[PHYS 0109]
Newtonian Physics

Rate This Class

Professor: Wolfson R

Value of Course / Overall Score

Not Much (11.8%
Average (29.4%)
Valuable (58.8%)

Material

Friendly (5.9%)
Average (47.1%)
Competitive (47.1%)

Class Atmosphere

Boring (76.5%)
Average (23.5%)
Fascinating (0%)

Prep Time Needed

1-2hr (5.9%)
3-5hr (41.2%)
6-8hr (41.2%)
9-11hr (11.8%)
12+ hr (0%)

Grade Weighting

Harder (52.9%)
Average (0%)
Easier (47.1%)

Adequate Assistance

Yes (82.4%)
No (17.6%)

Would Recommend Class

Yes (70.6%)
No (29.4%)

Evaluation Comments for Wolfson R

  1. DO NOT TAKE CLASSES FROM RICH WOLFSON. He is self-obsessed, annoying, and dislikes athletes. His grading is harsh across the board, and is far from uniform from student to student (he'll give partial credit at random to kids he likes). Bottom line --> he sucks, take this with someone else
  2. Exams were extremely tough. There should have been ways to improve your grade. So much work for homework (that was graded, rather harshly). Only take this class if necessary.
  3. Not a bad class, but take another professor.
  4. I strongly disliked this class, and Wolfson in general. He is scatter-brained in lectures and not helpful at all in labs. I loved PHYS 111 with Ratcliffe (take it!!), but Wolfson made me hate the subject. If you don't understand something he talks louder at you and invades your personal space. Exams were tricky, he didn't explain his grading when I asked, and he was pretty smug/rude since he has tenure. Don't take this class with him! Goodsell is a great professor and take a class with Professor Ratcliffe instead.
  5. Wolfson did a pretty mediocre job teaching this class despite his misconceived notions that he was a very good and relatable professor. I spent most of my time teaching myself and even when I thought I had mastered the concepts I still lost points for a correct answer because I didn't follow his overly-basic process for solving problems. Wolfson has a bit of an ego issue that I didn't notice at first but became very obvious the more time I spent with him. The material was pretty cool and he did have soon pretty awesome demonstrations but he wastes a lot of class time assembling these.
  6. this is a fantastic class. Rich is awesome
  7. Wolfson is one of the best professors I've had so far at Midd. He's a great person to introduce you to the magical world of physics
  8. Wolfson is the man. He's entertaining and keeps the class engaged, despite its large size. He's clearly passionate about his subject and about teaching. Very approachable guy, too... I would reccommend any course with RW.
  9. Wolfson is fantastic. I've never met a livelier, more passionate teacher in my life. He really knows his stuff and his lectures are clear and concise. He's easily available in his office during and outside of office hours, and he's very accomodating about exams. There's an assignment due each class, and sometimes they are difficult. Make sure you do them, because the exams are pretty much just like the homeworks. Wolfson rarely goes over problems in class, which is sometimes a nuisance, but again, use your resources (Wolfson, classmates, book) wisely and you'll get through problems fine. Exams are not easy but not unfair; you've learned everything on the exam. Labs were fine, but I hope Wolfson does the labs himself in subsequent years. Altogether, great class, and good intro to physics.
  10. For an intro class, I thought this class was well structured and well taught. Exams were fairly straightforward. Problem sets varied in difficulty and length, but were mostly doable and help sessions were available before each due date if needed. Labs are pretty laid back. Wolfson's lecturers can drag on sometimes, but he gets the information across clearly and does try to jazz it up a bit.
  11. Prof. Wolfson was awesome! He's so passionate about physics, which makes the material much more interesting. It was really easy to understand him, in part because he wrote the book that's used in the course. He's good at explaining new concepts, however, I'd taken a really good physics course in high school, so I felt like I knew most of the material. The last probably three weeks of the course we learned material that was completely new to me, which was actually pretty hard. But other than that, it was a great class!
  12. Wolfson is a great professor. Exams are tough but not impossible to do well on. There are a lot of assignments but it keeps you on track. Definitely go to office hours!
  13. If you don't like physics - don't take this course. I went into it with no physics experience at all and ended up hating it. However, Wolfson is an amazing professor who really cares about his job. He is always available for questions and makes the lectures very funny to listen to. Definately don't take it at 8am - also, homework assignments are due every day. Labs are easy and don't require much time in write-ups. If you do take, make sure to take advantage of his office hours - I regret not talking to him more.
  14. This class is so fun, Wolfson is a great professor, even though class was at 8am I only fell asleep once. Problem sets are due every day you have class which really keeps you on top of the material. Exams are difficult but fair. Lab with Kalista is sometimes painful however.
  15. Rich loves his job, loves to talk and loves himself, but has a very sincere interest in how people perceive physics, especially if you are a non-major. This is a very worthwhile course, but the pasce is slow, and the material mimics that of a high school physics course, so if you know newtonian physics, definitely think about passing out or going right to 104. Otherwise, don't graduate withoiut taking this course! Exams aren't bad if you do the homework.
  16. I am not very good at physics and yet I found that Prof Wolfson was able to make the material understandable and even interesting. He has a very good way of lecturing that makes connections in the material, which was very helpful. We had to turn in assignments every class period, which was sometimes annoying, but it really made you keep up with the work and showed you if you didn't understand a concept. The exams were difficult but not unfairly so.
  17. RIch is very interesting but exams are tough.

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