Anson Hook

This professor has taught: PHYS270, PHYS274, PHYS411, PHYS624, PHYS851

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Anson Hook PHYS270 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/30/2025	Anson himself is very kind, he seems like a lovely person. But his lectures were awful. I could never understand what he was trying to explain to us so I decided to self study instead of going to lecture which was the right decision for me. He is very smart but I just couldn't deal with his lectures. The work itself is difficult but not unreasonably so, and the textbook is very helpful. Overall the class was good, but just be prepared to be doing your own learning most of the time.
Anson Hook PHYS270 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/15/2025	Very nice guy. Very forgiving grading (curved the last two midterms so that the average was a ~85). His lectures were really boring, but all the material is in the textbook and in the homework so it doesn't really matter if you pay attention or not.
Anson Hook PHYS270 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2024	Anson is a genuinely nice guy and clearly brilliant when it comes to physics. His lectures are mostly proof-based and extremely boring- I could never keep my eyes open in his class. But he does do some helpful examples on the board during lecture and he follows the textbook pretty closely so it's easy to catch up on the content on your own. One thing that I really appreciated was he started each lecture with a quick recap of the previous lecture so you could keep track of the big picture and not fall completely behind. He is also super willing to be interrupted and answer questions while lecturing, even if they seem like really bad questions or something he already said. As for exams, he lets you know what the topics will be and does some review during class to help you prepare. His exam problems are relatively straightforward and fair and he also curves pretty generously. I'd recommend him overall, he doesn't make your life any more difficult than it needs to be for physics.
Anson Hook PHYS270 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/16/2024	His lectures are significantly harder than any assignment you will do. The ExpertTA homework is not bad overall and the exam questions are very fair. You also get to make a formula sheet for every exam and the final. However, his lectures tend to lead astray from anything necessary (he shows you proofs that you just don't need to know for the exam) which can get confusing. He also scares you by doing in class problems that are miles harder than anything on his exams. Overall, he wouldn't be my first choice but he's definitely not a bad option.
Anson Hook PHYS270 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/14/2024	Hook is a young teacher and says things how it really is. He feels free to express emotion during lecture and explains the concepts in basic terms, saying things such as "yea physics people just make up all these variables because they're too lazy to write the same thing over and over". For me, Hook makes this class really enjoyable, and I am able to understand the concepts completely. He personally cares about his students, trying to keep the average of each exam around an 80, which is something I do not find many UMD professors doing in their classes. I would say Anson is the best physics or math teacher I have taken at UMD quite honestly. If you put in the work to Expert TA, pay attention in lecture, and study for each exam, you should have no problem succeeding. At times Hook will derive an equation for a while, but it usually ends with some sort of lesson of what physicists or mathematicians found. Would take again, does not deserve the 3.33 rating.
Anson Hook PHYS270 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/10/2024	Lectures suck so bad. The homework is pretty good, though, and tests are miles easier than anything else.
Anson Hook PHYS274 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/28/2023	Teaches linear algebra well, some homework questions are difficult if only using material he discusses in class. His review sessions for exams are extremely relevant to the content on both the midterm and the final exam. The midterm was fair, while the final was quite difficult. While he does sometimes make mistakes while working through problems, he is very approachable and helpful in solving a problem. When he gets to show how the math we learn can be applied to physics questions, he is an incredible instructor.
Anson Hook PHYS274 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/20/2023	If you are able to think critically and put the effort into understanding what is taught he is a great professor. Homeworks are fairly easy as of now, and the exams are very fair. The trick is to put the effort in like expected and you will succeed. Anson deserves much higher than a 2.33 rating. You could easily see his progression as a professor as well.
Anson Hook PHYS274 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/02/2023	Prof. Hook almost never checked any of his example problems or fully solved through proofs before trying to show them to the class, resulting in confusion and wasted class time. He also spent a large portion of the lecture time on proofs. I'm not saying this as a positive or negative, though sometimes I did wish he spent more time explaining concepts. I took calc three at UMD and absolutely loved it, but the way Hook teaches multivariable calculus just makes me so confused. I know I'm going to have to relearn everything I already had solidly in my brain because of him. Additionally, the final came out of nowhere - it was harder than any homework or practice problem we had and was absolutely nothing like the practice final. The final dropped my grade by 10 points and I did above average (though the class was curved after the final). If you're a physics major who needs to take the class and it's your only option, you'll survive, but you won't enjoy it.
Anson Hook PHYS274 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/24/2022	Primarily proof based lectures with a few examples sprinkled in. Homework for the linear algebra portion is largely proof based. The multivar portion is mainly calculation based. The midterm was fairly difficult with the final being very difficult compared to the rest of the class. If you enjoy proofs of what you are doing in class to understand, great professor, if not you will probably struggle to understand. There is a significant curve at the end of the course roughly 15-20%.
Anson Hook PHYS274 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/12/2022	sucks at teaching multivariable calculus, pretty much teaches straight out of the textbook and just is terrible at explaining anything and skips steps in his lectures when showing his work.