be scared by the bad reviews! Girvan was super receptive to feedback and made changes during the semester to make the class easier, including reducing deductions on homeworks, extending deadlines, and providing helpful practice material. All the questions from the first midterm were covered in lecture or homeworks since she wanted to "reward studying" as we started off the semester. Curving might be different depending on different sections. Expect 20 minute timed conceptual/practice problem style quizzes which are a little stressful but you get to drop one.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/15/2024	It honestly baffles me that Girvan’s reviews are so low. She’s one of the rare professors that genuinely cares about students’ understanding the subject, and she goes out of her way to make sure we feel heard. She’ll ask for feedback on her teaching during class, provide a ton of practice problems, and tell us what to study for midterms. Every time I’ve had a question after a lecture, she’d answer it even if she had to stay after class to do so. The lectures are really organized, and Girvan teaches with enough energy to keep you awake and engaged. The main gripe I see on here seems to be that the exams are too hard. While they’re definitely tough, they’re very fair, and she also gives you every tool you need to do well on them. That, and it’s good prep for finals, which often have harder problems than normal. If you take Girvan, you’re probably going to get a better grade in this class, plain and simple.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/13/2024	Oh where to begin... this wonderful human being lacks the compassion and humanity to properly guide her students to success. Beyond lacking the ability to adequately care about the content she is teaching, she has some wild vision of how test taking should be, creating lucid nightmarish problems that you couldn't fathom or comprehend if you were a hindu guru with all your chakras unblocked. She has no bearing of the actual ability of her students and believes having to curve her exam 10+% to achieve a 70% class average is the way to go. I've never even considered writing one of these reviews before but after this disaster of a semester I am. She makes all these pledges of "catering her teaching to her students" and "improving her teaching method" just to turn around and continue on her merry way regardless of how far behind some people get. I got a 3 on this AP test in highschool and genuinely believe that the most optimal method to pass this class is to impersonate your younger sibling voyage back to highschool and try to get a 4 on that exam than take this class with girvan. If you can't get a different lecturer just take it next semester.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/11/2024	Just take Hailu for your own good. Her lectures leave me more confused than if I didn't go.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/09/2024	She is one of the better professors I have had here. She is super accommodating of students and will extend assignments deadlines for the entire class if a couple students need extra time. She was very understanding and supportive of my ADS accommodations as well and she really tried to remember who I was which I thought was impressive considering there's like 100 people in my lecture section and my attendance wasn't the best. While ExpertTA sucks, she acknowledged its limitations, didn't penalize feedback on the homework attempts, and I felt that she really worked with the students to make it a better learning experience by giving a breakdown of what we could expect from each problem on the homework. She emphasized conceptual problems on the quizzes (which are open note) and equation derivations during lecture which really helped reinforce the core concepts. Lectures are confusing sometimes if you don't do any sort of prep ahead of time but literally just take 5 minutes to skim through the textbook synopsis at the end of each chapter before lecture and you'll be fine. The great thing about how she has the class set up is that if you miss a couple lectures, you won't get hopelessly lost as long as you attend office hours, review the slides, and actually read the textbook explanation after. Her exams are also not abnormally difficult considering it's physics. You just have to be smart about how you prepare your equation sheet and what you practice. If you put 3-4 hours of extra practice in before your exam and review the practice exam in office hours/tutoring, you'll be fine, especially because she is very generous with curving. Like, I passed the 2nd midterm (which is the harder one) and I straight up didn't study for it or attend lecture for a while leading up to the exam (would NOT recommend doing this, I was just out sick). Overall, she's a very informative and kind/helpful professor teaching a course that covers a lot of concepts that aren't particularly intuitive. Take her score here with a massive grain of salt and keep in mind that her PHYS260 class has like 200 students between both sections and very few of them actually leave reviews, even if they have good experiences.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/05/2024	Exams are long if not also difficult but you get a note sheet and a curve. So study hard and go to office/tutor hours. There’s weekly HW and Quizzes that can be tricky if you don’t study or go too fast. Professor Girvan seems to really care about making sure things are in detail and took a lot of time this semester to listen to students. I struggled the most with connecting lecture to online work to exams, but overall solid Physics III class
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/21/2024	Solid professor; takes time helping students when needed. Exams (note sheets are allowed) are difficult but a curve is given (~anywhere from 0-15% depending on average score). Homework and quizzes are not terrible but can take up time. Make sure to practice problems and visit office hours to get a passing grade.
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/13/2024	The exams are tough, but at least for my time, Girvan seems to really care about her students and ensuring that they understand the material. If you take this class, go to office hours and discussions, and really put in effort, you'll be alright. Also give yourself a full week to study before exams.
