2.0
Quality4.1
Difficulty15%
Would Retake412
Reviews15%
Would Retake
412
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
412 total ratings5
42
4
45
3
38
2
39
1
248
What Students Say
“He gives one big example of the concept in class and does not clearly explain the key concepts or formulas”
PHY110 - 1.0 rating“Makes the course infinitely harder than it should be”
PHYS110 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
18%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
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+0.04 avg changeRatings by Course
PHYS326
5.0
(1)PHYS323
5.0
(1)PHYS120
4.5
(2)PHYS111
1.9
(18)PHY111
1.8
(36)Difficulty by Course
PHYS326
5.0
PHYSICS110
5.0
110
4.5
111
4.4
PHY110
4.4
Reviews (299)
Very clear, super hard class but definitely worth the effort!!! Made me like physics way more than I did before
Very entertaining and quirky. His lectures focus on derivations which is awesome if you already know how to "do the physics." This course is taught at a much higher level than what you are expected to know to get a good grade which makes it super fun and interesting without being too stressful.
Good: Lectures VERY well laid out and clearly communicated. Likes to do a small demonstration, explain why things happen, then derives the equations in lectures explaining the math behind the demonstration. Bad: Some people didn't like his lecture style, "I usually aim for a 60-65% average on my midterms"
laidlaw teaches stuff which are not relevant to tset and finals.
He gives one big example of the concept in class and does not clearly explain the key concepts or formulas. He will then assign you 10-15 homework questions that you have no idea how to do because he didn't teach you it in lecture. His lectures do not get you ready at all for tests and assignments or set you up well to exceed in his class.
His lectures and examples are extremely unclear and convoluted. Avoid taking a class with Laidlaw if you can.
Makes the course infinitely harder than it should be. Uses his own textbook with terribly inefficient and over complicated solutions to problems. If you have to take this course, expect to be teaching yourself the entire time.
You'd be better off learning from youtube videos than his lectures.
Physics 326 has been the hardest course of my life, but Laidlaw is awesome. I cant speak to how well he teaches first year, but Ive never had a prof explain things more clearly than Laidlaw. Unlike most other third year profs, he clearly explains exactly what he is doing mathematically when deriving theorems. I enjoy waking up for 830 class.
Course content wasn't taught very well. Lot of self learning, the marking criteria was fair. would recommend another prof if possible
His lectures are mostly boring ... though sometimes it's fun to hear about his personal stories and watch him doing demos. Homework questions are way harder than those examples he uses in lectures. Tests are way more awful.
Laidlaw is a descent prof. The only thing I do not like about his is that he just does profs in class instead of focusing on what will be on the midterm/exams. His a longer version of his midterms. DO HIS PAST YEARS MIDTERM and it's an easy A-.
Keep your notes from grade 12 physics and use them along with the textbook. The honework is a grade booster so definetly make sure you get 100 on each one and redo every question before the midterm. I suck at math and physics and was in and out of the hospital and he went out of his way to help me and I ended up with a B. You might cry. I sure did
I didn't actually have Laidlaw as my prof, but but he was course coordinator and offered office hours to everyone in the course. He would always be willing to explain difficult questions, and takes a while, but overall very helpful. He and other profs made the textbook, but let me tell you, USE KHAN ACADEMY. Midterms? Good luck
Laidlaw basically just does proofs in class, and most of the stuff he lectures on doesn't end up on assignments, midterms, or exams. The textbook and lecture workbook aren't that great either. His lectures only served to confuse me, or frustrate in their simplicity (it alternated). Definitely keep your notes from physics 12.
if possible, do not take his class.
Mark Laidlaw has the unique ability of anti-teaching, where you leave a lecture knowing less than before. His voice, energy, and treatment of questions speak of a contempt for teaching that made ME depressed. In the name of self care I was forced to stop attending lectures halfway through the semester. With more characters I could write pargraphs o
Everyone here is inaccurately depicting Laidlaw as a professor. I've had PHYS 110 with him and the midterms are almost the exact same questions as the homework. If 1 or 2 questions on a midterm are more difficult than the homework you cannot give a professor 1 star, that's ridiculous. Read textbook, do homework, and if u want A/A+ do workbook q's.
If you have the chance never take a class with him. One of the worst professors I have had in first year. Does not provide students with enough formulas. Not clear at explaining stuff in lectures. Goes on tangents about his kids.
Don't get me wrong, Mark's a fun guy, it's just his teaching methods that get to me. He can spend up to two one-hour classes complicating a simple example question that's familiar to a grade 12 student. The homework is straight-forward and the textbook only assists you so far. I'd take a different teacher if given the choice.
Worst teacher I have ever had. Unorganized and unprofessional. Markets his other courses every chance he gets and goes on long unrelated tangents. Furthermore, he claims he does not grade on a curve, but then it turns out he absolutely does.
Laidlaw is not very good. If you can, switch to another prof or make sure you can go to another profs lecture. Laidlaws notes are pretty bad and hes hard to understand as well going off on huge tangents. The course itself is not very hard, its basically phyiscs 12 again with some other things. He also wont show you your final exam grade which suck
This was the most poorly taught class i've ever taken. Laidlaw overcomplicates every part of the lecture to the point of incoherence. I attended three lectures and then didn't go for the rest of the semester because of how unhelpful they were. Luckily the material wasn't hard and doing the homework on my own I got a 92%. The textbook is useless.
Over complicates everything. Spends 95% of the lecture time on derivations that are much more complicated than they need to be. Class average on first midterm was 52% and he says it was "good" as it was "comparable to last year" LOL
Spends the whole lecture deriving things and never actually writes down a formula that is useful for solving problems on assignments or tests. The textbook he wrote himself for the course is next to useless. The content he teaches isn't hard he just takes every opportunity to make it more difficult than it needs to be. Worst professor i've had.
Wrote his own version of a textbook which is a difficult resource to work through considering this is a first year course. Lectures focus on overly complicated proofs and have no real structure. Lack of examples in lecture, and too much time spent with silly demos. If you want to challenge yourself you could benefit from laidlaw, otherwise avoid
Avoid at literally all costs. Don't make the same mistake as I did thinking you'll be okay. Whenever I asked a question in office hours he just said "we did something like this in class" and would be no help.
He's a good prof overall. The lectures can be difficult to follow so make sure you do the weekly assignments to understand the lessons. The textbook is incredibly useful. It was written by the department which means it contains exactly the content you need to know, and all the equations you need are listed at the start of each chapter.
