2.6
Quality3.9
Difficulty32%
Would Retake156
Reviews32%
Would Retake
156
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
156 total ratings5
32
4
27
3
12
2
22
1
63
What Students Say
“She seems friendly during lectures, but through email she isn't so kind”
PHYS115 - 2.0 rating“she has very bad attitude and she really condescending”
PHYS121 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
53%
Textbook Required
14%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.47 avg changeRatings by Course
PHYS1151
4.5
(2)PHYS115116
4.1
(11)PHYS1156
4.0
(4)PHYS115
3.6
(32)P115
3.3
(7)Difficulty by Course
PHYS11511
5.0
PHSY121
4.8
PHYS121LAB
4.5
PHYS122LAB
4.4
PHYS122
4.3
Reviews (155)
Great prof! Very fair, helpful, and understanding. Expectations are clear.
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Worst teacher ever...tests are ridiculously hard
Dr. Driscoll is awesome!
Well she deserves some credit for coming back only 2 weeks after having a baby..
soooooo hard
115 was easy, but 116 just makes me want to die.
does not take the time to explain things if you don't understand right off the bat; no curve on HARD tests
at first she appears difficult, but it's just b/c its such a huge class. if you ever approach her for help, or ask individual questions, she is very nice about it.
Good teacher, really nice, very fair. Class is not that hard if you do all the work/readings and study, the only thing that makes it difficult is that the tests were sometimes hit or miss, but they were always fair. Also, an 85 is an A -- not hard to get.
I took it in the summer and she was a great lecturer. She took time to help out anyone with questions on homework during class. Many example problems that help with exams. Just a note: in the summer, physics is a lot of work, especially with lab, but it i
Dr. Driscoll is the first physics teacher I have ever had that has made the subject interesting and comprehensible. Very helpful outside of class, tests are fair, and by far the best physics teacher at Case.
Why does she have to make physics suck even more than it does by making her tests hard as balls? BAH!
Not cool. Lab TA's can be unhelpful and unappriciative as well as very unclear. She is okay, but not understanding at all when it comes to writing lab reports. MyDropBox.com is a joke and needs to be updated.
Great Physics professor
She is a very clear lecturer and the tests aren't too hard. Physics is not a fun subject, but she does the best she can to make it interesting.
Driscoll was very nice, helpful and a good professor. Expectations are set out clearly. Lab is very organized, however, the TA's can be questionable.
What can I say? The lecturing was useless and the exams were impossible. The labs featured poorly written, unclear instructions and emphasized pedantic nonsense (i.e., error analysis) over actually understanding the physics at hand. The TAs were rude and condescending and Driscoll was neurotically obsessed with catching "plagiarism". It was awful.
She lets the TA's do all the work, and scoffs at the idea of helping. Also, the TA's for the lab mumble so it is very hard to understand them
Driscoll is a very nice professor, and is also one who has clear and reasonable policies. She seem strict on checking for plagiarism in lab reports, but it's actually pretty reasonable. Never had a problem with a TA. If you attend class and actually *do* the homework and practice exams, you'll do well.
She is the most disrespectful professor in this entire school. she has very bad attitude and she really condescending. for someone that does absolutely nothing, she has no right to be as mean and rude and pompous as she is. I hope Case takes notice of her and takes some action.
She's a physics professor; she wants you to learn physics. You learn by doing work, not memorizing the answers she writes on the board. If you go in with the mindset that you get as much out of the class as you're willing to put in, then you will definitely find the class very interesting and compelling.
Professor is extremely helpful; may seem unapproachable to begin with but ask for help and she is very willing to work with your schedule. Is strict on plagiarism but that should be expected in college...
If you don't accept her (sometimes) condescending sense of humor, she can seem really disrespectful. Oftentimes she confused students, who would then ask questions, which would then confuse her. I guess she's nice. I think this course is the nail in the coffin for my career in medicine, which is interesting because it's not even that hard.
Dr. Driscoll is a fabulous physics lecturer. She's very clear and willing to answer questions. And her office hours are really great if you take advantage of them.
