Very nice professor compared to Duncan after doing 247-248 sequence. He cares students a lot and he does spend time on teaching and he wants his students to succeed. He might focus on deriving equations a lot in class, so reading Marion - one of the textbooks he posts would be beneficial. 311 with him was amazing experienceRate My Professors ↗
Current instructor
Keith Bechtol
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Prof. Bechtol is one of the best physics profs I have had at UW Madison: great lecturer, very responsive to student's questions, and clear expectations. This class was a lot more conceptual and takes on topics like general relativity, special relativity, cosmology, and other areas of Modern physics. Problem sets were relatively easy.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Bechtol is an amazing teacher that is very invested in his students. His lectures, while online, were very intuitive and easy to follow. Bechtol is also a very fun person to talk to during office hours. 10/10 would absolutely recommend him againRate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
He's very caring and encouraging. He's always open to questions and can explain a concept in multiple ways, which is always helpful. Also did a great job planning the course, gave us a good overview of the topics in modern physics and also got us familiar with python, which is used extensively in research. Take a class with him if you can!Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Super nice guy! If he ever messes up a problem in class, he always reaches out the whole class and fully explains it later. I think a lot of professors don't do that, but he is really specific and helpful!Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Keith was a great guy to talk to if I was ever struggling in the class. He explains topics well, and can explain complicated topics multiple ways if you struggle in lecture. Homework takes time, but is often the same as test problems, so its worth it to spend the time on it. Final Project instead of an exam was a godsend around finals week.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Keith Bechtol
PHYSICS 691
Senior Thesis
2–3 creditsPHYSICS 691 is a mentored individual research and study course for students completing a senior thesis.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
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 691 | Senior Thesis |
| 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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