Physics 208 has the worst organization of any class I've ever taken. Twice the honors lecturer hasn't shown up and students were not notified. Cary rambles so much his message is almost incoherent and Its way more difficult to learn from him than the internet or book. Cary shares almost no useful info in each lecture, and Schmidt shares too much.Rate My Professors ↗
Historical instructor
Cary Forest
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Probably the worst Physics teacher I have ever had. He simply goes over derivations from the book, but in a very hard to follow manner. His homework often simply doesn't ask questions with no explanation. His tests also are on topics not convened in class at all. Avoid him if you can.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
He was an all right professor, he rambled on a bit but in the end he taught you what you needed to know. He tends to spend a lot of time in lecture on derivations.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 4/5Difficulty 5/5
Physics 248 is the hardest class in the history of time and space. That said, Professor Forrest is very good at delivering interesting lectures, although he may ramble a bit, it usually ends up being helpful later. He's very helpful outside of class at well. One of the few professors that's a morning person.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 5/5
Seems to talk as if he knows he's smarter than you. Grades pretty hard and isn't very helpful in terms of office hours.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
A really nice guy but not the best prof ever. It's definitely necessary to read the book even though he doesn't talk about what we read very much. Rarely gets everything done that was planned.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Cary Forest
No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.
No courses match this selection. Try the full catalog or another term.
Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
{
"instructor_uid": "instructor_7d8294adb3f0f458dad57521",
"source": "legacy",
"source_instructor_id": null,
"identity_basis": "name_only",
"identity_status": "unresolved",
"name": "Cary Forest",
"email": "CBFOREST@WISC.EDU",
"first_observed_at": "2025-12-03 12:33:41.418072+00:00",
"last_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"ratings": {
"review_count": 11,
"quality": 2.73,
"difficulty": 3.82,
"quality_count": 11,
"difficulty_count": 11,
"profile_id": "rmp:397184",
"source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/397184",
"match_basis": "exact_name",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:49:38.990806+00:00",
"courses": {
"course_97eb7bb938ff9affa3643b19": {
"review_count": 1,
"quality": 1,
"difficulty": 4,
"quality_count": 1,
"difficulty_count": 1
},
"course_836e8ea19df9fe1516e4ecc4": {
"review_count": 1,
"quality": 1,
"difficulty": 4,
"quality_count": 1,
"difficulty_count": 1
},
"course_3d31f8f280d8571385be79ba": {
"review_count": 1,
"quality": 4,
"difficulty": 2,
"quality_count": 1,
"difficulty_count": 1
}
},
"bayesian_quality": 3.329797279707481,
"prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
"prior_weight": 20
},
"current": false,
"courses": [],
"revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
"instructor_url": "/instructors/CARY_FOREST--instructor_7d8294adb3f0f458dad57521"
}