Poorly run course
Very poor quality course. Laidlaws lectures are very theoretical and overcomplicate simple concepts. The textbook written by Laidlaw is the most poorly written textbook I have ever seen and the last few chapters were only half finished for some reason. I stopped attending lectures after the first midterm and substantially better by learning online.
Nice enough as a person but incompetent at best as an educator.
Somehow manages to make the most simple physics questions seem unbelievably complicated. Avoid Laidlaw's lectures if possible.
I would not recommend Laidlaw as a professor. I had both Phys110 and 111 with him and they were the least organized and worst taught courses I have ever taken. The lectures are little to no help when it comes to learning important concepts as all Laidlaw does is derive formulas that have no application to solving problems on tests or assignments.
Nice enough guy, lecture is hard to follow but he makes notes clear enough for later when you're doing the assignments. Expectations and midterm/exam formats usually very clear, obviously Covid19 changed this for the last final. His office hours are worthless though, do yourself a favour and go to a different prof if you need the extra help.
his exams are so hard.
He explains material with the quality of someone who drunkenly read through a poorly translated textbook the night before. If you want to contact him outside class, be prepared to be met with curt responses ignoring the question you asked him. His grading scheme makes no sense and seems to depend on the position of Mercury at the time of the exam.
Explains content in the most confusing way possible and overcomplicates everything. Very unprofessional and a disgrace to UVIC and professors everywhere.
Im sure professor Laidlaw is great at physics; however, he is a terrible teacher. He spent most of lecture time going over inane proofs that had no application to the homework or tests. Youll be left to teach yourself the material. He makes everything 100x harder than it needs to be. Incredibly frustrating and poorly run course.
The worst prof Ive had in my 3 years at UVic. Makes physics so much harder than it really is and comes across extremely pompous. Do yourself a favour and just learn from YouTube videos.
Dr. Laidlaw is the worst prof I've had at uvic so far. He makes things way more complicated than it is, he struggles to even form a sentence, and cannot talk fluent proper English. He is useless when it comes to emailing him, and he doesn't even answer your question.
Worst prof I've ever had. Condescending on the best of days, doesn't ever answer your questions, and explains material in the most overcomplicated way possible. Avoid him at all costs. If you do get stuck with him be prepared to teach yourself the entire course
Incredibly arrogant, narcissistic, and unprofessional in interactions both in person and online. Wants his students to fail. Avoid at all costs.
By far the worst professor i had in UVIC, can not explain things clearly. he expects his student to understand the solution without explaining what is happening, gets on to solve the question in the most complexed way that is unrelated to what the curriculum requires you do so and does not explain a single concept of what is happening.
Dr. Laidlaw's online classes for PHYS 110 are aggressively subpar. He provided minimal examples to support theory, the tests/assignments would have questions we had never seen before. About half way through this semester I had to result to asking my roommate (Who took PHYS 110/ 120) to essentially teach me the units. Do not recommend remotely.
Just a bad teacher in general, dont know how to teach at all, dont recommend taking his course, listing to his lectures are no use
Although Dr. Laidlaw may be smart (he has a PhD and has been working at UVic for many years), he is not a good teacher. Often times the assignments cover nothing that he taught. Moreover, Laidlaw has a habit of explaining HOW to do select problems, but never WHY the equations and formulae he uses work; he just expects us to memorize.
He seems to care more about feeling superior to his students than actually helping them learn; he's constantly making simple material seem more complicated than it is and never seems to actually answer questions.
Extremely condescending and narcissistic. Don't bother emailing him, he will always find a way of responding without helping you. Marking on labs is nonsensical. You could easily write a paper that meets all of the expectations of a 4 and still end up with 2's across the board. Avoid at all costs. Worst prof I have ever had by far.
Laidlaw has a tendency to overcomplicate things, so being able to find other explanations can be helpful. The first midterm had a class average of around 40, but he seemed to compensate by making the second midterm easier. Laidlaw provides a perfect example of what it looks like to provide information that is true, but not useful.
Dr. Laidlaws online course is very difficult. His lectures are comprehensive in terms of theory and derivation of formulas, but he gives little examples of how to solve questions that will be found on assignments and tests. Expect to be fully teaching yourself this course. He is not very accessible, I sent him an email 5 weeks ago, no response..
Phys 111(Online) - By far the most stressful and demanding course I have ever taken. It seems more effort was put into maintaining academic integrity than providing the student with appropriate resources to learn the topics. Labs always took a minimum of 10 hours and even then your grade would be a gamble from an unprovided (harsh) grading rubric.
Absolutely terrible professor. Don't bother emailing him he will just turn it around to be your problem. Assigns too many lectures to keep up with and the assignments are 10x harder than the examples in the lectures. DO NOt recommend.
He is just a bad prof, thats it.
Dropped the ball for the online term
online course is tough (not sure about offline), many concepts are explained in a fashion which may not be easy to understand , idk how to prepare for tests. lectures are too complicated.
horrible
Rude. Good luck getting real feedback if you attempt to email him. Imagine doing a 10 question quiz once per week. Not bad, right? Now imagine if you CANNOT return to questions once you've completed them. Did you remember how to do a question later? Too bad, sucks to be you. What a terrible quiz format.
Honestly the worst introduction I've had to UVic. I hope Laidlaw reads the abysmal reviews that he gets on this site. How is he even a professor?
how is this man allowed to teach like damn
Terrible and overcomplicated explanations. Will most definitely make you hate physics, I know I do now.
Absolute joke of a professor. He is the primary reason I transferred to UBC. If that is the kind of professor UVIC hires I don't want to study there.
not very helpful. never really answered students questions. final was weighted too high, and he did not prepare you well enough to do well on the final.
Lecture videos over complicate everything to the point of near incomprehensibility. Several of the labs took nearly 10 hours, there is close to 20 hours of work per week for this class. Quizzes and exams are designed for the average to be around 50%. This being said, he gave a generous mark boost at the end of the year. I would avoid if possible.
AVOID! SO MUCH WORK goes towards this class for no reason. Before even being able to attempt the weekly assignments you have to finish preliminary activities which dont count towards your grade. assignments take HOURS and the lab for this class literally took me 10+ hours to do. i drowned in HW i felt i was incapable of properly studying for tests.
Dr. Laidlaw is a fantastic professor. He is very knowledgeable about his subject and brings an enthusiasm to teaching. He can get a little off topic, but that's what happens when you're passionate about what you're teaching about. He really cares, if you struggle go to office hours! His tests are very similar to homework problems.
