Introductory Mechanics

Having taken AP Physics 1, this course was essentially a carbon copy of the mechanics part of it, with a little bit of basic calculus thrown in. I think they changed the course so that Phys 109 is now geared towards people who have taken AP physics. Professor Hess is enthusiastic about the material and explains concepts well. The homework, at times, felt a bit overkill (or rather, like "busywork"). There was a lot of writing involved in an answer; having to explain your steps and answers in words got to be a bit tedious but I could understand how it might benefit someone who hasn't taken physics before. Labs were well-thought out and usually took the entire period. They could almost always be finished within the lab period which was a bonus. Hess is a great teacher, and I would definitely take another class with him in the future.

Having taken AP Physics 1, this course was essentially a carbon copy of the mechanics part of it, with a little bit of basic calculus thrown in. I think they changed the course so that Phys 109 is now geared towards people who have taken AP physics. Professor Hess is enthusiastic about the material and explains concepts well. The hom …Read more

Professor Hess is a very good professor. His teachings are interactive with poll questions and has plenty of live demonstrations which help visualize the course content. As expected the course does come with difficult homework and lots of studying but overall is a great class.

He didn't teach well, assigned a lot of homework(3 times a week usually with at least 5 problems, many of them being difficult). I think it's best to take the class when you are not taking a heavy course load. I had an easy course load therefore I was able to dedicate a lot of time to self teaching and doing practice problems. The good thing was that his exams were pretty fair,(on the easier side if I'm being honest) and this is coming from someone who has never taken physics. The questions were pretty straightforward not trying to trick you, you just need to know the material( which you wouldn't learn from him). The hardest part of the exams were probably just the conceptual questions of the multiple choice. Also, I think he was a very fair/nice grader. He would give a lot of partial credit. SO at the end of the day, I don't think taking the course with him was that bad, but you definitely need to dedicate some time to succeed.

He didn't teach well, assigned a lot of homework(3 times a week usually with at least 5 problems, many of them being difficult). I think it's best to take the class when you are not taking a heavy course load. I had an easy course load therefore I was able to dedicate a lot of time to self teaching and doing practice problems. The go …Read more

Never take a course with Prof. Bleher. He was extremely condescending and unhelpful in office hours. He does not explain concepts well, yet gives difficult exams with topics that we have not discussed in the lecture. It is a miracle that I made it through the course with a good grade.

Hess is the chillest professor in any department. The homeworks were kind of annoying and long but manageable. The exams were hard but curved. Opportunities for extra credit and labs were very fun. Take it with a friend and you'll have a good time.

Where do I even start. I needed this course for my major (not physics) and I thought I would enjoy it because I loved physics in high school and even took it for 2 years. Professor Bleher is the worst. When I ask him questions, he kind of makes jokes and will sometimes answer but sometimes he literally won’t. You can’t see your old exams unless you go to his office on your own time and look over the test… review during lab consists of sharing a packet of questions with your table (you cannot write in the packet or take pics of questions and he has the answers. If you got a question wrong on your homework assignment (which is due during each class period) you have to go look at the answers posted outside of lab. It’s very old fashioned and secretive. Oh also the cold calling is insane. I dread going go class and the exams are horrible. Good luck if you have him.

Where do I even start. I needed this course for my major (not physics) and I thought I would enjoy it because I loved physics in high school and even took it for 2 years. Professor Bleher is the worst. When I ask him questions, he kind of makes jokes and will sometimes answer but sometimes he literally won’t. You can’t see your old e …Read more

109 is a fine class. Bleher was just not the best teacher to have. If you hadn't seen the content before it was definitely difficult. His teaching style wasn't very effective. His labs also took forever as well.

Professor Hess was very nice but not the best teacher in my opinion. The class was super hard and homework were soooo long, frequent, and graded for accuracy. Labs were fun though and easy. Often I got out of lab early.

Professor Miller was a great professor and I thoroughly enjoyed her teaching style. She went over practice problems in class as well as the lecture notes, which was especially helpful with the homework. While there were two homework assignments a week, which were a lot at times, they helped a lot in exam preparation and knowing the material.

