Blaine Norum - University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Professor: Blaine Norum

Department: Science

College: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PHYS1425
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is a good guy but his lectures were not very clear, especially since they were the most important part of the course. He cares about his students, yet for whatever reason decided it was fine that the grade average was 70%. He skips over derivations of formulas often, which lost most of the class except those who were good at math.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: 1425
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Great teacher, although I struggled (content is hard). He was always really nice and does fun demonstrations. Super nice in office hours and explain things well, but still gets you to figure it out and actually understand it. Not confusing at all as long as you go over stuff in the textbook. I wouldn't want to take the class with any other teacher

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PHYS1425
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Norum is a solid teacher in that he genuinely cares about his students and wants to see them succeed. That being said, his class isn't easy. Physics is a tough subject for most people anyways, and he assigns a fair amount of homework (especially if you take it during the summer session as I did). Tests are tough but there is a generous curve

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PHYSICS2010
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Blaine is unclear and drones on and on in lectures. He doesn't give practice problems which reflect how hard the tests are. His tests are designed for a longer amount of time so most people end up running out of time. Overall horrible professor and the only reason he is still teaching here is because he has tenure.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: 2010
• 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:

Large disconnect between lectures/book and tests. This guy enjoys scribbling equations and performing unhelpful demonstrations more than articulating the material that he expects you to know.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PHYS2310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Avoid this professor, his lectures bored me to tears and he teaches with a very condescending attitude.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142E
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about Professor Norum is that he is a bad teacher because of how the class and tests are structured. The class and the tests are both incredibly difficult (at least in my opinion), but I really like how Professor Norum teaches and how he's always willing to help people outside of class. Give him a try!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PHYS241
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Norum does not provide any useful examples in-class, he only derives equations that you'll use later on your homework assignments and tests. Not only do the derivations not help you with the tests or homework, but 75% of the time, he derived them wrong and confused himself to no end. Amusing I suppose, but a waste of time.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142E
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Honestly, he's an awesome teacher. Don't complain about his class being hard if you admit you don't go to it, and if people aren't following him in lecture, it's their fault for not paying attention. Great guy!

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142E
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

horrible teacher! class is a waist of time. just read the book. completely confusing! all he does is derive equations on the board! no useful examples.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142E
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

lectures were useless, couldn't learn anything from it. I can't believe that he's being assigned to teach the intro classes.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

very very worthless teacher

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142E
• 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: N/A

Comment:

This class is terrible. The lectures are pretty pointless and not many showed up. Norum just spends the class writing equations on the board whether anyone is following or not.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Frankly this guy sucks. He teaches directly from the book. Stay away if you can.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PHYS201E
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Very helpful if you take advantage of office hours! I found lecture very hard to understand.... My reccomendation is to be prepared to lots of practice problems

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142E
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

The only good thing I can really say for Norum is that he's not Kenneti. There were two profs availible for this class my semester. Norum is the lesser of two pathetics. Sit in the front if you want to hear him and see his examples. Read your book. The averages on the tests are really low, so don't freak out, but study hard to beat the curve.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142E
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Very bad teacher! talks softly, so u can't hear him anywhere near the back... tests are impossible, last tests avg was a 40% if theres a better option, take it!

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This class is terrible... you don't learn anything in lecture and the tests are really hard, plus the labs are just a pain in the ass. Any interest I had in physics before taking this class was just blown apart. Norum does some interesting demonstrations in lecture sometimes but on the whole it's just boring. I stopped going to lecture completely.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

The most boring class. Don't go to it because you will get the same grade whether you go or not.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142R
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Really tough class, but it was worth the effort