Laidlaw is an absolute joke. Literally nobody likes him as he just over complicates absolutely everything. Good luck achieving any type of decent grade in this class as Mark is setting out to destroy you. The labs are irrelevant and brutal. Assignments suck. No study material. If you get this professor, leave the university immediately.
Buddy is an absolute joke
He's a decent teacher, the lectures are actually pretty good. The quiz and test format is so terrible. Quizzes are near impossible to do well on, studying more does not improve quiz grades at all. Also, labs are impossibly long and there's one every week. Avoid this class if you can, it takes up so much time and causes so much stress
In all honesty the content of the course is very interesting. however the format for teaching is lacking. He removes what I call the spark of curiosity. His interest in the students as a whole is minimal. The response time to email can be estimated from either 5 - 10 business days. He does not come off as compassionate, or enthused by his work.
Less than 24% of the students enrolled in the course passed the last midterm before the final.
The hardest class Ive ever taken in university (300 level hard) because Laidlaw typically goes out of his way to erect as many roadblocks to learning as he possibly can in an attempt to "thin the herd". He has admitted he typically aims for a 55% average, and sometimes will attempt to fix low averages overall with grade boosts.
"understanding your subject does NOT mean you are good in delivering the course," that's all I want to say.
Laidlaw is a sassy character but I liked how the class was handled this semester. He taught it well in my opinion but I feel that people coming from highschool would have a tougher time with him.
Feels like you're more of a lab experiment than a student. Semester after semester with the same videos and same fail rate (more than 70%) seems like there's something definitely wrong with the way this course is being taught. yes, it is a hard subject but the lack of effort put into teaching this course is horrible.
lectures are asynchronous and long and I couldn't get a thing... labs take time, tests are tough...
Labs are terrible, take way too long and are hard to figure out. The quiz format was bad because its only based on answer (no part marks) and is one way only. Hes probably much better in person. Lectures are decent but spend too much time on deriving formulas. Its a rough class but theres no real way around it.
Ofcourse mark worked hard this semester to make things easier than that was in phys-111. No doubt mark is an intelligent prof. But he does everything so detailed that one gets confused and hence if phys-111 and 110 was the worst of all. Though mark graded better that last time
The most uncharismatic professor I've ever had. Zero energy during lectures and doesn't encourage or want us to do well at all. Gives 2-3 pieces of homework per week which you have to allocate at least 10 hours of to get a decent grade.
By far the worst notes and class structure I have experienced at UVIC. Notes are extremely confusing to follow along with, as well as messy. Lecture videos are also very difficult to pay attention to and absorb any real information. Truly wish there was another option for professors.
This course was the hardest class I've ever taken. Most of us didn't pass (60%). Take your physics learning and money elsewhere. Not only is this course ridiculously expensive, it is also so hard to get anything out of it. Labs take 6-10 hours of meticulous work. Go to camosun or do it online somewhere else. It isn't worth it. You will not learn.
Incredibly rude, arrogant, and condescending in all communications. Zero empathy, tact, or communication skills; will find a way to blame any error on you. Avoid at at all costs.
The lectures are pre-recorded. Class time is lead by a TA who basically answers the assignment questions for students. While the videos are fine, it's frustrating because if you have a question you can't ask it right away. Also, his quizzes are far more complicated than any of the examples that he goes over. Read text b/c he doesn't cover everythin
Tried to get extra help through email. Only responses were very condescending and unhelpful. Lectures are prerecorded. No office hours with Laidlaw only with TA. Quizzes and homework were of increasing difficulty and not covered in lectures. Only one session of office hours a week before the exam. Do not take this class!
This is a difficult course, but it was made harder taking it with Laidlaw. There was so much work for this class, it was ridiculous. You have to setup the labs yourselves, then perform the lab, which took 6-12 hours, and there's one every week. Plus there's 5 exams plus a final, and weekly assignments. I spent over 20 hours a week on this course.
Laidlaws class was the worst experience of my life. If you email him questions he gives condescending answers and doesnt attempt to help at all. He gives minimal study resources and reuses lecture videos filled with mistakes every semester. His lab manual, which he forces you to buy to get access to assignments, is also filled with flaws.
He is terrible, don't take his class. The online course was a joke. He makes every question longer then it should actually take and makes it way more confusing. I got 93 percent in Highschool and I am on track to probably fail his class. He is late to answer emails.
Worst Physics class of my life. Laidlaw is using the "flipped" method of teaching, which is basically he posts video lectures online and you have to watch them before class. The problem with that is; Laidlaw's videos are pure torture to watch, it's impossible to pay attention because of how many times he goes off on random tangents.
Great teacher but the lectures were posted on brightspace and made to be watched outside of class time. While the videos were very helpful, I found it hard to stay motivated to watch them and go to class.
I actually really enjoyed Laidlaw for PHYS 110 despite what others are saying. If you go to the lectures, watch the lecture videos, and do the work for the course. You can easily do well. Laidlaw did a good job of going over examples in different ways I found his exams very fair.
I can't say much about him as a person, but his entire class and lecturing structure, and testing procedures are astronomically horrendous. Mark, if you're ever reading these comments, there's a reason why so many of us have such similar thoughts about you. It's time to lose the stubbornness. Just listen and adapt for the sake of future students.
So, final exam season 2021. Mark Laidlaw tried two different versions of an online exam which both crashed leaving 800 students without a final exam to take, he implemented this exam after being arrogant and rude to students valid concerns over this exam. Outside of this, his email answers are vague and often condescending.
He never makes anything fairly. The physics labs are basically a separate class on statistics. You have to answer questions on tests using his formulas and they are convoluted and not explained properly. Would not take physics 111 again.
One of the worst teachers you could possibly get in your entire life. His whole goal doing Phys 110 and Phys 111, is to make students feel awful about themselves because of his horrible teachings. Be ready to fail because that's what he does.
Just save yourself the stress and never take a class with this man.
This course was difficult for me because of the professor, not the material. His email responses(if you ever get one) and tone are frustrating, to say the least. They will make you feel small, like you dont matter. One of the most disrespectful professors I have had. Will be taking PHYS120/130 instead of putting myself through PHYS111 with laidlaw
I find it funny that there are so many people satisfied by the image of laidlaw stressing as a result the webwork phys 110 final fail. One of the most condescending teachers. Never so far in university have I been so unnessicarly stressed by a course
Worst physics prof ever
Terrible
Very old school professor who believes arrogance is the key to teaching. Would not recommend ever. Although the content throughout the term is fair, the tests and final exam do not fairly match the material learned in class.
