Chandra Turpen | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/11/2024	She is the best physics course professor I've had. She knows how to teach and has done an excellent job crafting this course's sequence and experience. This course was easier than other physics courses, but it was a nice break from tediously long derivations and gut-wrenchingly difficult exams. If you put in anything more than 1 hour a week for this course you are guaranteed an A.
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A czanike1 12/11/2024	Dr. Turpen is the absolute BEST! The list of amazing things she does is quite possibly endless, but I will do my best to list them anyway! She adapts her lectures based on what would be most helpful for us, meaning she will completely derail her own lesson plans to have review days as needed, and she will still make sure to get us where we need to get to by the end of the course. The best educators are ones that are able to take students of varying levels and equip ALL of them with the knowledge they need by the end of the course, and Professor Turpen could very well be the best educator. She gives us practice exams with solutions and writes incredible homework that greatly enhances our learning. She never leaves a student behind and makes special relativity (which is not by any means an easy thing to understand) so digestible it might as well be ice cream. All because of Dr. Turpen, I was able to achieve a level of mastery and understanding with this material that I haven't really had since high school. I can confidently say that I understand modern physics in its entirety, and every single professor at UMD--nay, the WORLD--should be taking notes! Professor Turpen literally does research in physics education, so it makes sense that she's so awesome, and all of my wishes every time I blow out birthday candles--mine or somebody else's--will be for whatever physics professor I have next to have a fraction of the teaching talent that Dr. Turpen has.
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/09/2024	I’m honestly just bracing for the whiplash of not taking a class with Dr. Turpen next semester — this professor should teach every class in the department. She’s one of the only professors I've had who truly sees her students as human beings, not robots. Lectures are not just 50 minutes of force feeding material like other classes — she stops frequently for questions and polls the class with interactive comprehension questions to make sure that we're really understanding what's going on. Homeworks are expertly crafted to actually support our learning process and I always know that, even if I didn't understand what's happening in lecture, I'll understand it after the homework. Her exams are incredibly fair and she provides such an amazing support system with her review sessions, practice exams, homework corrections, test corrections, and TAs. She sincerely wants to see everyone succeed and, if you put in the work, you'll learn so much from her class. I hope I get to learn from her again at some point — seriously, take a class with Dr. Turpen if you can :)
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/11/2024	Professor Turpin is one of the few professors in the physics department who genuinely seems to care about you learning concepts. Exams were very fair- often times, other professors seem more interested in over complicating problems, or tricking you. This is absolutely not the case for her class. There is lots of TA-student interaction time outside of class (if you need it). There are weekly office hours dedicated to group solving homework problems. Just make sure you show up to class because attendance/participation is a surprisingly large percent of your grade
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/12/2023	Professor Turpen is one of the kindest professors I have ever encountered. She genuinely cares about learning and allows students to redo exam/homework problems for partial credit which is really helpful for not only boosting your grade, but learning material in the class. It is a tough course, but she sets up students to succeed. That being said, my only complaint is that it takes forever to get grades back in this class. I still have ungraded assignments from September which is frustrating not having a solid clear grade going into finals. Aside from that, I loved taking 371 with her and could not recommend her more. I hope I get to take another class with her!
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2023	Dr. Turpen is simply an amazing professor. She really cared about us learning the physics while not making the class too difficult. Lectures were easy to follow and we had in-class participation quizzes that really helped to reinforce what we were learning. The homeworks were never too difficult or long, and exams were fair. If Dr. Turpen is teaching 371 for your semester, you'll be in for a treat.
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/29/2023	She should teach every class in the physics department. Seriously. This has been by far my favorite physics class at UMD. Dr. Turpen and her TA's are wonderful and I would highly, HIGHLY recommend taking her class.
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/10/2023	One of the best professors I've had at UMD. This professors research focus is physics education, and it shows in her educational ability. You can tell she very much cares about your learning, creates a really nice learning environment in class, uses clear slides and posts the weekly readings in an organized manner. Very good professor to talk to about any issues you might be having, and very helpful if you want to ask for help with anything physics related. She even takes a couple classes to focus on future career interests, and is willing to help students with that part of their college lives.
Chandra Turpen PHYS371 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/23/2023	Chandra is a fantastic professor who really prioritizes student learning. The content is difficult, but the group problem solving sessions are super helpful and she provides exam and homework corrections which make learning the material more obtainable. Although I don't love that she only uses slides for lecture, they are helpful for review. Some combination of slides and working things out on the board would be even better.

