Duane Deardorff
Physics & Astronomy - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2.7
Quality3.9
Difficulty35%
Would Retake89
Reviews35%
Would Retake
89
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
13
4
17
3
17
2
13
1
29
What Students Say
“Avoid the scale up classes for your own good”
PHYS117 - 3.0 rating“Very passionate which is great but poor lecturer”
PHYS114 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
92%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.18 avg changeRatings by Course
PHYS101
5.0
(1)PHYS510
5.0
(1)PHYS104
4.0
(1)PHYS117
4.0
(3)PHYS118
3.7
(13)Difficulty by Course
PHY115
4.3
PHYS104
4.0
PHYS101
4.0
PHYS118
4.0
PHYS114
3.9
Reviews (89)
VERY boring and a major dork. A lot of work comes along with this class, like multiple homework assignments a week. tests are hard and multiple choice because he doesn't word them right, or sometimes doesn't put the correct answer as a choice.
Duane is an amazing teacher for those who want to do well. He is always willing to work through confusion with you. Homework is intense and intro physics is not a class during the summer, considering we conver a chapter a day. Deardorff is, however, a passionate instructor who lives for learning. for the record, I'm no genius, I did well, not great
Awesome professor! Has a wonderful way of taking difficult physics concepts and making them understandable.... very committed and dedicated to teaching and is one of the best physics professors I've encountered. Makes physics quite interesting and even fun. Very willing to work with students and answer questions. Really cares about students.
Avoid the scale up classes for your own good. Basically nothing is taught in these classes and you are responsible for not only teaching yourself all of the material outside of class, but also a maddening amount of short and long lab reports and homework assignments. Class attendance is mandatory for some reason, despite being completely useless.
Extremely helpful outside of class; would recommend. You get out of it what you put into it. Took the SCALE-UP version, which I considered extremely helpful compared to normal lectures. SCALE-UP makes it easy to ask questions and to receive help from one of the two professors or two TAs (all in class at the same time).
Great Lecturer and really tries to help you learn the material. Took the scale up version which is definitely better than the normal lecture. Inconsistent grading but it's not his fault that the TA's suck.
I do not like him. He expects us to have this wide array of knowledge of the world and then gets disappointed when we dont know some random fact. Third test was absolutely impossible.
Very passionate about his field, but his tests are tough. I've taken advanced courses in the other sciences, but it was nothing like this. Physics everyday is a drain, and there's so much homework that is only moderately helpful. Studio is long and tedious but good for your grade if you do well.
Disappointed. Professor claims to have a degree in Physics Ed but gives unclear lectures. Makes errors frequently.
Dr. Deardorff was a great introduction to college physics. He was funny and lighthearted (and a little nerdy) but really wanted students to understand the material. It's a tough course, so taking advantage of office hours and TA time in studios is important. He was very organize. Tests were fair and predictable, but still challenging.
Professor Deardorff is hilarious and tried to be as helpful as he could in class. Nevertheless, PHYS118 is just a hard course of especially first-year students and needs a lot effort to get a good score in test. Professor Deardorff also had good grasp in juggling balls to demonstrate gravitational acceleration. Make sure you search him on youtube!
Solid choice for a physics teacher. Class is co-taught and is reversed classroom so he only taught 2 weeks a month and didn't lecture that much. Can be kind of rude in a funny way but he can juggle so class was entertaining.
Very passionate which is great but poor lecturer. Over complicates things and relies too heavily on his toys. It keeps you awake in class but I don't care if he can juggle or not, he needs to explain the concepts better. He gets his directions messed up and confuses himself and us.
He is a great lecturer, and he explains topics pretty well. He has fun anecdotes and cheesy demos, but he helped structure this class in a way that optimizes learning. This is still a very hard class with difficult material--if you don't put in the work outside of class you will not do well. Good professor for an 8AM class.
Dr D is a gem for studio and gives subtle hints at test questions all the time. He likes to spurt some fun in when he can, he answers questions pretty transparently, but expects good work. I'd take his class again, no doubt.
Deardorff is actually a great professor. He does a really good job to help you understand physics, and in a fun and engaging way. Go to his office hours, and he will really help you understand the material much better. Do not be afraid to ask questions in his lecture.