Avoid this prof with subject, unnecessary stress and anxiety. Just bad
The labs do not relate to the course in any way, and while graded easily, are extremely time-consuming. The only resources given to us outside of class are a redundant textbook and mediocre lecture videos. The quizzes are a joke, and the redesigned online final format was a joke. Good thing it crashed, even though we are now doing another exam.
final exam held January 15th, nuff said
Very ignorant, condescending, disrespectful professor who doesnt care about his students. Aims for an insanely low average on the final that we need to get a 50% on to pass, makes the textbook he made mandatory for students even though nobody uses it and schedules an exam during the next semester because of his mistake. Avoid this man at all costs
Though my final grade has yet to be determined due to the "PHYS 110 incident" I have enjoyed the course. The content is very challenging, especially if you have not taken BC Physics 12. That being said, Dr. Laidlaw is a very funny and personable lecturer and he really does care. Taking PHYS110 with Dr. Laidlaw has made me want to take more PHYS.
I think most people don't like Laidlaw because PHYS110 is a difficult class in itself, BUT the prof himself actually isn't too bad, he's funny and tries to assure students if they apply themselves they will succeed in his class. I failed because of my own personal lack of motivation and laziness but Laidlaw is a pretty supportive Prof.
Laidlaw was extremely unhelpful in terms of answering questions on lecture material. I pretty much had to teach myself the entire course.
Laidlaw cares. To open, I failed his class the first time because a) its hard and b) I was lazy and didnt do the work. That is the only reason you will fail his class. Hes not arrogant, hes just really, painfully awkward but its just as apparent that he actually cares about his students. Just dont expect to get easy or free marks like I did!
He isn't nearly as bad as most people are saying he is. Of course, the final exam crashed which was very unfortunate but he as a teacher he isn't horrible. I found the extra videos are hard to watch due to a lack of motivation but I found his lectures alright. He is just very very awkward.
Confusing. The class makes you feel like you know less than you actually do. Avoid if possible, but if you MUST: dont bother with their videos or textbook, skim lecture notes for formulas and practice questions, and focus on assignments. Do all practice questions you can find.
Physics 110 final 2020 fall was a huge fail
With covid we have to watch 3 hours of lectures a week on video, and then also attend 3 hours of lectures in person a week. 6 hours of lectures per week for a first year physics course seems a little bit crazy. He also OFTEN makes mistakes in his videos which will leave you lost until you go and check the notes he posts after.
so awful
Laidlaw bad
Horrible prof, is not a good teacher at all, makes learning physics impossible. Condescending to students when they ask questions in person and in email. Unreasonable labs that had nothing to do with exams/course content. Online final exam was worth 60% and was over 4 hrs. Do not take any courses with him, avoid at all cost!
Physics 110 is the hardest course Ive ever taken, and Im 1 year from graduation. Every 300 and 400 level course Ive taken was WAY easier than his course. Avoid at all costs.
Very hard to follow along with when he was explaining concepts. Had us watch online pre-recorded lectures and still taught in person during lecture time which was very overwhelming.
Genuinely sucks
Just the fact that he sells his own textbook and makes it mandatory to start his course is enough said. I took and passed Calculus III (Vectors-math) beforehand and when Laidlaw was explaining the concept of Vectors, I barely understood what he was trying to teach. From this point on I knew that we would be in for a rough ride in this course. Avoid
1. Don't miss labs. 2. Don't miss any assignments OR quizzes AND lab submissions (final grade is based of off how much a student was engaged in a given term, so this matters even if your test result gets tanked - gives you better odds). 3. Take MATH100/109 before the term (if you can). 4. Don't give up / get your hopes down. you'll be just fine.
This guy sucks.
garbage teaching, materials taught do not help with tests, 80% of test questions are reliant on previous questions being correct. dropped and lost money but worth it as i won't ever take him again. he's better than a grade school teacher but worse than a high school teacher.
This guy sucks. Again.
Awful prof. Avoid at all costs. Take first year physics elsewhere.
Underated.
Laidlaw really cares if you try hard in his class and complete all of the assignments and tests. If you don't try, he isn't nice, but a little bit of effort = a pretty good professor. I liked the teaching assignments and online lectures for slower paced learning.
There are no words to describe how awful of an experience this class is, but here is the TL;DR. The lectures are unhelpful, though, occasionally something useful shows up. Basically high-school physics with a twist. The lab worksheets, though, will ruin your weekend. Also, he makes us buy the textbook. BY HIM. (Haven't used it ONCE).
AVOID
This guy was the worst experience that I have had with a professor. Do not take his course, lectures are useless, his explanations are unclear, he makes your feel dumb for asking questions. Felt like an online course because of how many videos he made us watch, please take this course with a different professor. For your own sake.
Mark Laidlaw is the perfect first professor, a splash of cold water as to what university is going to be like. The course itself is pretty hard, but he does a really good job explaining the theory behind things, and has great resources for learning, as well as a house made textbook that is great. If you put your all into this class you will succeed
Laidlaw is not as bad as these reviews show. Coming in I expected a lot worse than how Laidlaw is. I dont think people give enough credit to him. The courses he teaches are among the most difficult of first-year courses so he knows what hes talking about. Only thing is he can be awkward during lectures and sometimes struggles to reply to emails.
Laidlaw gets too much hate. The course was difficult, but if you do really try, you should do well. The final this term had questions that he made easier than he had too ie. giving us info instead of making us find it by equation substitution. He is quite awkward and the lecture videos are long, but the class is doable if you try your best.
go to his lectures for entertainment, not actual learning
I find it super interesting how he reads these reviews but changes nothing about his course in response to criticism. He genuinely does not care about student success. Also interesting how he's doing research on test taking and makes final 50%... as if one test is indicative of overall performance/understanding...
very awful!
Offers zero explanations Avoid at all costs ZERO empathy or remorse deletes lecture videos after a week or two
I took physics 110. I took physics 111. bad. bad again.
He doesn't know how to teach. It is with deep sorrow that I suggest not even my worst enemy to take his class. I believe the system has let us down one more time by not keeping in account the price we have paid to take this class before hiring a bozo. If one is teaching a class ONE MUST LEARN HOW TO TEACH. Do better UVic.
The text book used in this course is completly useless, you have to buy it to do the homeowork. I reccomend you get yourself a different text book, I used my sisters from UBC it was a lot easier to read. The course is tought in a way that really smart advanced accademics think thinks need to be tought, but in reality its a terrible way to learn.