She's so nice!
Professor Driscoll is great. She doesnt teach the labs herself, but she runs the lab well and she is always available for help with lab reports. The guys that TA the labs are extremely well trained and helpful also. Dr. D is one of the best lab teachers I have had. I would recommend her.
Compared to the BS that is Biol lab (easpecially 214L...) -- this class is a complete joy. For those of you that are complaing about the confusing nature of PHYS 121/122 labs REALLY should take Biol 214L -- I bet you won't be complaining NEARLY as much once you do. Anyway, just follow the lab manual,and you'll get an A (for the lab portion anyway).
I didn't have her for 115, but I heard she was much better for that. Quite honestly, she wasn't very good for 116. She wasn't comfortable teaching the material and it showed. The final was so difficult it was uncalled for. Don't rely on the final to boost your grade--without a ton of studying, it won't happen.
Dr. Driscoll is an awesome professor! She is very clear about her expectations, approachable, and always willing to work with you if you have questions or don't understand something. Her tests can be hard, but if you actually do the homework and study, then you're fine. I was indifferent before, but Dr. Driscoll actually made me like physics!
Driscoll is super NICE despite first impressions. Her tests are a simple but easy to over think. Literally find a formula and plug in numbers, do NOT over think things. Try to participate in class because she does try pretty hard to get you to like physics. She gives a lot of extra credit and do your homework/ labs (grade boosters.
I loved Dr. D. Shes very helpful and good with students, although she doesn't teach the labs. The lab manual for the course essentially does all the thinking for you. The lab reports seem difficult until you realize that the TAs don't actually read them-- just make sure you put in relevant error calculations and you'll receive an A very easily.
Hard exams but a great prof. Just the class is really hard
A third of Dr. Driscoll's class are free points. The homework is pretty easy and she helps you with it and the labs are a joke. That being said, the tests are very challenging, just don't overthink it. Her lectures and problems don't prepare you that well. Go to her office hours for help and going to SI sessions to clarify the confusing content.
She seems friendly during lectures, but through email she isn't so kind. I asked her a question regarding a lab report through email and her rudeness was uncalled for, especially without me saying anything remotely triggering. She acted like it it was an inconvenience; I shouldn't have to feel the need to apologize 3x for asking a simple question.
Dr. Driscoll is nice in lectures and in class, but I feel as if I didn't learn anything from her lectures. Taught myself most of the concepts, and the tests are pretty difficult. She's not very helpful outside of class via email, and doesn't give any preparation for the final exam, except for advice to "do every problem in the book."
Dr. Driscoll is a hilarious professor! She really tries her best to make you interested in physics. Her exams are very similar to her 10+ practice exams posted online. Be sure to go through those and getting an A in the class will be very easy. Also love all her demos that does she does in class. Overall, a great class and highly recommended!
Dr. Driscoll is sweet and makes an effort to know her students. However if I didn't take physics with a wonderful professor in high school I don't know if I would have done as well in the class because she does not explain the concepts at all behind the equations she writes in class. DO all of her posted practice exams to study. Those help most.
Dr. Driscoll posts her old exams for students to go back and work through. Almost all of the questions are similar concepts to what will be covered in exams. If you actually work through the homework assignments and through problems in the book you will be fine. Get to know her, she's a very cool person.
She's a very sweet and caring person and the class has things like the lab (which are very long and gruelling) and homework and extra credit to boost your grade up. However, she is not the best teacher and the material/ questions are hard, but if you teach it to yourself and do the practice tests you can do it.
Princess Diana? More like Queen Diana! In a terrible semester, she was a lighthouse guiding me through the world of physics. She has a clear way of presenting the material and her demos are super engaging. Her exams are tough (especially her most recent final), but do her practice exams so you don't struggle to finish the exam on time.
Driscoll is great. Pay attention in lecture and do her practice exams more than once and you should be fine. Easy to get an A with her lab grade and homework buffer.
Cool lady. People just don't try hard enough in her class. Review notes and do practice exams and you should be fine.
