Francis was a super sweet guy, but he seemed super confused about what he was teaching and the TA's would correct him a lot of the time. He was also really bad at answering questions. He would send the lecture notes and just read off of them during the class. The TA's taught way more content than Halzen even attempted to cover.Rate My Professors ↗
Current instructor
Francis Halzen
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
He's a really nice guy but his lectures do NOT help you with anything in your homework or labs or exams. He rambles on and does not go over any of the math problems which make up almost all of the problems on each test. I do not recommend this class unless Pupa is the only one teachingRate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
This class was literally terrible and Francis is a really nice guy but actually doesn't teach you much. He cares more about the concepts rather than the mathematics, which is actually what all the tests are on. Our class had to go through 3-hour review sessions the day before the test with the TA to understand the material. Do not recommend.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 2/5
Dr. Halzen is a very sweet guy, but his lectures can be kind of confusing. He gets off track easily and doesn't always make stuff super clear. In general, he's an okay professor but I think if he taught a harder class, I would have struggled. The subject material is interesting and he is clearly passionate, just not always very articulate.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 2/5Difficulty 2/5
Very nice old man but not very helpful. He writes a ton of formulas on the board, and you just copy it all down. I never knew what was going on. He assigns 5 problems from the book a week. Figure out how to do those, and you will be fine. Tests are exactly like the homework and study guide questions. Easy A, without any work.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
He is very nice but not the best professor. His lectures are unclear and tests are somewhat hard. Grading scale is predominantly based on 3 exams. I would not recommend him as a professor.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Francis Halzen
PHYSICS 990
Research
1–12 creditsPHYSICS 990 is a research course where students conduct supervised research projects with individual faculty members.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | PHYSICS 990 | Research |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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