Matthew Severson

8 reviews

Average rating: 4.13

This professor has taught: PHYS102, PHYS121, PHYS122, PHYS142, PHYS161, PHYS165, PHYS260, PHYS261, PHYS270, PHYS271, PHYS271M, PHYS476

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Matthew Severson PHYS102 Expecting a B admin 12/13/2023	I would just avoid this class in general, we were extremely behind schedule as he spent 3 lectures on the same slideshow. However, he is pretty laid back and gives plenty of time on the homework assignments due and multiple attempts. However, this laid back personality is not beneficial for exams because you aren't given a lot of practice material, and the exams are made a day before they are given(at least that what was said and felt like).
Matthew Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/27/2021 This review was submitted while most classes were online during the COVID-19 pandemic. It may not be indicative of a regular semester.	You never actually see Severson, but he posts some hilarious announcements and makes the course very clear. The labs are pretty much filling out Excel sheets and its very hard to do poor.
Matthew Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/05/2020 This review was submitted while most classes were online during the COVID-19 pandemic. It may not be indicative of a regular semester.	the lab isnt bad. you legit never see severson tho. Its a pretty easy lab not gonna lie
Matthew Severson PHYS271 Expecting an A+ admin 08/15/2020 This review was submitted while most classes were online during the COVID-19 pandemic. It may not be indicative of a regular semester.	This lab class seems to act as a companion for both physics 2 and 3 in terms of content covered. The experiments are not very difficult (on the contrary, they are largely self-explanatory), but equipment malfunctions and the like can cause you to lose points at random on every assignment. After repeatedly voicing my complaints to the TA, I was told, “don’t worry about it,” since the class is curved. I maintain my belief that this part of the course should be properly fixed rather than relying on the curve to fix random grading errors. (Note that, as with PHYS261, Severson was never there in-person, only the TAs.
Matthew Severson PHYS102 Anonymous 12/01/2019	I like the grading - it's very reasonable. Clickers (participation) but he drops a bunch of them, 2 exams, 6ish homework assignments, one final project. I wish the class notes were not handwritten (he wrote them with a tablet or something), even though I understand why they were - he was rewriting this class while teaching it. His handwriting isn't even bad, it just makes finding stuff in the notes really time-consuming since you can't Ctrl-F terms. Had great examples of concepts to show in class, with lots of videos and stuff. He is good at responding to emails and generally pretty friendly.
Matthew Severson PHYS261 Expecting an A+ admin 06/09/2019	This lab is strange because it seems like it should be a corequisite for physics 1, not physics 2. Since almost everything was review, it was very easy, and it was possible to finish each lab at least an hour ahead of time. (Note that Severson was never there in-person, only the TAs.)
Matthew Severson PHYS271 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2018	Straightforward and you can get an A if you just look over the material a little bit before the exams.
Matthew Severson PHYS270 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/02/2018	Severson was a good professor. His exams are extremely straightforward. Most of the problems were just plugging variables into equations, so as long as you make a good formula sheet, you'll get an A. He doesn't spend too much time deriving equations and gets straight to the point. He did a great job of teaching physics to engineering majors.