2.4
Quality4.2
Difficulty28%
Would Retake95
Reviews28%
Would Retake
95
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
16
4
11
3
9
2
19
1
40
What Students Say
“I recommend avoiding him”
PHYS4C - 2.0 rating“Komine is a nice person but a horrible teacher”
PHYS4C - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
59%
Textbook Required
20%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.26 avg changeRatings by Course
ASTRO20
4.0
(5)4C
3.5
(2)PHYS20
3.4
(5)PHYSICS2A
3.0
(1)ASTR20H
3.0
(5)Difficulty by Course
PHYSICS2A
5.0
PHYS2A
5.0
PHYSICS4B
5.0
4B
4.7
PHYS4B
4.6
Reviews (95)
In all honestly I recommend taking a different teacher if you have issues teaching yourself. He will not go over the answers to any of the quizzes or tests unless you visit him. He teaches you the basics but then throws very difficult problems on the tests that examples and notes do poorly to explain. He's a nice guy, but not a great teacher.
The best word to describe this professor is fair. If you read the textbook, do the homework, and review the lectures, there is no way that you will do poorly. His lectures are very clear and the exams are not too challenging. He provides practice exams and the quizzes help in preparation for the exams. Homework is good to understand the concepts.
If you take this class, make sure you go to office hours. Also, make sure you understand the homework. This class was very challenging. The average grade was below a D. His tests are beastly and do not seem to be related to what he goes over in class. He also returns labs really late. There was a big curve, and he does grade fairly. Put in the time
Teaches the bare minimum like any adequate teacher. Grades according to understanding therefore grading seems harsh. Final grade determined by class. Curves if class not doing well. he goes in a loop when trying to find out what he wants so ask a billion questions. If you keep going to office hours there is no reason why you cant ace the class.
learn to teach yourself. goes off on tangents in class while already lecturing on topics that will not appear on the tests or homework. Nice guy but doesn't teach what he tests you on
Gpa killer. Not clear on what he wants on tests. Takes so many points off for no good reason. He likes to have a low average on his tests. Weird. Bad professor. Doesn't prepare you at all.
One of the nicest professor in IVC who and dedicates himself to the class and also a tough but fair grader. Prof, Komine is kind and always enthusiastic to answer students' questions. It is never a bad decision to take his class.
It is undoubted that Prof. Komine is strict with the processes of the calculations; and students can easily get a bad grade due to incomplete processes. However, with enough time spent on the class, it should be okay for every one to get a good score.
Prof. Komine is one of the nicest professors in IVC, who really cares about his students. Probably he is strict with the processes of your calculations, but it is all because of the requirement of this course. It will be hard to take his class at the beginning; however, you can absolutely learn a lot after the semester.
To quote one of my friends from class, "If Einstein had taken Komine, he would have become a chemist." Komine is an awful lecturer, he makes inappropriate jokes, takes forever to explain simple concepts. Don't expect to build up an effective lab team, because Komine will assign you a new lab team and position every week at random. Avoid if you can.
Komine turns physics into an extremely boring subject. His lectures are boring, he talks so quite that only the front row can hear him, and he didn't finish the last 25% of the course material! Most importantly, he grades exams and lab way too harshly, making it very hard to get an A. All in all, Komine shouldn't be teaching. Take Sim if you can.
He is very unclear about his grading criteria and takes so long to return the work that you don't have much opportunity to improve. Very boring lectures. Primarily math-based teaching as opposed to conceptual, spends a lot of time on proofs no one cares about. Should have been an interesting class but he makes it awful. I recommend avoiding him.
Physics is a difficult subject, but Komine makes it even harder. He's soft-spoken and his vocabulary is very annoying. He says "i.e." and "admittedly" out loud constantly and it gets annoying. He also has toilet humor that's very disturbing. There's online homework that's hard and he doesn't even use it during tests. Take someone else for sure.
Professor Komine is one of the nicest professor ever existed. He might be classified as a hard professor in grading of the assignments, but he wants you to learn the material deeply and understand the meaning of each concepts in details by yourself and his lectures. Attendance is sufficient but not enough for passing the course.
Do well on your labs, study the homework for the quizzes, and practice the questions, exercises, and problems of the book to do well on exams at least 3-4 times. Ask for his help if you don't know what you're doing. He takes off points on labs if you don't put the correct significant figures or if you don't write a good conclusion. Overall, picky.
Lectures can be exhausting & grading style is savage. However, it seems like he really wants students to learn, not just to memorize for a grade. Do not rely solely on lectures if you want an A. READ THE BOOK CHAPTERS, go to office hours a loooot, and be meticulous as hell on labs, tests, and quizzes. And don't be afraid to ask lots of questions.
