Edlund, Eric  

At first I thought Professor Edlund was going to be a good professor...I was wrong. He spends the entire class period showing one "experiment" with the example at the end of the period. This made it very difficult to do the homework problems because we didn't have any normal examples to work off of. When I went into office hours and asked what I should be studying he said just study the notes, but there were barely any notes because so much of the class was taken up by the experiments. He also didn't fully explain his curve and it seemed like I should've had an A- based on a standard curve, but ended up with a B+. All in all I don't feel prepared for the next physics class and don't feel I learned much of the textbook information I needed to understand. This class may be useful for people who have to understand physics in depth for their career, but I just have to understand how to do the problems for medical school.

Horrible instructor. He was unable and unwilling to allow ANY alternate solutions to his problems on his tests. I saw him do this to not only me but other students as well. He gave a fellow student (who I didn't know) no credit on multiple test problems since he used the quadratic equation (he got the right answers). His reason was "I don't believe you could have memorized this equation". This guy needs to work at the DMV or IRS where he can make everyone follow his anal rules.

If you are an unfortunate soul who has to deal with this ass clown, good luck. He's a genius. He is not a professor. His lecture has zero correlation with the book and he does nothing but spout complicated math on the board. I would rather drop and wait a quarter to take this class than have to deal with this professor.

Do not take this professor. He spends all class deriving and expects you to derive all the equations in every problem for the quizzes. Edlund also has a hard-on for dimensional analysis. Although the homework is short, it will teach you more material than attending a week of lectures. I am not sure what I am going to get in this class because the second midterm in this class is going to be a wild card. What do I mean by that? The first midterm was supposed to be on springs and pendulums. He gave a midterm on conservation of angular momentum in the cosmos. Also, he will test you on Taylor Series, a calc. 3 skill, in a course that only requires calc1&2. Overall, do not take physics with this guy.. Or, if you have to take him, skip class, read the book, and watch some khanacademy.

After the first midterm he had the class take a survey about what materials they used to study and for how long. He then created a scatter plot relating time spent studying vs score on the test. There was no relation. The plot was all over the board... meaning that his teachings have nothing to do with how well you do in his class. It all depends on if you previously understand the material. Do not take this professor. Its not worth the frustration.

Edlund collects a large amount of hate primarily because most of his students are terrible at physics/ and or idiots in general, and they of course blame the teacher instead of themselves. That said, he certainly overestimates our abilities. The tests seem more like iq tests, instead of actual physics test. You can study well and understand all of the material, even how it is all derived, but once the midterms come around you better be an extremely talented and quick critical thinker. Regardless, you won't get an A without the curve. I'm assuming his difficulty is a product of him being fresh out of MIT. Hopefully he'll eventually tone it down. (at least for the general physics course)

This was Edlund's first quarter at Cal Poly, and frankly, he doesn't deserve all the negative press he's gotten on here so far. I admit, the first week and a half were abysmal on his part. He admitted on the first day that he just got into SLO the day before and didn't have a set plan for the class yet. However, since then, he's gotten a lot better and I found him to be very effective at clarifying concepts during lecture, even if his initial explanations aren't always completely clear. His quizzes are slightly different than you might expect from other physics professors, as they primarily focus on dimensional analysis and basic understanding of key equations. Because of this, I did poorly on the first couple quizzes, but once you know what to expect, they are ridiculously easy if you go to class and skim through your notes beforehand. Typically, Edlund's lectures are primarily conceptual, but he does do plenty of examples along the way. He's a pretty likable guy as well, as he cracks jokes on occasion and is overall a pretty relaxed instructor. This is good because going to his class is important. While you can learn a lot of the concepts straight from the book, the test and quiz questions are more like his lecture examples than the textbook questions. As far as midterms are concerned, his grading system is much different than we were used to, but I personally think that it's for the better. Basically, this is how tests work: he gives you a page of concept questions, then a few pages of more calculation-based problems that are more similar to textbook problems. These questions are broken down into parts of increasing difficulty, but decreasing point values. For example, a 4-part question might be worth 30 points, with parts A and B worth 10 and C and D worth 5. Parts A and B will usually be pretty easy to solve by plugging in a commonly used equation or through conceptual understanding. Parts C and D are more calculation heavy, and you might not know how to figure out all of these problems, but if you have a solid understanding of the basics, you'll get most of the points for most of the problems, which is more than enough to get a B. Also, the cutoff for midterm grades isn't based on percentages like most classes. For the first midterm, I got a B for getting a 97/150. Midterm 2 was a lot easier, and it sounds like he's still trying to figure out the best teaching style for him and the students, so I would expect that his future midterms will be more similar to that one. He doesn't allow calculators on the midterms, but none of the problems require one. If you can't solve a test question using very basic algebra or dimensional analysis (which he explains over and over again in lecture), then you're doing something wrong. Some problems were definitely harder than others, but overall, there wasn't a single thing on either midterm that he hadn't discussed in class and most of it was covered somewhat on the homework as well. Speaking of homework, it's collected weekly, and the problems usually aren't very hard. He typically assigns reasonable problems that test your understanding of the material without requiring excessive diagrams or obscure calculations. If you go to class, he will often do one of the hw problems as an example if a lot of students struggled with it. Overall, I'd say Edlund is the best physics professor I've had at Cal Poly (admittedly, out of 3). I think the people who are raging about him are freshmen who put minimal work into the class and still expect to get an easy A.

