Taking 208 with Jeff was an absolute nightmare. Class was super unorganized, didn't go over actual content in lectures, exams were super difficult, TA's were awful, they often ignored questions on piazza they didn't want to answer. This class honestly tested your ability to memorize questions/answers from course material rather than learning it.

Jeff is boring. Really boring. I'd rather have this class be taught by a potted plant. Getting up at 8 am every Monday and Wednesday was impossible. Jeff doesn't teach the material well, and seemed surprised when nobody knew the answers to his questions. If I had an hour to live, I'd spend it in this class, because it felt like an eternity.

Prof Schmidt is a really cool, intelligent, and witty guy... but not a great professor. He's knowledgeable and extremely easy to reach out to. However, his lectures and textbook weren't very helpful for the homework. Exams were very anxiety inducing (but then again it is quantum). If the class had a TA, it would have been fine.

In all my years I have never seen a worse professor than Schmidt. He taught us undergrads as if we already had a physics background and provided absolutely ZERO help when questions were asked of him. If I could give him negative stars I would.

I'll preface by saying he's a really nice person. But, if I could rank him a 0 I would. He's extremely smart and needs to only teach upper level classes, not intro physics. His lectures are horribly confusing and there's no good practice problems for anything. He doesn't explain anything well and assumes everyone has extensive prior knowledge.

Avoid his qm classes unless this is your second time learning qm. His lecture is fast but poorly explained. He follows his own notes instead of textbook but it doesn't align well with the lecture. The physics department took this course out of the major requirement instead of trying to improve it. I mean is it that hard to give us a TA?

If you have a disability or need anything that a regular professor would provide such as actual answers on Piazza or correct and accurate lecture material every day, you will likely have unneeded difficulty and resentment towards this class. His lectures were never in order, had a handful of issues each day that students would have to spot, etc

This class was so Brutal for an introductory Physics class. Jeff is nice, but his slideshows are NOT helpful, rather they are confusing. you go into lecture to understand but walk out more confused. He was a little better than Abdollah in terms of telling you what you'll be tested on. But he does a horrible at explaining problems step by step.

This was my first physics class, and let me say, it was HORRIBLE. Jeff is a very nice and knowledgeable guy, but he does not know how to teach an introductory physics course. He breezes through difficult topics because they are "easy" for him, and his PowerPoint slides suck. The only good thing is that exams are very similar to lecture content.

Goes through the lectures too fast and dosen't give you much time to think. He doesn't use any slides he just derives everything from basic principles.

You're better off just skipping lectures. He derives an equation for 10 minutes then doesn't show us how to use it. Example problems are rushed and he just goes through slides of the solving without talking about most of it or going through it.

All around just sucked at lecturing with constant side tangents and then would include things on the exam that he had on the white board for less than a minute.

Teaches at a pace that is hard to follow for introductory physics, especially when struggling with the concepts you just kind of feel left behind. Pretty much have to resort to teaching yourself imo. Seems knowledgeable but conveys the material with long and arduous equations that leave students more confused than anything.

In this course, one intended for "life science" undergraduate students, use of mathematical derivations to explain physical concepts in lecture greatly detracted from the conveying of core course concepts necessary for student success. Exams written by Schmidt were difficult. Not a horrible professor, but style not ideal for introductory physics.

His lectures consisted mostly of text-heavy slides with examples of problems that were much too difficult to understand. Most of the stuff went over in lecture was not helpful or applicable to the exams or homework, which made lectures feel pointless. Obviously a very smart guy, but overall I had to learn mostly everything on my own. Hard exams.

Learning the physics content taught in the class only somewhat helps for exams. However, he copy and pasted most of the exam questions directly from the misc documents posted in the files. Take that for what it's worth. Overall, the exams felt like they were more testing memorization (of the docs) and reading skills than actual physics skills.

Although I like that he puts similar problems to the ones in lectures in the exams, I found his lectures hard to understand and unengaging. I just wish the slides were more organized and easier to follow.

Dr. Schmidt is a very smart person but take a wrong way to teach general physics to Non-major student. Concepts are really not explained in lecture and important steps are sometimes skipped that make students even more confused. One good thing is that he provide some practice problem that could be similar to some exam questions.

