Karen Kolehmainen - California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA

Professor: Karen Kolehmainen

Department: Physics

College: California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Hard class but she grades on a curve or else no one would pass. Powerpoints are online. Test are hard, final is cumalitive. She responds to emails, very nice just a tough class. I'm not into science but I passed with a B.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Grade: 10% basic science quiz, 25% midterm, 25 % midterm #2, 40% final. basic science stuff, easy if you look over the boring lecture powerpoints. However, the tests were so hard for the whole class that she had to curve like 15% to boost letter grades

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PHYS224
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

She obviously loves her subject and know a lot about it but she tends to repeat things constantly. She spends the first 30 min of class reviewing what she went over the day before. She does a lot of theoretical problems on her tests so you should brush up on the laws of physics starting from the derivatives and integrals.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PHYS224
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Extremely smart! However, her teaching skills are a little rusty. Exams are pretty tough, reading the book and attending lectures isn't enough to answer the questions on the exams. You need to know few minor details that can be found online (ex. when studying heat know why the desert temp is more hot). Wouldn't recommend.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PHYS221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

I dont think she's a bad professor at all. She knows her stuff very well but I must agree that lectures are pretty dull. Instead of spending class time solving problems and applying the concepts taught she spends almost the entire class time deriving equations. However, she DOES grade easier than most professors.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PHYSICS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I was impressed with her ability to make confusing concepts easy to understand by giving many real-world examples. I like that she did a lot of the math on the board since those were the formulas we needed for our exams. I thought physics was going to be bad. It wasn't bad, thanks to this professor. I would recommend her.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Shes not the worst but she is the most BORING teacher Ive ever had. Reads directly from slides but they r very long. It was 2hrs long & she didnt give any breaks at all & she never let us out early (2 days/wk from 12-2). Kept falling asleep so I stopped going. I didnt buy the textbook just read the notes & got a B. Take class w/ someone else!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PHYS221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Her lectures can be really confusing because she spends almost all the time deriving equations, but she does mention concepts that are really helpful on the tests.she hosts review sessions that are really helpful so i would suggest taking advantage

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Reads straight off of the powerpoint slides, very monotone. I never studied off the study guides that she provided(total bs) but instead went through the slides. I got a B. Watch the film Donnie Darko after completion of this class:)

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

She is the worst teacher I've have ever had. She wants her class average to be at a 60%. She doesn't answer questions during her lectures.She reads off of her slides which are 60-80 slides per class.She has studying sessions but looks at you like your stupid when you ask her a question.Her exams are very difficult.Don't take her class.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

She is a horrible teacher. Don't bother going to class since she basically reads off the entire power point. One quiz and 3 tests for the entire course. Gives study guides that are unorganized. They don't help at all, she just wants you to memorize everything in her slides which are 50 slides a piece.If you want a good grade I wouldnt recommend her

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I wish that I would have listened to reviews saying that this class was hard and taken another class. This has been my most difficult class since I have been at CSUSB. Her tests are incredibly hard and have way too much information to study. This class is much harder than a capstone class should be!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: NSCI316
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Worst class i have ever taken.if you enroll in this class you will wish (just as i did) that i took another class instead of this one. Far too hard. Powerpoints are 60+ slides long and studyguides are USELESS (10+ pages long). Class average was horrible. DO NOT TAKE!!

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

DONT TAKE. The worst and most boring professor I have taken at CSUSB. Test are extremely hard. She reads her powerpoint the whole class, and the amount of information she expects you to know for a capstone is crazy. College shouldn't be teaching you how to talk to aliens.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

To hard for a 314 cap stone class if you are not a "science person". You don't need to bother going to class because either way you will not do well on the test. Ugh.. Study guides are long, test are horrible. Not a fun class.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor K is a pretty good professor, I think. For those that thought that it is annoying that she gave an 80 per an A is just made. This class, naturally, is difficult for people that are not science majors, and most people take the class because we had to. So, with that said, she is an okay professor, and she is fair in her grading.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Book and attendance are both optional. The class was weighted to an extreme (50% was a C, 80% for an A) which is annoying if you actually earn your A's, but great if you just want to pass a capstone. Also her voice is kind of soothing so it's hard to stay awake in class.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I think it's funny that the people with negative comments can't spell or construct grammatically sound sentences! This class is incredibly easy and so is she, making this an easy A if you just do the work. 314 is an optional capstone, so if you don't like the subject, don't take it. If you don't want to work hard and learn a lot, don't take it.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PHYS221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

PROS: She is very knowledgeable. She offers study sessions before midterms and finals. She provides practice material for finals and midterms. And she lets you use a cheat sheet on the tests. CONS: She spends way too much time deriving equations and not enough time giving examples or numbers to plug in. Online homework each week. Tough grader.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: NSCI314
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I didn't listen to the others when they said this was a class heavy on biology, chemistry, and physics. This class was a grind. I attended every class, and realized that I didn't need to. DO NOT GO TO CLASS! You will understand everything better on your own. She lectures straight from powerpoint, nothing more. She has an easy grading system.