Laidlaw's method of teaching and his course coordination are not the best. His lectures are confusing (learn somewhere else), the lab is a statistics course within itself, his MANDATORY textbook is not written well for entry level students, and don't get me started on the exam of Fall 2022. He is not just awkward but straight up rude to students.
He is outright rude when you ask for help. I've never had a professor be sarcastic to my face when I attended office hours after failing a midterm before. He is the Regina George of Uvic.
He was horrible
Absolutely ridiculous course nothing was good about it. The labs take forever and the manual is impossible to understand. Highly recommend doing anything possible to get as far away from this guy as possible.
Practice problems are the only way to learn. The lectures are a complete waste of time, and his idea of using lecture videos that he only leaves up for a week leaves you with virtually no way to review for the final. He manages to use an entire lecture to go over 1 MAYBE 2 practice problems and they are always the easiest ones possible
My contact with him outside of class was all pleasant. Lecture videos were made unavailable after a week thus making studying harder. Labs felt time-consuming and somewhat repetitive but a good grade booster. In-person lectures are good for assignments. Some concepts worded weirdly - making it confusing. If you make the effort, you will do alright.
Laidlaw gets lots of hate, but he's by no means as bad as everyone says. He's actually a pretty nice guy, just a bit awkward/blunt. His grading scheme gives you the best grade possible, exams are fair, and lecture videos aren't necessary if you attend the alternative profs lectures. This course is tough, but you'll do fine as long as you study:)
avoid at all costs. he does not care about his students at all. the fact that he has gotten so much criticism and doesn't respond to it at all tells you everything you need to know.
Just bad. Inaccessible, not great at explaining, struggles to adequately answer questions, and course doesn't properly prepare you for exams
Mark Laidlaw is not a bad person but his lectures leave much to be desired. His lecture videos are overly long and sometimes confusing and he is absolutely ruthless when it comes to grading. The worst part about Laidlaw is his textbooks. $67 for an online textbook that you wrote??? I get why he does it but I still don't think he should.
Laidlaw is a great guy and a better teacher. I loved his self-made textbook and his funny jokes.
This course and Prof made me want to quit UVIC. Can't believe I had to pay for this!
The final exam marking doesn't add up. Myself and 6 friends got vastly different marks on all labs, assignments, and midterms. We all got exactly 75%. We all also retook the class and had within 3% of each other last semesters mark. He gives you the final mark he thinks you deserve, not what you mathematically got. Labs aren't even about physics.
Just terrible. Laidlaw is the worst professor I've ever had without a doubt. He expects you to both attend lectures and watch his online videos. I found neither helpful and would watch youtube videos of professors who actually knew how to teach instead. Labs have absolutely nothing to do with class content and are the biggest time consumer.
he talks about random stuff and rambles way too much, basically short story long...
Terrible, both 110 and 111 were absolutely horrendous. Having an extra three hours of online lectures outside of class is unacceptable. "Higher" physics, 120 and 130 are easier and more manageable than this course. AVOID IT
Laidlaw just rambles incoherent nonsense in every lecture, then makes you watch 3 hour long videos online that hold no relevance to what he spoke about in class. His uptight and snooty attitude made every interaction with him unpleasant and made me a lot less interested in a subject I used to consider a passion. If you can avoid this course, do so.
Laidlaw just rambles incoherent nonsense every single class, then make you watch a 3-hour video that has no relation to what he mentioned in class whatsoever. His snooty and uptight attitude has made every interaction with him unenjoyable and useless. I hold him as one of the reasons that I no longer find Physics enjoyable. Do not take Phys 110/111
Who hurt him to make him this evil
Poorly designed course. Laidlaw is not a bad person, but his system makes no sense. You have to watch roughly 3 hours of lecture videos outside of actual lectures which already add up to 3 hours. The lecture videos are a complete waste of time, and the lab assignments take the next 1-2 business days to complete.
He has been pretty rude not responding to emails .
Honestly not a bad professor. Just show up to class, watch some of his videos and you will be fine. The only bad part is he makes you buy his textbook
WHY IS HE STILL HERE HES SO BAD LIKE I TOOK THE COURSE YEARS AGO AND I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES
I got the feeling he doesn't want to teach - or is simply so poor at explaining things that it's impossible to understand what he's trying to teach. Where other professors use a microphone in front of 50+ people, he doesn't... in front of at least 100. Avoid - there are other much better professors.
Called me stupid to my face.
Awful course. Despite having taken all possible tools at my disposition to succeed on tests and exams, I felt like I didn't do as well as I should have. Laidlaw is rude and terrible at teaching (he refuses to use a mic in a room with 300+ attendees). I believe he goes out of his way to make the course harder than it should be. Final was disastrous.
This professor cares more about arguing on reddit than teaching. Never have i struggled so hard in a class before, got a tutor, had a good grade, but failed the final so i failed the class. Yes, i should've put more effort in, but i never felt like what they taught helped me understand anything. Awful course and I decided to transfer because of it.
You are forced to watch an hour long pre-lecture video before class (3 times a week). He mostly just solves problems in class, so if you don't watch those videos you'll get lost. And DEAR GOD those videos are hard to sit through, I had to watch them in 2x speed. I spent more time dissociating than I did learning in this class. Avoid at all cost.
Makes you buy his textbook which you will never need to read so that you can do the required assignments. Does practice questions in class. Very frustrating to need him to finish his example to understand how to do the assignment due that week as he often gives too much time to calculate the answer yourself so the question doesn't get finished.
Currently in the second week of PHYS111: - He skips steps when solving. - HE DOES NOT FINISH/SOLVE OR EXPLAIN IN-CLASS PROBLEMS - Makes you feel stupid for asking questions. - Deletes video lectures after a week. - Makes you buy his self written textbook ($70) to have access to the course. In summary: Avoid at all cost.
avoid at all costs.
Avoid at all cost, the course is taught so poorly, many people fail. The midterms and exams are all multiple choice, which I found harder, and the final exam is worth 50-60% meaning you can only pass the final exam to pass the course The labs are pretty easy however if you want to pass the course you must be able to derive formulas
you would think after getting all this feedback he could take a step back and consider his course model is not adequate. I don't know if his ego is bruised or he really that dissociated from his job but there's no shame in trying something new and listening to your students more. might even enjoy his job more.
Avoid taking this class at all costs
Does not inspire love for physics. Labs are statistics-heavy with no mention of lab-content in the lecture. This is definitely a weed-out course, if you have any love for physics, be prepared to hate it.
