Quality 1/5Difficulty 2/5
Took him for PHYSICS 779, didn't care at all, assigned difficult homeworks that weren't related to lecture at all, but graded them leniently.Rate My Professors ↗
Current instructor
Robert McDermott
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
I would give this professor a negative 7 stars if I could. He is a boring lecturer. He talks at like 1/4 the speed of a normal person and does not teach you anything that will be on his exams. His exams did not reflect the lecture material or discussion material. 80% of our class failed his exam.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
The worst class I've taken at UW. Lectures are insanely confusing. He does not explain any of the material in any significant way. Test had absolutely nothing to do with the lectures. Goes over the easiest question in a section and moves on. I understand the transition to online is probably tough, but this was a horrible excuse of a class.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
I have never been so bored or confused in lectures. He explains absolutely nothing. In fact, I would just watch khan academy or something during lecture because that's probably a better use of your time. All I can say is good luck. This class is horrible. I miss Daniel Thurs.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
Horrible professor. Horrible explanations. Horrible class. Physics is supposed to be like a fun math class, but he makes the tests unlike any of the problems you will see. Honestly, there's no point to studying for these exams because there's nothing you can do to prepare. get ready for curve balls- tests aren't a reflection of learning at all....Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
He made the exams way harder than ive ever seen. and he didnt care that people that did amazing on the first exam (made by a different professor) failed the second exam(one by McDermott). dosent care about you or your grade, cares about making the class rediculously hard for no reason at all. the exam was nothing i had seen before or knew how to doRate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Robert McDermott
PHYSICS 799
Independent Study
1–3 creditsPHYSICS 799 is a graduate-level independent study course focused on conducting mentored research projects in physics.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=3 letter grades).
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2026 · limited samplePHYSICS 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 799 | Independent Study |
| 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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