She's such an amazing professor who gives numerous chances to succeed in the class. Sure the labs can be a pain, but they're 25% of your grade. Also homework is a large portion of your grade and there are opportunities for extra credit. I regret not having gotten to know her better because she's super engaging and really cares about students!
Overall, She is wonderfully helpful and accommodating and if this were a higher level course she'd be amazing. However, as someone who has never taken physics, I feel like this course is a bit too difficult for a 100 level. If you don't have any physics background, it is difficult to succeed, even when doing tests and other problems. READ THE BOOK!
She is a super friendly and welcoming person but she moves too quickly in class and is very by the book. She is also racially and ethnically insensitive by offering extra credit for attending religious events even if the event conflicts with your own practice.
Labs are rather boring and you do not learn anything from them. You pretty much blindly follow the steps of the lab manual and are expected to know how to write reports with little instruction. That said, if you do as the manual says, it is not hard to get a decent grade.
Driscoll moves too fast, and because the tests are only three questions, if you cannot remember a concept, you're in trouble. The labs are annoying and useless. If you want to get an A on them, you better have someone's old lab and pray that your TA doesn't care. She acts like she cares, but if you reach out individually, she is unhelpful and rude.
Dr. Driscoll is such a sweetheart and cares so much about the students. Yes her exams may be tough, but she does monitor how the class is doing and adjusts the difficulty of the exams based on that (to my understanding). Labs are boring, but not nearly as bad as ochem labs. You won't find such an empathetic teacher as her!
Professor Driscoll is fair, and it is not impossible to get an A in her class especially with the lab grades that can boost your grade. However, it required a lot of work outside of class and was rather difficult for a 100 level lcourse.
Labs are incredibly painful and difficult to understand. She made us buy all of the lab material for the semester and would even continue to take off late points if we could not perform the lab because some of the items we ordered were still back-ordered. She seriously made me hate physics exponentially more than I already did.
She made us buy all of the lab material for the semester and was unaccommodating if parts were on back-order (which they were). Also, she required that we select "ship as parts become available" when ordering the parts which caused the company to charge for shipping every time part shipped. Driscoll did not make a challenging time easier for anyone
First of all this woman is SO RUDE. I am a junior and this is the worst class I've ever taken, I want to throw up thinking about it. We were so underprepared and NEVER GIVEN ANY GRADING CRITERIA. Impossible to get an A. She is the least understanding person ever and even the TA's are rude. Hated this. Hopefully she gets fired soon.
The labs were completed using a rental iOlab device. The labs could be difficult at times and not many instructions or feedback were given. Uncertainty was never well explained and students tended to struggle with it. Either way, reports were graded insanely easy.
Its a very hard course obviously but she really gives you everything you need to succeed. She gives so many practice problems and as long as you make sure you understand them completely before the test you'll be okay. Her grading scheme also allows for you to bomb one exam and still be able to get an A by the end
The quizzes were needlessly tricky, and the lab reports were very stressful and time-consuming (esp the error analyses). However, the lab instructions were clear, the feedback given was fair, and all online resources provided were sufficient. The iOLab was expensive but nonetheless, it was a solid choice for a remote class.
Rude and extremely unprofessional. If you cannot spend the time necessary to address student concerns you cannot handle teaching such a large lab section. Her syllabus is incomplete and also not representative of what you should expect.
Ok. let me break this down for everyone. This teacher does not give two flying cares about her students. She is not accessible by email by zoom or anything. This woman is a real mystery.. who knows what she's up to, since she doesn't grade the labs or help with lab questions. The TA's for these lab range from easy graders to psychopaths. Good luck!
