Spring 2027

General Physics

Calculus-based intro physics for biology majors covering electricity, magnetism, light, and modern physics as a continuation of PHYSICS 207.

offering recorded5 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Abdollah Mohammadi3.3/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Abdollah Mohammadi

Lectures often moved quickly, requiring independent study to grasp concepts. Students reported that the course elements and practice materials were difficult and did not align with each other.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Calculate electrostatic force vectors between individual electric charges. Predict the resulting position, distribution, and motion of the charges.

  • Calculate the electric field vectors created by systems of electric charges and the forces resulting from these fields.

  • Determine how electric potential energy of and work done on an electric charge changes as it moves through an electric field using electric potential (voltage).

  • Determine voltage changes across components and flow of electric currents through circuits of conducting wires, resistors, and capacitors.

  • Calculate magnetic field vectors created by moving electric charges. Calculate the effects of magnetic fields on external moving charges. Calculate inductive effects resulting from the relationship between magnetic fields and electric forces.

  • Calculate the effects of reflection and refraction, interference and diffraction, and the operation of mirrors and lenses.

  • Apply basic concepts of quantum mechanics to calculate atomic and nuclear phenomena (e.g. atomic spectra, radioactivity).

  • Perform measurements and analyze results in laboratory experiments using concepts from this course.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

PHYSICS 201, 207, 247,E M A 201, or (PHYSICS 103 and MATH 217 or 221). Not open to students with credit forPHYSICS 202 or 248.

PHYSICS 208 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

Spring 2027

Abdollah Mohammadi

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.11/5 from 54 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.

For this course: 2.9/5 raw quality · 4.2/5 difficulty · 21 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Abdollah Mohammadi

Abdollah Mohammadi was described as engaging and passionate, using in-class demos and real-world examples to explain concepts. Some students found his lectures fast-paced but noted his organized slides facilitated independent study, while discussions provided useful practice for applying course material.

Other students criticized the course as disorganized, stating exams were significantly harder than lectures and homework, often covering unaddressed material. Several found the lectures incoherent or difficult to follow, noting that answer keys provided little assistance with exam preparation.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 2.99 GPA, 39.5% A/AB (n=291 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.05 GPA, 41.6% A/AB (n=190 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.06 GPA, 43.2% A/AB (n=287 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Jeffrey Schmidt, Sridhara Dasu

Jeffrey Schmidt delivered dense lectures that kept attention, with exams similar to provided practice problems plus a few curveballs. Sridhara Dasu was praised for clear explanations and caring support, noting the class was hard but exams were based on discussions and quizzes. Both instructors were described as knowledgeable and supportive of student success.

ABDOLLAH MOHAMMADI is recorded teaching in Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CARY FOREST is recorded teaching in Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JEFFREY SCHMIDT is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LUKE LANGSJOEN is recorded teaching in Fall 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARK RZCHOWSKI is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PETER TIMBIE is recorded teaching in Spring 2010, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SRIDHARA DASU is recorded teaching in Spring 2020. 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1680
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 309Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 601Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 602Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 603Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 607Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 609Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 608Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 310Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 610Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 312Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 612Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 606Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 613Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 313Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 604Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 1680
DIS 314Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 614Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 605Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 311Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LAB 611Classroom Instruction0 / 240

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

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Abdollah Mohammadi

Students found Professor Mohammadi’s engaging style and in-class demos helpful, noting that his organized slides made problem-solving processes easier to follow.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 2.99 GPA, 39.5% A/AB (n=291 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.05 GPA, 41.6% A/AB (n=190 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.06 GPA, 43.2% A/AB (n=287 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Abdollah Mohammadi

Lectures often moved quickly, requiring independent study to grasp concepts. Students reported that the course elements and practice materials were difficult and did not align with each other.

Past student reviews · Abdollah Mohammadi

Feedback was mixed regarding organization; some students found the course disorganized with ambiguous exam questions, while others felt lectures sometimes wasted time on derivations rather than core material.

Topics

  • Electricity, magnetism, light, and modern physics.

Skills

  • Calculating electromagnetic forces, fields, and circuit behavior; applying quantum mechanics to atomic phenomena.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · 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 · 0.18 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

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

1280 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
PHYSICS 208 · Spring 2027

General Physics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:754:015605",
    "course_id": "PHYSICS 208",
    "course_uid": "course_97eb7bb938ff9affa3643b19",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "015605",
    "source_subject_id": "754",
    "title": "General Physics",
    "credits_min": 5,
    "credits_max": 5,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
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 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "9791c49f020855c3fd7972b5fd6654614d7b1825363105dee8ff7b0e17302528",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}