He is a very caring and enthusiastic professor. He makes a pretty confusing class enjoyable for all of the students. You can tell he truly loves what he does. Read the material to get a better understanding of the topics because it will help the concepts stick better to your brain. Study the practice exams and you should be good.
The way he explains things isn't always clear, but he cares and is approachable. Class is made more difficult than it should be - seems they are always inventing new problems to trip you up.
Good guy who really cares, just ask questions!
Dr. Deardorff's lectures left a bit to be desired. His explanations were okay but he was bad at answering questions. He definitely seemed to want his students to learn, but was simply not the best at conveying the information sometimes. This class will be hard no matter who you take it with though, so Deardorff is overall not a bad choice.
Its obvious that Professor Deardorff means well and is a nice guy, but he is not good at explaining things and answering questions. I'm guessing that the time pressure of the summer session must have made him spend less time explaining things than normal, so I would not recommend taking him over the summer. He is also condescending at times
Solid professor: reasonable grading standards, and one of the better that I've had. Very caring. He writes thought-provoking test questions which require critical thinking; this was my favorite part of the class. His explanations and lectures were long-winded at times. But overall, good pick.
wasnt helpful, you have to teach yourself. He didnt finish lecture bc he ran out of time.
If you don't have to take this class, don't. Surface level lecture for intense in-depth exams. Rarely shows calculations (during lecture, where it honestly matters more) and talks instead. When he does show calculations (in studios), they're over the top and almost never show up on the exams. Get some physics background if you must take him.
His lectures are very vague, and then the tests are in depth questions that you might have seen maybe once in a homework that you did three weeks ago. The wording on his exams is meant to trip you up. He is a bit condescending when the class does overall very bad on the exam, saying "the exam was very easy," and will not really work with you.
PHYS 118 is incredibly hard if you don't have a physics background, but it's doable if you do all the homework, try in your studio, and get help when you need it.
I think Dr. Deardorff gets a bad rap. I found his lectures clear & engaging, and he was always so kind and helpful. Exams are very generous with points. Studios are tough but designed to make you actually engage with the material and learn. Dr. Deardorff will spend as much time with you as you need to understand the material (esp in studio)
Dr. Deardorff is a solid prof for PHYS 115. His lectures were pretty good, although I thought he went too fast at times. The class is structured fairly with a bit of extra credit built in, which is really nice. Overall not a terrible class if you put in some work, although I found the concepts harder than 114
This is probably an unpopular opinion but I actually like 115 better than 114. Deardorff is very caring for your success. Studios were helpful but are super long and seated exams are based on what you learn in studio and some similar to the homework. I would have never thought that I would enjoy physics!
Dr. Deardorff clearly knows his stuff, but sometimes it seems he forgets this is an intro, non-major course. He goes quickly through material, even when it's clear we don't understand it. I appreciate how much he cares, but his half of the lectures were much less clear. Studios can be long but they're productive, and tests are challenging but fair.
I thought I liked Dr. Deardorff, he's a good lecturer & made physics about as simple it could be. Yet at the end, after frequenting his OH through the semester, I asked if he could write me a rec letter & he said "you got a B+, it's not like I could write anything good", the rest of the convo was condescending and uncomfortable. A bad day? Idk
If you are not majoring in physics or if you are not required to take this class, don't take it because it is useless. This class gave me anxiety and fear throughout my entire semester. I worked so hard and I spent all of my time completing about 124 papers(assignment, quizzes, exams, warm-up questions, lab work...) and I ended up with a C-.
Unnecessarily hard tests and it is surprising how upper level 400 STEM classes are easier than this introductory level 2 physics class. The physics department itself is bad at UNC and Dr. Deardorff is rude at some times despite the pandemic. We also got points off for not putting our name down on our tests which is very stingy of them. Dont take.
Deardorff is unnecessarily rude, condescending, and demonstrates little to no empathy or compassion for his students. His emails are always laced with sarcasm and hostility, making students scared to communicate with him. Students with the most dire situations have reached out to him, and they're just slapped in the face with his inflexibility.