Komine is one of the toughest graders I have ever experienced... with that said... the class is curved. You still have to work hard to get a good grade, but its physics, that should be expected. His class is super structured. He is also very helpful, especially in office hours.
Simply put Komine's class is difficult but not impossible. He's a great teacher no doubt. It's actually very impressive how great of a teacher he is. But there isn't enough class time to make students understand everything 100%. You have to put in a lot of time into the class to even pass. Go to office hours, work hard, and don't slack
An easygoing guy with very dry humor. Ask him any question, even a silly question, and expect straightforward answers. Grading is draconian but there's a curve. Yes it's a bell curve but surprisingly it helps because typically you only need 80% to get an A. Don't need to memorize equations there's an equation sheet.
Great teacher. Spends class going over the basics so you understand where the material comes from, and expects you to learn the rest yourself. If you aren't a good self-learner, this will be a problem for you, but for me it's much better than learning how to plug and chug equations. Tough grader, so be meticulous and check your labs at office hours
Komine knows his stuff in regards to physics. Physics is just very hard to understand in general. His grading makes you feel like you do not know anything. He gives no partial credit to the point where you may have a 45% and have an A in the class. Tests are extremely difficult. When you ask him questions he doesn't give you the answer.
The "Gupta" of Physics!!!!
Mr. Komine is a nice person but a horrible teacher. He himself makes terrible mistakes during the lectures but he expects you to be 100% correct on everything. Tests are nonsense and impossible.
Prof. Komine's Astronomy 20 class was great. Words of advice: Don't miss lecture. Even though he post the slides you want to hear him explain everything. Also, take notes during class and don't get behind on reading the chapters at home. Weekly quizzes, two exams, a group poster project, and then the final. Overall he is one of my favorite profs.
easiest professor. GPA bumper!
You can show up for the weekly, 5-question quizzes, the 3 big exams, and the poster project and get an A. Just 2 negatives: I didn't know the textbook was available online for free before I rented it, and the professor uses somewhat older videos and pictures(they still get the point across). It was a great class, I'd absolutely take it again.
Takes off so many points off of ridiculious things, things unrelated to physics. Your scores will not really reflect what you understood. His grading is at the point of arbitrary. Seems like a nice guy but not qualified to teach this class or grade when his grading is based on no rubric or clear guidelines. Not a fair class. Save the stress & avoid
Your grade does not reflect your understanding of physics since he grades so harshly with no rubric to follow. May be an easy pass b/c he does curve based on a bell curve of the class but if you need a solid understanding of physics for future classes don't take. Be extremely meticulous on labs you will lose meaningless points everywhere.
Prof Komine is a nice person, but he's a very tough grader and makes you question if you're capable of higher education. His lectures are often unclear and you lose track of what he's talking about. Exams are proof heavy and not the usual physics test you usually take. Labs are graded meticulously. There is a big curve at the end though. Good Luck
Nice enough but structure makes material much more difficult than necessary. Lectures are unclear and the schedule causes the material to be so rushed when you ask him to explain he says no b/c he is behind. Hard to study in advance for tests b/c he is still teaching most of the material only a day or 2 before exam. Labs graded very strictly.
PROS - very nice person, will help gladly if you ask - responds to emails promptly CONS - lectures are 3hrs long, mostly deriving equations, not too useful - any examples done are basic compared to exam - harsh grading, very little partial credit (exam avg's are 20-30%) - weekly quizzes - class graded on a curve
His lectures are very clear and he makes all the topics easily understandable. Though class is not mandatory, I would definitely recommend going because there are weekly quizzes based on the lectures and it's much easier learning the material from him than the textbook.
Eloquent. Articulate. Explains derivations in tremendous detail. Shows where everything comes from. Does not cater to the lowest common denominator. I wish I could have had him for all my physics classes. His teaching is truly extraordinary. The way he shows general derivations teaches you how to truly think through any problem.
He's a really nice guy (and cute) but his lectures and study guides have nothing to do with the exams which make them extremely difficult and makes this class way too hard for just a GE. The class is just 5-10 HW Q's every week and you are quizzed on them the following week, 1 poster project, 3 exams, and he gives 1 easy extra credit assignment.
Took Komine for Phys 4B at IVC. Absolute worst professor I have ever had. Lectures are unclear and do not pertain to tests. He copies tests questions straight out of the book, but grades so hard that the average is usually around 20% on tests. Did not learn a single thing the entire semester and still passed. Doesn't answer emails.
