stupid physics

ok so 3 more days of physics I in Summer I and then i’m out of that biache. let me elaborate. my prof is a bit of a different sort. we take problem tests with 5 questions and have to write out excessive explanations on how we derive certain equations we use and a bunch of useless mumbo jumbo for him to give us full credit. well i write out my mumbo and solve my problems on test 1 and he ends up giving me an 88 when I have all the correct answers listed… but I did not “show him enough theory behind it” ! test 2. same thing… but an 80 result! part of me is so pissed off with this and another part is just waiting for it to be over so I can move on to another professor. anyone else have problems in physics like this? i just want to be able to write down my equations and solve for the answer and get it and not be hasseled for it!

  • Miller J. Said:
ok so 3 more days of physics I in Summer I and then i'm out of that biache. let me elaborate. my prof is a bit of a different sort. we take problem tests with 5 questions and have to write out excessive explanations on how we derive certain equations we use and a bunch of useless mumbo jumbo for him to give us full credit. well i write out my mumbo and solve my problems on test 1 and he ends up giving me an 88 when I have all the correct answers listed... but I did not "show him enough theory behind it" ! test 2. same thing... but an 80 result! part of me is so pissed off with this and another part is just waiting for it to be over so I can move on to another professor. anyone else have problems in physics like this? i just want to be able to write down my equations and solve for the answer and get it and not be hasseled for it!



Wow, that's pretty ridiculous...in my book, if someone has the right answer and they showed their work then end of story.

I'm not particularly looking forward to physics myself, Davis screwed me on registration and I wasn't able to get into any of the science classes I need, so I'm taking physics at the local CC alongside classes at Davis this fall. And yes, I know that'll look bad, but from what I hear Davis' physics program is pathetic anyway.

Well, yeah, it sucks, but that means you have to go see him and find out what, exactly, he wants you to show him. It’s his playground, so you need to learn the rules so you can win.

  • Tim Said:
  • Miller J. Said:
ok so 3 more days of physics I in Summer I and then i'm out of that biache. let me elaborate. my prof is a bit of a different sort. we take problem tests with 5 questions and have to write out excessive explanations on how we derive certain equations we use and a bunch of useless mumbo jumbo for him to give us full credit. well i write out my mumbo and solve my problems on test 1 and he ends up giving me an 88 when I have all the correct answers listed... but I did not "show him enough theory behind it" ! test 2. same thing... but an 80 result! part of me is so pissed off with this and another part is just waiting for it to be over so I can move on to another professor. anyone else have problems in physics like this? i just want to be able to write down my equations and solve for the answer and get it and not be hasseled for it!



Wow, that's pretty ridiculous...in my book, if someone has the right answer and they showed their work then end of story.

I'm not particularly looking forward to physics myself, Davis screwed me on registration and I wasn't able to get into any of the science classes I need, so I'm taking physics at the local CC alongside classes at Davis this fall. And yes, I know that'll look bad, but from what I hear Davis' physics program is pathetic anyway.



Well here's where I get on my soap box again.

I've told this to other Physics students before and I'll say it again. These are not just my opinions, but opinions that were confirmed over a discussion I had with the Associate Chair of our Physics department who is a reputed educationalist and heads an academics association for teaching physics in the Midwest (I forget the actual name).

In his words, "What we're trying to do is try to make them (the students) feel as incompetent as possible". The rationale, he explained, was that knowing that this may be the last chance that these students will actually tangle with academic physics, the instructors try to infuse them with the problem solving skills in a crash course sort of way. They try to shock them out of their comfort zones and try to "make them feel they are drowning to force them to think another way".

Biology, and Chemistry are pattern recognition subjects. Essentially, a problem can be distilled down to recognizing the pattern and recalling a known solved pattern and applying it to the given problem to arrive at the answer.

Physics is a logic application subject. Essentially, you are given a finite set of logical rules and laws that apply to all situations. Given a problem, one is required to determine the dynamic variables and constants, and apply the rules, laws, and logic, to predict the final, or intermediate values of the variables.

Physics requires a different pattern of thinking, and a different approach to solving a problem. I have come across numerous students who are great at Chemistry and whizzes at Biology, but who tend to struggle with Physics.

To a certain extent, but not completely, the difference between Physics and Gen. Chem. is similar to that between Gen. Chem. and Org. Chem.

In conclusion, what I'm trying to say is that, in my opinion, 99% of instructors are not trying to be mean a__holes. They are trying to teach you a way of thinking which usually does not sit well with students. The net result is that the feeling of frustration translates to animus towards the Physics professors.

Try to step back and look at the situation. Ask yourself WHY the instructor is making you do things a certain way. If you can't figure it out, confront him and ask him why he requires what he does.

It may be that he is trying to get a certain problem solving skill across to you.

It may be that he really is a mean old sod. In which case drop the class if it's early in the semester or go to a different section.

