Fantastic! Exams are 90% of the grade, but there are 5 exams in total, and you can do corrections on each one (up to 20% increase), and you get a second attempt on exams 1 and 2 during midterms week and a second attempt on exams 3, 4 and 5 during finals week. The average of your exams may replace your 5% homework grade and 5% lecture review grade. You could just show up to the 2 finals dates (the midterm and the final) and ace the class, but I would not recommend that. The homework can be a little time consuming at times (1-4 problems due before each class period), but that is to be expected of any math-heavy class. The lecture reviews at the beginning of each class were tricky since there was only 5 minutes to do them. However, since it only makes up a small portion of the grade (or none ...read more

I learned a ton in this class. It will be directly applicable to my degree as I go further into my mechanical engineering coursework. I now know how to analyze static structures, identify and model various types of loads and supports on a structural system, model free body diagrams, create accurate equilibrium equations, and calculate centroids, center of mass, and the moment of inertia of various shapes.

Karl Olsen is one of the best professors at WSU. I was first annoyed with him when he graded our homeworks as he wanted our homework to be scanned a very specific way and took points off from me submitting a photo instead of a scanned black and white pdf document. However, he does have tutorials for how to get the scanning correct, so I soon was getting full points from homeworks. His lectures and homework may sometimes not line up directly with each other, but both are beneficial to understanding the material on exams. He provides extra practice problems and previous exams to study from. These practice exams are very similar to the current exams which makes me come into and leave ever exam with confidence. He is very kind and light spirited. If he makes a mistake in class, he is more than...read more

I wish I spent the 40 bucks to buy the workbook so I would have good notes to reference after the class since many of my future classes seem like they need a solid understanding in Statics. I also highly recommend taking Physics 201 BEFORE this class. You jump right into forces and such in CE 211 and a basis understanding of what forces are and how they work will be beneficial. Calculus 3 would also be helpful as there is some working with 3-Dimensional beams and structures on the homework and exams. Whatever you do, DO NOT CHEAT IN THIS CLASS. There was issues with cheating when this class went online (the year before I took this class), and Dr. Olsen was not having it. For each exam given, there is over 200 different exams so there is no chance of students cheating. If any of his mater...read more