I really liked Dr. Deardorff and always found him to be approachable outside of the classroom. The exams definitely required some preparation, but were fair and never insanely hard. Overall, I would recommend Dr. Deardorff and had a good experience in his class
Did everything possible to screw up students during an already screwed over semester. Obviously smart but does not know how to teach or explain basic concepts to students not familiar with this type of subject matter. Take it with someone else
Dr Deardoff was never clear with his answers in the QnA sessions we had. The exams for the course were also ridiculous, so much so that 2-3 students would score well out of 300 and that is a source of pride for the phys115 professor team this semester. Very disappointed.
Dr. Deardorff is so much different than some of these reviews describe him to be. I always take RMP reviews with a grain of salt. He is so caring about his students and goes out of his way to help them. During class, he pays a lot of attention to what his students need, and outside of class, you can expect to hear back from him very quickly.
Physics at UNC is horrible. However, this professor is even worse. I did not think that I would have a worst physics teacher than my physics 1, but boy was I wrong. He is rude and not understanding. Take my advice and dont take any physics at UNC. many people in my class were afraid to email him just because of how rude and disrespectful he is.
pretty much the opposite of everything I selected:)
He's a decent lecturer and I personally have not experienced him being rude, he just is very dry and can come across as blunt. He responds quickly to emails (like within hours usually). But, he grades SO nitpicky and you can lose points from using an extra significant figure. You won't follow the lectures well if you don't do the reading.
Dr. Deardorff is the rudest professor I've ever had. He only started being nice after he realized I wasn't an idiot.
Dr. Deardorff can be extremely rude through email and condescending in person. The idea is that a lecture teaches the material on the exam. You would think, that splitting the content into 3 lecturers, that they would be able to find a way to teach the material well and within a lecture time frame. If not, that says it needs to be taught longer.
I only had positive experiences with him but I know other people complained about interacting with him through email. He was amicable in studio and was willing to patiently explain concepts repeatedly. Lectures were easy to follow but midterms were fairly difficult, and studio could be awful if you have a bad group.
Dr. Deardorff is a nice person but his lectures weren't very helpful. The practice questions we had during lecture didn't reflect the difficulty of the exams. The final exam was absolutely BRUTAL and it was much harder than the midterm exams. This is a challenging class and I started off fine, but mental/physical health concerns damaged my grade.
Physics is definitely a hard topic to teach, but Dr. Deardorff does a very engaging job. He obviously cares greatly about his students, and he is very understanding if something comes up.
Actually the worst. The entire class does poorly on exams due to bad questions he 'admits' it by saying we should've done better but have 2 points extra (a TA told me this is his way of admitting when an exam is poorly written). Try and find someone else or take it over the summer if you can. A majority of the class got 0-50 on every midterm.
PHYS 510 is a one credit hour teaching seminar, so different from the classes he usually teaches, but he did a fantastic job at explaining concepts, getting us involved, and I really felt my teaching improve tremendously over the course of the semester. There's kind of a lot of work for 1 credit hour, but still less than a 3 credit class.
Duane doesn't seem to care about his students. The phys 114 instruction team was rude and condescending. When I asked questions I was met with "well this is easy" rather than an explanation. Studio is really the only place you learn, lecture is useless other than participation points.
When I took this course, this man did not do anything to help students. He simply sent out email reminders about suggestions to improve your grade and inputted grades into the system. He is also very insensitive and is a culturally incompetent person. I would not waste your time to meet with him or anyone in this department. Take physics elsewhere
Do not take this professor. Professor does is not very helpful, not really good at explaining. Take this class with someone else please.
exams are extremely difficult and often so unlike anything we have seen or are given that studying becomes futile at a point. says it is to better challenge us to understand the content conceptually but if that were true our other assignments like HW and studio would reflect it. does curve slightly. also rarely lectures, it was usually Dimitri
Exams are quite unfair. This is one of those classes that makes you wonder why you chose UNC. Professors appear more concerned with making their department seem competitive than you learning introductory physics. Exam 2 class average was 52 and median was 50. They did curve, but those raw scores are absolutely insane for an intro class. Avoid.
