PHYS 2415

A required class for all engineers. I did not attend lectures because the same material was covered in ECE203 and ECE309. Overall this is not a difficult class if you grasp the material easily - there are no curveballs, just straightforward problems. Some labs are really fun.

Norum is hard to follow in class because he is always correcting his notes after he writes them. Although it is often painful, it is best to attend class.

Just take this course over the summer at UVA, or at some local community college. Make sure the credits are transferable. Then your set and you'll get an A, with minimal effort....HOPEFULLY

Bottom Line: Don't take this course at UVA during the fall or spring semester. Only summer.

Blaine's the man, but the lack of homework and realistic in class examples makes the exams' content appear novel and incoherent.Going to class doesn't help much either. Just do the suggested problems and you might pull through.

...It is a hard class, so come prepared!

Not a bad class overall. I like physics but electromagnetism just isn't my favorite topic. Norum is very Canadian and says "aboot" (hehe) and is a no nonsense kind of teacher. So as long as you are a no nonsense student, you'll get along just fine. By no nonsense I mean that you don't go up to him to complain about grades, or complain that the clicker questions go too fast (I got a pretty low grade on clickers just because I didn't react fast enough), stuff like that. Do go to office hours to talk to him about physics. You can really tell that he's passionate about physics and will try to explain anything you don't understand. He did have a bike accident that he'll talk about the first day of class that basically gives him a horrible short term memory so he won't remember your name even if you go to all the office hours.

Norum isn't a BAD professor, but I wouldn't say he's a good one either. The lectures are often taken verbatim from the textbook, which is really frustrating because often the textbook provides a different perspective than the lecture. You should go to lecture anyway because the clicker questions do have a sizable effect on your grade. The exams are fair, but some of the questions are difficult to grasp if you have some trouble with applying the theories you learn in lecture. If you can take this class MWF instead of TuTh, I'd recommend that; the 75-minute classes tend to drag on and you lose focus in those last 15-20 minutes.

Blaine is a nice enough guy. Not the best physics teacher, but he's not bad. The class itself is incredibly difficult. Tests were multiple choice though so that can save you because you can always guess a couple right. The curve is pretty big at the end of the class. Only one homework assignment a week. Class isn't mandatory, but there are clicker questions and that's 10% of your grade. Overall, decent choice, the class will probably suck whoever you take it with.

TLDR VERSION: AVOID AT ALL COSTS, JUST TAKE THIS STUPID CLASS AT SOME COMMUNITY COLLEGE OVER THE SUMMER.
Now for those of you who still want to take this class because you enjoy suffering:
Blaine is a really uninspiring professor who makes this class super difficult and overly convoluted. Some of the stuff we learned about was interesting, but there was WAY too much content stuffed into this course, it was basically unreasonable to learn it all in just a semester.

The first test was fairly straightforward, but the second test was extremely difficult and the final was literally impossible (it was THE hardest test I have taken in my life so far). You had to show up to lectures too because there were clicker questions, so it was all in all an awful experience and I feel like I learned absolutely nothing from this class. I would recommend at least waiting till the fall and taking it with a better prof (or do yourself a favor and take it over the summer), and maybe the curves will be better too since there are so many more people who take it in the fall. The most unfortunate thing is, this class was horrible purely because of how it is taught and run, not because the material isn't interesting or applicable (which it is).

On the plus side, the demos he does every class were actually pretty cool, I just wish I understood what they were supposed to be demonstrating. Also there is some sort of curve at the end which helps your grade by quite a bit, so I guess everything works out in the end. If you sign up for this class, make sure you devote a lot of time reading the textbook and start studying for tests early if you want any hope of passing.

Norum is a nice guy. The class can be kind of tricky though. I didn't really learn anything in lecture, I pretty much came for the clicker questions and the demos. If you want the lecture to be helpful, read the book before you come to class. The homework each week isn't really enough for you to learn the material, either. So you should probably try to read the book as you go or else studying for the tests is going to be the worst. Luckily the tests usually don't go that in depth into the material, so as long as you have some formulas written down and you know how to use them, you should be fine. Do the practice exams, too.