Mark Laidlaw is why people drop out of engineering in their first year. It was a traumatizing experience; I hated every second of it. Instead of being chronically online on Reddit, he should make long answer questions for exams so we can show what we know. Take this course somewhere else. He will make your first-year experience miserable. NIGHTMARE
People whine about Mark too much. If you go to lecture and are attentive, do the homework, and study normally the class is not bad. Although he can be blunt via email, Mark is a nice guy who will take the time to help you learn if you need it. Classes like his build character for the future, I am not sure why everyone thought STEM would be easy
Mark doesn't care about students, he automates his courses to make sure he does as little work as possible. The textbook he wrote is a joke and is borderline useless in phys 110/111. Avoid if you can, if you can't, use as many outside resources as you can.
Someone called him "traumatizing" which is actually crazy. He's not that bad, relax. However I will say his lectures aren't great. They have a lot of rambling and lack substance. However, his course is relatively fair otherwise. He provides lots of resources for exam prep which is key. And if you need help, just go to PAC.
NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE
Absolutely horrid professor. Avoid at all costs. Useless, low quality online lectures (deleted after 2 weeks because sTatTiscalY Its beTTeR), 70$ textbook that I never used once, extremely boring labs, a final worth 55 percent, and overall his attitude towards students is just snarky and rude. Spends more time arguing on reddit than teaching.
If there was a 0 I would give him a 0 worst teacher I have ever had, he is the worst over emails, gives you no information labs are hard and make no since or relate to the material. He is a researcher and his research failed and now he decides to take it out on kids in his class, would go to a different institution just to not have a class with him
The lectures are almost as much of a joke as the textbook; they are only good for general formulas etc. - he easily goes off topic and is often confused. For me the only effective study process was the teaching assignments. The online notes are hidden after each week so make sure to download them (they are so messy this may not even be worth it).
Lectures are horrible, does not teach only uses pre-recorded videos.
This man should not be in a teaching role nevermind someone that's creating/organizing a course. Poor at communicating, awful lecturer and clearly doesn't listen to any of the feedback that's given by students. Might be a good person outside of this setting but his role in this course does not demonstrate that in the slightest. Avoid at all costs
Nightmare. His class average is 54%. Final exam is worth 60%. He has a secret "pass" threshold on his final, that he doesn't disclose to the class, that if you don't reach he will fail you automatically. Lectures are a waste of time and his final is entirely synthesis questions which you will have never attempted before. DO NOT TAKE THIS PROF!
Laidlaw is not nearly as bad as everyone is making him out to be. Yes, physics 110 and 111 are tough (I personally found 111 easier) but as long as you put in effort, Laidlaw is a decent and understanding professor! I suck at physics and got a B+, you will be fine. (The labs kinda suck though)
Mark is not nearly as bad as people make him out to be. Is he blunt? Yes. Can he be condescending? Yes. But does he care about your learning and want you to succeed? Also yes. Although the labs are jarring and there is a decent amount of mistakes in the solved material, the course is not very difficult if you put the time in
Dr Laidlaw is a prof of passion for not only the success of his own study but for his students. I know everyone learns differently but if you follow his formatting where you watch the lecture before class, do the practice he goes over and do all the practice he supplies prior to exam you will pass.
About $60 text is required. Unfair marking for labs reports. Every week take too much time on Assignments and Lab reports.
Dr. Laidlaw's class is a mixed bag - lectures can be hit or miss, but the practice materials and assignments are key for success. Unstuckstudy AI was a lifesaver for test prep. Overall, a challenging course, but doable with dedication.
Mark Laidlaw helped me find the balance of determination and stamina needed for 3rd-year Physics. His teaching style and fair grading make sense because he combines his roles as an advisor and professor. His approach not only clarified complex concepts but also built my confidence. He will give motivated students great advice if they simply ask.
i don't understand why the lecture videos and notes disappear after 2 weeks when they should be the main tool for studying throughout the course. his videos help so much because the in person lectures can be quite confusing. prof himself ain't too bad.
If you can, do not take this course.
Extremely Horrible.
I have nothing to say, really bad prof!
The labs take like 10 hours to complete and the lectures are mostly deriving formulas that are not needed to solve equations. The worst part about the course is he purposefully deletes the lectures 1 week after they are done rather keeping the information there as he can easily do to give students the education materials that they paid for.
Labs take a long time and have little to no relevance to class material. Lectures are useless and professors act very condescending towards students. Mark Laidlaw is not helpful in emails or in person and should not be coordinating much less teaching a class. He should have become a McDonalds manager.
labs take a lot of time and tests are small but super difficult
Laidlaw's online lectures were alright... The quality, however, was low and the videos were unnecessarily long relative to the material covered. Moreover, his explanations were often unclear and, often, boring. However, I did sit in on one of his in-person lectures (he was a substitute for a day), and his lecture there was actually much better.
Poo nobody likes Laidlaw
This professor is so extremely bad that I had him three years ago and am still writing about him. He is easily the worst prof I've ever had and anytime I see him in person my day is ruined.
Move your left hand mark we can't see. Also just fix your course. It is objectively terrible.
He ain't too bad, access to lecture videos is removed but it's not hard to find online, if you look for it. His lecture videos are good but his TAs don't really do a great job at teaching, except Travis Martin. His tests are on insane difficulty though.
Absolutely not. Charges you $70 for a textbook you won't use, and lectures feel completely pointless. Basically taught myself all of the course material.
Lectureis s r literally useless, was more beneficial to learn from YouTube videos. The actual textbook Is also so much tedious information that over complicates everything. Tests are not horrible if you have a good previous physics knowledge and are able to go through example midterm.
Wouldn't take his class unless you have to. His lectures are completely useless, as he likes to derive formulas from the material that hasn't been covered, while finding relevant formulas is like going on a scavenger hunt. You think that your prepared well from studying the final practices, NO YOU DIDNT! The questions on the final are horrendous.
The course material in itself was not horrendous. The mid terms were fair as well, but the final was completely ridiculous. The sample exams were not indicative of the actual difficulty of the final exam, and served to poorly prepare students. This is compounded by the fact that the final exam was weighted so heavily. This was not set up for suxes.
Laidlaws class is a joke. Makes you buy a $70 textbook that you will never look at. The exams are insanely hard and are not at all similar to the practice exams. If you can avoid taking his class, do it.
If you think physics is all about confusing equations and endless formulas, you haven't had the privilege of being taught by Laidlaw. He doesn't just teach physics—he brings it to life! His ability to break down complex concepts into simple, digestible ideas is amazing. He's a rare combination of patience, humor, and sheer passion for the subject.
