Frank Merritt - University of Chicago

Professor: Frank Merritt

Department: TBD

College: University of Chicago

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PHYS142
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Great class. The material is extremely interesting, although the pace is questionable, since the same material is covered in a quarter, that would take a semester (or longer) in most other schools.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PHYS14200
• 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 is a god awful lecturer and completely opaque when it comes to his tests. He assigned a midterm on material we were not done covering only a week ahead, where we were expected to know about 100 problem types and only would be graded on 5. A disaster of a class if you don't already know the course, but then why would you take it anyway?

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PHYS141
• 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:

He's an exceptionally nice guy with his heart in all the right places. His trouble, however, lies in his lack of ability to gauge students' understanding. He provided a very thorough introduction to physics though.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PHYS141
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Merrit is an easy-going guy. But he's not really an amazing instructor, though he's really nice.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PHYS141
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Honors Physics was my first physics course ever, but I had an extensive math background. As such, I found thinking in a "physics way" the hardest part of all and thought Merritt did a good job of bringing that to the table. I can definitely see people who hadn't had more advanced math might be overwhelmed.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PH131A
• 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:

Nice guy but is disconnected with the real world. Doesn't understand the ability of his students, and consequently crams huge amts. of material. Once sent an email about the final exam roughly 8 hr (midnite) before it began.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PH131
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Pretty bad. Can't make the class at an appropriate level of difficulty if his life depended on it. Either it was exceedingly easy (if one had a strong physics background) or exceedingly hard. Skipped office hrs all of reading period.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PH131A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Lectures are bad. Throws up all sorts of derivations but doesn't explain. Doesn't teach in an intuitive way. Very patient and nice tho. Has high expectations of the students. As others say, solution for a single problem was 3 pg long.i.e expects alot!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PH131A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

As others say, he's helpful during office hrs, but very hard. Expectations are sorta unreasonable at times (i.e. on one problem set, the solution ended up being 3.5 pgs long). Tests are crazy hard too. Don't take unless you had solid hs physics.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PH131
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Nice guy, but very hard. Lectures are difficult to understand if you haven't read the book previously. Good at office hrs. He's very, very, very tough. Merritt's Physics is a very hard version of 130s...