Take it at CCCC, Dolan and Deardorff are the absolute worst. Insane homework due everyday, studios are intense and exams murder hopes and dreams.
Not bad, though he only lectured for the first (syllabus) lecture. He seems like a good guy the four times I have interacted with him. The class is difficult but if you pay attention to the slides, homework's, practice exams, and Vectorious, you should be good! Also, don't forget to do the warm ups, they are easy to miss.
He is one of the meanest professors I have ever had, and he didn't even teach the class. He did the behind the scenes work, such as responding to emails, and he was so rude. AVOID!
Dr. Deardorff did not directly give lectures. He was more of a coordinator, but he was very responsive to email even with a large class size. I don't think you have any other professor choices when it comes to introductory physics at UNC, but this class' difficulty is reasonable that any hardworking student can get an A in.
Professor Dolan really teaches this class, and she is very difficult to understand as she just reads straight from the lecture slides! Note: Physics is probably a very difficult class not matter where you take it. The exam grades are not curved, your raw score is what will enter the grade book. Try to avoid taking this class at UNC if possible.
I put in hours studying for an exam and ended up with a stellar 39%. The cherry on top? A grueling fourteen-page practice test covered concepts that played hooky on the actual exam. In class, the instructor's "Only twenty percent got it right" prompts are met with crickets. It's like a silent comedy show, starring us as clueless characters!
He is alright.
Tests were fair but lectures were confusing and did not help me learn content. You learn most from figuring out problems on your own in studio.
Not a bad professor, but not a great professor either. This may be due to the fact that it is a large lecture. He essentially would read off of the slides and that was that. Dr. Deardorff is a lovely person though. Very kind and accommodating, but personally I would have liked more engaging lectures.
Tests were generally fair and partial credit was generous. Duane's lectures were bad. I only went to lecture for attendance. The homeworks and studios is where you'll do all the learning.
Professor Deardorff is pretty good at teaching physics to beginners in the subject, but he can be a little condescending, especially if you don't answer lecture poll questions.
Professor Deardorff is one of the most caring professors I've ever had. He truly wants his students to succeed, and goes the extra mile to help. He's super flexible and willing to meet with you outside of class, and also offers extra credit opportunities. About half of your grade is based on assignments, which takes some stress off of exams.
Professor Deardorff doesn't actually teach; he is just the coordinator. That being said, he is still responsive to emails and kind enough to help you if you need it. However, this class can be quite difficult if you don't have physics knowledge upfront. It is fairly difficult, but I appreciate the little bits of EC provided.
Deardorff didn't actually teach, so this is just about 114 in general. The course has a lot of content, and it's important to stay up to date. However, if you can manage to do all the assignments, readings, and studios, the course is actually relatively easy. The hardest part is just staying on top of things. Be disciplined and you got it!
Don't take this guy. Very condescending
I've never felt a need to rate a professor before until taking this class. Professor Deardorff is extremely condescending and passive agressive in lecture and emails. He speeds through slides without any explanation and expects us to know the answer and gets mad when we are not doing well on poll everywhere or the Friday exam prep sessions.
Get ready to self-study the whole class. The content itself isn't hard but he cannot teach, and then gets mad when we don't do well on exam prep sessions. Only surviving because I have prior physics experience. Only positive is that the style of questions on the practice exams are similar to the midterms.
Deardorff does not explain the material at all and is very condescending. He acts like the material is all common sense and expects us to solve problems in seconds and answer them in class (where the majority of the class then answers wrong). He seems like a decent person but is truly a terrible professor.
I think Dr. Deardorff is a lovely person, and he seems very sweet outside of the context of PHYS-114. He is very condescending and snappy in lecture, and is not the most effective at teaching the material. Most of his class is self-taught with the help of TA office hours because the TAs seem very sympathetic about how the class is run.
duane would be a great professional juggler. he is not a good professional professor. extremely condenscending in both emails and lectures and manages to make simple concepts confusing. had a different lecturer for two months and the class did better than previous semesters on the second exam.
Not too bad but his atitude and approach to teaching a physics class rubbed many people the wrong way. Seems like Dr. Hansen put more effort and actually cared about teaching the material where as most of the time I felt Dr. Deardorff just read from the slides and briefly explained some things. Study the material/ do practice exams and you're good.
