Hi,

I was wondering if someone has any opinions on physics 1BB3 with fradin. I read a few reviews but I was wondering whether i can get an update on how the course is recently, especially in comparison with 1B03.

Thanks!

Ive heard bad reviews about Fradin. I didn't take it during the year (last yr so fall 2012 or winter 2013) since her questions are quite difficult. She even used MCAT prep questions from Princeton on her midterm to throw the class off. Overall, it requires more work than B03 but definitely not as difficult as B03. I ended up doing this course in the summer with Dr. Massa who turns physics into something interesting and engaging. He definitely cares about his students and even when it was 40 deg outside with no AC in ABB, he made us laugh and learn physics without feeling the heat. Best prof i have ever had definitely recommend taking it with Massa over Fradin but thats my opinion. Hopefully this helps!

my friend is taking it with fradin right now and she says that the course is a lot easier than 1b03. if you do well on the first midterm you can defer the second one so that that mark goes towards your first midterm and partially towards the exam. she also did the exam this term and she said it was also easy (20 questions in 3 hours compared to i think 32? questions for 1b03). overall the course is easier than 1b03 but obviously still requires work.

Thank you for your comments! but coming from someone who didn't do well on 1B03, is it in my best interest to take it in the summer instead?

Definitely! Dr. Massa is an amazing professor and I can guarentee you a 10+ if you put in the time to do CAPA, assignments & labs. It's not like 1B03 so you can do pretty well in 1bb3 in the summer. During the year, its variable with Fradin.

Massa might not be teaching it during the summer though! So would it be worth a try to take it during the year regardless of doing horrible in 1B03 last year? I just don't want to be stuck in the course and have to drop it during the year next term

Massa has been teaching the course in the summer for the past 4 years. I would be really surprised if he didn't!! He loves teaching at McMaster and I would almost certainly say he's teaching this summer.

I took 1BB3 in the fall of 2012 and I found it very challenging. To be fair, I took 1B03 in the fall of 2010, but I always liked Physics and understood the concepts from 1B03 very well. I just found the content a lot harder for some reason until I figured out a different way to study. I was doing a ridiculous amount of practice problems but an engineering prof suggested that if I was still struggling, I needed to spend way more time understanding what concepts were being applied and tested in order to grasp the material better. He was right. Once I figured things out conceptually, it was better for answering conceptual questions and figuring out how to solve mathematically based problems as well.

I think that if you focus on the concepts, you'll be fine!

oh okay, and if I did poorly in 1b03 last year, wouldn't 1bb3 be just as challenging? i need the course and i dontno whether i should be delaying it to the summer (and thus having to stay back a year or semester) or go ahead and take it next term, thanks.

I would consider speaking to upper years in your program to see what they found it to be like.