I came into this class already knowing most of the material. Homework in this class differed from being the easiest thing imaginable to a 10pt question on one of the tests. (~25% of HW was 1 step, like unit conversion, sig figs) I wish the homework was a completion grade because it is easy to make mistakes when homework is due every class and when the professor also wants you to read the textbook. I felt that there was a discrepancy between what was taught and what was on the tests because he taught it like you would a slow-paced, high level course when this one was not. I feel like this class should have been made easier for those on the with pre-med reqs.

I came into this class already knowing most of the material. Homework in this class differed from being the easiest thing imaginable to a 10pt question on one of the tests. (~25% of HW was 1 step, like unit conversion, sig figs) I wish the homework was a completion grade because it is easy to make mistakes when homework is due every …Read more

This class was unnecessarily difficult. It was fast paced and we didn't get enough time to learn the most challenging topics. Lectures were incomprehensible due to prof. Bleher's handwriting. Grading is alright but the sheer number of homework assignments and their lack of weight made me nearly insane by the end of the course.

While this class had a very chill environment, don't let that fool you. Exams are tough, but curved, and a very conceptual compared to the HW. Assignments outside of class could feel along and really added up, especially with reading quizzes before each class. However, Hess really tries to make you feel comfortable in the classroom, making for an enjoyable intro PHYS experience.

If you need to take this for a pre-med requirement, do not take it with Bleher. You are better off learning from khan academy and the organic chemistry tutor on youtube. His teaching style seems to succeed at embarrassing students in class by cold calling, and he is bad at accommodating students' needs. Even if you make the time to go to office hours, he will probably confuse you more than help you.

If you need to take this for a pre-med requirement, do not take it with Bleher. You are better off learning from khan academy and the organic chemistry tutor on youtube. His teaching style seems to succeed at embarrassing students in class by cold calling, and he is bad at accommodating students' needs. Even if you make the time to g …Read more

I do not enjoy Professor Bleher's teaching style. I feel there is very little room for grade improvement and he assigns homework on concepts he does not thoroughly go through during class time. I would not recommend taking this class with him.

Professor Bleher is clearly incredibly passionate about this subject, and even enjoys teaching this course. However, it is so fast-paced and inefficiently taught that it's difficult to say I enjoyed this class. The content felt overloaded and overwhelming, with TAs and Khan Academy being more helpful than anything.

Dr. Bleher is clearly very enthusiastic in well-versed in the material he teaches, but is not very good at explaining it for people with no background in physics. Homework was worth a lot of the grade and often much more difficult than anything we had covered in class. Labs were also very time consuming, but exams were not terrible (but not curved).

He is very very boring and his teaching method is hard to understand. He loves to cold call on students during class, so be prepared. I had to go to TA hours at least two times a week because the homework was pretty hard. There is graded homework every class day. The exams aren’t too hard though.

The class itself has a ton of work, with there being 3 graded homeworks per week. Would NEVER take the class again, especially because Professor Bleher loves to cold call on students every class. He is truly a terrible professor, and his hand writing is IMPOSSIBLE to read. If you have to take physics, do yourself a favor and don't even think about taking it with Bleher.

Professor Bleher holds a very fast paced class and cold calls extremely frequently. The exams are extremely material dense, challenging and take up a lot of time to get done. Labs are relatively easy but only are 10% of your overall grade. Every homework is graded and they are 18% of the grade.

Dr. Beleher is getting too much hate on here. Sure, he is not always the best lecturer but if you need help he is there, and he is extremely approachable. Also, he listens to student feedback and will change grading accordingly. Very nice guy

Professor Bleher is really bad at explaining things but was often fair with grading and will help if you ask him questions during tests. The course content is hard and having a bad professor does not make it easier.

worst course I have taken at midd. worst professor I have had at midd. do not recommend. cold calls frequently during class. shames students when they do not arrive to the correct answer. too much homework. does not adequately teach content.