Benzahra, Sidi  

Finally, give this instructor an overall grade for the quarter

Good guy, ok teacher. Probably one of the most friendly professors I have taken so far. He is really helpful in office hours so use them. I am not the best at physics, but between lectures and reading, I got an A. I'd recommend reading in addition to his lectures, especially if you're not great at physics (so if that is more time than you wanna spend, you might wanna find another teacher). But, if you read, do the hw, and go to lecture, you should do fine. His tests are pretty easy (3 questions per midterm, 11 on the final and you get to omit 2). If you do the review sheet he gives you, you should do VERY well on the tests. Also, take him for lab, he's really easy and lays the entire experiment out step by step for you to do so you know EXACTLY what information he wants in the lab reports (making it really easy to get 10 on each of them).

Sidi is a great guy and an awesome professor. Listening to his lectures is always fun. He throws in weird little jokes here and there that are always ammusing. His ability to convey the material is great!! His exams are always fair. He gives review problems before the test so you know what to study. His exams are always 3 problems, which I feel is a perfect length for an hour long test. He is a ton of help during office hours. He will even come in on the weekends to help students who need a little extra help on the homework. He is my favorite physics professor, and I recommend him to everyone!!

Ok, second quarter with this guy and the worst news I got is that he is not teaching 133, it is so depressing cause I would fight to be in his class again. If all professors were like Sidi college would be the greatest place in the world. He makes the learning fun and he is VERY passionate and clear in the way he teaches. He does a fantastic job of clarifying, as long as he understands what you are asking, and the reviews he gives before tests usually give you a great idea of what is on the final. If there is any way you can fit this professor into your schedule, DO IT. Then, sit back, do the assigned homework (he ENCOURAGES group work on all assignments) and go to office hours when you don't quite understand something, and you will completely pass this class with a B, put in a few hours a week studying and an A is nothing that you should even worry about getting cause it will come easily. Enjoy this professor, he is awesome and I am honestly going to miss his classes.

I got an A in his class! I never got high then a B- in any other test in any other Phys class... enough said!

He's awesome. I would definitly take him if you get the chance. He knows what he is talking about and helps you with whatever you need. Take him!

He explains concepts well and his lecture is pretty easy to follow. Having said that, you need to factor in that the level of the class is not that high. I had a great time in this class. Exams are only minor modifications of the practice tests. Everything is so predictable. Stick to the script of studying handouts and practice exams. You can use the extra time to study more challenging classes. Take him, you will love your grade!

I Think Dr. Benzahra is the best physics instructor I had in my whole life. He loves teaching, it shows clearly in class; he makes the topics very interesting and use his sense of humor during class lectures. He is always available in his office, even though he has other things to do, he always makes his students first priority. Review problems were very helpful. In short, the class was fun. A great teacher. I now know more physics than before.

I liked the availability of office hours. Being there on the weekend was helpful. Homework was perfect for learning material. He always made me feel very comfortable and was friendly when I asked questions.

Excellent teacher! Keep us the good work, Dr. Benzahara.

It would be nice if Dr. Benzahra could make his class more challenging. I think that is a big joke to give us the "practice" exam and duplicate that as the midterm or final exam. For chrissake, a test is supposed to test our mastery of the material and not our mastery of the practice test. What does he think we are? A bunch of morons?. Respect to his lecture style, he is pretty decent. He explains concepts well but the level of the class is kind of low for a calculus-based class. Even lesser colleges than CalPoly have higher expectations from their students.

I have been working with Dr. Benzahra for one year now. All I can tell you is, he is a very good researcher and teacher. He explains physics in a very clear way. During research he keeps coming with these new ideas all the time. I won't be surprised if ten years from now this guy gets a NOBEL PRIZE. I am afraid we might lose him to UCSB or CalTech some day. Now to the guy who complains about practice problems, test taking is arbitrary. If he gives you a hard test, you will get C. If he gives you a medium test, you will get B, and if he gives an easy test you will get A. What counts is what you learned from him. What counts is if the students understand the material and got it in their heads. The important question in education is, did the students understand the material at the end of the quarter? Dr. Benzahra makes understand. You are ruining the polyratings by complaining about the practice problem more than once. Let the statistics takes it course.

Lab demonstrations well explained. The group problem at the beginning of each lab is very useful for learning and reviewing material for physics 132. Great job!

I learned alot in his lab. He administered the labs well and answered all our questions.

He is approachable and he explains things well. Perfect to review elementary concepts of physics. EASY grading, EASY instructor, and I mean it!. Take him.

motherfucking bitch

To the heartless person below. How can you say such thing about Dr. Benzahra? He is one of the nicest person I ever met. He loves his students and wants them to do well. Poor Dr. Benzahra doesn't even know that Polyratings exists and you are bashing like that. Dr. Benzahra will give you the shirt off his back. How can you say such bad thing about him. What a shame!

