The Physics of Motion

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

Professor Watson is a great professor. She was very clear about her expectations of the students from the start of the semester. She has a pretty specific way that you have to solve the problems and requires that you show all of your work on problem sets and exams. But she shows you how to do everything in lecture. I thought the lectures were very helpful and textbook readings were great supplements.

Professor Watson is a great professor. She was very clear about her expectations of the students from the start of the semester. She has a pretty specific way that you have to solve the problems and requires that you show all of your work on problem sets and exams. But she shows you how to do everything in lecture. I thought the lect …Read more

Anne Goodsell is an extremely nice person and professor. Like I've found with many of the physics classess, the homework guidelines are agressive grading wise, and it can absolutely cause some problems. The exams were generally not too bad, and she offered a lot of flexibility in the exam times.

I LOVED Anne Goodsell! She's super positive and makes basic physics engaging and fun. It's one of the bigger lectures at Midd, probably, yet Professor Goodsell remembers all of her students' names. Exams were very reasonable, lots of practice resources were provided, and readings were rarely necessary, though the textbook was a good additional resource. Lab never required more than 30 minutes of work outside of class time and often got out early, too.

I LOVED Anne Goodsell! She's super positive and makes basic physics engaging and fun. It's one of the bigger lectures at Midd, probably, yet Professor Goodsell remembers all of her students' names. Exams were very reasonable, lots of practice resources were provided, and readings were rarely necessary, though the textbook was a good …Read more

I have taken physics before, so it is very easy for me, nothing new to learn, even there is, pretty easy to understand. BUT..... there is one thing I have to mention that kind of disappoint me. 60% of my energy and time was spent on taking care of specific ways of resenting the the answers and writing in very specific forms required. Never experienced such high requirement for simply presenting existing ideas and answers in detailed rules. Such details are NOT helpful for my understanding and knowledge about physics at all. basically 70% of my scores being taken away are because I did not present things is desired ways (not even common practices like correct units or decimals). In summary, I felt I spent most of my time on something not helpful. But professor Goodsell is definitely a very nice and helpful instructor, always give great care for students' need and progress.

I have taken physics before, so it is very easy for me, nothing new to learn, even there is, pretty easy to understand. BUT..... there is one thing I have to mention that kind of disappoint me. 60% of my energy and time was spent on taking care of specific ways of resenting the the answers and writing in very specific forms required. …Read more

The class material is difficult. However, exams are challenging and graded harshly; there is a curve, but remember to show ALL your work. Prof Watson is strict on her time, so she will typically not answer questions before or after the lecture, but she is flexible with office hours.

The course material was confusing at times, but in class demonstrations were useful in clearing up difficult concepts. It also made lectures more fun. Professor Goodsell always had a lot of energy and enthusiasm which made paying attention easier. Overall, I think I improved my physics and math skills.

Prof. Goodsell is a really wonderful woman to take a class with, but sometimes I got a little lost in the weeds with her lectures. I'm not really the physics type, so I would imagine you won't have that much difficulty with the class if you do, but I found myself having some trouble, especially with pretty comprehensive exams (however, you are given some notes, so it's not totally miserable).

Prof. Goodsell is a really wonderful woman to take a class with, but sometimes I got a little lost in the weeds with her lectures. I'm not really the physics type, so I would imagine you won't have that much difficulty with the class if you do, but I found myself having some trouble, especially with pretty comprehensive exams (howeve …Read more

I had taken physics in high school but it was my freshman year, so much of this was a review but still very valuable. However I would definitely say that it was a fun class and intro level to physics. The lab was pretty simple too so overall its pretty chill.

This course was difficult for me. Goodsell taught us the theory in lecture, seldom with examples of how to apply it. This meant that homework and exams were extremely difficult. On top of that, they required very specific styles of presenting work, and I was heavily dinged often. Professor Goodsell is extremely kind, accommodating, and brilliant, it was just difficult to learn the physics of motion from her.

This course was difficult for me. Goodsell taught us the theory in lecture, seldom with examples of how to apply it. This meant that homework and exams were extremely difficult. On top of that, they required very specific styles of presenting work, and I was heavily dinged often. Professor Goodsell is extremely kind, accommodating, a …Read more

Hess is the man. This class is hard but he's super accommodating and clearly cares about his students. His exams can be difficult (the average on one of them was a 50) but he curves generously. He even changed my grade after grades were due after he realized there was a grading error which he could have easily not gone through the bother of fixing.

Professor Watson was a good professor but led a very difficult class. The homework assignments were unnecessarily hard and require so much work to receive little credit. Professor Watson was very enthusiastic about teaching physics which I appreciated. The class for me was more to get the work done than actually learn.

Took the class to try some stem class and got thouroghly cooked. Despite that i felt like the course overall was a good in the sense that you learn a lot and the instructor is very accomodating and nice.

I took this class because it is required for my major. I did not love this class but I think it is largely due to the fact that I don't love Physics. Not horrible if you have to take but wouldn't recommend just to fill distribution.

The thing I appreciated the most about this course was that even though the material could be tricky, everything was super fair. Professor Watson let us know from day one what she expected of students, and what students could expect from her. Problem sets, labs, etc were always in a predictable format, and I appreciated knowing exactly how my final grade would be derived. There was also a good spread of how each element of our work would affect the final grade, so there was an impact on my grade that came solely from putting in the effort. Overall, a very good experience in this course.

The thing I appreciated the most about this course was that even though the material could be tricky, everything was super fair. Professor Watson let us know from day one what she expected of students, and what students could expect from her. Problem sets, labs, etc were always in a predictable format, and I appreciated knowing exa …Read more

This class was a really good introduction to physics. A lot of time is spent on each topic and it's reinforced in textbook, homework, videos, and lecture so if you don't get it the first time you will eventually. Labs are very well thought out and take almost the whole time or less on average.

This class was a really good introduction to physics. A lot of time is spent on each topic and it's reinforced in textbooks, homework, videos, and lecture so if you don't get it the first time you will eventually. Labs are very well thought out and take almost the whole time or less on average.

In order to succeed in this course, you defiantly need to keep up with the homework, go to the lectures, do the readings and watch the recorded videos. Practicing these physics problems is definitely important as well. The exams, thankfully, are graded on a curve which is nice. Professor Hess was also very enthusiastic about teaching physics and very helpful whenever I went to his office hours!

In order to succeed in this course, you defiantly need to keep up with the homework, go to the lectures, do the readings and watch the recorded videos. Practicing these physics problems is definitely important as well. The exams, thankfully, are graded on a curve which is nice. Professor Hess was also very enthusiastic about teaching …Read more

The course was really good for learning about the physics of motion, and overall the professor is a really great teacher but I believe to be successful in this course you need to be prepared to put in a lot of work.

This is definitely a hard course but it's doable if you put the work in. There is a lot of homework- two problem sets a week and the exams are hard but he usually gives a nice curve. Professor Hess is an awesome guy and super accommodating.

This class was my introduction to physics and I felt overworked for most of the semester. The professor tried to explain the concepts to us but sometimes would not effectively explain it, and we had two problem sets each week that required significant effort. The exams were graded fairly and scaled. Overall I liked Professor Watson but she wasn't always the best at explaining concepts to students who have never taken physics before and I felt that the workload was excessive for an introductory course.

This class was my introduction to physics and I felt overworked for most of the semester. The professor tried to explain the concepts to us but sometimes would not effectively explain it, and we had two problem sets each week that required significant effort. The exams were graded fairly and scaled. Overall I liked Professor Watson b …Read more