Professor: Marston Course format: Lecture w/lab Number of respondents: 77 Total Enrollment: 109 Class Composition: Froshs: 5 Sophs: 24 Jrs: 60 Srs: 20 Concs: 1 Non-Concs: 71 Don't Know: 0

Instructor Average: 1.72 Course Average: 2.23

Are you confounded by physics? Do Greek letters scare you? Are you one of those pre-med students? Then this is probably the course for you. The second semester of 'Basic Physics' seeks to teach the rudiments of electricity and magnetism, optics, and modern physics to a large class. In fact, the professor specifically targeted pre-meds in stating that 'material covered appears on the MCAT test.' Physics 3 was commonly cited as a good prerequisite for the class (although many deemed it unnecessary), as well as a strong background in calculus.

Students generally found Professor Marston clear and well organized. Numerous respondents cited his usage of colored chalk and his enthralling demonstrations as critical factors in keeping the class interested. However, several reviewers noted that the professor went a bit quickly at times and spent too little time on example problems. He received largely positive reviews, except for the placement of a midterm three days prior to the MCATs.

The amount of time spent on this class varied considerably amongst the respondents. While most reported spending five to ten hours per week, several confessed to spending anything from one and a half hours to fifteen hours weekly. There were two midterms and one final, plus lab and weekly problem sets. The lone textbook was criticized as being unhelpful and the labs were consistently remarked as being tedious. Workloads were mentioned as being fairly heavy, though this varied on the background of the student.

The majority of the reviewers appreciated taking the class, but also was glad to be done with it. Many of the students found the material difficult and boring, but noted that the professor did the best he could do with such heavy a topic. An oft written suggestion was to add an extra midterm in order to weight the class more evenly. Reading period was not observed as the professor gave a review lecture during that week.

Go ahead and take the first step into the vast world of electricity and magnetism; you might not enjoy the material, but you'll probably appreciate the professor.

View PH/0004 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.