Philip Langill - University of Calgary, Calgary, AB

Professor: Philip Langill

Department: Physics & Astronomy

College: University of Calgary, Calgary, AB

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PHYS259
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Physics 259 is probably the hardest class youll take in first year and attending every single lecture did not help whatsoever. I was often left confused after lectures. He doesnt explain concepts clearly and reads off of slides which doesnt help when learning something this hard. Midterm and Final were crazy hard. Online assignments were bad too.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PHYS259
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His lectures are mainly consistent of him teaching through slides and not much hand-written notes. Good at conveying information but can be unclear sometimes, so a lot of the times there is mostly learning stuff outside of class.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PHYS323
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is an excellent prof. I thoroughly enjoyed his class. He makes the notes clear and is entertaining to listen to. The labs and exams that he wrote were reasonable and were not hard to do well on. I am hoping I have the opportunity to do another one of his classes! This would be good for someone that is scared to take a physics class.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PHYS221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

This is relevant for any class you might take with Dr. Langill. He's a funny guy, knows his stuff (mostly). But he is the physical embodiment of the phrase "Fly by the seat of your pants", projects undergo little to no testing to ensure they are doable, and exams are not usually completed in the given time frame.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PHYS223
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

A really cool professor. You won't get bored in his lecture if you pay attention. He makes difficult concepts easier to understand than reading them on your own. However, you'll have to attend every of his lecture because he doesn't post electronic notes for each lecture as often as most professors do. He's a very fun guy.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PHYS323
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Gives clear explanations of concepts, and is very engaged in helping students to learn.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PHYS223
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Read the text before lectures and labs. Ask (and learn to create) critical conceptual questions during and especially after lectures. Don't bother taking notes. Only look at examples. Do text questions or fail. Ask him 4 help! Memorizing will fail you. Expect tough final. Try hard and you WILL do well, even with 6 courses in 1st year!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PHYS223
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Phil is passionate about physics, but he can't teach it very well. Exams are 95% math but he hardly solves any math problems. Most of class he talks about irrelevant material and writes out poor, unorganized notes. My section was 2 classes behind the others. Exams are tough, homework every week, labseasy. Buy the text, you'll need it to pass.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: 323
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

HILARIOUS if you like cheesy jokes, which I do. Sometimes gets sidetracked. Huge astronomy geek. VERY friendly. Sometimes for assignments you need to pull a formula out of the textbook. It's possible to learn from either the textbook alone I guess, but there's lots of content in the textbook that isn't covered. Old exams are posted. It's a blessing

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: 323
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

patience is a virtue in this class. u may feel overwhelmed but if u keep on top of everything, things will come together in the end. He's a super friendly prof and cares about students.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PHYS223
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

The prof is a great guy. If you need some help go to him personally and he will explain everything well. Don't even bother going 2 the lectures. If u need to, get the labs from someone who has taken the class, and copy them. if doing this, do understand the labs for the final. Everyone fails the first test, second is better and third is the easiest

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PHYS223
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Overall, the course is pretty easy (not as easy as 221, but close). If you take the time to read the textbook, actually work on the assignments (rather than Googling answers) and attend lecture, you'll have no problem. Dr. Langill is a great guy/ instructor. His notes are handwritten, but incomplete. If you understand the material you'll be fine.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PHYS323
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Langill is a respectable prof: very knowledgeable and intelligent. He will explain concepts, but not solve problems. He spends some time rambling and did not teach some of the material that was on the exam. His notes and lectures were hard to follow (maybe because the material itself was more difficult). He cares for students as people.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PHYS323
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Langill is not a great prof for this course especially for the optics part. When asked questions, you can tell he's not good with the topic (not sure why he's teaching it). To add on, his notes are useless. Will have to rely on the textbook for this one folks…. …. ….. .

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PHYS223323
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Best prof out there. Always willing to help. Answered out of topic (science) questions.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PHYS223
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Nice guy, ok prof. He doesn't really go through any detail, but you will be able to get general concepts during lecture. Does not reply to e-mail. and is late to his office hours.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PHYS223
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Great Professor. Lots of examples and extra notes provided. He goes over many problems from past exams that showed up on his midterms and final. Hard to learn if you dont attend lectures but I found I enjoyed them thouroughly. Seems happy to be teaching and is always engaged. I would recommend him to fellow students.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PHYS223
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Phil! Very nice guy and wants people to be interested in Physics but rambles a lot in lecture and then runs out of time to talk about course material. Found my textbook really useful in this course

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PHYS223
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

The best professor ever. He is soo funny, and such a nice guy. I always find a good laugh in class. He tends to be a bit behind but that's only because he actually tries to make his classes interesting. He's absolutely fantastic!

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: PHYS323
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr Phil is so nice and really enthusiastic. Although this isn't exactly an easy course, if you do the work there are lots of opportunities for easy marks. Favorite class of the semester.