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/11/2024

She is the best physics course professor I've had. She knows how to teach and has done an excellent job crafting this course's sequence and experience. This course was easier than other physics courses, but it was a nice break from tediously long derivations and gut-wrenchingly difficult exams. If you put in anything more than 1 hour a week for this course you are guaranteed an A.

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A
czanike1
12/11/2024

Dr. Turpen is the absolute BEST! The list of amazing things she does is quite possibly endless, but I will do my best to list them anyway! She adapts her lectures based on what would be most helpful for us, meaning she will completely derail her own lesson plans to have review days as needed, and she will still make sure to get us where we need to get to by the end of the course. The best educators are ones that are able to take students of varying levels and equip ALL of them with the knowledge they need by the end of the course, and Professor Turpen could very well be the best educator. She gives us practice exams with solutions and writes incredible homework that greatly enhances our learning. She never leaves a student behind and makes special relativity (which is not by any means an easy thing to understand) so digestible it might as well be ice cream. All because of Dr. Turpen, I was able to achieve a level of mastery and understanding with this material that I haven't really had since high school. I can confidently say that I understand modern physics in its entirety, and every single professor at UMD--nay, the WORLD--should be taking notes! Professor Turpen literally does research in physics education, so it makes sense that she's so awesome, and all of my wishes every time I blow out birthday candles--mine or somebody else's--will be for whatever physics professor I have next to have a fraction of the teaching talent that Dr. Turpen has.

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/09/2024

I’m honestly just bracing for the whiplash of not taking a class with Dr. Turpen next semester — this professor should teach every class in the department. She’s one of the only professors I've had who truly sees her students as human beings, not robots. Lectures are not just 50 minutes of force feeding material like other classes — she stops frequently for questions and polls the class with interactive comprehension questions to make sure that we're really understanding what's going on. Homeworks are expertly crafted to actually support our learning process and I always know that, even if I didn't understand what's happening in lecture, I'll understand it after the homework. Her exams are incredibly fair and she provides such an amazing support system with her review sessions, practice exams, homework corrections, test corrections, and TAs. She sincerely wants to see everyone succeed and, if you put in the work, you'll learn so much from her class. I hope I get to learn from her again at some point — seriously, take a class with Dr. Turpen if you can :)

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/11/2024

Professor Turpin is one of the few professors in the physics department who genuinely seems to care about you learning concepts. Exams were very fair- often times, other professors seem more interested in over complicating problems, or tricking you. This is absolutely not the case for her class. There is lots of TA-student interaction time outside of class (if you need it). There are weekly office hours dedicated to group solving homework problems. Just make sure you show up to class because attendance/participation is a surprisingly large percent of your grade

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/12/2023

Professor Turpen is one of the kindest professors I have ever encountered. She genuinely cares about learning and allows students to redo exam/homework problems for partial credit which is really helpful for not only boosting your grade, but learning material in the class. It is a tough course, but she sets up students to succeed. That being said, my only complaint is that it takes forever to get grades back in this class. I still have ungraded assignments from September which is frustrating not having a solid clear grade going into finals. Aside from that, I loved taking 371 with her and could not recommend her more. I hope I get to take another class with her!

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/10/2023

Dr. Turpen is simply an amazing professor. She really cared about us learning the physics while not making the class too difficult. Lectures were easy to follow and we had in-class participation quizzes that really helped to reinforce what we were learning. The homeworks were never too difficult or long, and exams were fair. If Dr. Turpen is teaching 371 for your semester, you'll be in for a treat.

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/29/2023

She should teach every class in the physics department. Seriously. This has been by far my favorite physics class at UMD. Dr. Turpen and her TA's are wonderful and I would highly, HIGHLY recommend taking her class.

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/10/2023

One of the best professors I've had at UMD. This professors research focus is physics education, and it shows in her educational ability. You can tell she very much cares about your learning, creates a really nice learning environment in class, uses clear slides and posts the weekly readings in an organized manner. Very good professor to talk to about any issues you might be having, and very helpful if you want to ask for help with anything physics related. She even takes a couple classes to focus on future career interests, and is willing to help students with that part of their college lives.

Chandra Turpen
PHYS371

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/23/2023

Chandra is a fantastic professor who really prioritizes student learning. The content is difficult, but the group problem solving sessions are super helpful and she provides exam and homework corrections which make learning the material more obtainable. Although I don't love that she only uses slides for lecture, they are helpful for review. Some combination of slides and working things out on the board would be even better.