The lab was the worst experience of my life. There is absolutely no freedom in writing the lab, there is absolutely no guidelines or required format given in the beginning, but then for every little error you make you lose points. The labs are long and annoying as hell and there is ALWAYS a lab report due on exam day so you can't rest. Rating: 0/5
The online quizzes are so hard, for no reason at all. She basically is looking for ways to trip you up. I also had her for 121L and went to her once for an explanation and she helped in no way, I was even more confused. She also doesn't regulate how her TAs grade the lab reports AT ALL. Your grade literally depends on the TA you get.
tbh idek who she is bc the TAs do everything. lab device was expensive, unclear grading criteria, unclear lab instructions. my ta took off points for the smallest things which would be fine if they actually gave helpful feedback on how to improve but they didnt. super hard quizzes with confusing answer choices. 0/5 but I have 122 after this
The lab instructions are almost a decade old, and are what's gonna take you the whole 3 hours to find out what to do. The class wouldn't be that hard if only we were given proper instructions, labs take 3 hours when they should take maybe around an hour.
Took off 10% for my lab report being submitted 3 minutes late. It was due at 6 and I submitted at 6:03. I explained that I had internet issues and she responded that the rules are the same for everyone.
Few words can really reflect my hatred toward Dr. Driscoll. There are bad professors at Case, lots of them, but at least they have the decency to avoid wasting your time. Dr. Driscoll assigns the most useless, painful, and tedious assignments, often with unclear guidelines and harsh grading criteria. That she is allowed to teach students is a crime
Dr. Driscoll's labs are confusing and very time consuming. She does not thoroughly vet the TA's for the class and the grading scale and difficultly between TA's varies an incredible amount and whether you get a hard or easy TA is pure luck. The lab equipment is old, outdated, and often broken which makes many of the experiments difficult to do.
I had a pretty busy week. We usually have 1 week to submit our lab but once I had my Physics, Chem, Math exam and a competition in which I represented Case Western within the same week. Upon asking for an extension she said you should have prepared beforehand and done your work. The physics department should consider replacing her.
I came in as an intended physics major, after attending her labs i am leaving physics. Peace out
This professor deserves a 0/5 in other words the sky is blue
If you're taking a 100 level Physics course at CWRU, your lab is nominally led by Dr. Driscoll. I'd tell you to avoid her courses, but it's impossible. I say nominally because you are actually taught by TAs and Dr. D is nowhere to be found. She's reachable by email but good luck getting useful responses. The 121 labs suck and were anxiety inducing.
This professor barely helped in any of the labs, aside from only doing demonstration videos. Aside from that, there was not a very clear grading rubric for error analysis parts of the lab, and the TA grading fluctuated either from very easy to extremely harsh. She was also very rude in emails.
Had her for my lab section of PHSY121. You will never see her and the TAs literally do everything. Labs are very difficult to do well on if you are unfamiliar with what she wants.
The labs taught us literally nothing about physics, and more emphasis was placed on error propagation than the physics concepts. The lab manuals are so old, some of them have pictures of the lab room with old-style CRT computer monitors from 2006. Also seems like most of the equipment hasn't been replaced since about then as many items are broken.
Don't take physics labs. They suck. Things we are doing in the lab has nothing to do with the lectures in class. The labs are insanely tedious as well. You get a manual and then you are on your own. There are no further instructions. Good luck with the labs.
Very confusing lab reports that are thousands of words long and unclear in every sentence. Lab reports take hours and are extremely stressful due to the unclearness and confusing wording. TA's are very unpredictable with grading and have no problem taking points on the most minuscule matter at the same time giving perfects without any explanation.
Driscoll runs the lab section for physics 121, and it is by far the worst part of the class. All instruction comes from a 20-year-old manual. It's full of confusing and unclear instructions. Half of my time writing reports was spent trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. Dr. Driscoll herself is fine, but the lab is outdated garbage.
it's an intro to physics class, it's not going to be easy. I think my biggest qualm is that she is incredibly inflexible to students' accommodation requests. She never forgave any missing work, despite having reasonable explanations. She extended my friend's lab report by only 8 hours even though my friend actively had COVID.
Labs were such a waste of time. So much busy work and didn't really feel like I learned anything or enchase my understanding of the general physics course lectures.
Worst person at case, her labs suck. Hope she gets fired.