Edlund does not deserve the low ratings that he received on the first several reviews. Yes, he is a new and clearly inexperienced teacher and his time management during lecture towards the beginning of class was often times a bit lacking, but it is obvious that he is putting in the effort to make his class a positive experience for the students taking it, and he is already much better than at the beginning of the quarter. He admitted his first test was too long and curved it accordingly (around 20%), and set the average for the curve at a mid B, higher than most of those in the physics department. He is also open for recommendations and feedback from students, and is willing to work with students to help make it a better class experience. Overall, he is a good teacher, who teaches the class on a primarily conceptual basis; if this is your strong point then I would definitely recommend.

This professor is spectacular. It was his first quarter teaching at Cal Poly and he had a rocky start, yet he has improved to be better than almost any professor I've had at Cal Poly. Extremely smart and talented at physics, this guy definitely wants to be here. He has a PhD from MIT and Princeton so he could really be doing anything he wants research or industry wise but he chose to be a teacher. All of these other reviews are from people that are looking for someone to blame for their shortcomings. He is extremely generous and fair in his grading, and beyond helpful in office hours or after lecture. He hosts study sessions before each exam, which is rare for any professor to do. He puts forth ridiculous amounts of effort and credit is often not given where it is due. Please take this professor and of course only post on polyratings if you have something constructive to say, not just that the teacher is an "ass clown"

Edlund really does not deserve the flack he is getting from certain students. It is extremely apparent the amount of effort that he puts into this class. I took Edlund during his first quarter ever at Poly and I can really tell that he wants to make a favorable impression. His lectures at first were rather convoluted and seemingly pointless but they have improved vastly along with my understanding of the material. His exams are very tough but do not contain anything unlike what is taught in lecture. Although scores were generally low, the curve is extremely generous (I got an A on the second midterm with a raw score below 80%). He is a likable guy and even made light of the first few polyratings reviews during class. Clearly, he cares about his student and his position as a professor at Cal Poly. He is more willing to accommodate students' needs than any teacher I've had so far at Poly and he even holds a two hour long review session the week of the midterm. Great guy and rapidly improving as a professor. And... since I now know that he reads his polyratings reviews... hang in there Edlund. You're doing a great job.

Edlund is the best physics teacher I have had. While his tests are challenging, he is more than fair in his grading of them. He does a really good job of teaching where equations come from and how to apply them. He also offers numerous examples of how they are used in real life applications. It is clear that he puts a lot of time and effort into his class. If you ever have trouble understanding any of the material discussed in lecture, he is very helpful in his office hours. He also offers review sessions before every midterm. He is enthusiastic and it is clear that he genuinely loves teaching.

I wrote one of the previous reviews, and I want to say that Professor Edlund has most certainly improved since the beginning of the quarter. He is a very new professor and perhaps does not deserve the terrible rating. I expect he will be improving as he gains experience. I have taken a liking to him, as I find him to be rather witty and charming, and he makes class fairly enjoyable, although still regularly confusing.