The worst instructor ever, don't take him. He tries to challenge the students rather than teach them. the average score for the entire class doesn't exceed 25%. don't take him.
A lot of derivations and in depth examples in lecture. If you've taken MATH4A before this, its pretty boring. Weekly quizzes on lecture material, and this professor allows for corrections. Exams are terribly difficult, class average on these ones was about 24%. Grading is unnecessarily strict on the exams and labs. Generous class curve.
I would not recommend this professor to anyone. His grading is way to strict and he seems to take out his insecurities on the students. He makes horrifying references in class and you will literally dread physics because of him. I no longer want to be an engineer because of him. This was the worst class and worst professor ever.
Extremely difficult class. Labs are graded very harshly, but if you go over them with him during office hours, he will basically help you write them. Quizzes and tests are literally book questions, with the same values and numbers. The only way to pass the tests is to write out and memorize all the 2 and 3 starred homework questions. Heavily curved
I really wouldn't recommend this professor. His syllabus didn't communicate the parameters of the course & when I asked a question about it, he became passive aggressive. I found him to be fairly insensitive in general, & he didn't care when the online test crashed mid-way through. I'm a fairly dedicated student & don't usually struggle w/ profs.
Hands down the worst online Professor I have ever had. I took him for general astronomy, which you assume would be interesting and not too complicated. None of the 250+ study exam questions he recommends are on his test (yet he said they would be) and questions even related to those weren't on the test. I have so much to say but never take him.
This professor is nice but he doesn't actually teach. Instead you watch old lectures on YouTube that were recorded years ago. There is so much material he goes over for one test, like 13 chapters per test and its not easy stuff. He only allows a note card on each test so it makes it impossible to pass. Would take again but with a different teacher
He gave a lot of information in his lectures making it very clear. The homework somewhat related to the lecture but was very hard. His tests were very difficult because he never told you what would be on them. He just gave review questions that did not relate to the topic of the exam. He has one extra credit assignment and one paper that is easy.
He assigns very little homework. He also assigns an essay that is due on the class before the final, it's graded easy and worth about 10% of your grade. His tests are awful, the stuff he tells you to study accounts for 1 out of 51 questions, and the class average for my class was around 60 for every test, which are slightly curved.
Doesn't assign much in the way of homework. What is there, is easy. Term project as well, easily graded, due one class before the last. Tests are very difficult, due to not being assigned any form of study guide. What is there, often has no relation, or relation to 10% of the test at best.
My class's first test average was a 14%. Our second? 12%. Tests are graded incredibly harshly. There is a bell curve, and even with it implemented, around 60% of my class had failing grades before the final. There are 2 tests & a final, each worth 20% of the grade. The only way you pass is off the failure of others. Take someone else.
13 out of the 21 people in my class didn't pass the class. One person received an A. Average test scores for our 3 exams were at about 10%. He curves, but your grade just ends up becoming dependent on how much the most experienced student knows. Over half our class signed a petition to have an opportunity to get some extra points, but he refused.
He sucks and extremely lazy
I've taken the equivalent to this class at an actual univesity prior to taking it at IVC and somehow, I found this time around to be almost 4x harder. If you want to do well, either show your work literally as if you're teaching a child (no exaggeration you will miss points) or try to switch to another professor.
Just a bad teacher. Everyone above explained already. Don't take him, waste of your time and money.
1) He won't let us use the restroom or leave without hating on us first. 2) Starts class 30 MINUTES EARLY and ends it 45 MINUTES LATE, but gets very angry if we show up ON TIME and/or leave early because we have other classes or responsibilities!! 3) Grades the new homework before even assigned/posted and no one knows its not even uploaded yet!
THE ABSOLUTE WORST! DO NOT TAKE HIM! You have been warned. Not a single good quality about this professor. Passive aggressive, lazy and extremely nit-picky. Big regrets staying in this class.
There is class time, but he just makes you watch videos so there is no reason to be there. The tests are hard than they should be with no study guide. He is also not very forgiving to students although we are dealing with online learning in a pandemic. DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR.
Speaking as one of the few who got an A in this class, if you want a chill physics class take someone else. The only way I got an A was taking really good notes from his videos, skipping derivations to save time, and doing ALL the quiz suggested problems and exam problems. Tbh I used chegg on the homework problems and treated quizz sugg as "hw"
I don't understand why everyone thinks he's a bad professor. I enjoyed taking his class and he taught me a lot. As long as you watch the lectures and do the work, you can succeed. He is also very nice (responds to emails in a timely manner) and I thought his lectures were also really funny and entertaining.