Poorly formatted lab manuals that are condensed and extremally confusing (more time spent trying to figure out what to do than doing the experiment). Labs are outdated and match very poorly with what Hiren teaches . Grading is often inflated or deflated depending on the TA's mood that day. Overall I learned nothing from this lab and waste of time
Lab instructions are scrambled in hundreds of different pages of readings throughout Canvas. Get ready to spend hours and hours trying to figure out what to do during and after lab. Most of the work for PHYS 122 comes from lab component. Best part of her is she canceled one of the labs for a snow day. Only advice is to hope you get an easy TA.
can't say anything that the others haven't hope you like reading lol
You spend more time learning how to use Microsoft excel than learning physics concepts. I also have personal beef with the iOLab device
The lab reports aren't "difficult" but they're SO TEDIOUS FOR NO REASON. I feel like a human computer typing up every single minuscule calculation into these lab reports. Seriously, doing error analysis by hand is so 1973.
Do not take phys 121 over the summer please. The lecture professor is great but these labs are SO time-consuming to the point where it is impossible to complete them in 2-3 days with a reasonable sleep schedule. They're not "difficult," since you just need to follow instructions. But they are so. TEDIOUS. Error analysis takes hours to do
online 4 week accelerated program was a mess
The labs are very very time consuming and they're not effective at reinforcing lecture topics. The TAs are not very good at explaining the labs and you really need to put a lot of time and effort into understanding the convoluted lab protocols to be successful in the lab. Good luck, and hope you get a reasonable TA!
If I could give this summer lab class 0 stars I would. Driscoll is absolutely unreasonable with her requirements on lab reports and deadlines to submit. Her instructions on labs are very unclear, forcing students to spend hours trying to understand the lab. I do not know how she has the audacity to assign a lab report that is 4,000+ every 72 hours
awful cannot describe this lab class and Dr. D's attitude towards students. lab reports are wordy and excessively confusing resulting in hours of wasted time. Dr. D is very rude towards her students in her emails and expect zero help from her either. unfortunately if you are a STEM, you WILL BE stuck in one of her class
Do yourself a favor and DO NOT take physics lab over the summer
After taking her 121 and 122 lab class, it made me drop out as a physics major. Terrible lab's that requires hours and hours of wasted time spent
Time-consuming and tedious lab report that took up most of my day with very tight deadlines. Gave redundant pre-lab quizzes that were needlessly tricky. Lab manuals were also poorly worded, and many of us had a hard time comprehending it. The only thing you can hope for is to get an easy TA.
the labs were a 1000000x worse than the lecture course. just a misery working though the unclear lab manuals and tough grading. ecstatic that the labs are over with
Not forgiving of mistakes and not understanding of student circumstances at all.
The labs were very time-consuming, which was the physics course's hardest part. The labs took more time than preparing for the lecture. The lab manuals were very confusing and it took more than ten hours to do the lab procedures because of this. The prelab quizzes also added more work on top of this. Make sure to seek help from the TA.
Dr. Driscoll is a fantastic Physics professor. If you take 115, 116 with her, you're guaranteed to have a good time and learn a lot. If you take a physics lab with her, however, her star loses its shine. Dr. Driscoll's vision for Physics Lab is great, but her TAs' implementation is abysmal. If you get a bad TA... oh well
First lab and I want to drop the course. The labs highkey suck
Nice lady in lecture but her labs are bad and her exams were difficult
I love Dr. Driscoll! I was scared to take this class because I've never taken physics, but she really showed me how amazing it can be. Awesome professor.
She's okay in lecture but terrible in the labs. Her exams are diffcult too. she is not an easy teacher
I loved physics before I attended her labs. After doing her labs I am leaving my major as physics. Hope she leaves too before she makes more ppl leave
Absolute misery to partake in Driscoll's labs. Outdated lab manuals from the 1800s that make no sense and have zero application to the classwork. Unfortunately, if you are just about any student in STEM, you will have to take her labs. Good luck... You will need it
Absolute misery to take Physics lab at CWRU due to Dr. Driscoll. Extremely stress inducing labs that are pointless when you put it into the grand scheme of the content in the courses. Her lab manuals are unclear and poorly worded to the point that I've spent more time trying to understand them than doing the experiments
I don't know why the writing is so verbose in the lab instructions and taking measurements feels very inefficient. Its likely that many of the labs were written pre 2010. One lab calls logger pro a "modern windows interface". The version we use was released in 2003. It seems she's fine as a teacher but the labs definitely need to be rewritten.
