Prof Williams is the WORST instructor I’ve ever had at any institution PERIOD. His lectures are beyond disorganized and after the first midterm I simply stopped attending them. The content of the class and the questions on the exams aren't actually that hard but his shocking ineptitude to teach means I spend 20 hours a week studying the textbook and the internet in order to succeed. The curve okay but it’s far worse than Corbin and at least Corbin is a good lecturer. AVOID AT ALL COSTS (seriously, you’ll thank me later)

Overall thoughts: This was a very tough class, as Prof. Williams' midterms and finals are not easy (Midterm 1 median: 55%, Midterm 2 median: 58%, Final median: 68%). It is so easy to make careless mistakes here and there, which will mean the difference between an A and an A-, an A- and a B, and so on. If you can solve physics problems in which each part is dependent upon one or two previous calculations that you need to arrive at yourself, and you can do so without making too many mistakes, then you can get an A in this class. My estimation is that the top 15-20% of this class will receive an A, and overall, 50% of the class receives A's and B's. You'll undoubtedly need to put in many hours of studying every week to get an A.

Here's the grading breakdown: Homework - 10%, Midterms - 22.5% each, Final - 45%.

ATTENDING LECTURE: A must. There are important concepts and problems in each chapter that Williams will go over that will help you with your homework and exams.

ATTENDING DISCUSSION: Definitely not necessary. Depends on your TA, mine was pretty useless. I stopped going after two weeks.

HOMEWORK: Mastering Physics, from 10-15 problems a week. You get a few tries for each problem, and you lose some points for each incorrect answer. Completing homework is a good start to doing well on the exams. Understanding every problem in the homework is a must.

EXAMS: Understand all the homework problems, and do the additional practice that is posted on Mastering Physics. You'll eventually need to be able to solve them relatively fast in order to do well on the midterms, as only 50 minutes is allotted per midterm.

OFFICE HOURS: Professor Williams held 4 hours of OH a week this quarter, and in addition, he has answered all of the questions I have had! He understands physics - although sometimes in his answer keys for exams or in-class he makes a careless mistake here and there.

Good luck!

I agree with the other reviews regarding how difficult the tests are and how Professor Williams has good intentions but can sometimes come off as condescending or confusing based on how basic the material is for him. However, I would like to add a few pieces of advice.

- I would recommend finding another professor if you have no background in physics. Professor Williams tends to skip steps and go through basic concepts at a rapid pace, which can easily make a beginner to physics feel lost.

- The sample midterms he provides are much simpler than the actual exams. Although I recommend doing those questions under test-like conditions with a 50-minute timer, don't think that you're prepared just because you did well on them. I feel like redoing the more difficult homework problems, and, if possible, doing problems from previous quarters' exams would give better practice. I did not find the test bank to be all that useful because the tests there are vastly different from Professor Williams' exams, but it doesn't hurt to do them.

- Although the syllabus says that 50% of people get A's and B's, the curve is actually nicer than that. Based on the 2015 grade distribution and the fact that I was only 4 (out of 400) points above the median total score for the exams but still ended with a solid B, I feel like around 60% of people get A's and B's. Don't stress too much about getting seemingly low scores on the exams as long as you do above average.

Williams was an okay teacher because all this material seems really easy to him. So, I was kind of on my own to teach and find the pitfalls myself. If you do have Williams as your teacher, start reading the textbook early and remember that you just have to do above average to get a B. So don't freak out based on your grades on the midterms and finals. During office hours, I felt he was trying to be super helpful but can come off as condescending based on how he explains it.

Speaking about tests, his midterms were extremely difficult because of the time. Overall, if you have infinite time, then you would be able to do extremely well on all of his midterms. His Midterm 1 average was 59%, Midterm 2 average was 48%, and Final Average was 59%. I thought the tests were all really fair, but the time makes it very difficult. So, it's more about seeing if you can recognize how to approach those problems quickly.

Just an average professor, a bit stingy with points on tests (I had quite a few situations where I thought I should get partial credit and I didn't get any). His lectures are pretty worthwhile; sometimes lectures cover topics that are not really detailed in the book--and be careful, since these topics may show up on tests! Office hours are four times a week, which seems pretty generous. The one time I went, he was pretty helpful. Overall, nothing great about Williams, but nothing to avoid either. Be warned: his final is difficult (but his curve makes up for it). The average on our final was 43%.

Prof. Williams is a very efficient instructor with great penmanship and clear lectures. The material isn't that difficult but his exams may be. But there is a good curve.

Definitely a good professor to take Physics 1A

I personally liked this professor although i have to admit that his class is not the most exciting class in the world... but i really think his lectures are helpful in understanding the concepts... altho i skipped most of the lectures since im one of those "sleepy" people but i really think he's good at explaining the concepts and the midterms and the final were strictly from the homeworks so they werent too difficult (although i didnt ace them). If you can do the homeworks w/o anyone's help (by that i mean after getting some help at the first time... im not saying be a genius and know it all at once) you should do fine on the midterms and the final... The book explains the concepts well enough to solve the homeworks so read the book or mayb u can go to the discussion and ask questions. After studying only the homeworks I managed to get an A in this class.

I thought Prof. Williams lectures were simple enough, for the most part, that I could follow the math easily. The section on rotational motion could have been better explained (it was hard!) but everything else was easy to follow and corresponded to the material in the book well. I don't agree with the other students point of view. So people sleep in class and we judge him as not adequately engaging them? Give me a break! Why come to class to sleep? To prove a point that he's boring? GROW UP. Besides if these sleepy people were so smart why did they stick around during his boring lectures? I will admit that this wasn't the most exciting part of my day, but I felt I learned a lot and became very interested in physics. What ruined it most for me were the kids who had the nerve, if you can call it such, to ridicule him behind his back looking for a flaw on the board waving their arms like the man was an idiot. Hmmm... maybe thats why he's a professor of physics and astronomy and they're....you know. But that's besides the point. Altogether this was a challenging class, and it requires a lot of study time and some capable and reliable study partners. I also did poorly on all three exams but all in all the grading was very generous. By the way, a physics class should be all about problem-solving with very little conceptual and NO multiple-choice questions. This will help us develop our skills for the real world. After all do you really think our future employers are going to prefer someone who can fill in the dots on a scantron or who can come up with a creative solution to a problem?

I hate to sound bitter, but it's hard not to when u have to suffer in an easy class because of a bad professor.
I'm not one of those people who can memorize out of the book, and so wasn't one of those people who got a perfect on the midterm. I need someone to teach me (I think that's why I pay fees).
Prof. Williams is a nice person, but only copies down easy examples on the board in an uninteresting way.
The class of 200 soon toned down to 100 (people just skipped), and the rest came to class and did other hw or reading.
The material itself isn't hard, and I'm mad that I had to suffer bad grades (tons of people did) even though I worked extremely hard

I would certainly recommend Professor Williams. His lectures are very easy to follow. He typically spends a little class time deriving equations, and the rest of the time doing example problems. He keeps his notes organized and his work on the board is easy to follow.

His first two midterms weren't too bad, but the final was tough. The mean score was 56%. The best way to prepare is just to do a variety of problems of mid-range difficulty, but also make sure you understand how to solve some of the harder problems. Don't be discouraged if you don't do spectacularly on the tests, because he is a generous grader. He gives half of the class As and Bs, meaning that the median grade in the class is about a B-.

He is also extremely helpful outside of class. I went to his office hours twice, and both times he was very friendly and thoroughly answered my questions.