He is the worst lecturer to ever exist. He reads exactly what is on the slide, shows no work for any questions, and moves on. You have to teach yourself the entire class.
Awful lecturer, mean to students, rushes through lectures, and never shows up in Studio. His co-lecturer, John Hansen, was much better.
This dude stinks. I was in the ER with a university-authorized absence, and I couldn't make up the missed attendance and lab. Lectures are not helpful; you can tell he is very intelligent, but his ability to teach students is nonexistent. You will be fine in this class with a strong math/physics background (take calc first, you premeds!).
Writing this as I actively crash out abt how unprepared I am for the final. The lectures don't go into the depth that you are asked to apply the material on the homeworks and exams. Thankfully the midterms are only 10% each, otherwise I'd be failing. Wouldn't recommend taking this class at all if you have no prior knowledge bc you'll get no help.
Dead serious this guy is the worst professor Ive ever had. I would not take him if again if my life depended on it. This guy is horrible at teaching. I learned absolutely nothing in his lectures and had to basically use ChatGPT to teach me everything. He makes friday exam prep session mandatory but they just make everyone in the class feel stupid
Dr. Deardorff is not a good lecturer, but he genuinely wants you to succeed in his class. But the class is extremely organized, and he is extremely responsive via email concerning absences and excusing missed work/class. The exams were a little unfair but doable. I was super scared of taking physics at UNC, but it wasn't bad with Deardorff!
If you do not have a background in physics the class will be tough. I also advise against taking this course with a stem heavy semester, you will have to teach YOURSELF ALL of the material. You don't learn in class, in fact he says that. Instead, you learn in lab how to do the problems and if your group mates aren't willing to help you learn, GG's.
Very smart professor but it hinders his lecturing ability in that he expects you to understand everything at the same level as he does. The class is challenging but navigable if you're willing to devote the time to it; the units build on each other to an extent. Studio and Vectorious sessions are super helpful, just find a group you work well with.
I didn't go to class so can't say much abt the professor. The class was hard but not impossible. Attend vectorious review sessions consistently, do the homework, and do well on studio assignments (they really cushion your grade). Attendance matters but we could also sign an attendance sheet at the end of class, so I just did that the entire sem.
Lectures aren't helpful, definitely a self learn class. If you work hard in studying/keeping up with content the test questions are pretty fair, but the 50 minute time limit isn't nearly enough to finish. No curves nor rounding grades, the class is fast paced but very organized. Duane is nice and responsive to emails! I was super close to an A- :(
Good professor, sometimes has a bit of an attitude but overall the exams were very fair. Hw was harder than exams and the practice exams he gives out are very similar to the actual midterms so just focus on those. Use exam preps and Vectorious as well. Would recommend to time yourself taking practice exams to get urself used to that 50 min limit:)
He was fair. The class is hard and he understands that, he wants you to succeed but you have to put in the work for that to happen.
The exams are graded well (lots partial), so it is possible to get an A. However, Deardorf is one of the most condescending and rude professors I have ever had. Would not be kind to students when they answered incorrectly in class. When 9% of the class got a question right on an exam he told us we needed to study more...
Exams are only 50% of your grade so studio (25%) really helps bring your grade up. Partial credit is generous, but the class is very self-taught. Manageable as a freshman. 70% of the class got a B or higher, ~75% class average on exams. Utilise practice exams, Vectorious problems, and Friday exam prep sessions.
He was ok. I preferred the other professor (Dr. Hansen). Participation is SUPER important so go to all the labs/lectures. Labs were hard. I failed every exam, but I was able to get a 70 at the end with help from CramBetter and practice problems. If you're not doing well, it's ok just try to get as many points as possible.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
92%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.18 avg changeRatings by Course
PHYS101
5.0
(1)PHYS510
5.0
(1)PHYS104
4.0
(1)PHYS117
4.0
(3)PHYS118
3.7
(13)Difficulty by Course
PHY115
4.3
PHYS104
4.0
PHYS101
4.0
PHYS118
4.0
PHYS114
3.9