Labs are such a pain in the neck (have fun typing 15 pages lab reports that teach you more about typing than physics). TA quality/harshness is super varied. Mine was always moody, unhelpful, and a harsh grader. Her excuse: "You simply have to bear the consequences". Vet better TA's!!!!
Only met her once as the class is run by the TA's. Seemed nice. Don't expect much help from them and Discoll with completing the labs. I got a good partner who put in her fair share of the work, but I also know pp; who had to be carried by their partners. This class was just a lot of annoying grunt work more than anything. Never enjoyed the labs
If you want to have zero social life and want to feel bad about yourself 24/7 take Physics and Physics lab with Diana Driscoll
The lectures and actual class content are fine. The labs SUCK. She's not even there for labs, the ur ta is the only one there. You got labs due pretty much every other week that take another million hours to complete. PHYS 122 may not be a weeder class but the lab component def makes you reconsider your decisions and makes you depressed.
The lab manuals are written so poorly and the software is two decades old. You spend half the time just trying to figure out what the manual wants you to do. Your grade will depend entirely on your TA; they could be lenient and help during the lab, but you could also get one who doesn't know what they're doing but still expects Perfect reports
As said before labs were a damn pain in the butt. It did not enhance my understanding of the material taught in class at all because it did not line up with our in-class schedule. Not to mention tedious calculations and reports suck. That being said I personally think that TAs are the saving grace for this class. Extremely helpful.
Dr. Driscoll loves what she does and its reflected in her teaching. She has very clear grading outlines and gives tons of practice before tests. Physics is not easy and most people don't want to commit the time to the course. Do the HW, go to class, ask questions, do the practice exams, and you'll be fine!
Respected professor but unless you put in a significant amount of time to studying, you will struggle on the tests. Final was quite burdensome.
Dr. Driscoll cares an ungodly amount about her students. Grading for 115/116 is generous, do the work and put in effort and you'll be fine. She wants everyone to succeed.
Took online summer Physics 122. Absolutely sucks. You see her once and then never see her again- She's never accessible anywhere and the TAs don't respond to emails. Most of your grade depends on the TA you get. Lab manuals were written 20 years ago and haven't changed, and are SO vague. Lab schedule does not line up with class. Don't take summer.
Absolutely awful. The lab manuals are ancient and do not match the softwares we're told to use in labs. Labs are extremely long. Worst class I've taken at CWRU. Worst class I've take in my entire life.
Honestly pretty fun and easy class. Intro physics isn't all that hard and Driscoll does neat experiments for the class every now and then and lectures are easy to follow. Spam practice tests before tests and you'll be fine. Lab sucks yeah but what can you do about it. Would've been a 5 if she didn't schedule an exam the day before Thanksgiving.
Dr. Driscoll was not helpful at all, take PHYS 121 instead
She's a good lecturer and accessible. The content is difficult and you have to study a lot to do well in the class, but the majority of people get As. She's very clear about what topics will be on the exams and offers MANY practice exams (10+ for each midterm). Just do those and you'll be fine.
Great professor! The material is pretty easy, but the first three exams only have three questions, be careful or you may lose points. However, lab is also part of the grade, and although the reports may be a bit long, they are graded leniently. Homework isn't difficult but can be a bit tedious. Overall, I found it to be a lot of fun.
Lab manuals barely help at all. Students literally have to teach themselves everything single thing in lab from how to do the lab itself to writing the reports. Grade is heavily dependent on which TA you get.
The lab manuals are convoluted and extremely outdated. The labs do not align with lecture and add 0 educational value to the course.