One of the worst professor I ever had. Doesn't give clear directions to think he wants to grade, so your stuck guessing what is the right way to answer things. His lectures are awful, he is so lazy that he recoreds lectures and let's us watch youtube videos instead of teaching us. basically i can just go to youtube instead. terrible at explaining.
This is not an introductory course whatsoever and dives very deep into all the aspects of astronomy. The content is extremely difficult and impossible to learn because all the guy does is repost an old youtube vid twice a week. The tests are extremely different from lectures. No late work. Said the class would be hybrid only the tests were irl.
Astronomy was super fun and interesting while in Komine's class. Very respectful and inclusive. He's also at nearly all of his office hours. 10/10 would take again!
Worst professor/ teacher I ever had. Took multiple physics classes before and passed them with high grades, but he will just take points off for fun. Also, the curve is not fair for the size of the class. DO NOT TAKE HIM!!!!
Very harsh on grading. Constantly takes off points which lowers others grades. Really frusterating in all honesty. Recommend to be careful and study hard when meeting this professor's standards.
Although he may be nice and friendly during lectures and labs, when he is grading exams and labs he is on a warpath. He takes points off of the smallest mistakes which go a long way to failing you as these labs are 50 percent of your grade. Showing up to lectures is almost worthless because the material on the exams are nothing like classwork.
DO NOT TAKE THE CLASS if you're taking it for credit. This is NOT AN INTRO class and the tests show. Definitely one of the hardest classes I've ever taken.
One of the best professors for the science class I have ever taken! As long as you participate in his classes and do all your assignments ON TIME, you will easily pass this class. He is very precise and understanding when it comes to lectures.
He is passionate about astronomy, but If you cant commit to reading and heavy lectures online then dont. If you apply yourself in his class it would be an easy A. Reading is a must to participate in class. humorous but the subject was just too hard at times. He gives extra credit opportunities and he allows us to have a note card for exams.
I considered this an easy class. Homework is similar to exams. Labs were fun as long as you fully understood them. People complain about getting marked down for everything but dont put the write info down. Using correct unit notation in physics is fundamental. He likes to crack jokes too.
Terrible recorded lectures with vague instructions and with harsh grading makes his course a disaster. Gives few practice problems which are significantly less complex than the exam, first test avg was about 16%. He decided to curve the class grade causing half the class to drop. Half of remaining students ended with about a C or below b/c of curve
abandon all hope ye who enter
One of the WORST teachers I've ever had in my LIFE. Study all you want for tests, you WON'T be prepared. The "review" questions he assigns to "help" you study BARELY relate to the test questions. Most of the questions are about the most random details. TONS of reading, lectures are LONG & don't teach anything in relation to homework or exams.
Class started with 30 ppl. More than half dropped after the first Exam where average grade is C and dropping. Every lectures are 1 - 1.5 hrs long Youtube Video, majority of the time is for deriving equation. In Exam, you are expected to solve a problem using only symbols and only substitute numbers at the end. Equation sheets are given.
Worse physics teacher I've ever had expects us to learn off vid of derivation then in class, you have to sit through his boring lecture and then take his tests where the highest grade is a C+ and the class average is 5/25 don't take this due he is terrible worse professor ever he should get fired completely and utterly horrible professor.
Took astronomy, no experience about physics. If you pay attention to lectures, you'll get ~90+ on essentially all tests. I studied for basically none of the tests and took notes religiously in class, class isn't finished but I currently have a 97.4%. Amazing professor, I don't understand the hate. I'm going to try to take his physics class.
while astronomy is a very interesting subject, this prof makes it not super interesting, his online video lectures are boring and don't represent what is on the tests. His tests cover things that wasn't discussed in the lectures and barely mentioned in the book. I wouldnt recommend this prof unless you have to take astr20; also tests use proctorio.
He's such a cool professor! Knows a lot! Answers everything you could throw at him, no matter how dumb the question. Do not mistake his passion and enthusiasm for the class as leniency however. He's the harshest grader I've had at IVC. Exams are very difficult as well, even if you read the text. Fought tooth and nail for a B-.
Much of the material I learned for Physics 20 was through youtube videos and cramming before tests rather than in class. The actual lectures were just three hours of reviewing a ten-question quiz on the subject and we were expected to learn the material outside of class, making the actual lectures very invaluable. Nice professor, bad structuring.
