| Information | Review |
|---|---|
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Kara Hoffman
PHYS401 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/29/2023 |
I thought this class was very well-taught. I've come out of it with a strong understanding of the fundamentals of QM and feel like I was able to follow along with the material without having to fake it. Homeworks were usually helpful and suitably challenging, albeit often computationally intensive and tedious (don't shy away from using Mathematica/integral calculators). Exams were very fair as long as you went over the homework and understood it. There were a few lectures (spherical harmonics, harmonic oscillator) where she just quickly went through a complicated derivation, which I didn't find particularly useful, although I don't really know how I would teach those in an engaging or memorable way either. Most lectures were engaging and comprehensive. I know there was a lot of frustration from the class over the fact that 20% of the grade was participation/attendance. 10% of the grade came from attendance to the weekly Friday discussions/group worksheets. She dropped one of these at the end of the semester if you missed it but wasn't really communicative or forgiving if you had to miss more than one, so just don't be sick on Friday more than once I guess. Another 10% of the grade was "class engagement" through Piazza, which she graded based on whether or not you were responding to the in-class clicker questions because people weren't posting questions/discussions outside of class enough. She didn't tell us this until the end of the semester, so lecture attendance was being secretly graded. |
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Kara Hoffman
PHYS171 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/16/2022 |
Her TA is the only reason I’m surviving this class. She missed our last final review session and was unable to coordinate a sub. Very nonchalant about the worries or successes of her students |
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Kara Hoffman
PHYS171 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/06/2022 |
Extremely inconsiderate and completely devoid of any empathy. Lectures were boring and monotonous, and there’s lots of homework (it’s all hard.) would not recommend even though I currently have an A in the class. |
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Kara Hoffman
PHYS171 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/06/2022 |
Dr. Hoffman is one of those professors who is a wonderful person and a great scientist but not a stellar teacher. My main quibble is that she teaches off of slides but reads them word for word, without adding much during lecture. She often struggles to convey what she wants to say as well. If I hadn’t taken AP Physics in high school, I doubt I would’ve done nearly as well in her class. That said, she truly cares about her students and I personally thought that her exams were quite good for a physics course. |
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Kara Hoffman
PHYS276 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/11/2014 |
As a course, PHYS276 was very easy. Just read and understand the pre-lab material before class and you'll have the easiest time. Dr. Hoffman, however, wasn't the most helpful professor. I found the TA to be much more useful. This class was easy, but I wouldn't take a more difficult course with her. You would be fine in the lower level labs though. |
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Kara Hoffman
PHYS276 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/03/2013 |
Dr. Hoffman has a clear lack of understanding about the information taught in the class. Her tests were very difficult, and not an accurate measure of the course. |
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Kara Hoffman
PHYS273 Expecting an A Austin90 05/09/2009 |
Dr. Hoffman is one of the better professors at MD. Her lectures are very useful, and her demonstrations in class are very interesting. The only problem is that not-too-uncommon questions catch her by surprise. Therefore, she isn't able to answer them until a day or more later. However, she is very easy to talk to, because she doesn't have an ego that dominates her personality. Her tests are a little harder than most (Hence our average test score for the spring 2009 semester was a 60%) However, she gives generous curves (1/3 As, 1/3 Bs, 1/3 C's, and some "stragglers" get Ds and Fs ) If you do well on the webassign and homework, none of which are too hard, then you should really enjoy her class. As a side note, GO TO RECITATIONS EVERY FRIDAY since not doing so can take up to 10% off your final grade. |