Historical instructor

SUSAN COPPERSMITH

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 1.78/5 from 18 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

PHYS109 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Physics 109 is taught by 2 professors. The first one, Pupa, was amazing, but Susan Coppersmith was just terrible. Coppersmith teaches the sound portion. She often messes up her own examples, and she doesn't know how to convey the material during lecture, which is frustrating. The HW gets more difficult because of this. Read the book.
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PHYSICS 109
Quality 1/5Difficulty 2/5
When I took Physics in the Arts, the first half of the course was taught by the brilliant Pupa Gilbert, and I entered the second half hoping for an equally inspiring professor. Sadly, Professor Coppersmith seemed disorganized and unable to articulate her ideas clearly in lecture. I decided to stop going and read the textbook more. :(
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PHY109 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
This professor obviously has deep physics knowledge, but can't convey this to her students. She will go on tangents that have nothing to do with what we are learning, and will assume we understand concepts that we never learned. My best advice is to skip lecture and review slides online; it's less confusing than trying to follow her. Read the book.
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PHYS109 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
Her lectures are so frustrating. She is terrible at explaining things and is completely flustered and unorganized. Tests and labs aren't terribly hard, but the homework gets difficult at the end of the semester. I didn't feel that the lectures gave me enough info to do the homework.
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PHYSICS 201
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
Hard to understand- pretty poor at explaining concepts at a high level. She's likely quite brilliant (UW Physics overall has a good academic reputation), but can't get it into words for her students. I stopped going to lecture because it wasn't at all helpful.
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PHY109 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 2/5
She is not a very good professor,but the whole fun for me in going to lecture is that she butchered every demonstration she did. It was really funny.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with SUSAN COPPERSMITH

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
Fall 2020PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2020PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2019PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2019PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2018PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Fall 2018PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2018PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2017PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2017PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2016PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Fall 2016PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2016PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2015PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2015PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Spring 2015PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2014PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Fall 2014PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2014PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2013PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Spring 2013PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2012PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Fall 2012PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2012PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2011PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Fall 2011PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2011PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Spring 2011PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2010PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Fall 2010PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2010PHYSICS 202General Physics
Spring 2010PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2009PHYSICS 201General Physics
Fall 2009PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2008PHYSICS 109Physics in the Arts
Fall 2008PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2008PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2007PHYSICS 805Special Topics in Physics
Fall 2007PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2007PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2006PHYSICS 201General Physics
Fall 2006PHYSICS 990Research

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

Instructor identity & provenance 
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