Current instructor

Maxim Vavilov

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.00/5 from 7 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

PHYS449 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
Favorite guy, easy class recommend
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PHYS311 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 2/5
Vavilov is pretty decent and his class is well structured; if you put in the work you do well. Exams were fair. My only gripe with the homework was that it was typically VERY algebra heavy. His lectures were pretty average; mostly a bunch of equations, sometimes it was hard to follow exactly WHY he was doing what he was doing. Overall 3.5/5.
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PHYS311 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Vavilov's tests are based on the homework so none of the problems are a surprise. We didn't have a final exam for 311- instead we had a project that was very easy if one showed up to class. The homeworks were bi-weekly, so one had plenty of time to do them. Overall, not a hard class to get a decent grade in if one practices a few of the problems.
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PHYS531 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 5/5
Prof. Vavilov is a very respected physicist but his lecture style can be difficult to parse. He tells the story of QM with almost only math on the whiteboard and very little context. My recommendation would be to heavily supplement or even replace lecture by reading the Griffiths textbook (it's a famous textbook).
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PHYS449 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
Awful professor. Notation not at all consistent with the textbook or often even internally consistent. Large portion of homework based around poorly explained computing assignments. Generous grader and the class is curved, but your passing grade will only seem ridiculous when you consider you never understood anything he was doing. Textbook saves.
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PHY448 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
In my study group of 6, none of us could understand him or ever knew what was going on. If you read the book you were able to understand some but teaching yourself quantum mechanics is hard and he used different notation than the book. Notation on his midterms was different than the homework or lecture, making very difficult. Worst prof I've had,
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Maxim Vavilov

PHYSICS 799

Independent Study

1–3 credits

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

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

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 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026PHYSICS 709Introduction to Quantum Computing
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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