These labs were so confusing that even the TAs were lost at some point. The equipment is outdated and hard to use, and the lab manuals were very unclear. Not only is the lab difficult, the professor herself is also difficult to talk to and extremely blunt. 0/10.
She is one of my favorite professors at CWRU. The materials are hard because it's physics. But Dr.Driscoll is very willing to help students during office hours or after classes. PHYS 115 is harder than PHYS 116. Lab portions are tedious but okay, that make your grade go up.
i love my girl diana. she is the moment. iconic. lovely person. not super easy class though, but getting an A is very doable if you put in the work.
Phys 116 was much harder than 115 for me. i got nearly 10% lower in 116 than 115.
Sweet professor with lots of opportunities for extra credit. The labs are difficult and very tedious and the exam final was probably one of the worst Ive taken. However, the TAs grade very leniently so it's quite easy to get an A (84.5). Classes are not worth going to as she tends to make mistakes during lectures; so just read the textbook.
Summer physics, A = 85, lab is 25%, final is 25%, tests (3) are 39%, quizzes are 11%. Attendance not mandatory except for test days, two labs a week with 1 exam per week. about 6 quizzes per week. Labs are with partners, pick a good partner or lab work will hinder your studying. All content learning is done through lecture videos and the textbook.
Got a high B for 115, but a strong A for 116 because the content just clicked in me more. Sadly I didn't have the best lab partner for 115, which resulted in me writing nearly the entire thing every week. Super accessible (even weekends); you can tell she really cares that her students do well. Lab/test grading was pretty lenient and done by TAs.
I learned absolutely zero things of value. Not remotely alligned with the course. A complete waste of time and hasn't been updated in years.
Mrs. Driscoll was unable to understand human emotion, and would not listen to my side of the story when I got caught for "cheating". I had cited my own lab partner in citations and acknowledgments, and they claimed I didn't, and thats why I got a 42/100 on the DSO EOM lab. What I did was actually allowed by academic integrity rules at Case.
Instructor Driscoll is not the one responsible for the equipment nor is she very present at laboratories. The labs are conducted by TAs who are typically very nice. She can be hard to approach at times and sometimes there can be genuine issues between her and students due to integrity issues, but otherwise she is not as bad as she seems.
Labs were a major struggle - outdated manuals, misaligned schedules, and confusing software. Thankfully, the helpful TAs made up for it. unstuck AI was a lifesaver for lab report prep.
This lab is a complete waste of time. Avoid at all costs. Except you cannot avoid it so good luck.
Driscoll is absolutely the worst teacher ever. Hard to get a hold of and very difficult to communicate with. I wish such awful teachers would not be the ones to assigned to required courses, especially this one since she is such a bad instructor.
This class is actually so jobless. You would think the past exams are fine, and then she puts some brain rot on the exam. Going to lecture is also useless, so I would just watch the videos that she posts. Also, make sure you get a good partner for lab. We would just split the work, and compile it together in the end.
I thought Dr. Driscoll was very knowledgable and understanding. The class is hard because physics is hard. She isn't going to make it easy. An A is an 85 and she offers decent extra credit. The TAs and SIs were all super helpful. I got an A and did not think I would be able to. She doesn't deserve the bad rep.
her grading scale is curved but physics is just hard in general. class averages on her tests are typically around a 65%. she doesn't curve the tests, but hence the grading scale. her lectures are helpful, but i feel reading the textbook on the material beforehand would help understand her lectures better. overall a funny and caring person.
take 121/122 if u can. she is ok at teaching for first 2 tests but after fluids, she rushes thru content and stops doing example questions. tests are rly hard w/ no curve, but u only need an 85 to get an A so u dont rly need to do that good. READ TEXTBOOK! lab grading is easy but reports take like 5 hours/week (more if u dont have prev lab reports)
Absolutely worst experience ever. Labs are so outdated, basically have to figure out everything yourself. All depends on which TA you get. All equipment is outdated. No correlation to the material being learned at lecture. Didn't learn one thing. Complete waste of time.