I seriously can't even begin to explain why this is professor is so horrible. The average on our first midterm was below a 50%, and his lectures are so heavy with derivations that we lose sight of overarching concepts. Lecture does nothing but make us more confused. This is a common consensus from all students I've talked to.

Jeff is clearly one of the most intelligent professors I have ever had, and he derived everything in class from memory. He goes through the material at a very fast pace, but with attending lectures and reading the lecture notes, you can learn a lot of valuable tools. The only problem I had is the grading was not clear.

Lectures are funny, but fast paced--they aren't mandatory, but you would fall behind if you skipped. He posts (properly formatted!) lecture notes online, and is very accessible by Piazza/email/office hours. Only partial completion of HW/exams needed for full credit, and extra credit for typesetting HW. Would take another class with him for sure!

Jeff is easily my favorite professor I've had at this school. He wants his students to succeed even with the difficult material and makes a point to be helpful. His lectures are very interesting and not too hard to follow. The grading is very fair. Would go out of my way to take another course taught by him.

Excellent professor for 311/448/449, he derives everything in a way that is intuitive, and his lectures are very engaging. He works to know every one of his students that shows up to lectures, and cares about everyone's success. However if you're not a physics or math major (engineers beware) you're probably not smart enough to follow lectures.

Jeff is the best professor in the department in my experience. His lectures are inspirational and extremely informative, he gives fun little physics history stories, and his humor makes class fun. He is extremely accessible by email, Piazza, and office hours. This, along with the half homework policy, makes doing quantum problems much more bearable

Jeff was just a bad physics professor, period. His notes were extremely confusing and hard to follow, and I always ended up having to reteach myself everything before each exam. If you struggle with physics even a little, steer clear of this professor

*201 not 207. Stay clear. Very rude answering questions. His lectures focused on deriving using calculus and his answer keys were wrong or nonexistent. Problems were difficult at times and the TAs would tell me to skip them and tests were hard with timing. The problems were fair and grading was generous (A: 88, AB: 82, B: 67, BC: 62, C: 57, D: 46).

Review is for Physics 201. Jeff is a very intelligent man, but he falls short as a teacher. His teaching style involves dense information dumps and complex derivations and notation, which he does not take the time to explain. Exam problems often involve complicated twists and are unlike problems that we have seen before in class.

Jeff 's time for teaching has passed. He constantly uses complex notation and Calc III concepts to a class where only Calc I is required, and his answer keys consistently have mistakes for simple algebra, further confusing students. He offers unhelpful tips on Piazza and his sense of humor gets old fast. Thank God Josh Weber co-taught this course.

The class is very challenging, and the homework was time-consuming, but Jeffrey definitely cared about his students and was always willing to help. Going to lecture and office hours is a MUST and will boost your grade massively. He writes on the board very fast, so paying close attention is necessary.

Tough man with a soft heart. Excellent teacher and an honest man.

Prof. Schmidt is a best-case scenario for this very difficult class. He gives clear lectures and is almost always available on piazza for questions. Problem sets are tough. Pay attention during lectures because he will frequently hint at problems that will be on the exams. Lectures are also the only way to do the problem sets.

Physics 311 is a notoriously difficult class, but Jeff handled it very well. Not only were his lectures extremely informative, being based directly from the notes, but he also went the extra mile and provided an incredible amount of resources for the students. Loads of help documents, quick piazza feedback, and overall fun guy to learn from. 5/5

PHYS202 is one of the hardest engineering generals at UW-Madison. Be prepared to work at this class daily and do a LOT of practice problems. Schmidt makes this class about as bearable as it can be given the huge course scope. Lectures mostly consist of example problems, and they're your BEST resource for exams. Exams are hard, but grading is fair.

Homeworks are almost as difficult as they are long. Lectures were hit-or-miss whether they were understandable or relevant to homework assignments or tests. Later exams were closely related to exam reviews, but were too challenging nevertheless. Overall the course felt like disconnected and obscure mathematical methods opposed to a coherent story.