This class was a bit different than what I was used to. We did the learning as homework via online lectures and in class we would answer questions. I read the textbook instead of watching the lectures and that worked well for me. Professor Komine can answer pretty much any question you may have. Overall if you stay on track you should do well.
great professor very very nice
Professor Komine is not as bad as many of his ratings on here, he actually cares very much about how his students do & wants us to succeed. If you do all hw & assignments & get at least half correct on all tests you will pass. Hw correlates to his lectures but the tests are definitely more difficult. He is very chill the tests are just hard.
I would not take Astro again. The tests are pretty difficult and he doesn't release a study guide. You have to be familiar with the concepts. To pass the class, you need to get at least 50% on every test. You watch the lectures and read the textbook at home so you essentially teach yourself. You only show up to class to do review.
His lectures are very math and derivation heavy. This is rough for people who don't like math but really is the core of physics. If you're going into physics or engineering I would definitely recomend his class, it will still be difficultbut worth it. It will be a great way to force yourself into the math. Take a different class if you're not.
Komine grades super harshly and gives vague feedback. When asking him directly for help, I found his explanations and suggested resources unhelpful. The amount of sexual comments he made during lectures also made me uncomfortable. I dropped in the second week and got my money back. There are much better options for physics at IVC. Avoid this one.
DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS HE DOES NOT LECTURE
Don't take
I took this class thinking that it would be an easy way to get some credits. It is not. The only way to learn is through the textbook readings which he assigns so if you aren't fantastic at memorizing exactly all 300 pages of the textbook, you will struggle on the tests, which have very little content from the textbook on them.
There are no class lectures, you have to teach yourself all of the content through the online textbook which requires a lot of reading and memorizing. The tests are hard and don't cover big concepts, but instead little details and facts that are easy to miss in the textbook. Don't take this class if you want to be taught by a professor.
Class is incredibly hard. Tests are unpredictable and can have any material from 10 chapters of reading. No good study guides were given. No lectures either. However is an easy grader. Lots of reading and even the reading doesn't do a good job of preparing you for the test.
did not teach and had tests unrelated to study material
I took PHYS 4A about 7 years ago. This was the hardest and most work class I have ever taken. This includes all classes I took after transferring to a 4-year university and graduate school. My class had classmates who were ie: physics tutor at Kumon and another student who already had a Physics degree, and even they said the class was ridiculous
his lectures are mostly formula derivations with few examples. He'd say we don't have the math background to follow his steps and to just accept them. Tests are mostly symbols with few numbers, a VERY strict grader. Class averages were under 30%.He was the only option when the semester started, but I would've been better off not
Do not expect to pass this class even if you understand all of the course material. The teacher does not care about partial credit at all, if you get one step wrong, he will mark everything following it as incorrect. Tests are insanely difficult with insanely low averages. Ask him questions and he will show he does not care about you passing at all
This professors online astronomy class was not up to par. ExpertTA was used as the online homework system and it is absolutely awful. There was no engagement, or true learning from this system and points were deducted for simply trying. Incredibly vague and open-ended questions plagued the entire class. No lectures or PowerPoints either..
This is the professor your highschool teachers warn you about when they say "this won't fly in college." He does let you use a note card during exams but there's so much information that it's nearly impossible to remember and write it all. I did find what I learned interesting but be prepared for zero lenience. Exams were the biggest con for me.
Normally, the labs are a learning experience, however, in this class, they were more like a heavy burden that crushed me. Our class averages for the exams were insanely low, and he would not curve the exams, leaving most people in the dust. Other than that, he is a funny and caring guy who explains concepts very well. Visiting office hours is key!
The definition of a super lecturer who just yaps and expects students to learn through that. The concepts aren't broken down either. Some weird jokes about human centipede and choking that made me uncomfortable. Exam average this semester (Spring 2024) was around a 50%. No curves were given.
There are no lectures & during class you do homework together. You learn from pretty boring independent reading. Tests cover lots of material & are memorization. Topics covered could've been engaging if lectured, missed opportunity. Instead of just reading the textbook, I recommend @introductiontoastronomy on YouTube. There's videos for each lesson
The class is reading the textbook. I used the audiobook version on spotify and then looked up the concepts on youtube to actually understand them. The homework isn't too bad, but the tests are VERY tough. The study guides aren't helpful either. Tests focus on small details where the book does a poor job covering. Outsourcing learning info is a must
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
59%
Textbook Required
20%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.26 avg changeRatings by Course
ASTRO20
4.0
(5)4C
3.5
(2)PHYS20
3.4
(5)PHYSICS2A
3.0
(1)ASTR20H
3.0
(5)Difficulty by Course
PHYSICS2A
5.0
PHYS2A
5.0
PHYSICS4B
5.0
4B
4.7
PHYS4B
4.6