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Anonymous 01/28/2024	I don’t recommend taking this professor. Lots of stressful weeks taking tough quizzes that were hard to fully study for. Exams were really hard and not really curved. So many hours went into studying for this class. If you have a busy workload try and take this class with a different professor if you can
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/12/2024	She is by far the worst teacher I have ever had the displeasure of enduring for an entire semester. The lectures give no real value other than copied textbook passages, she never uses the chalkboard, she is always drinking a redbull throughout class which feels very unprofessional and seems like she doesnt care at all about the lectures. She promised a class curve that would be around 3% which by itself is low (The other professor teaching the same physics course during this semester curved by over 10% and taught better) but then she only curved 0.5%. She put an impossible to solve integral on an exam. She has tough quizzes and while she claims to want to challenge her students, thats ALL she does when she should also want them to succeed instead.
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/12/2024	Navigating through this physics course feels like trying to find dark matter with a flashlight – elusive and leaving me in the dark! If only our professor's explanations were as illuminating as a glow-in-the-dark supernova, we might all become physics wizards instead of feeling like we're lost in a black hole of confusion!
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting a B- Anonymous 01/06/2024	The reviews and rating speak for themselves.. but to put it simply, I truly do not recommend taking this professor. I will admit a large portion of our class had taken it before, which made it extra difficult for those who hadn’t, but unless you have a very strong foundation of the material covered in the class, do yourself a favor and don’t take this class. It has put me through more stress than any other class I’ve ever taken.
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/28/2023	Dr. Girvan puts makes it seem like she really cares, but as the year went on I came to realize this isn’t really true. It seems like she really wants to fail us, and I myself thought I was gonna fail the class at multiple points. I truly don’t recommend taking her. This class was torture. Do yourself a favor and take a different professor, and if you can’t take this class a different semester.
Michelle Girvan Anonymous 12/18/2023	By far the worst class I've ever taken. Girvan claims to care for her students and wants to challenge them, but in practice everything she does ranges from "not caring" to downright sadistic. The tests are impossible (It would actually be easier to go outside in a thunderstorm and try to dodge rain), homeworks take hours to complete and require you go to tutoring, and quizzes are also insanely difficult (and weekly), and there's also no formula sheets allowed for quizzes for reasons only the lord himself knows. The lectures are completely incomprehensible. The entire class is her making derivations and substitutions without explaining what she's doing and skipping multiple steps. You're better off watching YouTube videos on the subjects. I wouldn't even be this upset if she didn't claim to curve tests and then just decided not to curve one of our midterms To summarize: For the good of your sanity and enjoyment of life, do not take this class. And if you do, buckle in, because this ride only stops in the case of an emergency, and crying is not an emergency.
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/16/2023	If you put time into studying the class should be a breeze. The expectations she has are very reasonable and she gives you all the resources you need to succeed however, it can be up to you to learn for yourself. I find that her lectures are ok but I do the majority of learning on my own. The quizzes are problems from the homework, some of the exam problems are directly from the lecture, and the weekly homework takes about 3 hours. I will say that If you are having so much trouble with this rudimentary course, you might want to consider switching out of a physics major.
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2023	Albeit I haven't taken the final, I feel professor Girvan did a sufficient job teaching the material and going over core concepts. People seem to be complaining because its a hard class and they want to blame professor Girvan but I mean physics is one of the hardest majors for a reason and its not because of the professors... If you go into the class expecting the professor to do everything for you then good luck buddy, but if you put in the extra work outside of class you'll be fine. Also, I 100% support the harder exams this class isn't supposed to be a cakewalk it should test your knowledge on the material that is taught and that can't be done with easy exams. She also responds well to emails and is very caring for her students. I would recommend taking Girvan for this class if you know how to study and you can get over the fact that she doesn't work out problems in person (she has arthritis).
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/12/2023	God cannot help you. You should register for other professor, delay this class, or time travel back to high school and take ap physics. In short, Girvan purposely makes everything harder than what is supposed to be. Quiz may be similar setup as one of hw question, but derived more parts that are hard and few are unsolvabley hard. Girvan ensures all exam average to be strictly below 80 by purposely making irrationally hard exam, including but may not limiting to a question end up at a integral unable to solve. This indeed happened on one of the midterms. That is, if there exist people taken ap physics and you have not, then you certainly is the lower quartile. There may exist a curve, but this semester only one of two midterms is curved. Do not trust it at all. As previously stated, Girvan ensures exam average is strictly below 80 (even if after curve). Girvan does know how to do things, and she can work out a understandable process if you go to office hours and ask for it. However, Girvan clearly expects significantly more than a 200 level 3 credit stem class should (both time commitment and self study ability). And lecture slides is almost a mess. Some have equation list, but not all equations needed. One will have to dig into messy sketchs to find the useful thing. Agreed with previous, "homework may go up to part m", and this is not rare occation at all. It is taking equvalent (and may be more) time than a 400 level math. I took it only because schedule and cannot delay. I can pass this class because and only because Girvan has a very good TA. The TA does teaching much better and comprehensible, even if it is merely over email.