Realizing this early in my semester of Physics II helped make it the most enjoyable class I have had at our University. From hating the instructor in the first couple of weeks, I went to admiring him and being amazed at his genius by the end of the semester. Note: 98% of that class still hates him!

Excellent post!


I think there’s no point in even worrying about whether the professor is a mean old cuss or helping me out. It is important to find out what I am supposed to learn and how I am supposed to demonstrate that I have learned it, then figure out if that is possible for me to do. If it is, I can stay in the class and blow it out of the water. If it isn’t, I can’t.


But it’s important to make a hearty, sincere attempt to adapt when the rules aren’t what you thought they were. The road to med school is full of stuff like this.

Dazed, you make very good points, but this does operate off the assumption that the instructor is challenging you.


I’m not sure if your post encompassed my comment about avoiding Davis’ physics program, but when the teachers, the TAs, and the entire student body hate the program because it has no textbook, has a PBL approach with unhelpful TAs, and generally is regarded as a trainwreck, yeah I’ll just take it at a CC.


But you do make excellent points…if that’s the reason why the physics teachers make it so damn hard, then it’s an extremely good reason. However, you still have to have a good curriculum to accomplish that goal. Unfortunately, Davis has failed utterly at that.


Just a side note too Sam, yes I understand fully that you have to play by the teacher’s rules to get the good grade, but that’s why most of us like science…the problem is either right or wrong, it’s not up to the subjective opinion of the teacher. Any science class where it does start to begin to be up to the subjective opinion of the teacher begins to lose my respect since that’s /why/ I have no respect for the majority of non-science courses. I’m not paying $23,000 a year to learn some middle-aged or elderly person’s opinion; I can do that for free if I really wanted to just by making small talk with a stranger.

thanks dazed and everyone else. yeah I can honestly feel that he is trying to do this as a means to get something through as he knows we’ll likely not be concerned with this type of physics except for our pre-reqs and the mcat. I am just honestly trying my hardest and still on the verge of a B or C. I have made all A’s in the rest of my pre-reqs through organic chem and biologies but am going in tonight with a final that is 30% of my grade and one in which he said no one will likely make an A b/c he is making it that challenging. his grading system is “relative” meaning that he looks for gaps between students to determine letter grades and not the numerical values. I’ve never had anything like this honestly and it’s totally out of my comfort zone. I thought I might make a B here or there in my pre reqs and now i’m hoping just not to make a C. it’s scaring me to the point of thinking it’ll really hurt me come applying to med schools especially since i’m taking it at a community college… YIKES !

we also had a test #3 last night which was ridiculous and are having a comprehensive final tonight… yes 2 huge tests in 2 days. - sorry i’m just majorly IRKED right now!!

My minor rant…


In my post-bacc plus (60 credits of stuff, don’t ask) I got either A or A- in every course EXCEPT Physics Lab I where I got a B-! The reason, we had this adjunct who was a professor at nearby NYIT (big tech/engineering school) who had 2 (counte’em 2) PhD’s in Chemistry and Physics, who was also an older chinese man. Now, just to put that comment into context my wife is from Hong Kong, I did a tremendous amount of traveling to Hong Kong and Shanghi for business, and a girl in my class was from mainland china. You see this professor was simply incomprehensible. Didn’t matter in English or Cantonese or Mandarin. Even my classmate from mainland would ask him questions in Mandarin, presumably his native tongue, but she would still baffled by his responses. This professor also insisted that we do labs and graphs handwritten! Say What? I had been teaching the chem students, at the request of the chairman, to use excel to chart and graph. I’ve been using PC’s before there was a microsoft.


Now I am a good student and I want to learn, to the point that I told the less than academically inclined students (aka ‘the kids’) in my group to just let me do the labs and I sent them copies.


Now, I would try and understand when the professor explained a concept, I would ask questions, I would inquire, I would still be utterly baffled by his explanations. One day, maybe I was tired or just pissed, but I blew up at him. Basically I called him clueless and crazy in Cantonese (ah yes, the things I learned from my wife). Dumb move. He claimed that I never handed in the last lab and gave me a B- for the course. Curious of course all the kids in my group, and all handed their last lab, which I had written, got better grades.

Miller J,


Which school in Dallas are you taking your pre reqs at? I would not be surprised if you are referring to utd! Unfortunately, I don’t think writing out equations is all that straight forward either, at least in my physics class. If it makes you feel a little better, our professor happens to also be a mathematics professor unfortunately, and despite the class being listed as requiring 1710 calculus as a prereq, we ended up having to learn physics “his way”, which means we had to learn some differential equations to work through his ridiculous mechanics problems. What made it worse, was that even though he taught our class the concepts, out of our textbook, the homeworks were all worksheets, written by him and the answer sheet, which needless to say, did not show us enough steps to see how the answer was solved. The majority of students who were not physics or math majors, like me, ended up in the science help center every day for help. It was extremely frustrating, and even the TAs were sympathetic to our experiences. I am just glad I will not have to take anymore physics classes from now on.