Dr. Edlund is one of the most down to earth teachers that I have ever had. I want to start out by making it clear that he isn't like most professor here at Cal Poly who have a big ego and think that the students know nothing. He is very approachable and great at working with students. He is constantly making jokes and just making the class a good environment to learn. The other day he sent out an email about some show about vikings that he saw on the history channel. He did it as a joke because we were using vikings as and example in class earlier in the day. No other teacher I have ever had has sent me an email for the sole purpose of making us laugh. At first I was a little unsure about the class because it was his first quarter teaching and some of his lectures were abstract but as the quarter has progressed, I have started to realize that even though some of his lectures can be a little overwhelming to comprehend at first, he is more or less just trying to enrich our knowledge of the subject rather than expecting us to know every detail. He is very considerate when it comes to partial credit on exams and quizzes. As long as you throw an equation on a problem on a test, you will at least get you a few points to show him you have some understanding of the problem. Also his midterms are 40% conceptual true or false type questions which really help build your confidence to do well on the rest of the test. He isn't out to fail anyone; he wants everybody to do well in his class and is more concerned with his students success.

I must admit at the beginning of the quarter I did not take to Edlund very well. However, he has shown so much improvement over the quarter and is now one of my favorite professors. He is very friendly and approachable. His lectures can go over your head at first, but he always takes the time to ensure that you understand. His tests are somewhat difficult, but he grades very fairly. If you can show any attempt in the right direction on a problem he will give you fair partial credit. If lecture is taking longer or there is a holiday, he will postpone the homework so you can keep up. He doesn't take thing too seriously. He laughs it off when he realized no one understood his examples and tries again to make sure the class is keeping up. Great professor, a good balance of educated, prepared, and understanding of his students. I would recommend him for sure!

This guy was a freshman teacher when I took him, so I knew he would be lenient with grades so the majority of people didn't fail. I don't hate his derivation of equations, but he's not the best either. The tests are very very long. The textbook, in my opinion, is awful. So pay attention to basketball head Edlund (it just reminds me of a basketball for some reason). He's nice, for sure. Maybe it's just that I don't like physics, who knows, but this class never was easy for me. Those dang quizzes were a killer. Also it was annoying when he jammed the last 3 chapters into 1 week. You won't fail, but it's a pain in the ass to know if you're doing well in this class.

Professor Edlund has a lot of potential. This was his first time teaching really, and he didn't really know exactly what he was doing. However, I have had teachers in the past that knew we didn't like their teaching style and they would not care at all. Edlund though kept changing his teaching style throughout the quarter based on what we liked. He got better and better each week, lectures started out as giant derivations and no application, but by the end he had examples and applications. The tests were, in my opinion, too hard, but he curves of course. Your grade comes from lab points, homework points (based on completion and correctness), quizzes, 2 tests and a final. I would recommend him to anyone because I think he is going to be a good teacher this upcoming quarter and one of the best physics teachers on campus by next year. He also has a great personality, very friendly and young so he actually enjoys talking to us kids.

Edlund was a hard professor to get used to at first, but hey I was in his first class here at Cal Poly. What makes him one of the greatest professors to me is that he continually improved and is always willing to improve his teaching style. The tests were difficult and so were quizes, but people need to understand that adversity is a good thing at a lower level, because with out it, anyone could be doing the job that we hope to do one day. As Cal Poly students in this great university, we should accept the challenge of adversity. Overall, Edlund made me a better engineer through his class, and I learned how a snow making machine works! HE APPLIES EVERYTHING! So, if you are looking for someone that will improve you in a physics related career, Edlund is your man!

He is really good professor in terms of conveying his concepts. He really wants the students to learn. He might have had a few ups and downs initially but he really grew from that. He tried different methods to see what worked best for his students. I would really recommend this teacher. He is not like your average Physics professor who will make you take notes and all you gotta do is just write the same thing on your exam. His exams are challenging but if you understand the material it should not be that hard to ace it.

Edlund rocks. I don't understand why people hated him so much in my class. He was a reasonable guy and gave lots of opportunities to get a good grade. The way he lectures is very interesting, to me at least. He will spend the entire lecture showing the derivation of the equation that you will need to use on homework and tests. And to me this is very helpful knowing where the equations came from and makes them much easier to use. But to some people this was difficult. The curves on his tests are very generous usually bring me up about 10 extra percent. A lot of times in lab he will be too lazy to make you write up a whole lab report so he lets you do a shortened one which is awesome. And besides all that he is really funny and even made fun of himself when he read his reviews from here.

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