I've taken Professor Whitten before, so my opinion may be biased. I also have a review of him during my 1B days with him somewhere here. But I'll review him for 1C.

So, mathematically, 1C isn't very different from 1B with Whitten. It's still plug-and-chug for the most part. No integrations, no short answers and whatnot on the homework. Whitten lets us use formula sheets.

The first midterm was mostly plug and chug, except for the second problem where you have to derive the formula yourself. It wasn't that bad, just a few substitutions and you were done. The average was absurdly high though.

The second midterm was plug and chug except for one problem which most of the class epic failed on. It was on relativity, where Whitten seemed to have a particular interest on. His lectures gave some very unique formulas, unfortunately for most people they didn't attend.

The final....well....wasn't exactly written by Whitten. He had passed away a few days before, and professor Huang took over writing the final. He took several exact same homework problems from Mastering Physics (plug and chug) and picked 10 of them to be the final questions. I think everybody got an A, since the average for the final was about 92%.

Rest in peace. You're a great professor.

Professor Whitten passed away on 12/4/2010. May he rest in peace.

I had Whitten for Physics 1B and 1C. Granted, he was not the best of lecturers, but he definitely had his unique way of presenting the material. He was by far one of the most enthusiastic professors I've known. Despite the fact he spent most of lecture deriving equations, he never lost interest in the subject, always pausing to exclaim to the class how exciting he found the material to be. Whitten also had his characteristic hand movements and phrases. "Bom bom bom," "shoonk," and the shirt-tuck are his most widely known ones.

I managed to visit Whitten's office and have a chat with him a few weeks prior to his passing away. He never lost his enthusiasm and was eager to discuss physics with his students. His tests were fair, with the occasional curveball question that threw a majority of the class off. Again, not the most effective of professors, but undoubtedly one of the most passionate ones. In the end, it's all about the passion.

It may not seem like it, but Whitten cared about his students. He always emphasized that he had office hours in case people had questions. Not many attended OH, but that didn't stop him. He sent a good number of emails before each midterm and final to make sure the class had all the necessary information down. He even sent an email the day before his passing away to notify students of the situation. Whitten, without a doubt, cared.

You can call me a hypocrite if you are that cynic, but I speak the truth. Rest in peace, Charles Whitten. You will be remembered.

RIP Professor Whitten. You will be forever missed.

Whitten's class is easy and often entertaining. He loves to say "okay" about a gazillion times a lecture and has all sorts of quirks like that. I never really got very much out of his lectures but they were way better than the other physics professors I'd had.

The midterms were both really easy and the final was more challenging. Just know how to do all the homework problems and you should be fine. Also if you can find someone with some old midterms, look at those because he doesn't change the problems all that much. Even if the problems are different, they are likely to be about the same concepts so you'll know what to expect.

Whitten drives lectures based on his own professional experiences. He is more than competent, speaks english, and projects his voice to the lecture hall. However, many of his presentations are mathematical extensions of the derivations found in the textbook. This is somewhat interesting, but lends little to answering homework and test questions. Homeworks come only from the book. Exams are very fair, and he will adjust the difficulty and style of exams based on the class' performance on the previous one. (The first test averaged near 50% without a spike near the front of the bell curve, so he made the second midterm more straightforward). The cumulative final was fair. The course is curved very generously.

Whitten is an interesting physics instructor. During lectures, he follows the topics in the book that is to be focused on, but only spends the lecture hour deriving a bunch of important equations. These derivations are important in understanding how the special equations arrive (relativity, circuits, E&M). I believe this is one of the best way to understand the material. However, to fully comprehend what he writes on the board, you should have some background knowledge of read the book in advance. I know this method is frustrating to some students - especially the lazy students. If you read the book before, review his derivations, and attempt to understand the equations and concepts presented, I think that you should understand the material. HOWEVER, Whitten does not solve problems or present any useful applications to what he writes on the board. That is a major weakness, because people sleep, read the newspaper, or just copy down notes in class. They leave without learning anything more than they knew when they arrived!

I think this encourages the 'solution manual on Sunday night era'. Trust me, if that didn't exist and circulate, the average on homework wouldn't be a ridiculous 100% and office hours would not be empty. Also, people wouldn't get As while getting away without mastery of E&M.

Whitten is quite energetic despite his old age, and he is definitely thrilled if you ask a question. However, the class is dull and probably only 5 of 120 students would ask a question if he presented a lecture Feynman style.

Onto what you probably want to hear, Whitten isn't a difficult tester. Each exam has 3 questions, similar in difficulty to the HW (some even easier than the HW, but people think it's hard because they just copy from the SSM). Homework sets are only Level II problems, so they're not too bad. The final grade is based on a lenient scale, I believe. They average is probably a B (or higher). Just stay above the mean on all exams, and you have an A.

its kinda pointless to go to his lectures - you wont learn anything you dont get in the book, and he doesnt test on his lectures anyway. hes a nice guy though, and hes genuinely concerned about helping you

Whitten is perfectly harmless. His enthusiasm is infectious, which is nice but not that useful. I ended up going to the physics workshop to ask questions and do examples. The course is quite challenging, but it's not the hardest. Homeworks come straight out of Giancolli (which isn't the most clear textbook ever made). I would recommend asking the TA for help and going to the workshops rather than putting too much effort into de-coding Whitten's lectures.

GO TO CLASS! its worth it, interesting, and he's a funny guy. I dont think you'll find many other profs that are enjoyable like whitten, so i'd take advantage of it and go. The tests weren't too hard, one actually had an average of 90.