Reviews for Satindar M. Bhagat
Average Rating:| Anonymous Course: PHYS121 Grade Expected: B May 20, 2011, 12:41 pm | Great class if you have the drive or are already awesome at physics. If you have the drive, just go to all the office hours, go to every lecture, memorize all the solutions he gives you, and you'll do great. If you're awesome, then you can skip the discussions and the lecture during the week that you don't take a quiz. Note that he's really picky about the solutions so you'll need to put in the effort into memorizing how he words and solves things by looking at the solutions he posts online and going to all the review sessions, but if you already have an understanding of physics, this shouldn't take too long and one or two cram sessions before the exams should be fine. Up until here in the review I'd give him 3 stars (because the advice I gave is more of a way of coping than anything), but I have to take off another for being hard to communicate with and even harder to understand in lecture. |
| Anonymous Course: PHYS121 Grade Expected: A November 18, 2010, 10:10 am | I HATED this class while I was taking it, mostly because I felt Bhagat was not able to transmit the information well to a class of students who did not have an in-depth science background. He would become frustrated when we asked questions in lecture and didn't immediately grasp what he was saying. If you do well on the labs and visit with Bhagat once in a while (he offers extra credit for coming to office hours), you should do okay in the class. Go to the review sessions for the tests and MEMORIZE the exact way he gives to complete the problems, because he will only give you full credit if you do it the same way he does it, which is kind of a crappy way to learn physics. I got an A because I memorized everything and did well on the labs, and also there is a pretty decent curve (I got Ds and Cs on my tests so I was pretty shocked with my grade). Also he gave us the textbook for free, which was pretty nice. |
| Anonymous Course: PHYS121 Grade Expected: B September 2, 2010, 11:11 pm | I really disliked this class. The weekly quiz is a problem from the homework but the homework is not graded. The test questions, however, are made up by Bhagat. So I wasn't motivated at all to do the homework and basically failed every quiz. Instead I waited until he released the possible test questions and then crammed before the exam. The material he teaches is interesting and I would probably enjoy this class if it weren't for the fact that he cannot communicate effectively. He mumbles and has a heavy accent. Following his train of thought is impossible sometimes and all you can do is try to copy what he writes on the board. |
| Anonymous Course: PHYS121 Grade Expected: A August 29, 2010, 12:57 pm | Dr. Bhagat is one of the most interesting professors on this campus. He has been a physicist for a long time, and there is no doubt that he knows what he is doing. He successfully adapts the complex theories that he knows into theories that college students are able to understand, and more importantly, apply. His demonstrations in class, while rudimentary, are awesome. He knows most students by name, which encourages students to visit him because they are able to receive individual attention. If you talk to him, understand the theory behind the formulae, and take even the slightest interest in the subject, you will do amazingly well. |
| Anonymous Course: PHYS121 Grade Expected: A May 21, 2010, 12:56 pm | Bhagat was okay, I guess. He's really hard to understand during lecture, so try to sit near the front. Even then, he mostly mumbles into his microphone that he never wears properly so he sounds very muffled. I'd highly recommend that you go to his office hours. He gives you extra credit. Also go to his test review sessions that he gives a few days before the test. He goes over all the problems from the review and you just need to regurgitate whatever he says on the test. The class focuses mostly on concepts. I thought I would be fine because I was good at math and had taken physics in high school, but that was not the case. I had to work much harder than I anticipated. |
| Anonymous Course: PHYS121 Grade Expected: B November 22, 2009, 11:27 pm | I took AP Physics in high school and I only passed this class based on what I remembered from AP. Lectures were essentially pointless because Bhagat would mumble his lecture into his microphone, which was always too close to his face, masking his voice even more. The exams were reasonable, only because Bhagat held a 3-4 hour review session a night or two before each exam to present answers to SEVERAL problems, many of which were seen word-for-word on the exams. Memorizing the answers to the review problems definitely helped the majority of people pass his class. |
| Anonymous Course: PHYS121 Grade Expected: B+ May 4, 2009, 11:55 am | DO WHATEVER POSSIBLE TO AVOID BHAGAT. Worst professor I've had a Maryland. A very thick accent is the least of Bhagats many problems. Along with the accent, Bhagat proves ineffective while lecturing/mumbling to the chalkboard and only turning around to do unrelated demonstations. If you ask him to clarify a problem during lecture he will either expalin it the same as he did the first time or scold you for not understanding. For me I found it more effective to skip lectures and do the homework (aka learn from the book)instead. The labs only make the class worse. They are often off sych with whats being taught in class. They also focus largely on error which is not what should be emphasized in a basis, conceptual physics class. Most likely nobody in class will understand the labs and the TA will what he/she wants to see step by step. Unfortunatly the labs can make or break your grade, depending on the TA. If my TA didnt unfairly give me 86%s on every lab I wouldve received an A- in the class. Dicussions are also pointless because to date I have not heard of any TA who is remotely effective in communicating the ideas presented in lecture. The only positive aspect of the class is that the weekly quizes are simply a problem from the homework (which is not required). Possible test questions are posted online and are gone over in long reviews which are not very comprehensive. The 2 lowest quiz and the lowest test grade are dropped from your grade. |
| Anonymous Course: PHYS121 Grade Expected: April 9, 2009, 7:55 pm | Dr. Bhagat is difficult to understand and I feel like I have gotten absolutely nothing out of the class. However, as someone bad at math/science, I have been able to do fairly well just by spending all my time memorizing. As much as I hate the class, getting test and quiz questions ahead of time definitely make it a lot more bearable. |
| Kedorus Course: PHYS121 Grade Expected: A- May 8, 2008, 6:59 pm | Professor Bhagat has a thick accent and even if you can understand his accent, it’s still hard to understand what he’s talking about. He grades pretty easily, the quizzes aren’t too bad and he gives extra credit for coming to his office hours. He’s a nice, well-meaning person but not the best teacher. |
| Anonymous Terp Course: PHYS122 Grade Expected: A April 30, 2008, 1:40 pm | This class boils down to memorization. There are three exams throughout the semester plus the final. There's one quiz almost every week, with the lowest being dropped. The lowest exam score during the semester is dropped too. At the end of the semester, an 80 or above is an A, 60-80 is a B, etc. Review questions are posted a week or so before the exam, and a review session is held a day or two before the exam. You have to go to those to do well. He pulls a couple of questions from the review questions and puts them verbatim on the exam. However, you have to approach the problem the same way that he does, and you must diagram, draw, write like he expects. If you do well with memorization, and don't mind not learning anything, then this class could work. Dr. Bhagat is a very nice person and loves for students to come by his office hours, which are pretty much 9:00am until 5:00pm...no joke. He offers extra credit if you come by. The downside is that he's got a thick accent and can be hard to understand. He has trouble hearing and doesn't always hear questions. Also, he's been teaching for over 100 semesters (again, no joke), so the information is pure truth for him, and he can get frustrated when students don't understand. Lastly, I thought I had learned nothing from this course, but was pleasantly surprised when I took the MCAT. |
| afollmer Course: PHYS121 Grade Expected: A October 24, 2007, 4:00 pm | This class teaches you nothing, but Professor Bhagat is adorable and so willing to help out, he gives you extra credit for going to his office hours. On the downside, you pretty much need to go to office hours to pass the class, and you have to memorize his solutions to get full credit on the exams. |