Doesn't know how to use the internet, or format online. Penalizes you for it. OK with material, but just silly complications that hurt your grade for no reason. There are many better Physics professors

Prof. Schmidt is unfortunately one of the worst professors I had at UW-Madison. Each of his lecture slides has +20 lines and is basically like reading a textbook. He has a monotone voice and I just cant know what is important and whats not. His exams are so hard and proof-based. I got a good grade only because the class was curved. Avoid Jeff.

This was the hardest class I've ever taken but it would've been worse with a different professor. Exams were extremely hard but heavily curved. Go to lecture and pay attention because Dr. Schmidt would regularly hint at certain material being on exams.

This class... was the hardest one I've taken at UW. With that said though, Jeff's review sessions will allow you to do 10-20% better on the exams, seriously. Don't sleep on them. Studied 20+ hours for every test and still usually got a 75 ish when the avg was a 50. The material is so dense and difficult and its really a self taught course

Physics 208 has the worst organization of any class I've ever taken. I didn't know there were online quizzes until the 2nd week and I've shown up to both labs and discussions that were cancelled but not advertised as being so. Twice the honors lecturer hasn't shown up and students were not notified. Schmidt is the better lecturer of the two though.

Jeff gave me a run for my money. Block text and equation derivations are the majority of what he shows in class, but he does do helpful examples in order to prepare students for exams. Go to the lectures and exam reviews. Redo the practice exams at least two times, and make sure you understand how everything works. I only cried twice. Nice guy too!

Jeff is light-hearted, but lectures are dense information dumps. You'll never be led in examples in class or discussion. All numerical problems are on your own, and lecture is all derivations. Still, go to lecture, or you'll miss all the problem types found on the test. Always read before lecture to be familiar. Homework and test don't align well.

Prof Schmidt is one of the best physics professors. He makes the material understandable and is a funny guy. Would definitely take it again with him

Very straightforward when it comes to exams. He pulls his test questions from four sources: lecture, homework, discussion, and optional quizzes posted after every lecture on Canvas. If youre diligent in these four areas, there wont be a single problem you havent seen by the time you sit for an exam. Also, take the practice exams he posts.

Jeffery Schmidt does not understand how to properly instruct an intro-level physics course. His lectures are incredibly informationally dense and dry with mostly irrelevant material that he claims is his 'test bank'. Exam spread/standard deviations were massive. Very confusing person to try and learn from. One good thing, labs are pass/fail.

Only 50% of the content he'll be testing you on is in lecture. The other 50% is in the textbook. His lecture slides are NOT correlated to the questions he asks, and are in fact difficult to decipher. What is taught and what you're expected to know are quite disconnected.

His lectures are pretty dense and it's a lot to take in all at once, so going back over his lecture notes after class is pretty helpful. He was a good lecturer, he kept my attention and cracked a couple jokes every class. The exams we're pretty similar to the provided practice exams with a couple of curve balls. He also offers good review sessions.

Very dry and bland lectures, and informationally dense.

For a physics professor Jeff is probably one of the best. He is really funny and he really tries to make the material understandable. Exams were tough but if you work through practice exams as he recommends you'll be fine.

Decent professor, but the coursework didn't connect well. The homework assignments were impossible and didn't help at all, and sometimes the discussion problems were too hard too. He's a fine professor and explains things in an understandable way, but the class doesn't connect well.

Course material was crazy hard for me personally. Two professors teach this class. Gary Shiu was a very good professor but Jeff was dull and monotone and just absolutely dull and I could not grasp what he was saying. EVER. Try to get a diff professor if possible.

Very tough class, lectures are very quick paced, zone out for a few seconds and you're lost. Tests are generally hard but not impossible if you really study, the book is very helpful.

Greatest professor I've had at Madison. Very clear and complete presentation style, while also being hilarious. His class is much more involved than anything else at the undergrad level, and you really have to put effort in, but it is totally worth it.

So Jeff makes some tough tests. Be warned. That being said, he gives plenty of practice. His lectures all contain examples that are similar to the exams, and the discussion questions are good as well. While his lectures can be full of info, if you ask him for help, he will be more than willing to help you.

