I will be a freshman and I’ve signed up for Physics 103 for premed requirements. I’ve been told that this is a mostly junior/senior class, but I think I’ll be ok with that because I’ve had to do that in high school before. I am in Pan/Smith’s class. Has anyone had them/what is their teaching like? Reviews on rate my professor weren’t very promising.
First off ratemyprofessor ratings tend to lean to the negative side, so take it with a grain of salt.
I’m guessing that Pan and Smith are just kind of unclear lecturers, which is manageable and somewhat typical for the physics dept (I had a similar professor for physics 207). My advice is to read the textbook thoroughly! This is SO important and it’s unbelievable how many people don’t even try to read their textbooks and then complain that they aren’t doing well. Take notes, look at how the book goes through in-text practice problems. Take advantage of all worksheets and practice exams provided to you. The PLC (Physics Learning Center) is also available for tutoring.
In the future questions like these are best asked on the UW-Madison subreddit (if you’re interested in making a reddit account)- there are way more current and recently graduated students than on here. Also, if you search “uw-madison reddit” one of the links that pop up is a compilation of almost all of the class-related questions/answers that have been asked in the past in the subreddit- you can view all of them without needing to make an account.
ignore above post on ratemyprof. Great source of info. Use it.
@UW2016 I’m not saying for OP to not use ratemyprof- I use it myself lol. My only point is that sometimes the ratings can be negatively exaggerated.