To the mean guy down below. You know that you went too far. They can trace you, man. What you did is against the law.

Very good instructor, especially in labs. Helped people individually and emphasized group strategies. Excellent teacher!

The way you treat your students is amazing. You treat us as if you know how it is to be on our end of things, which you do and it shows and helps. Thank you for your help.

The course material was clearly presented. The expectations for results on tests and homework were reasonable. Great professor. Great attitude.

EASY CLASS! EASY EXAMS, HOMEWORK ALMOST NON-EXISTENT. EASY PROFESSOR! HOWEVER, HIS USE OF THE CLASS TIME IS POOR AND THERE ARE VERY FEW OPPORTUNITIES TO PARTICIPATE IN HIS CLASS: HE DOES IT ALL.

Benzahra is awesome!

Dr. Benzahra is the best teacher I have had last year. Not only does he teach the material very well, he is also very good at making you see what's happening by using analogies. Plus he's a funny guy too and makes the class interesting.

A prof. that will make you laugh but you will learn very little from him. Being liked is the first thing is his mind. If you think he cares about your learning, forget about it. Just resign yourself, enjoy the stories and relax..it will be less frustrating. Also you should know that Exams are straight from homework, practice exams and lecture. The best of class is you won't need to read that long-winded and confusing textbook (it is a really bad one) that is used for this class: his lectures are self-contained.

The review problems help a great deal when trying to study for the tests. Time is not wasted doing alot of proofs and the class goes fast. The tests are very fair and they cover what is taught in the class. mandatory homework is awesome.

Dr.Benzahra lectures were funny sometimes and overall, good. His tests are fair and if you do the homework, not just the mandatory ones, you'll have an easier time on the tests.

Good teacher but hard final

Be prepared to lean everything on your own. The only thing he ever went over in class was deriving the equations that you'll use for the homework. He never went over HOW to use those equations, just what they were, if we were lucky. Mostly it was an hour of algebra every morning. There were hardly any example problems and I never really knew what exactly he was deriving until he said ok this is the equation for pressure as we were walking out the door. Also, the lab is rediculous. For some reason he thinks we all came to his 8am lab to meet new people, because he 'randomly' switched up the lab groups every week (even though I usually ended up with the same few people). There's also a group problem at the beginning of every lab that no one knows how to do since he didn't go over any of the equations or anything in class and it just wastes an hour of the lab. Overall, the midterms were not to hard, the final was a killer, and I just copied the solutions for the homework. Oh and for the midterms, don't even bother doing practice problems. Just do his review problems and you'll be fine. His stories were cute, but be prepared to learn this stuff on your own.

Dr. Benzahara is the best teacher I have so far at Calpoly. He is also the nicest one. His final was hard but he explains the material well. I hope he will be teaching physics 133 next fall.

No better lab teacher in the world. Learned more than I have learned in my whole life!!

Excellent teacher, really explained the concepts well. Very accessible, I always went to his office hours and he was always very helpful. Physics has never really been my subject...I had taken 132 with another teacher and got a D-. But Dr. Sidi made the class so much better for me. Props to him

Dr. Sidi is the smartest professor I've ever had at Calpoly. This guy is amazing. He lectures from his head. He doesn't have notes. He knows all the constants by heart and he knows his physics very well. He is a great teacher.

Professor Benzahra will be the last physics professor I'll ever have and let me give you this -- he was a great teacher. Although, let me forewarn you that his tests aren't similar to the homework problems assigned -- so expect to study extra hard on his review problems he hands out. The nice thing about his homework problems is that it's extremely doable if you listen to the lecture. He gives out TWO tests, WEEKLY homework, and his curve is extremely nice. Last time I recalled, a 20/30 on a test meant a B-. I highly suggest anyone to take him and I do have to mention one thing -- he has many funny stories that will keep you awake.

I took sidi for the polyrating, but I soon learned this rates his personality and has nothing to do with his ability as a professor. You most likely will get a grade that you did not deserve, as I did... you will also be paranoid the entire quarter thinking what the hell is going on and where are these exam questions coming from? He does not use the required text, but you need to buy it because it is the only way you will learn the material for exams. Dont be masochistc, take a different professor.

Good proffesor but hard tests, ask alot of questions in office hours or what happened to me could happen to u

Professor Benzahara is a good teacher, but the final was pretty hard. Do your HW, your extra credits, and watch out for the final. I was getting an A but the final shot me down to B.

Sidi knows physics very well. He explains physics slowly and clearly, however some of the problems he gives out are very hard. They are even harder for physics majors. Even students from the hbar room couldn't help me solve one of his problems.

He gives well organized lectures. His review problems are very usefull, but his extra credit problems are almost impossible to solve, but you learn a lot of physics at the end of the quarter. He is also very helpfull during office hours. Very, very nice guy.

