Professor
Manuel Villasante
Most Helpful Review
ok .... i took AP Physics in high school and got a 5.. breezed through that class and exam.. Villasante somehow.. made this class unbelievably difficult.. the exam questions are so hard it is ridiculous.. the homework problems and examples he gives in class do not reflect his exam questions.. the first midterm average was in the 30's % taking this class i expected an A.. B+ at the worse.. he expects us to solve complex problems when he lectures to us just the basic concepts.. not taking anything away from him.. he is a great professor, but his problem is that he gets really boring and u start to fall asleep... besides that, he puts his random definitions on the board that make sense only half of the time.. i ended up with a B- in this class.. i am very upset that i didnt read this before i took him.. do NOT take this Villasante, his exams are way too difficult. Even with a good physics background i struggled to get anything right on his exams.. the class discussions are pointless.. dont bother cuz they're instructed to "guide" students to the solution.. yeah like that works...
ok .... i took AP Physics in high school and got a 5.. breezed through that class and exam.. Villasante somehow.. made this class unbelievably difficult.. the exam questions are so hard it is ridiculous.. the homework problems and examples he gives in class do not reflect his exam questions.. the first midterm average was in the 30's % taking this class i expected an A.. B+ at the worse.. he expects us to solve complex problems when he lectures to us just the basic concepts.. not taking anything away from him.. he is a great professor, but his problem is that he gets really boring and u start to fall asleep... besides that, he puts his random definitions on the board that make sense only half of the time.. i ended up with a B- in this class.. i am very upset that i didnt read this before i took him.. do NOT take this Villasante, his exams are way too difficult. Even with a good physics background i struggled to get anything right on his exams.. the class discussions are pointless.. dont bother cuz they're instructed to "guide" students to the solution.. yeah like that works...
Most Helpful Review
I only took Villasante instead of Buchanan because of scheduling conflicts (i.e. 2 finals on the same day), and I'm wondering whether or not the torture would have been less if I had just sucked it up and gone for the 2 finals on the same day... I mean, the guy isn't a bad person in any way. He's unbelievably passionate (no joke!) about what he has to teach, but his demeanor by which he goes about it is rather distasteful to a student. Any professor that is so unapproachable (for fear of being insulted and screamed at) does not deserve to stand up in front of a group of student no matter how qualified he is. Granted, his lectures are not too bad, he covers the material (only if he decides it is important) decently, although his tests do not reflect the hw or the lectures in the least. He is just mean! On top of that, the class covers stuff that is not meant to be emphasized in 6C! We completely skipped over Gauss's Law, for example, and it's supposed to be the crux of the course. And we are covering a bunch of BS that really trivial if you consider how in-depth the other class is covering what we're going through. We barely touch what should be learned and dive into what doesn't matter. A real interesting case if you ask me. One thing he is VERY good at is responding to e-mail. I can e-mail him a question on the homework (which he writes himself, so it's impossible to find help/comparison), I can sit and count to 100 and he would have a reply in my mailbox. It's amazing! The guy must sit at the computer and wait for students to e-mail him about his impossible homework problems! I call that a false sense of popularity. :) After saying all this, no, I am not doing poorly in the class. I actually have an A, but I find that this class has been an unequivocal waste of my time thus far and I can't wait for it to be over! DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT!! Unless, of course, you're a glutton for punishment.
I only took Villasante instead of Buchanan because of scheduling conflicts (i.e. 2 finals on the same day), and I'm wondering whether or not the torture would have been less if I had just sucked it up and gone for the 2 finals on the same day... I mean, the guy isn't a bad person in any way. He's unbelievably passionate (no joke!) about what he has to teach, but his demeanor by which he goes about it is rather distasteful to a student. Any professor that is so unapproachable (for fear of being insulted and screamed at) does not deserve to stand up in front of a group of student no matter how qualified he is. Granted, his lectures are not too bad, he covers the material (only if he decides it is important) decently, although his tests do not reflect the hw or the lectures in the least. He is just mean! On top of that, the class covers stuff that is not meant to be emphasized in 6C! We completely skipped over Gauss's Law, for example, and it's supposed to be the crux of the course. And we are covering a bunch of BS that really trivial if you consider how in-depth the other class is covering what we're going through. We barely touch what should be learned and dive into what doesn't matter. A real interesting case if you ask me. One thing he is VERY good at is responding to e-mail. I can e-mail him a question on the homework (which he writes himself, so it's impossible to find help/comparison), I can sit and count to 100 and he would have a reply in my mailbox. It's amazing! The guy must sit at the computer and wait for students to e-mail him about his impossible homework problems! I call that a false sense of popularity. :) After saying all this, no, I am not doing poorly in the class. I actually have an A, but I find that this class has been an unequivocal waste of my time thus far and I can't wait for it to be over! DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT!! Unless, of course, you're a glutton for punishment.