Historical instructor

PAUL TERRY

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.31/5 from 26 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

PHY311 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
I highly recommend this professor. He is very consistent with lectures, homework, and exams, all of which closely follow the textbook. He explains concepts well, answers questions clearly, and keeps lectures enjoyable. His exams are fair, and he is also very generous with grading curves, which makes his classes much more manageable.
Rate My Professors ↗
PHYS322 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
I hope Prof Terry teach every my physics course, I take both 311 and 322 with him, both course themselves are difficult, but Prof Terry try his best to illustrate every concept and mathematical tricks by tidy handwritting. Well organized and coherent lecture, the grading policy is not easy but I would choose his course 100 times.
Rate My Professors ↗
PHYS322 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
EXAMS ARE VERY DIFFICULT. He is not a bad lecturer, and the textbook wasn't bad, but after asking for more learning resources that was all he could come up with. Conceptually not super difficult but the math went past anything I had done in math 320, and added extra work for me having to learn new math almost weekly.
Rate My Professors ↗
PHY311 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 5/5
Great professor, very rigorous, basically just deriving every conclusion manually on huge whiteboard during the lecture. You need to keep his pace and always focused on the whiteboard, and point out his mistakes sometimes. Also very helpful outside the class, exam is difficult, no curve or little curve, low A rate.
Rate My Professors ↗
PHYS311 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
Good lecturer, teaches almost word-for-word from the textbook. Class is very fast-paced and math-heavy. Exams were incredibly difficult, the average grade on both midterms was about 50%. Homework wasn't really representative of exams.
Rate My Professors ↗
PHY311 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Extremely organized lecturer. Really helpful and pleasant to speak to. Exams average around 50% which is fine but the curve is pretty bad. Homework was accepted a week late, but at a 50% point deduction. This was not mentioned in syllabus. His HW problems were generally good but the book problems can be frustrating and tedious.
Rate My Professors ↗

Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with PAUL TERRY

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

View last recorded teaching term →

No courses match this selection. Try the full catalog or another term.

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2026PHYSICS 311Mechanics
Spring 2026PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2025PHYSICS 322Electromagnetic Fields
Fall 2025PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2025PHYSICS 311Mechanics
Spring 2025PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2024PHYSICS 805Special Topics in Physics
Fall 2024PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2024PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2023PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2023ECE/NE/PHYSICS 726Plasma Magnetohydrodynamics
Spring 2023PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Spring 2023PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2022PHYSICS 371Acoustics for Musicians
Fall 2022PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Fall 2022PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2022PHYSICS 721Theoretical Physics-electrodynamics
Spring 2022PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2021PHYSICS 371Acoustics for Musicians
Fall 2021PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2020ECE/NE/PHYSICS 922Seminar in Plasma Physics
Fall 2020NE 903Special Topics-plasma Physics
Fall 2020PHYSICS 805Special Topics in Physics
Fall 2020PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2020PHYSICS 298Directed Study
Spring 2020PHYSICS 311Mechanics
Spring 2020PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2019PHYSICS 371Acoustics for Musicians
Fall 2019PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2019PHYSICS 311Mechanics
Spring 2019PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2018PHYSICS 371Acoustics for Musicians
Fall 2018PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2018ECE/NE/PHYSICS 725Plasma Kinetic Theory and Radiation Processes
Spring 2018PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2017PHYSICS 371Acoustics for Musicians
Fall 2017PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2017PHYSICS 311Mechanics
Spring 2017PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2016PHYSICS 311Mechanics
Fall 2016PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2016PHYSICS 805Special Topics in Physics
Spring 2016PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2015ECE/NE/PHYSICS 922Seminar in Plasma Physics
Fall 2015PHYSICS 711Theoretical Physics-dynamics
Fall 2015PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2015PHYSICS 311Mechanics
Spring 2015PHYSICS 799Independent Study
Spring 2015PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2014PHYSICS 311Mechanics
Fall 2014PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2014PHYSICS 311Mechanics
Spring 2014PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2013PHYSICS 311Mechanics
Fall 2013PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2013PHYSICS 371Acoustics for Musicians
Spring 2013PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2012PHYSICS 805Special Topics in Physics
Spring 2012PHYSICS 208General Physics
Spring 2012PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2011PHYSICS 415Thermal Physics
Fall 2011PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2011PHYSICS 371Acoustics for Musicians
Spring 2011PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2010ECE/NE/PHYSICS 527Plasma Confinement and Heating
Fall 2010PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2010PHYSICS 104General Physics
Spring 2010PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2009ECE/NE/PHYSICS 725Plasma Kinetic Theory and Radiation Processes
Fall 2009PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2009PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Spring 2009PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2008PHYSICS 104General Physics
Fall 2008PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2008PHYSICS 371Acoustics for Musicians
Spring 2008PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2007PHYSICS 249A Modern Introduction to Physics
Fall 2007PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2007PHYSICS 371Acoustics for Musicians
Spring 2007PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2006ECE/NE/PHYSICS 922Seminar in Plasma Physics
Fall 2006PHYSICS 721Theoretical Physics-electrodynamics
Fall 2006PHYSICS 990Research

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

Instructor identity & provenance
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_8605d0db53355716ef215717",
  "source": "madgrades",
  "source_instructor_id": "2601897",
  "identity_basis": "source_id",
  "identity_status": "source_identified",
  "name": "PAUL TERRY",
  "email": null,
  "first_observed_at": "2026-09-06 23:14:58.172943+00:00",
  "last_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "ratings": {
    "review_count": 26,
    "quality": 3.31,
    "difficulty": 3.88,
    "quality_count": 26,
    "difficulty_count": 26,
    "profile_id": "rmp:549771",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/549771",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:12:20.118453+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_aa45660f057a2b2997243229": {
        "review_count": 6,
        "quality": 2.67,
        "difficulty": 4.83,
        "quality_count": 6,
        "difficulty_count": 6
      },
      "course_0a6dafcdaeb7c047d94f694f": {
        "review_count": 1,
        "quality": 3,
        "difficulty": 2,
        "quality_count": 1,
        "difficulty_count": 1
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 3.462037297194172,
    "prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "grade_statistics": {
    "gpa": 3.126,
    "graded": 2226,
    "counts": [
      505,
      561,
      540,
      334,
      244,
      32,
      10
    ],
    "sections": 86
  },
  "current": false,
  "courses": [],
  "revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/PAUL_TERRY--instructor_8605d0db53355716ef215717"
}