Susan Watson

I did not like this class. Watson is clearly very smart and cares about the material, but she is very condescending, the lecture is not related to the homework, and she is almost never available outside of class.

The material is interesting and fun to learn. However, Watson's requirements for how work must be presented are absurd. On tests, if you do not follow them exactly, you will do poorly even if you demonstrate a full understanding of the material and get the correct answer. Even if you clearly outline your method in a logical way, if it doesn't match her method, she will not accept it and will deduct many points. Her lectures are engaging, and she is clearly enthusiastic about the material. However, during exams, which count for the majority of your grade, you end up more worried about replicating her specific steps than actually answering the questions. Overall, it felt like she prioritized rigid adherence to her method over genuine understanding, which was extremely frustrating.

The material is interesting and fun to learn. However, Watson's requirements for how work must be presented are absurd. On tests, if you do not follow them exactly, you will do poorly even if you demonstrate a full understanding of the material and get the correct answer. Even if you clearly outline your method in a logical way, if i …Read more

Physics 108 with Professor Watson was a very challenging course. This was my first time ever taking a physics course, and I found it way too difficult to be an intro stem course at Middlebury. Professor Watson herself is very kind, organized, and enthusiastic. She offers a lot of outside help which I highly appreciated. That being said, I struggled with her expectations and grading style. Almost all of your grade for the course is determined by hard exams. There are two problem sets per week, that you also have to correct, and even those are graded like exams. I spent hours on problem sets for them to be a tiny portion of my final grade. Watson is a very harsh grader. You need to show all of your work, and if you don't solve a problem her specific way, include all units, etc. you will lose points. It doesn't matter if your final answer is correct. I did enjoy the lab section for this course. It was also with Professor Watson. There is little to no outside work for the lab. Overall, I worked extremely hard in this course, but sadly I did not see pay off in the way that I wanted. I really like Watson as a person; however, I would not take this course again. This was the hardest course that I have taken as Middlebury so far.

Physics 108 with Professor Watson was a very challenging course. This was my first time ever taking a physics course, and I found it way too difficult to be an intro stem course at Middlebury. Professor Watson herself is very kind, organized, and enthusiastic. She offers a lot of outside help which I highly appreciated. That being sa …Read more