Reviews for Thomas Howard Beigel
Average Rating:| Anonymous Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: A May 9, 2012, 9:54 pm | One of the best professors in the engineering department. People complain that he only does one or two examples a day, but the examples he does are exactly what you need to know he explains the examples thoroughly, showing each step. He does bs for most of this class but he can afford to because he's not teaching you the stuff you don't need to know. Pay attention in class and study his examples before the test, you'll be fine. If you want a teacher who goes the full time doing pointless examples and proofs just because it makes you feel like you're learning something, don't take him. Oh, he's also one of the nicest and funniest people out there. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES102 Grade Expected: B January 5, 2012, 11:39 am | I'm obviously a minority here, but I was not a big fan of Beigel. He teaches by example, and not by concepts, which really screwed me over when I got to the final - a couple of the problems I had never seen before, and thus had no idea how to do them. The homework and the in-class problems (he has us do some in discussion in groups) were easy, as all you needed to do was copy from the solutions manual. However, office hours were nice, even though they are always crowded. You can ask him questions one-on-one. Finally, his personality. Most people love it, I couldn't stand it. He would talk for 30 minutes into class, and then do one example problem. I would much rather spend that time sleeping since it was a 9am class, or let us out early. And I felt as though you couldn't come late or you might miss something, because the time he talked was irregular. tl;dr: Teaches by example, copy the homework, go to office hours, deal with him wasting your time. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES102 Grade Expected: A November 29, 2011, 9:49 pm | Tom is a good statics teacher. The concepts in statics are pretty easy: sum of all forces and moments equal 0, with a little bit of material properties included. Tom teaches with 1-2 examples per class. This is fine for people who learn through example, but I found I would not fully understand what was being taught. The homework problems ended up being a pain. I ended up in office hours every week to do them because I may miss a concept tom showed during lecture. Tests (which are generally the same among all statics teachers) can be tricky because there can be problems you have never seen before, but can surely apply the big concepts to solving the problems. He gives out a lot of practice problems to prepare you for exams, so take advantage of those. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES102 Grade Expected: B- May 30, 2011, 4:23 pm | Wow after that final, I'm glad I even passed. I'll be honest, I think I learned more by doing the homework with the solution manual (obviously written out by Bonenberger), than going to Tom's lectures. We did on average one example a class, which definitely was not getting the material into my head. Others might have been at an advantage if they had physics or calc 3. Its a tough class, but enjoyable with Tom. You could always turn in stuff late, and he is so willing to help. I love him as a person, just not as a teacher. Get on his good side, and make an effort to show you're trying at least! He's not for everyone. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: A- April 23, 2011, 3:43 pm | Great professor - definitely worth taking his class if you get the chance. The other reviews are pretty spot on. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: B January 4, 2011, 6:16 am | Ehhhh..I'm going to be honest in that I really don't see what the big deal is with this guy. He blazes through the material with one or two examples per topic which for boneheads like me simply is not enough to get the 'A' that everyone wants, nor is it enough to learn the material sufficiently well. I did laugh my ass off all semester though, and he is highly amusing, but looking back I would have rather had someone more rigorous because I feel like I would have definetly gotten my moneys worth having not had Tom. Pros: - You can turn your all of your crap in pretty much as late as you want if you just tell a dead baby joke or make a general remark regarding the end of the human race as we know it (highly inevitable). - Is definetly sympathetic towards his students, and realizes that this university pretty much sucks ass in all aspects of teaching engineering (he went here too). - Makes classtime very quick and concise (could also be a bad thing for people like me) Cons: - Rushes through material with one or two examples and not a very thorough or memerable approach (I've already forgotten a good amount since class has let out and its only been a few weeks.) - Is late, and is a HUGE slacker which for someone like me was annoying (again...didn't feel like I got my $ or time's worth) Overall I'd say go for it. Engineering is awful here anyways, so its not like you are going to find another teacher with an actual sense of humor like him. If you are smarter than I am (I'm an idiot and I got a B) and can extrapolate a lot out of a few simple problems, then this class will be a very easy and enjoyable experience with him. If you need to be smacked in the head with a hammer to learn the material then I would definetly go with someone else who is going to have a much more thorough and in depth approach to this class. His class notes were only slightly helpful most of the time in attempting homework problems, and I found them to be very jumpy and illogical. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES102 Grade Expected: December 17, 2010, 2:37 pm | VERY smart, funny, nice guy. Not once did he ever get angry at a student for asking a question or for clarification, no matter how stupid the question. He is very approachable and helpful, and really knows what you need to know and what you dont - he's been doing this for almost 20 years. However, the final exam was brutal, even though the midterms were easy, so be warned. I definitely recommend Beigel for ENES102. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: A December 15, 2010, 11:36 pm | Tom is easily the best professor I've ever had. He's a great guy, hilarious, very reasonable, strives to help his students however he can, and he's legitimately a good teacher. While most professors earn their teaching position simply by knowing the material (some don't even meet this qualification), Tom actually knows how to teach it as well, a skill that seems to be in strikingly short supply amongst UMD professors. |
| fiddlerkrt Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: A+ March 1, 2010, 2:48 am | The best engineering professor I have had at this university by far. I agree with all the other comments posted about him thus far: 1. Comes to late pretty much every class 2. Teaches you more in 25 minutes than you would learn in any other 50 minute class 3. Tells semi-offensive jokes that you either find hilarious or slightly alarming. 4. Cancels class whenever he isn't up for teaching that day 5. Explains the material extremely well. 6. He is extremely interested in answering any questions you have. I strongly recommend him for ENES102/220. |
