Fall 2026

Statics

STATICS covers principles of mechanics including force systems, equilibrium, structures, and moments of inertia.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Gregory Nellis4.4/5Erik PagenkopfGrace Boswell +4 more

Summary

1 / 7

Historical reviews of Jennifer Detlor, Robert Witt, Suzannah Sandrik: Homework is demanding, taking up to 10 hours weekly, and exams are considered tough. Students report needing frequent walk-in help and outside resources to complete assignments and understand concepts not covered in class.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
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F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(MATH 222 or concurrent enrollment) or member of Engineering Guest Students

EMA 201 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Fall 2026

Gregory Nellis

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.74/5 from 50 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.22 GPA, 54.1% A/AB (n=244 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews for Robert Witt describe him as knowledgeable and effective, though his lectures are sometimes viewed as boring or difficult to retain. Students note that tests and homework are difficult, requiring significant outside help and walk-in support to complete assignments.

GREGORY NELLIS is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JENNIFER DETLOR is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LAURIE RILEY is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ROBERT WITT is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2017, Spring 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SUZANNAH SANDRIK is recorded teaching in Fall 2010, Fall 2013, Spring 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction154 / 2000
DIS 302Classroom Instruction79 / 801
DIS 303Classroom Instruction77 / 790
LEC 002Classroom Instruction158 / 2001
DIS 301Classroom Instruction78 / 780
DIS 304Classroom Instruction78 / 780

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

EMA 201 is historically a difficult weed-out class where success requires significant outside help and extensive preparation for tough exams. Homework often takes 8-10 hours weekly.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.26 GPA, 59.0% A/AB (n=546 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.02 GPA, 47.7% A/AB (n=321 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.02 GPA, 44.1% A/AB (n=701 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Jennifer Detlor, Robert Witt, Suzannah Sandrik: Homework is demanding, taking up to 10 hours weekly, and exams are considered tough. Students report needing frequent walk-in help and outside resources to complete assignments and understand concepts not covered in class.

Historical reviews of Jacob Notbohm, Jennifer Detlor, Laurie Riley, Robert Witt: Positive reviews highlight instructors who are caring, explain material well, and respond to questions. Conversely, negative reviews cite defensive attitudes, pre-solved examples, and unhelpful TAs as major frustrations.

Topics

  • Force systems and equilibrium
  • Distributed forces and moments of inertia
  • Friction

Skills

  • Analysis of force systems, equilibrium, structures, and moments of inertia

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.15 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
EMA 201 · Fall 2026

Statics

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:346:006573",
    "course_id": "EMA 201",
    "course_uid": "course_8a23700ba1d36181a2e171b1",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "006573",
    "source_subject_id": "346",
    "title": "Statics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "87a307609a049f6231a26fe735ef8f7fc39b9ef0e22c721f7ceef5e4a1318e64",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}