Professor
Michael Gutperle
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - So I got a B- in this class but I don't think it's an accurate representation of this professor's teaching ability. It's my own fault that I didn't do so well, because I got embarrassingly behind in lecture (online but recorded) and it just snowballed from there. I also have zero physics background, while a lot of people in this class have taken physics/ AP physics in high school, and so this was a lot of review for them. For reference, I did rather poorly on the final, but the mean was an 88, so do with that what you will. In terms of teaching style and personality, Gutperle is a very kind and approachable professor, and he has fun while teaching. He's really funny and tries to make things interesting for students. Each lecture, he gives us an 8-minute break during which he plays music and answers questions in the chat. His lectures are a little disorganized, and so it can be hard to follow sometimes, so I found that reading the weekly readings were key to doing well. There are 2 midterms and a final, which are around 12 questions each which 3 tries per question. 35% of the exam grade is correctness (through this thing called kudu) and 65% is your work which you submit through Gradescope. Overall, Gutperle is a great guy, and it's very possible to do well in his class, but you have to stay on track and do the weekly homework and readings. (Having a background in physics certainly helps, although you don't need it).
Spring 2021 - So I got a B- in this class but I don't think it's an accurate representation of this professor's teaching ability. It's my own fault that I didn't do so well, because I got embarrassingly behind in lecture (online but recorded) and it just snowballed from there. I also have zero physics background, while a lot of people in this class have taken physics/ AP physics in high school, and so this was a lot of review for them. For reference, I did rather poorly on the final, but the mean was an 88, so do with that what you will. In terms of teaching style and personality, Gutperle is a very kind and approachable professor, and he has fun while teaching. He's really funny and tries to make things interesting for students. Each lecture, he gives us an 8-minute break during which he plays music and answers questions in the chat. His lectures are a little disorganized, and so it can be hard to follow sometimes, so I found that reading the weekly readings were key to doing well. There are 2 midterms and a final, which are around 12 questions each which 3 tries per question. 35% of the exam grade is correctness (through this thing called kudu) and 65% is your work which you submit through Gradescope. Overall, Gutperle is a great guy, and it's very possible to do well in his class, but you have to stay on track and do the weekly homework and readings. (Having a background in physics certainly helps, although you don't need it).
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - Overall, I really enjoyed Gutperle's class. The workload was definitely manageable (only one homework assignment per week, which was usually ten problems), and the tests were difficult but also usually pretty fair since they are definitely doable if you have a strong grasp of the content. Gutperle does have the tendency to show us a bunch of proofs during class and then tell us that we don't really need to understand any of it, so I think having some more example problems would've been good. He does have us do conceptual Kudu problems during class which are really helpful for understanding thing conceptually, but those aren't really too similar to the homework problems, so having a little more guidance on the computational problems would be nice. Discussion isn't mandatory (I stopped attending after week 3 since I realized that I could just practice the discussion problems on my own, since they're posted), and in general, he's a good professor who clearly knows what he's doing and has some really fun demonstrations as well.
Winter 2020 - Overall, I really enjoyed Gutperle's class. The workload was definitely manageable (only one homework assignment per week, which was usually ten problems), and the tests were difficult but also usually pretty fair since they are definitely doable if you have a strong grasp of the content. Gutperle does have the tendency to show us a bunch of proofs during class and then tell us that we don't really need to understand any of it, so I think having some more example problems would've been good. He does have us do conceptual Kudu problems during class which are really helpful for understanding thing conceptually, but those aren't really too similar to the homework problems, so having a little more guidance on the computational problems would be nice. Discussion isn't mandatory (I stopped attending after week 3 since I realized that I could just practice the discussion problems on my own, since they're posted), and in general, he's a good professor who clearly knows what he's doing and has some really fun demonstrations as well.
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Gutperle is a brilliant man but I think he just needs to get used to teaching. His lectures are a bit unorganized so topics kinda just blend together, but you can tell from his demonstrations that he is really trying hard. The TA's definitely help a lot- Dave Brown and Gabe Plunk (?) are the two really good TAs- they help summarize the important information and organize your thoughts. Homework isn't so bad because you are given the answers so you can make sure you figure out how to do the problems and understand the concepts. What I didn't like about the class was the reading quizzes and integration of the lab with the course. The quizzes were just kind of annoying but not too difficult (10 pts each), and the labs covered information not learned in class yet- which did little in reinforcing the concepts. No outside work for the labs though- you can finish during lab. If you took AP physics and did fairly well, you'll do fine in this course (and skip lecture a couple times even)- you might even want to try the honors course- I heard the professor was great. Finally, the professor's tests are fair- just watch out for the concept questions. I found that the quick quizzes in the book help you study for that as well as the online quizzes. Other than that, just do the homework problems along with some of the "blue" hard problems in the text. Just to give you a little about my background, I took AP physics my senior year of high school, and took this class as a sophomore. I got As on both midterms and thought the final wasn't bad. Hope this helps!
Professor Gutperle is a brilliant man but I think he just needs to get used to teaching. His lectures are a bit unorganized so topics kinda just blend together, but you can tell from his demonstrations that he is really trying hard. The TA's definitely help a lot- Dave Brown and Gabe Plunk (?) are the two really good TAs- they help summarize the important information and organize your thoughts. Homework isn't so bad because you are given the answers so you can make sure you figure out how to do the problems and understand the concepts. What I didn't like about the class was the reading quizzes and integration of the lab with the course. The quizzes were just kind of annoying but not too difficult (10 pts each), and the labs covered information not learned in class yet- which did little in reinforcing the concepts. No outside work for the labs though- you can finish during lab. If you took AP physics and did fairly well, you'll do fine in this course (and skip lecture a couple times even)- you might even want to try the honors course- I heard the professor was great. Finally, the professor's tests are fair- just watch out for the concept questions. I found that the quick quizzes in the book help you study for that as well as the online quizzes. Other than that, just do the homework problems along with some of the "blue" hard problems in the text. Just to give you a little about my background, I took AP physics my senior year of high school, and took this class as a sophomore. I got As on both midterms and thought the final wasn't bad. Hope this helps!
Most Helpful Review
Prof. Gutperle is a very unique person; he is a physicist AND he has a sence of humor:)) He is a good teacher and he knows his stuff. The only complaint I have, is that he hardly ever solves example problems in the class, but he gives problems you've never seen on the test. The only practice you get solving problems is during the homework, and maybe if you have good TA during Discussons. The tests however are not anything like the HW problems. I did good in the class just because the averages on the tests were really low. However, he is a very conserned teacher, he is there if you have any questions.
Prof. Gutperle is a very unique person; he is a physicist AND he has a sence of humor:)) He is a good teacher and he knows his stuff. The only complaint I have, is that he hardly ever solves example problems in the class, but he gives problems you've never seen on the test. The only practice you get solving problems is during the homework, and maybe if you have good TA during Discussons. The tests however are not anything like the HW problems. I did good in the class just because the averages on the tests were really low. However, he is a very conserned teacher, he is there if you have any questions.
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