Nice guy and an EASY teacher. Midterms and final are a copy of the review problems. If you study the review problems and pay attention to the class, you will do well without too much effort, no surprises or challenging problems. He is organized and helpful. Take advantage of his office hours!

Dr. Benzahra is a really nice guy, probably one of the friendliest professors and he is very willing to help you, so go to office hours! However, maybe it is just because the class was at 7:00am, I don't feel like he really taught me much during the class. If you take this class, you're probably going to have to learn everything from the book and from going to his office hours after you've tried to do it yourself and failed. His tests are hard and the average grade is usually around 60%. BUT the good thing is, he makes the average grade a B- so you don't fail! If you're good at learning from reading the book, then this class is not a bad choice.

Dr. Benzahra is very funny which makes the class interesting. His final was hard. I had an A in the midterms but ended up with a B in the course. He's smart though. You can learn a lot from him. I am taking him again for physics 132.

This guy is so awesome. There is an obvious reason why I tried to crash one of his classes today and there are twenty others doing the same. He is an awesome teacher and really funny. He is likely to go off on at least 1 tangeant a week, and while normally this is bad, they are quite entertaining and really actually interesting. He is really understanding and nice, and like the other evals said he has a generous curve. GO TO OFFICE HOURS! If you take your HW and study guides there and ask for help on what you don't understand, he will teach you everything you need to know. The best thing I can really say for him is that he really does care, he wants you to succeed and is willing to work with you to get you to succeed. TAKE THIS TEACHER! His final was pretty hard...but everything is manageable.

Benzahra is a good man. He knows his stuff too. Its fun cause he tries his best to make us laugh. Homework isn't too bad. Just 12 problems a week. Two midterms and a final. He gives you a review sheet for each of them. He makes the class average a B-. He is a fair grader also. He even gave us extra credit to raise our grades. He is the friendliest teacher I have had. He always takes the time to help students. His office hours are very lenient . He would be there as long as you needed. TAKE THIS TEACHER!

An interesting person, and definitely knows the material. He tries to make it as clear as possible, which is actually somewhat annoying, since he'll take forever to do some example problems, spending time on the simple algebra type stuff that we should already know. Friendly and his tests are mostly easy, but he often doesn't get what students are asking, so he'll spend time explaining something that isn't at all what the student asked.

Sidi is smart and nice. One day he spent almost two hours helping me with physics. he gets out of his way to help you. His writes clear on the board. I like the way he writes the integral sign. I like this guy. Take him if you get a chance.

He only gives 12 problems a week for homework. He has this policy that if you show up everyday for class and do all the homework, you will pass the class with at least a C. Take him if you can, he really knows what he is teaching. I would definitely take him again.

His lectures are well organized and easy to follow. A great instructor if you want an easy A: exams are essentially the so called practice exams. You can forget about wasting your time studying for this class, the only thing that you need to do is to study really well the practice exam. Of course you will get a good grade but you will learn NOTHING from this class. In short, this is the ideal instructor if you want to have a good social life.

Dr. Benzahara is an excellent teacher. His classes are always very good and he always goes out of his way to do things in the best interest of the student. In class he gave good examples most of the time. Also, he was very understanding of questions. Tests were fair as was grading.

This message is for the person just below who got a B. If the test was that easy for you how come you got a B instead of an A? Were you really Dr. Benzahra's student? It doens't sound like it, because all students I know love Dr. Benzahra. Dr. Benzahra is one of the best teachers at Calpoly. He gave us practice problems to help us understand the material. The more practice problems we do, the better we understand. He went to Columbia University, which won't accept you if you got a B in physics at Calpoly. Dr. Benzahra is a great instructor. He has a lot of experience. You can't tell somebody with such experience what to do. His material is always presented very clearly and he makes it interesting. Benzahra is the best professor I have at Calpoly. I have no complaint.

I think Dr. Benzahra is a very good professsor and explains the material very well. I am also glad that he will help students in need, which he does very well.

Physics is fun with Benzahra. He makes an effort to help the student in their best interests and gives quite interesting lectures. He tells these funny stories which I personally think help me pay attention to class more. After his lectures you won't need the book anymore, except for doing HW problems of course. If you want to learn from a professor who knows how to teach, take Benzahra.

I took the labs with Sidi. The labs were clear, and was presented in a clear manner. However, I believe that the lab itself was not essential to this class. It doesn't emphasize that material in any more of a clear way than the book.

