Professor
Paul Hamilton
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Hamilton is a standard professor - he goes over concepts/theory in class along with some examples. I liked how he did in-class questions through a software called Kudu - this allowed us to interact with each other and not fall asleep at 9 am haha. However, I found that his lectures lacked example problems, and also he did not give us any sample exam problems before the midterm/final. As such, we kind of went into the exams without knowing exactly what to study. Also, some of the hw questions he assigned were kind of irrelevant to the material. Overall, Hamilton is okay as a professor - I'm kind of neutral about recommending or not recommending him.
Fall 2018 - Hamilton is a standard professor - he goes over concepts/theory in class along with some examples. I liked how he did in-class questions through a software called Kudu - this allowed us to interact with each other and not fall asleep at 9 am haha. However, I found that his lectures lacked example problems, and also he did not give us any sample exam problems before the midterm/final. As such, we kind of went into the exams without knowing exactly what to study. Also, some of the hw questions he assigned were kind of irrelevant to the material. Overall, Hamilton is okay as a professor - I'm kind of neutral about recommending or not recommending him.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - 4AL is a behemoth. You've probably heard that the grading is harsh and that you're going to spend a lot of time on lab reports. It's true. . You're given all the materials required for this class (a lab manual) and you go to section having read up on what you are going to do in lab. The labs investigate different physical properties like mechanical energy, friction, gravity etc. Most labs (not lab reports) I was able to finish in two hours. However, the last one I had to do twice because I ran out of time. Make sure to collect good lab data. . The TA's are instructed to deduct a lot of points for mistakes to spread out the sections, as there are up to 20 kids in a class. Homework 0 (the first assignment) covers the policies of the course. The next 7 labs will take you at least 10 hours to perfect (to get a good grade), re-reading and editing to the specifications of your TA. You'll learn when you get your old labs back what the TA was looking for and should correct for it. Put in the time and hope you come out on top when it's all said and done.
Spring 2018 - 4AL is a behemoth. You've probably heard that the grading is harsh and that you're going to spend a lot of time on lab reports. It's true. . You're given all the materials required for this class (a lab manual) and you go to section having read up on what you are going to do in lab. The labs investigate different physical properties like mechanical energy, friction, gravity etc. Most labs (not lab reports) I was able to finish in two hours. However, the last one I had to do twice because I ran out of time. Make sure to collect good lab data. . The TA's are instructed to deduct a lot of points for mistakes to spread out the sections, as there are up to 20 kids in a class. Homework 0 (the first assignment) covers the policies of the course. The next 7 labs will take you at least 10 hours to perfect (to get a good grade), re-reading and editing to the specifications of your TA. You'll learn when you get your old labs back what the TA was looking for and should correct for it. Put in the time and hope you come out on top when it's all said and done.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - I think Hamilton is a really good professor overall. The grading scheme consisted of homework, two midterms, and a final exam. The homework was pretty straightforward overall. The midterms I thought were extremely fair. If I had to give a tip to do well on the midterms I would say do the practice midterms he gives out and go to the review session. The questions on the midterms/final were not computationally intensive but rather conceptually difficult, so you really have to make sure you understand the ideas presented in this course. The final exam was exactly like the midterms just longer. The midterms/final are open book but the midterms are designed to take almost the whole time of the class so it doesn't really help for those. Overall I really liked Hamilton for quantum, and I don't think he deserves his rating on bruin walk. The only thing that was a negative was that he was pretty monotone so his lectures weren't super engaging overall. Also he goes super slow for the first two weeks for review of 115A but the pace increases quite a bit after that so keep that in mind if you take him.
Fall 2022 - I think Hamilton is a really good professor overall. The grading scheme consisted of homework, two midterms, and a final exam. The homework was pretty straightforward overall. The midterms I thought were extremely fair. If I had to give a tip to do well on the midterms I would say do the practice midterms he gives out and go to the review session. The questions on the midterms/final were not computationally intensive but rather conceptually difficult, so you really have to make sure you understand the ideas presented in this course. The final exam was exactly like the midterms just longer. The midterms/final are open book but the midterms are designed to take almost the whole time of the class so it doesn't really help for those. Overall I really liked Hamilton for quantum, and I don't think he deserves his rating on bruin walk. The only thing that was a negative was that he was pretty monotone so his lectures weren't super engaging overall. Also he goes super slow for the first two weeks for review of 115A but the pace increases quite a bit after that so keep that in mind if you take him.