He seemed to know the material very well however the way that he presented it in lectures was awful. His powerpoint were absolutely terrible, I don't think I have ever seen such dense slides (looked like he typed up the textbook). Luckily the second professor, Gary Shiu, did an excellent job of translating those slides when he did lectures.

Holy Schmidt this guys amazing. Physics 322 with this guy has been a lot of work (a LOT of work), but Schmidt drags you through the mud of it as well as anyone can I would imagine. His Lectures are concise (albeit sometimes very technical and hard to follow) but this man knows EXACTLY what he is doing. Highly, highly recommend.

Professor Schmidt was only the secondary lecturer for our course, but he was phenomenal. His lectures are clear and concise, he explains why we can derive equations, and he gives numerical examples that are very helpful on tests and quizzes. I would absolutely recommend taking a course with him over another instructor.

Probably one of my favorite professors at madison. Yes his voice was monotone, but he would throw in snippets of humor that made every lecture a joy. His lecture style was very clear and provided lots of examples. The tales of his demos still bring mirth to everyone in the class. Honors section was the best part of my semester.

Caution, Jeff may cause you bodily harm through failed (and semi-dangerous) demonstrations, but besides that, he's the only reason I madenit through physics.

Jeff is one of the funniest professors I've ever had. Even better is the fact that he does a great job of presenting pretty dull material in a really clear way. He always has a lot of examples and will gladly explain something if asked. Definitely try to get him as your prof for any physics class.

I thought Jeff was a good professor. He explained things well and provided numerous worked problems/examples in class. He was also clear about what he expected students to know for each exam (often making suggestions of problems to study). He also has a sense of humor, and I enjoyed his lectures. He is helpful if you visit during office hours.

Without a doubt, the best lecturer I've ever had in my life. Jackson E&M is tough and he assigns a lot of problems per week, but he makes the subject fascinating, does some homework problems in class, is super helpful in office hours, and explains advanced math extremely well. Incredibly enthusiastic and engaging lectures. Also, he's hilarious.

Clear lecturer, good sense of humor. Tests are fair - study quiz problems and the examples given at end of lecture slides, as these comprise majority of exams. Strong algebratrig skills extremely helpful, but only basic calc (derivativesintegralschain rule) needed. Curves to B average. If you have to take physics, take it with Jeff.

Jeff really tries to help with the math part of physics by giving lots of examples and providing approaches to solving problems, but then when it comes down to teaching the concepts, he's lacking a bit. I also felt like as the semester went by he started to slack at teaching which gets a bit irritating, but overall he's a pretty cool guy I guess.

Jeff is a horrible teacher. He makes typos all the time. Also, he makes physics, which is difficult in itself, even more difficult and confusing. Avoid if possible. If you can't avoid him, find a good TA who can help you get through it.

Jeff was a great teacher. I thought he did a great job with the class, especially hearing nightmares about previous teachers. Every question on our exams, I saw in a previous quiz or lecture slide. If you study the quizzes and lecture slides in depth, getting an A is not challenging.

Honestly, physics is a hard subject and this man worked hard to made it consumable for everyone involved. Though sometimes he taught us things that weren't on the test, or even glossed over topics he would test on. But overall, this man was wily and eccentric. Take him! Best I've seen in the physics department. And penguins will rule the world.

Jeff is a nice guy who, when you ask, will explain how to do different problems in detail till you understand it. Tests are mostly based off quiz questions and the textbook is useful for the online homework.

He uses Calc 3 notation for everything and everyone hates it. All the TAs use different notation which actually makes sense. Jeff is also a huge dbag.

His exams are borderline impossible to finish, with problems you would have had to "master the material" to be able to do. The homework is hard, but nothing like the exam. Study the quizzes.

Pretty tough class, a good ta is pretty important. Exams are very tough and impossible to finish in time. Exam questions are variations of the examples he gives in his lecture notes. If you study those and the quiz questions you should be okay.

This is a tough class. A lot of math involved, some one which is beyond the scope of the pre reqs. My advice is to take Math 234 before taking this class. also, do not get behind on the material as it just continues to build on itself. you wont have enough time to finish tests so a smart test taking strategy is important