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Anonymous 12/12/2023	This has been by far the worst course I've taken at UMD. The exams are nearly impossible, and the professor wants nothing but the worst for her students. She said word for word that she gives hard exams and that she shows no mercy. She essentially caters this course towards people who have already taken an E & M course and doesn't care about the students who are struggling to keep up. The lectures were very hard to follow, and often there would be mistakes on the slides. No extra credit, and she only drops one quiz. We were not allowed a formula sheet or index card on the quizzes, which I could understand, but it's not consistent with the course when we're given a formula sheet on exams. And to the person who gave her a five-star review, maybe I don't want impossible exams because I'd like to not go insane. This class nearly made me drop my major because of how bad my mental health got from the stress of it. It's physically impossible to be successful in this class when the professor wants the absolute worst for you. I studied for HOURS for the second exam to find out that she wasn't going to curve the exam because the average was where she wanted it. That's only because the people who already took E & M are carrying the class average, and if you're below the average, you're screwed because it's nearly impossible to keep up with the course. This professor would be better suited for graduate-level classes, but not for a lower-level physics course. I'd honestly learn a lot more from just teaching myself the textbook. The TA carried this course so hard, someone give him a raise.
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/05/2023	All I have to say is don’t take her. This class is way too hard, way too stressful, and 1000% not worth it. Weekly expert ta assignments, weekly quizzes, and quizzes and exams are really hard. Please do yourself a favor and do not take this class..
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/05/2023	Realistically you should do everything that you can to avoid taking this class. Dr. Girvan cares about her students, but that's about where the positives end. She does not write on the board at all, she teaches from slides made by pearson and skips steps throughout. She goes way way too fast, and her homework assignments on expert ta take several hours. There is a quiz every friday on the homework material, and these quizzes are literally horrible. She also promises curves that never really happen, and overall seems like she wants her students to fail. It really makes no sense to me why a professor would make quizzes and exams difficult to this extent. She told us from the very first day that her exams are very hard, and she did not lie. Even if you have to take this class in a different semester, it is worth putting off. You should do anything that you possibly can to take a different professor.
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Anonymous 11/27/2023	God help you. Professor Girvan cares a lot for her students. She is a very nice person. She is very talented. She will want to help her students succeed, and she will smile as her class beats you into the dirt like a sledgehammer. The homeworks are 10 questions that can go up to part m. They are so unimaginably difficult that many graduate students cannot solve them. I've been to tutoring, and it has taken people in doctorate programs days to solve them. It will take at the very least 4 hours to do a single homework. The quizzes are from the homework questions, and are almost always the hardest and most impossible of the already difficult homeworks. They're every week, and there's no formula sheets allowed (for some reason). Only a single homework/quiz is dropped, compared to Multi-Variable Calculus which drops 3. The lectures range from ok (I guess?) to completely incomprehensible. Problems are gone through in minutes on the slides, and she spends time on bizarre substitutions and derivations for the entire class before chucking you into the deep end. Problems and variables are substituted so much that if you look back at the slides you won't be able to even see what happened. Nothing is explained in a legible or understandable way, important and critical steps and explanations are skipped with the assumption you can just figure it out, and you often leave the class in a daze trying desperately to figure out what just happened. The tests are impossible. Literally, she said she designs them to be ridiculously hard. The only silver lining is they're based on the slides. She says "Oh don't worry guys there's a big curve!", which ranges from either half-true to a downright lie. Some tests do indeed have a curve, a curve so small it barely changes anything. Some she just won't curve at all. This is the worst class I've ever taken. No class has made me feel worse, even Math141 seems like a gen-ed compared to this. 95% of the energy you spend in your semester will be on this class. If you ever have the misfortune of being forced to take this teacher, all I can tell you is this. God save you, for no one else can.
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/09/2023	I really like how she teaches. She simplifies the textbook material and includes a few practical problems in every class. She's also caring and good at answering questions. She gives tough exams and tells us she's aiming for a 70% average, but she'll curve them. I actually prefer the harder exams. Some people may not like them being tough, but I don't get why. We're paying a lot for our UMD courses, and it's important for us to be held responsible for learning the material.
Michelle Girvan PHYS272 Expecting a B Anonymous 09/29/2023	Every lecture is the same. She goes through 40+ lecture slides without working through a single problem on the chalkboard. And because there are so many slides, she moves far too fast to be able to take adequate notes within the class period
Michelle Girvan PHYS260 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/21/2018	She's kind of hard to follow when doing examples since her writing is kind of small and disorganized. She also hands out pretty hard exams. That said, she's pretty nice and cares for her students.