Michael Hayden

Not a very personable professor. I really didn't learn the physics until I got a new prof for Physics 122. He seems to not really care about his students just that he looks good. Never try going to his office because he will just look at you like you are some kind of idiot. He is ex-Navy and still acts like we are all enlisted! If you can take this with some one else. Maybe Worchesky?

Imagine falling from the top of a large oak tree, being cut and bruised by the branches on the way down and, just before hitting the ground, being anally impaled by a picket fence. Congratulations! You've just recreated the effect of having Dr. Hayden as a physics professor! He is ass, on a stick. His homeworks are crap, his lectures taken directly from texts, he teaches and gives problems for books other than the one we were assigned, and his tests are maniacal. Good luck pulling your ass off the fence when finals are over - just hope the sharp edge misses your vital organs.

Fair teacher. He knows his stuff, and teaches it as well as Intro Physics can, I guess. The exams were hard, but that was expected. The homework and quizzes prepared you well for them. Definately a solid teacher to have.

I felt like I could never get a good grasp on what we learned before we moved to the next topic. I understand this is a class for physics majors, and there is a lot to learn, but he did not do a great job of explaining. Exams varied greatly in terms of difficulty, and I didn't really know what to expect.

Weekly quizes were coppied straight out of the homework. This could be great if you study and memorize every problem, however, the quiz almost always turned out to be that one that you just couldn't figure out. Hayden speaks mainly in Calculus durring his lectures so some people may get fustrated by going to his class and not understanding anything he says. His class moves quicker than Calc classes so Calc should be Pre-req, not a Co-req. It's a hard class, but if you truly understand the material, it shouldn't be too bad.

His lectures and speaking skills are fairly decent. His exams are inconsistent- some problems are extremely hard and come from out of nowhere, others are problems copied word for word out of the awful textbook by Giancoli. He couldn't really care less about you. Just another name, another social security number, another letter grade he has to assign. The man is also impossible to get a hold of outside of class, should you need to talk to him. You get brushed off, and attempts to e-mail him are largely ignored.

It says something about the professor (moreso than the students) when ten times as many people fail the class as get A's. That's not an exaggeration- I did the math. 4% of the people in my class got an A. 40% of the people failed.

Dr. Hayden is not really a horrible teacher, but he's not really a good one either. Lectures are bad. They're boring and he tends to waste time doing derivations and other non-testable information.

Homework is not too labor-intensive and is only graded on effort not accuracy. The homework helps to boost grades and one problem will show up on the weekly quizzes. Quizzes are not too bad and will raise grades.

Exams are pure hell. They are much harder than anything discussed in class and are totally different from the problems in the book. There really is no way to study specific types of problems so you just need to know your stuff. Remembering formulas is often the hardest part and some problems require combining several equations. Calculators and formula sheets are prohibited for all quizzes and tests. Exams accounted for 60% of the course grade, which was quite unfair considering their non-representative nature.

Avoid this entire class if you can. If you have to take it, wait until Hayden isn't teaching it.

He knows the material very very well, and is willing to explain it to you in any way so you understand.

The class setup is very straight forward:

Homework graded on effort, quizes at the end of the week consist of one homework problem graded on correctness, exams suck....

This is one of those classes where understanding the homework and doing well on the quizes means NOTHING when it comes to the tests. Study and hope for the best.

One great thing about this professor is that he posts the answeres to all the homeworks, quizes, and exams, and keeps track of your performance on a comprehensive grade sheet, so you know how you are doing at any given moment.

As you can see, I got a C in his course, which is actully very good for hayden's class. Never the less, I feel that I learned alot from him. The GPA can be fixed with a few easy courses later, but the knowledge sticks with you.

Hayden is a terrible physics teacher in my opinion. I took two years of physics courses in high school, mechanics, optics, etc, encompassing more than we covered this year in 121, but in lesser detail and without the calculus. Anyway.. how to begin? I hated lecture more and more every day.. he wasted so much time in that class.. basically he took one chapter a week, and then relied on the book to teach you everything. His lectures.. how to describe.. drivel? Insane psycho babble about the derivations of multiple formulas using calculus 3 concepts?? People: do not take hayden if you do not have a very firm grasp of calculus.. I recommend having had calc 1 and being in calc 2 when you take the class , if you dare. Here's the problem: I realize my review is incoherent, but I suppose it's because there's no easy way to express the frustration and hatred I felt towards this man during the semester. Although his lectures were heavily saturated in calculus and derivations and vocabulary words and concepts that he had no intention of testing us on, or that were not present in the book, he never put a problem on an exam that required a difficult (or even any? i dont remember) integrals or derivatives.. and definately did not test us on concepts requiring the calculus 3 concepts that he used in lecture examples and that were assigned on certain homework problems. However, I do not recommend skipping class because he always had a problem or two that he'd give as a hw problem and then go over in more detail in class.. and then it might show up on an exam..

Homework: not so bad.. spend 4 hrs a week on this homework, on average, and you'll be alright. It's not graded harshly, basically if you attempt the problems you get 100 on homework but for some reason ppl still neglect to do that.. The problems can be realllly rough sometimes.. and require triple integrals and what not. So just do your best..

Quizes: once a week on friday, was his plan this past semester.. though he seemed eager to modify that.. and the problem was a homework problem that he may have changed some numbers around in. But he posts hw answers online during the week so you can study them. Aim for 100 on quizes..

because Exams: were hell.. Unless you or someone you know is a meyerhoff scholar or has a copy of the old exams somehow, be warned! The average exam grades were in the low 50's.. and the reason is because the exams did not mimic the problems in the book or the class work. well.. sometimes they did.. it's hard to explain but they were really hard.. the kind of thing that you cant exactly study for in any way other than looking at the previous years' exams. And he knows they're circulating because he had requests to post them online, but he refuses to do so. SO GET THE EXAMS. those people get the a's and b's. but you also have to really know your stuff. probably 6 people out of hundreds got a's in this class.. his curve is : 87 and up is an A, then like 75 to 87 is a B and from 50 to 75 is a C or something.. so he cant get in trouble for failing everyone

goodluck..