Current instructor

Mark Saffman

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.50/5 from 2 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.

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

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

PHY325 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 5/5
I wouldn't recommend this class if you are taking other difficult classes. The guy throws an unbelievable amount of information at you. There are two textbooks (he wrote one) and one is too general, the other too specific. Somehow, this doesn't balance out. His lectures are the only way to understand anything in the course, and he moves fast.
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PHYS406 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Weights homework heavily and is very accessibly outside class. It's very labor intensive like any physics class but it's also easy to do well in provided that you do put in that effort. He also focuses a lot on experiments and contemporary developments related to the topic which makes it feel much more practical and enjoyable.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Mark Saffman

PHYSICS 799

Independent Study

1–3 credits

Independent Study is a graduate-level mentored research project in physics.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 3.67 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=3 letter grades).

Roman KuzminDeniz Yavuz+20 more

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2025–Spring 2026 · limited sample
PHYSICS 990

Research

1–12 credits

Research supervised by individual faculty members. Students formulate and plan original research, creating work that contributes to the field of physics.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Pupa GilbertIrena Knezevic+78 more

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Spring 2027PHYSICS 681Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027PHYSICS 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027PHYSICS 691Senior Thesis
Spring 2027PHYSICS 692Senior Thesis
Spring 2027PHYSICS 799Independent Study
Spring 2027PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2026PHYSICS 406Special Topics in Physics
Fall 2026PHYSICS 799Independent Study
Fall 2026PHYSICS 990Research

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
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