If you think that studying physics is a waste of time and you would rather do something else with your time. He is the right teacher. He is an ok instructor. No worst or better than the others. He knows what he is doing. And you can certainly expect from him an easy class (calculus is absent from the material). The class is a breeze. Study those "practice" exams and look carefully at the problems he does in class. They will be in the exams.And make a point to go to office hours a few times during the quarter even if you understand all the material. By the way, to say that Dr Benzahra does not know about polyratings is more of an insult than what the person wrote about him in one of the comments below. Come on!. Do you really think that Dr. Benzahra is that clueless? NO way!, Dr. Benzahra is smart enough to know about the ratings and to realize than an easy class is a happy one.

Polyrating is not a good idea. If you want to know about a teacher, you need to ask a student who took the teacher before. Don't come to the polyratings because it is not accurate. You can have a student who didn't like the teacher for some reason other than teaching. Like, for example, the teacher didn't see the student on campus and the student thought that she or he ignored him. Or the student said hello and the teacher didn't respond because he didn't hear him or probably was thinking about something that took his mind away. Or the student could be a lonesome and depressed and take it out on some innocent person, and it could also be that the teacher hurt the student without knowing, like for example when you step on somebody unitentionally. You will never know. The bottom line is, if you want to know about a teacher, you need to ask the students who took that teacher. XYZ

Great professor. Very approachable and makes class interesting. Hope to see him in phys 133!

Dr. Benzahara was kind of dificult to understand at the beginning, but after i got over that, the class was pretty straight forward. He gave out review sheets that pracitcally mimicked the exam and in class he balanced theory with examples. Besides that - he is a really funny guy.

Nice man, but you do not really learn anything new in his class. He mainly reviews high school physics. All you need to do is to attend the class, study the notes and the practice exams. An easy A. You do not need to read the lengthy, useless textbook.

Grading and homework was very fair. Deriving formulas was boring. I like the jokes, they make the class more exciting.

Dr. Benzahra is one of the best instructors at Calpoly. He knows what he is talking about and he cares for his students. I am taking him again for physics 133.

Dr. Benzahra is a very nice guy who is willing to help students at any cost, especially during his office hours. He would always throw in a joke into his lectures just to keep us entertained (yes, the main downfall is that he only teaches PHYS141/132 during the morning). Grading was very fair; he makes homework worth 20% of your grade and in my case that was a lifesaver. He also gives very good curves on his tests. Overall, highly recommended, but in my case, I didn't have a solid background in physics in high school. If you pretty much were a physics nerd in high school, then this class should be an easy A.

Great professor, he knew his stuff, pretty amazing how he just walked in the class with no notes on his hands and only a calculator with him to teach the class. Thats right this guy is great he knows his physics. He believes that as long as u do the hwk u will do fine in the class because the test are about similar to the hwk. But yeah physics is a hard course not easy at all, but good thing he does not leave any mastering physics because that just blows. I pretty much ended up with a C- in the course i just made it and i was bad in physics so if ur good in physics u will definitely pass. He is great in office hours also, he will answer all ur questions and he is very helpful in them as well. Well im taking him next quarter for Phys 133 hope i do great, with a great professor like this im pretty sure i will. Good luck to you all

Sidi is a great guy, and a good teacher if you ALREADY understand physics. He tries hard to make his lectures clear but unless you already have a basic grasp of the concept they will confuse you. His tests are fair and curved, but watch for a random hard question on the second midterm. He will always make time to explain a concept to students and will even delay HW and extend his office hours to help. I really enjoyed his class.

Tough instructor.We just had the midterm and nobody could solve the third problem.I hope he'll curve the test.

Benzahra is a nice guy and his lectures are kind of funny (he'll make jokes and stuff), but he is HORRIBLE at teaching Quantum Physics. He certainly knows what he is talking about, but he has no way of conveying that to the students. If you don't have a firm grasp of the concepts on your own you will struggle in this class. He also wanders a lot in his lectures, leaving the class always catching up for the end of the quarter. 3 Chapters in 2 Weeks is bad times. Its too bad, I want Benzahra to be a good Professor, but he just isn't.

He was disorganized to say the least. It is likely that this was the first time that he taught the class. His use of class time was not good at all. I am disappointed since I did not learn anything in this class.

Very knowledgeable on the subject and seemed to care about how students did.

Benzahra is easy to listen to and has great stories. He also makes the physics interesting. The downside is he is completely unorganized and there is no advantage to studying for tests because you have no idea what will be on them. Also, he grades tests very hard. He does curve, so if you want a C or B he is probably the guy to take. An A is almost impossible to get though.

the easiest prof at calpoly. A bit disorganized but that is it! Suck up, pretend to listen to the dumb stories and you will get an A

Dr. Benzahra gives 12 homework problems a week and three exams. He curves his exams. One of his problems is usually hard, especially the third problem. He is very popular and his classes get filled quickly, so if you want to take him you need to register as quickly as possible. He has an accent but he speaks clearly. He makes life easy for his students. That's all I can say.

Taking this instructor is like being in a Twilight Zone episode. You just can