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Took the course in the 2012 fall term:
Course outline:
12.5% - "practical exercises" (basically the weekly 2-hour labs)
7.5% - online CAPA assignments
5% - Class activity and quizzes
25% - midterm exam
50% - final exam
Topics covered:
Uncertainties, kinematics, Newton's laws, momentum, impulse, forces, energy, simple harmonic motion, waves, interference, fluids. You also need to know basic calculus (derivatives, antiderivatives).
It looks like an easy list, but believe me, the questions for any topic can be made impossibly hard. The concepts aren't too complicated (except waves), but there's a LOT of application. The problem-solving is the hard part.
Professors:
I had Dr. Yavin, and he's great. He's very relaxed and lectures were usually not overwhelming in any sense, despite the sometimes-overwhelming course material. Yavin's a really funny guy and it's hard not to like him. He has a bit of an accent but nothing that can't be understood. A lot of people would tell you that he doesn't prepare you properly, but in my opinion those are the people who take advantage of how lax Yavin is and don't keep up with the work. (On the midterm, the average of Hughes' class was about 1% higher than Yavin's).
Hughes subbed in once, and she is very competent. I only had her for one lecture, so maybe someone else can weigh in, but she seems to be more of a 'no-nonsense, let's get this done' type of prof. She definitely seems to know what she's doing, though.
Labs:
Worst part of the course for me. They were every week unlike the chem/bio labs. They were "only" two hours, but more often then not it would take the full 2 hours and there was always at least one group who didn't finish.
That said, the labs were not "hard", just time-consuming and a little confusing. You have to have a TA check your work and sign your completion sheet before you could move on, so you generally always have the right answer. Most of the labs are completion. You get your lab book randomly checked twice over the course of the term, and an uncertainties assignment.
Of course, I had some, er, problems with the lab co-ordinator, Alex. He's kind of a condescending jerk. Some people liked him, though, so it may be just me thinking that.
Overall, the labs are an easy mark. Just keep on task for the most part and you'll be fine.
CAPA/Quizzes:
You have CAPA online assignments about once a week. The questions can range from very easy plug-and-chugs to extremely difficult. Some of the assignments can get really hard and can take hours if you do it in one sitting.
The good news is that you get 10 tries per question, so usually people get 100%. If you understand how to do all the CAPA questions, then you are probably prepared for the exam.
We had a few (3 or 4) quizzes in class, but they were very basic and easy. There are also iClicker questions rather frequently, so remember to bring that.
Evaluations:
The midterm was worth 25%. It covered everything up to momentum (no SHM, waves, etc.). there were 25 multiple choice questions, so each question was worth 1% of your final grade. The midterm was just brutal. The average was 13.01/25, or about 52.04%. I think the profs may have taken it into account, because the final was easier.
The final wasn't easy by any means, but it also wasn't impossible. I believe it was around 33 or so multiple choice questions.
Overview:
This is a difficult course. Probably the most difficult course a lot of first years will have. However, it's not impossible, especially for the physics-inclined people. There are people who have 12'd the course, so it's definitely possible.
You just have to make sure you keep up with the work and ask if you need help. Go to office hours. Honestly, some of the stuff will be near-impossible to figure out on your own if you aren't physics-inclined.
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