Simon Watkins - Simon Fraser University

Professor: Simon Watkins

Department: TBD

College: Simon Fraser University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I was scared for all the comments I saw in this website. However, he is a very good proof. Hilarious and very sarcastic. If you do bad in the midterm but well in the final, he'll automatically replace the midterm grade for the final grade. He's a messy writer, makes few mistakes, lots of clicker Q's and pretty cool experiments in lecture.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Lectures are always involving the solving of problems. Pretty good at explaining, except sometimes he could be better at highlighting important formulas students will be heavily using throughout the chapter. Overall, good choice of a teacher.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

B/c this is phys, you have to understand! don't expect to just go to lec and then be able to do the hw and exams! practice!! good teacher and a nice guy. Lecs allowed you to learn the basis of everything. go to workshops if u need Sometimes he's disorganized and forgets to turn the screen to his paper but that's good comic relief from physics lool

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Honestly, in the beginning of the term I hated him so much because the lack of organization. But now that it is the end of the term, he's actually a really good professor... He's very different in the way he teaches the class, his examples are easy to relate or try to understand. Would love to have him again.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Actual cares about whether we understand concepts or not, goes over things that we request him to, awesome professor overall. Definitely would take a course specifically if he was teaching it.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PHYS101
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Found the tests to be somewhat relevant to the lecture. He gives a lot of homework, but I found that it has helped me a bit with the final and midterms. MC was hard though.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I thought that he explained the concepts well, and provided interesting examples/demos. I don't think he's as bad as some others say, although the active learning lab wasn't very coordinated. At the end of the semester, we ran out of time, and spent very little time on the last couple topics (optics and magnetic forces).

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

His multiple choice questions are super unreasonably tricky. He goes over tons of useful material and his tests are not hard and are based on the material covered in lectures, except multiple choice questions, these are just horrible.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Messy writing, homework is much harder than what he covers in class. Lecture to be honest isn't a must but he has Iclicker questions which force you to go. Makes lots of mistakes in his solutions. Practice exams do not reflect his actual exams.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He assigns a lot of homework and you have to take time every week to spend an hour in the "active learning lab" that is completely useless and a waste of time. All the homework (hours upon hours) plus the active learning lab and weekly written homework assignments add up to only 10% of your grade. The rest is midterms and finals. Don't recommend

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He makes mistakes in his examples sometimes and is very bad at following up with things. For example, he doesn't reply to emails directly, despite even replying on time. You have to go to him face-to-face so that he can't escape, for him to help you out. -.- seriously... didn't remember to show up for an arranged office hour meeting either...

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He didn't finish teaching material in the course so he just cut it out, which is troublesome if you need to take further physics courses. Assigns homework almost every week for marks but they have little relevance to the lecture. Makes many mistakes during lectures that students have had to point out. Doesn't answer questions in lecture clearly.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

he's ok. Not bad but not great, there have been quite a few times where he makes mistakes in the notes nd students have to correct him.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

His lectures are clear. His notes are clear. The text we are using is free (online). He does not muddle his class with the complicated stuff. He teaches you the basics and expects you to take the necessary steps to complete the homework. He is a good teacher. The 'active learning labs' are useless.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

For the midterms make sure to focus on the iclicker and mastering physics questions! Final is more similar to the textbook questions. Overall, it was an easy course, just pay attention to his notes and do the homework and you'll be fine!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Really nice professor. Gives clear and understandable notes. Questions done in class and for homework is highly representative for what you'll see/should expect on exams.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He gives an insane amount of homework, and all the questions are really hard. In class he goes over the easiest stuff, making the homework nearly impossible. His exams are also really tough, and its really difficult to finsih them in the 50 minutes you get. He is really boring, tough, and his notes are also really messy. AVOID THIS GUY AT ALL COSTS

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• 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:

just a warning... I had him as a prof a few years ago....and when I went to him for help because I thought he made a mistake in his notes, he told me that I shouldn't be taking the class if I didn't understand it. Of course everyone knows you need it for any science major! then he proceeded to talk about how smart his son is! I thought he was horr

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He's a very nice teacher who made me love physics. His notes were very clear and I hardly have any questions to ask him at all. His midterms are decent and understandable as long as you do the majority of the textbook questions.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: PHYS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

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