I had to pay $70 for the most useless textbook ever that confused me more than taught me, and for prerecorded lecture videos that disappear. Kind of crazy. The lectures were also awful and found it easier to learn by myself, which is also crazy. Labs do not relate to class material at all and are quite difficult if you have no stats knowledge
Preface: I got a clean 50 People are hard on Laidlaw once they realize this is a tough course that takes effort. Not his fault. I struggled big time however his lecture content [and MANY hours of practice] are how I managed to scrape by. We're given lots of resources to succeed and this is a well-constructed course Practice lots - you'll live
This man is and actual piece of work(in the worst way possible). He has no business being a prof and his final exam was evil. Heard somewhere that he's on probation for failing too many students and I'm not surprised, Laidlaw should seriously consider letting Travis martin take over his course for good.
Laidlaw runs phys 110 really badly. The weekly labs do not relate to material and are extremly time consuming. Tip: after you do the lab stay until the block is over to work on the report so you can ask your TA questions as you do it. The exams are very difficult and are trying to trick you. Do as much practice as you can.
DO NOT EVER TAKE THE PROF IF YOU VALUE YOUR MENTAL SANITY AND WANT TO LIVE TO SEE ANOTHER TERM!!
Honestly not as bad as everyone says, just put in the work, watch the videos and do the practice, anyone can do good in this class, just put the effort in.
For all first years who have to take this class because there's no other option: Learn everything you can from YouTube and other sources. Do the homework, it's the only way to even remotely comprehend anything. Sometimes you just get stuck with an awful professor, try not to get discouraged.
Awful prof, rude and not accommodating at all. By far the worst professor I've ever had. Grading scheme is horrible, midterms and final are so hard to do well on because they're multiple choice, and you get no part marks. I feel sorry for his family.
Gets lots of undeserved hate. Great prof in my opinion. Currently taking PHYS111 with him as well and he gives lots of examples in lectures that are easy to follow as long as you watch the pre-lecture videos. I personally don't watch pre-lecture vids but still find the lectures straightforward, well organized, and easy to follow. I love Laidlaw.
By far the worst prof I've ever had. There's 3 hours of lecture videos every week, and instead of teaching during lectures he does examples with almost no explanation. If I wanted an online class I would've registered for one, but this isn't what I payed for. When he speaks to you it's clear he has no respect for students. Shouldn't be teaching.
The grading system is pretty lenient with the weights of assignments and labs by having the worst one of each dropped and being able to make up 3 of the assignments. He's clearly passionate about physics and knows what he's talking about, but the material is so confusing. Everything is overly long, even the simplest concepts are dragged out.
I dont even know what to say. Horrible prof who does not know how to teach. Let alone physics. Labs are uselss and are completely unrelated to course content.
Overpaid by $152,505 CAD.
Drop this course if you can, or get accommodations through CAL to give yourself a fighting chance. Don't let this guy ruin University for you.
SO confused
Laidlaw is hard to work with, and does not give students fair chances. For instance he does not accommodate students that joined from waitlist late at all. He does not provide accurate difficulty approximations on pre-test material and course is heavily study-based, lectures are practically useless. Hard to talk to and purposely makes it hard to.
Bro's lectures are so boring, Pre Lectures Videos are so long.
The homework and assignment's are very hard and tedious to do. Most of what he goes over in class only cover questions and not key concepts.
Extremely difficult and rushed. Doesn't explain key concepts very well and skims over questions. Didn't real understand what was going on during lecture. Make sure to watch the pre-lecture videos
Very confusing. Half the time, I personally didn't understand the materials or concepts covered in lecture. Would highly recommend self-teaching.
Exams for Physics 110,11 are very hard. Multiple choice further makes it difficult for students to achieve part marks. Overall would not recommend.
Midterm are very hard and why at 6pm?
Lectures ARE SO BORRRRRINNNNGGGG. Pre-lecture videos are ok
Mark Laidlaw is mid
The questions on the final exam are designed to test understanding. Make sure to studying very hard, or else Mark Laidlaw will make you pray very hard before the night of the exam.
The midterm and final exams are not related to what was done in lecture or webwork. Would recommend self learning.
Very difficult, be prepared to study extremely hard if you want to expect a pass
Labs are not related to the material being taught. Class is generally difficult
Extremely difficult, lectures don't make sense, labs are unrelated to the course.
I once had a dream, THE FINAL EXAM was postponed. However, this is rarely the case. Mark Laidlaw please make me a caesar salad.
Mark Laidlaw is a very boring lecturer, hardly goes through the material coherently. Most of the material will need to be learned through the practice assignments and pre lectures videos. Try to understand key concepts for the final exam, trust me you will need em
Extremely difficult, lectures are very confusing. Better off watching youtube, however, I understand that Mark Laidlaw is trying his best despite what most students think otherwise.
Make sure to watch the pre-lecture videos before coming to lectures, believe me you will need them.
Most of the lecture material does not make any sense. The Webwork is helpful.
The midterms and final were so insanely difficult that I would rather let Canada become the 51st state than take his class again.
Material was very hard. Be prepared to study everyday instead of doom scrolling.
Don't choose his class
so bad never take class
Labs useless, felt like a waste of time and don't correlate to content. Difficult material, lectures don't teach , expectedto learn on own. Get ready to push yourself...
if you take his class, just give up
Great professor who's very straightforward and tests aren't hard if you put in effort to study the material. undeserved hate tbh and not everything has to be spoon fed to you. Do your own research since everything is up online and do everything that is provided, like textbooks, videos, practice tests etc
Hard very hard
Very difficult material to grasp, prepare to watch the pre- learn the material beforehand in order to understand the pre-lecture video in order to understand his lectures ?????
do not choose him!!!
HE IS HOT! DADDY!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Up there with bin Laden
I honesty don't understand why he gets so much hate. Yes his tests are hard but not harder than other courses. Honestly his teaching is clear and understandable and he puts in a lot of effort. He's also very willing to help if you get stuck.
His tests are as hard as they say but also very predictable. If you are willing to put in his recommended time to properly study (~7 hours/week) you will easily get an A. He's not that bad of a lecturer he just talks kinda slow, I put his lecture videos on 1.25x and everything was fine.