| terp315 Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: December 17, 2009, 10:16 pm | Tom is the man. Definitely take him for 102/220 if you can. Who knew you could learn material and have a good time in class? Blows my mind... |
| a778999 Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: A November 21, 2009, 11:30 am | For some reason, he teaches a lot less than the other professors yet the students learn a lot more. Sometimes, the hour-long lecture is taught in as little as 20 minutes. Having him as a teacher drastically increases your chances of doing well on the midterms and finals. But he tells a lot of offensive jokes so if you're the sensitive type, avoid him. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES102 Grade Expected: April 14, 2009, 9:54 pm | Beigel is the best instructor i've had. He only teaches about 25 minutes out of a normal class, but i guarantee you will learn more in those 25 minutes than you do in any other 50 minutes class. Also, the beginning of statics covers a lot of material from the beginning of physics and calc 3 and i learned my stuff for all 3 classes in beigels lectures. He also tells you exactly whats on tests and is the funniest teacher youll have. He sometimes will give you the option of leaving or staying and listening to his stories. Stay for the stories. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: B March 31, 2009, 11:26 pm | Either you like him or you hate him. hes a no BS kind of guy for problems, but a complete BS guy when it comes to doing work. he will occasionally cancel class within the first 5 minutes because he doesnt feel like teaching that day. this is great if you have other shit to do, but not so good if you want to learn and just walked all the way across campus to his class. He is willing to help out if you make an appointment to see him but dont count on him being in his office hours. his sense of humor is such that if u ask a question he will call you retarded but is clearly kidding and will proceed to answer. He doesnt teach from the book though so just write down the equations he give in class. they make things easier anyway. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: B December 26, 2008, 2:51 pm | Beigel is only for certain types of students. If you have trouble with Physics and ENES then he is definetly not for you. He doesn't really teach but if you are the type that can learn off one or two examples off the board and dont need every thing explained to you this is for you. He does however teach you only what you need to know and does not overload you with information. And somehow the class always seems to know exactly what problems will be on the exams. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: A August 5, 2008, 11:25 am | Had him for ENES 102, ENES 220, and ENME 400...Great teacher. Strips the confusing bs down to what you really need to know. I'll warn you, he is pretty vulgar at times and is almost always late to class. If you don't care about that stuff, take him, he is a great teacher. If you follow what he does in class and review what he tells you will be on the tests and finals, you will get an A. |
| t69 Course: ENES102 Grade Expected: May 11, 2008, 11:56 am | His class is definatley an experince. I'd recomend if you can get him. He'll always be late and won't always teach, which is a lot better than it sounds. He'll help you all you need at office hours and is a very understanding guy. Very freindly and funny. Highly recomend. |
| jmartin1 Course: ENES102 Grade Expected: May 6, 2008, 3:00 pm | tom is probably on of the most hilarious teachers ive ever had. he will come in late every day, and will tell some of the dirtiest, yet hilarious stories. sometimes he can be lazy when teaching the stuff, but he does explain it pretty well, and he'll help you if you really need it |
| Anonymous Course: ENES102 Grade Expected: May 6, 2008, 2:51 pm | Beigel is awesome. He will take a problem, tell you how to do it the long way, then show you the easiest way to do it. He is a genius. Most of us are not. So if you ask him a question he will try to lead you through it, but if you're too slow to understand he will move on and you will have to go to his office hours or ask him after class. Easier to just ask kids around you. Here's one thing you really don't know: Beigel is Chuck Norris in disguise. It could be a good thing, or a bad thing. Either way, it's awesome. Just take his class. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES102 Grade Expected: May 2, 2008, 10:34 am | Beigel is by far one of the most unusual instructors I have encountered. He generally shows up late to class, tells lots of jokes and stories and can be quite profane. If you don't mind listening to his dirty jokes and frequent swearing, he actually does a pretty good job teaching. He does lots of examples that are likely to show up on exams and does a good job answering any questions if people don't understand. |
| almostdone Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: A December 4, 2007, 12:41 pm | A great teacher. I never went to class unless there some concept I didn't understand in the homework. Beigel would then go over that type of thoroughly so it would be pretty difficult to not understand. His reviews for the tests also go over everything you would need to know. Overall Mechanics is not a hard course. You could easily just not go to class and teach it to yourself. But, if you to class you have to do very little work outside of it. |
| Anonymous Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: December 4, 2007, 9:06 am | Beigel teaches the students how to finish the problems they have to complete for the homework and exams in order to pass the course. He teaches with the minimal amount of academic BS that you will encounter from every other professor. It's almost like he has worked in the real world as an actual practicing engineer! The lectures are straightforward and to the point: 1. Here is a concept 2. Here is a problem involving this concept 3. Here is how you solve the problem 4. next concept On the first day Beigel is very up front about his teaching style and encourages students to switch to a different section if they don't like it. If you want a professor that reads the book to you verbatim, then don't take Beigel's class. |
| vocke Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: A October 23, 2007, 2:54 pm | If you like being taught the easy and stripped down version, this is the teacher for you. I personally found him unprofessional. He consistently treated the class like his social hour and would start 20 min late and then keep us late because he didn't get through all of the material. If you want to get on his good side, bring him food/mountain dew. |
| scroofoo Course: ENES220 Grade Expected: A October 23, 2007, 8:06 am | This is the professor you want for mechanics of materials. Tells you what you need to know for the test, how to think through problems, and how to apply that knowledge to real-world situations. He's also hilarious. Work is identical to statics- 1 hw/week, 3 tests or so, and a sweet project. Take Beigel, he's the man. |