physics 101

pinkcoke

physics 101
is Xiaoke Chen a good prof? how is the course...i took 100 and i got a B- so is this course even harder?

sorry about asking all these questions...its just i need to make sure i get my gpa up...and i dont really wanna take iat 100 since i dont like group projects...

Miraku

He's a very good prof... just go to class, follow the notes (more relevant to his tests than the textbook, obviously) and you'll be fine.
He welcomes questions during lecture; if you don't understand ANYTHING, he'll go over it again. Visit office hours to get information that's beyond the scope of the course if you want to, or just different ways to approach the concepts.

Tests are multiple choice concept + some equations, several written as well.

Overall, he's very friendly, knows his stuff, is happy to explain the material, and can actually approach it from more than one way (unlike some other profs who just repeat the same thing over and over).

Phys 101 is not so much HARDER than Phys 100, just different material. The first 1/3 or so will be review from Phys 100 (velocity / acceleration / throwing-stuff-in-an-arc, etc).
Later on it'll be torque and pressure.

Follow the book for good practice questions, it'll help you with the written part of the exams.


When I took it last year (forgot which sem, sorry... maybe Spring?), there was no homework, and optional open-workshop lab.
Your grade was from exams only (2 midterms, one final). Since the final was cumulative, he had an alternate grading scheme where if you do better on the final than either of (or even both) of your midterms, the better mark would count. (So potentially your final could be worth 100% of the grade.)
It was automatic so you'd end up with the highest mark overall anyways.

Uh... yeah. I think I've covered most of the bases... obviously it's been like a year since I took it so he might have changed grading scheme or whatever (I think the last time I looked on GoSFU, the lab was no longer optional?).

NukeChem

I had Michael Chen for a 300-level physics course and he was really good at explaining stuff about electronics. :) He has a bit of a quiet voice but just sit near a speaker or near him or something and you should be OK.

Good luck! :)

soggybread

I had Dr. Chen for Phys 101 a year ago. He was a good prof, albeit slightly boring. His exam questions are fair, and he's more interested in you getting the right steps to a question than getting the right answer. He also has a fair marking scheme where you can use your highest final mark to override your worst midterm marks.