Lebron is my saviour and glorious king
Really bad prof
Truly and amazing prof, he cares about students to a certian extent and explains his logic well.
he really sucks. Never reply your email
You need to work extremely hard in order to survive marks class
Lectures just go over practice problems so I see why most find his lectures pointless. I think going to the lectures and solving problems in class helps with understanding. It's a weird structure but I think it works. Study material for tests was good. I thought a lot of the questions on the practice final were similar to the actual final.
Doesn't respond to his emails. Exams are extremely hard for no reason. Disrespectful to students if they actually need help. Overall horrible course. Take PHYS120 instead to save your sanity.
I hated this course, and I think it would have been better to take this course with some other professor, specially the midterms, exams were worst because they were MCQ, which mean either u are fully right or fully wrong, no partials, no method, no proper way of solving the, i.e all that matters is you got right option no matter how.
The course content is difficult enough as is, but this prof make it almost impossible to do well in the course. Lecture content is available only for a limited amount of time, sample test answers key are wrong, and all tests are multiple choice. Explains everything in very technical terms and often backtracks or lose himself during lecture. Brutal
The prof clearly loves the subject which was makes the lectures more engaging, but I am not sure he likes teaching. He is a bit rude and incredibly condescending. I like his lecture and the way he teaches but other than that I cant say anything positive about him. The labs felt like another course by it self.
Mark is a great prof, he loves what he does and you can clearly tell by his lecture styles! People often assume he is not a great person, but it's just his personality (give him a break) - seriously just don't get offended by who he is, he isn't your parents. Mark is a straight forward person and cares about facts and physics. Great prof!!
I hate how Laidlaw organizes his first-year courses, but he's a very good prof. His explanations were amazing and very thorough, and I liked how he gave students time to figure out examples before doing them himself. He was very responsive to any issues during the course. He was also super funny, using jokes and stories to illustrate his points.
Took this prof 4 years ago and still have nightmares. Woke up last night at 3 am and couldnt sleep because I thought of him. do not take a class with him
good lecturer, horrible course coordinator. Outdated and poorly organized course, but lectures were great.
Course coordinating is not his strong suit removing lecture notes and videos from the online course makes zero sense
When enrolled in a Phys110 course you are required to buy the textbook that Laidlaw himself wrote. This textbook is awful and makes everything more confusing. Nice guy, bad course coordinator.
hard grader especially with labs. is not flexible at all. removes lecture pdfs and videos from the course homepage so they aren't accesible, doesn't make sense especially with final preparation.
Laidlaw is friendly but a very inadequate course coordinator who ignores student feedback. Removes lecture videos each week, requires a poorly wrote $60 textbook, and assigns lab reports that don't correlate to lecture material. Exams are all multiple choice and answers build off previous questions; no marks given for showing work. Don't recommend.
While students pay $600 to take this course and learn, I fear Laidlaw has never learned to manage a course, even with 30 years of experience. Worst prof ever and doesn't care about his students.
Textbook is the worst 60$ I have every spent. The textbook is confusing and doesn't make any sense. Youtube has far better resources to learn
If you have the option to take phys 120/130 instead, or transfer credit from another university, DO IT. This is easily one of the most difficult versions of intro physics you can take. I never want to hear this professor's name again.
By far the worst professor I've encountered in my life. all exams are MCQs so goodluck with that(no partial credit whatsoever)... Nothing ever makes sense with laidlaw. Avoid at all costs. The labs feel like they were designed for a completely different course, they drag on forever with no real connection to what we study.
1. Lectures were useless, didn't learn anything. 2. We didn't get close to enough time to do the homework because the subject was taught on the day of 3. The homework didn't reflect the midterms or the final at so the only way to prepare was to do the 3 practice tests they post, which don't properly teach you the material. I hate Laidlaw
For a first year prof Laidlaw seriously lacks the skills to teach a course effectively to students. He is inconsistent with responding to emails, can be quite condescending, and midterms do not correlate at all to the assigned homework, similarly the labs don't relate to anything taught in lectures. Exams are all multiple choice.
95% of the hate for Laidlaw comes from first-years who need someone to blame for the fact that uni is frustrating and takes more effort than high school. Watch the lecture videos, go to class, and try to ask questions. You definitely have to be on top of this course from day 1 to do well but it is possible. Totally not fun, but possible.
Did this class a while ago but seriously one of the worst experiences in all of uni. Tests and that aren't terrible but he's quite condescending and uses a flipped video lecture format to make you watch hours of videos on top of the lectures. The labs take up to 10 hours each and ruin a day of your week when you have them and aren't relevant.
purposefully tries to confuse you on tests
Comparable to an angry ogre. The troll at the bridge you must get around in order to continue. Horrible class. Great to weed out people which is fair enough.
Do not talk to him, you don't want to become someone to him. Don't make yourself a target. Do your best, do the practice midterms and finals. Just get passed him and the rest of the degree is smoother sailing.
The worst class I've taken in 6 years of post-secondary. Laidlaw is a lazy and unaccommodating professor who thinks his way of teaching is the only way. He wrote the textbook for the class, it is largely unedited, unorganized, and is missing content (there is no section at all for circuits). Physics was my favorite subject before his class.
He literally sucks so much. If you can take a course where he's not in charge of writing the tests and running it, do that. Avoid this guy.
bro its bad
Avoid at all costs, will give you nightmares.
His tests are the worst, the practice tests rarely help you the final exam was the worst, Laidlaw needa lock in.
One of the best physics profs I've had. Lectures are short, clear, and not boring. He explains things in a way that actually makes sense. Exams are fair and passing is very doable if you keep up. Take this prof if you can.
His all Multiple choice questions if you get first question wrong you get the rest of the section wrong(5 questions). How is that testing our knowledge? you're already cooked in midterms and finals. And his labs don't make any sense, all the formula used were wrong, and have nothing to do with the course material.
it was hard overall
i have nightmares
Dr laidlaw is a chud
The university must use him to try and make first year Eng. students drop out. He must cackle when he writes the exams for this class. The labs are completely unrelated to the lecture material and his textbook is poorly written and there is nothing on circuits. He also doesn't proofread his exams. as there were two spelling mistakes on the final.
I never took a class with him but I did email him once to set up at zoom meeting as he is the student advisor for physics. He said he doesn't do meetings. He also said I should change my major because I got a C in calc1. Laughing as I write this because I'm graduating this year with physics. Do not give up because if this pos.
He's not a good teacher and I had to teach myself all of the material. I did manage to pass somehow, but I would not recommend this class to anybody. I think the worst part about his class are his tests, he makes them ridiculously hard. I feel like if the class average is failing that says something about how the material is being taught.
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18%
Textbook Required
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