Professor Mark Laidlaw Reviews
Class Ratings
Prof: Mark Laidlaw / Fall 2017
Mar 19, 2021
Difficult course that is overly theory-driven. Laidlaw is clearly knowledgeable and wrote the course's textbook but does a poor job of relating the material to understandable examples. Most of the lectures were going over complex proofs rather than giving lasting physics intuition.
Do your best to understand the calculus and algebra behind each proof. Don't be discouraged if you do poorly; this course does not represent physics courses well (they get easier).
Class Ratings
Prof: Mark Laidlaw / Spring 2021
Mar 19, 2021
Honestly one of the worst course I have ever taken. Laidlaw skips steps in his algebra in his lecture videos and overcomplicate things. Also the workload is appalling. Do NOT take this if you can avoid it.
Just don't take it.
Class Ratings
Prof: Mark Laidlaw / Fall 2020
Apr 5, 2021
Very time consuming course because there is a lot of content to cover. Some interesting content, but it's mostly review if you took physics in high school. Definitely recommend it because taking this class opens so many doors to further STEM courses.
Practice often and start on assignments early. The book of Worked Examples is your friend.
Class Ratings
Professor Rating
Prof: Mark Laidlaw / Spring 2023
Aug 2, 2023
The course is a big jump from Physics 11/12 but is not overly difficult. The exams are worth a LOT of your mark but with adequate studying it isn't too bad.
Physics 12 but with calculus
I had Dr. Laidlaw and Dr. Martin, both were good it just depends on how you like to learn. Mark posts lectures online that you watch prior to class, and in class is all examples. Travis is more traditional by presenting information for ~%40 of the class then examples for the rest. Both are actually quite nice and humorous, just a bit dry (especially Mark)
DO THE TEACHING ASSIGNMENTS! Lots of exam questions are from the homework or teaching assignments (extra homework). I had written down 3 types of questions I was not confident in and all 3 were on the final.
Class Ratings
Professor Rating
Prof: Mark Laidlaw / Spring 2021
Jul 19, 2022
Overall pretty good class; labs are pretty interesting.
Pretty heavy courseload, all new material not seen in previous classes.
Laidlaw's a pretty good prof; if you actually study enough things usually go ok.
Class Ratings
Prof: Mark Laidlaw / Fall 2020
Sep 10, 2021
The material itself is not too difficult as it is just like the BC physics 12 curriculum, but the videos were full of proofs and the examples are too easy. The most challenging aspect is that there is no resource for similar quiz problems so you just find yourself redoing somehow easy problems done in lecture videos that don’t really correlate with the difficulty of the quizzes and final exam.
Laidlaw is nice in office hours and pretty helpful. However, he mostly replies with mean comments via emails. His response time to emails is very long so don’t expect fast response.
Class Ratings
Prof: Mark Laidlaw / Fall 2019
Sep 10, 2021
Critical knowledge for engineering, questions can be tricky but if you put your mind to it you can do it. The tests will put pressure on you but are doable.
Class Ratings
Prof: Mark Laidlaw / Fall 2019
Mar 20, 2021
This was a very tough course if you aren't already a physics buff. You have to be very dedicated and genuinely interested. Tests were difficult. The textbook seemed to help somewhat. And the labs were quite difficult but asking for help is probably the best way if you have a decent TA.
Go to office hours. He's nicer than you think and will talk to you for hours about physics and other stuff. He was really helpful when I asked questions because I was dedicated to get through this course. He enjoys helping students. He comes off as arrogant sometimes, it's just his personality.
Class Ratings
Prof: Mark Laidlaw / Spring 2021
Mar 19, 2021
Laidlaw makes detailed videos and walks you through everything. Even though the course is online during the pandemic, he demonstrates the labs and gives out tips as he comes across challenges. The objectives are clear. The calculus is simple and straightforward. He shows different methods of solving scenarios. If you find yourself stuck, there's typically a solved example in the textbook to work from. Out of all my courses so far, I felt that this was the only course that was "taught" (in that all the materials and instruction I needed were provided). The biweekly quizzes are far less stressful than midterms. Btw the workload is nothing compared to Math100/101.
Physics makes way more sense with calculus. Skip 102, do 110 or 120.