The tests aren't difficult, but there are some occasions where she throws a hard question out of 3, ruining your test result. Be cautious and do extra practice on the textbook to be prepared. Test 1 is very hard!
Dr. Driscoll is very caring and good at explaining concepts. She is willing to answer questions and has helpful demonstrations. She provides ~10 practice exams for each exam. Make sure you know how to do the types of questions on these and you'll be fine. She also reserves 2 classes before each exam for practice and review so ask for help!
116 is a very doable class. Make sure you go to class the week before the quiz (bare minimum), take notes on what she puts on the board during class as those topics will pop up on the exam. Make sure to do every single practice exam she posts multiple times before the exam and there is no reason for why you can't get an A. She provides everything.
Dr. Driscoll, if you ever see this, please change the labs. I would've actually loved to do simpler things and learned something more profound. This will be my first and only rate my professor.
Driscoll is so random with her questions on exams, often involving types of problems not even covered in class, often conceptually convoluted problems. Her tests itself are confusing where she has typos. In class she often writes equations down wrong just making this more confusing.
Her labs may sometimes be hard to follow, especially since it doesn't correlate a lot with in-class materials (especially PHYS 121), but she is extremely kind and gives a lot of leeway. Her lab manual is easy to understand. your lab experience mostly depends on what TA you get.
The labs are tedious (they somewhat have to be, but it is excessive) and are a lot of (not overly difficult work), but Dr. Driscoll is one of the most accommodating instructors you will ever have. If something serious comes up as long as your four year advisor is kept in the loop, your grade will not be impacted in her class
The day before the final she went back and cut my lab grade in half.
I think the amount of students caught for plagiarism per semester is ridiculous. It's usually due to using past lab reports for equations. Just make sure you cite to cover yourself, but you may get points taken off anyway. Overall, I liked Dr. Driscoll's teaching style, but the exams were harder than homework and lecture problems.
this class is actually so overhated. please take this over 121/122 especially if you are premed cause the algebra based physics is exactly the same as what shows up on physics. you also only need an 85 for an A so you dont need to do that good on exams. HIGHLY RECCOMMEND. she really cares about students as well.
Awful. put so much time into this class just to be wrecked by her final both sems. tests are unreasonably hard and i don't feel how i performed on some represented how well i understood content. labs take forever. she also doesn't let us see our final exam grades and doesn't want to be bothered after the final. not like it's her job or anything!
No patience; No respect for international students; Mean; Not helpful
Instructor Driscoll is not the one responsible for the equipment nor is she very present at laboratories. The labs are conducted by TAs who are typically very nice. Equipment fails a lot more often in this laboratory which can be frustrating and time-consuming but overall nothing major. Please do not miss a lab, you'll be kicking yourself.
If you are PREMED, then TAKE THIS CLASS. I highly recommend Driscoll for the MCAT as I literally didn't even have to study and got a perfect score on the section. Sure its harder than 121/122, but not that much harder. Also, if you want a good MCAT score, her class basically just teaches content covered on that with practice questions given as hw.
pretty forgetful, hard to work with
She has her favorites and it will be very clear who they are. If you're not her favorite be prepared for her to grade you harder and make it known she thinks you don't deserve a good grade. Genuinely one of the worst professors I've had at CWRU
Dr. Driscoll is just your average physics teacher in terms of teaching. However, you can tell that she cares about the class. If you attend lectures & take notes (or watch the videos), you should be fine. However, the lab truly sucks. They are outdated & overcomplicated & should be redone. Thankfully, the TAs will generally help you a lot in lab.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
53%
Textbook Required
14%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.47 avg changeRatings by Course
PHYS1151
4.5
(2)PHYS115116
4.1
(11)PHYS1156
4.0
(4)PHYS115
3.6
(32)P115
3.3
(7)Difficulty by Course
PHYS11511
5.0
PHSY121
4.8
PHYS121LAB
4.5
PHYS122LAB
4.4
PHYS122
4.3