Western Kentucky University / V / Wieb Vandermeer

He is a joke, he thinks everyone loves physics and sorry but we only have to take this class to get to the career we want; nothing more. He can't teach and is too caught up in his own little world. DO NOT TAKE HIM EVER

Vandermeer has a bad rep for being extremely difficult and tedious. Here's the thing: people who do poorly in his classes don't know how to study for his quizzes or exams. The only sure-fire way to get an A on the exams are to study and work ALL of the problems at the end of the corresponding chapters covered for each exam. He pulls his questions from there; he just changes the numbers so there's no point even attempting to memorize them exactly, but know how to do them: he picks the most random questions. Don't even waste your time trying to get your friends' old tests because they're really not all that helpful, really they're only occasionally useful to get an idea of what he might ask for the non-calculator part of his exams. Getting old homework from people will help you a TON because it's often exactly the same or pulled from the book, and the homework all counts as .5 points of extra credit each which is added directly onto your final grade. SO theoretically, if you have a perfect homework score you only need to make an 85 in the class to get an A, and he curves at the end.

Yeah, you have to work. A lot. But you'll also know your stuff by the end. Also, Vandermeer is a VERY accomadating teacher who will bend over backwards to make sure you understand stuff, but you have to go to his office hours! In class he's not always receptive to questions because he's got so much ground to cover. He's also AWESOME about letting you reschedule exams if you have a lot going on or something. He's got a great (but strange) sense of humor and he's NOT the person that he's made out to be by people who just aren't willing to put the time in to do well.

Dr. Vandermeer is the worst excuse for a human being on the face of the earth. He grades his lab reports so harshly that a C mean exceptional. I am a double major in biology and chemistry with a minor in biophysics. I have a 3.8 gpa and even I cant get better than a D on his lab reports. I talked to students in other sections of the same lab. None of them have to do the rigorous and tedious things that we had to in Vandermeers class. My friends lab report for the first lab was only 1 page long and he got a 9/10 from Dr. Novikov. My lab report in Vandermeer's class was 7 pages long and filled with data....I got a 50/100 on it! NEVER TAKE THIS ASSHOLE!

Dr. Vandermeer says that Americans are stupid and everyone is Europe is so much smarter. We are lazy and that is why we have such a hard time in life. I was able to memorize formulas from my book and used them on a test and still got the answers wrong b/c he said the book was wrong!!! There is No extra credit and you are not allowed to take notes in class!!! I would NOT take him at all if you could avoid him at all!!!

Van der Meer's lectures never seem to go along with the homework he assigns and he designs his tests badly. He does let you retake one exam after your (non-cumulative) final though. Very tough class, and the lectures are extremely boring on most days.

Tough call on Van der Meer. I'll start with the bad things first. His notes can be messy and disconjoined. He writes all over the board and often loses track of what he is doing. Sometimes people in class look at each other like "what the hell is he doing?" His tests are poorly constructed. The first was all problem solving and had 1 multiply choice problem that was worth 5 points. You either got them or you didn't. He is weird on partial credit, sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't. He is very picky on the homework assignments. He will take off for sig figs and makes mistakes grading (he took 5 points off a HW for nothing, I asked him about it and he changed it).

Now for the good things. There are 4 tests and a final which is not cumulative. During the final, you can retake one test that you did bad on previously. Thats all of the good things.

As far as the rest of the class, there are 10 HW assignments and 8-9 quizzes. If you don't come to class you will fail, there's no way around it.

Starting in 2006, Van der Meer is the only teacher teaching 332, so you are going to have to take him. Just study as much as you can and try not to let him confuse you.

BEWARE!! Gave a final over material he went over the day before, at the last 15 min. of class. Me and everyone I knew in there were very border-line B going into the final, but we all got C's. He is a nice guy I guess, but he is a test and lectures are horrible. You will get more out of the class if you take it with someone else, even if you have to stay an extra semester!! TRUST ME it's worth it.

Dr van der Meer often gets a bad rep among the physics majors. This is unfounded, however. He's very organized, and hands out an outline of the day's lecture at the start of class which can be used as a study guide for the tests. He does lots of examples in class, and works through derivations. Best of all, he does demonstrations. Not many physics teachers do demonstrations in the classrooms (though they should considering physics deals with understanding physical concepts).

He grades the tests and homework fairly. For our class, if there was a test that we did poorly on, we could make it up during the final by answering additional questions on the final and he would use the highest grade.

The biggest mistake you can make in this class, is to assume you already know everything from taking 250 and skip class a lot. If you skip class you will fall behind and do poorly on the tests. The people who dislike Dr van der Meer are the ones who fell into that trap. He teaches the material well, all you have to do is show up and do the homework.

Your grade in Dr. van der Meer's lab is solely based on lab reports (there are 11 or 12). He grades them somewhat harshly, but after a few reports it's very easy to see what he looks for. He's also really friendly and helpful. I highly recommend him.

This class was incredibly difficult. I would recommend not taking it if you don't have to. The concepts are kinda abstract, and require a flexible mind to understand...

With that said, If you have to take this class, or are crazy enough to take it, I highly recommend Dr. Van der Meer. From the first moment of class, Dr V. grabs your attention and doesn't let go. He has a somewhat heavy homework load, but at least it is real stuff, and not that WebAssign crap.

Every day, he prepares an outline of the concepts covered in that class.

If you take his class and you have ANY QUESTIONS AT ALL, feel free to go to his office, whether it's during posted hours or if you just happen to see him there. He is incredibly helpful, sometimes even with homework from other classes. He pulled me out of the fire in Differential Equations and in Classical Mechanics.. His sense of humor is a little off, but that's refreshing and typical of TCCW. Just look at Abernathy, Barksdale, Biles, Humphrey, Kessler, and Smith, to name a few.

Dr. Van der Meer was a very good professor. He can be strange at times and he gets off course a lot, but it always makes for a good laugh. He's interested in what his students have to say and is always willing to help out. He wants you to do well. Be sure to go to every class because he likes to give pop quizzes and you cant make them up, however attendance is not required. He will drop your lowest test grades if you work with him. Be willing to compromise to get what you want. You will learn something and the homework can be hard, but he will help in and out of class. Take Dr. Van der Meer if you can.

Dr. Vandermeer is a very smart man, but he can't teach physics. He goes through math problems on the board so fast, sometimes I couldn't get them all-and I write very fast. Everyone I talked to in my class taught themselves the material for the most part. I would recommend that you go to the physics help lab when you need it-because that does help on the homework. He doesn't like to let you leave class early

I had Bassey for lecture and Vandermeer for lab. From what I heard from all the people in my lecture class, Bassey is better. In Vandermeer's class, 75% of your grade comes from lab reports, and the other 25% from a final. Bassey's class DID NOT have a final at all...the entire grade only from lab reports. Vandermeer grades the reports out of 100 pts...meaning he is LOTS pickier than Bassey, who only grades out of 10 points! I spent AT LEAST 4 hours on every lab report and struggled to get an A. In the end the final wasn't too bad (he let us use our lab manuals), so it wasn't too hard to get an A. I just think that a person taking Bassey's class wouldn't have to spend near as much time on the reports and get the same result.

This professor is horrible. His lectures make no sense, and his tests are ridiculous. He stresses too much on "using our imaginations" and not enough on teaching us the actual concepts. When somebody has a question, he'll start to explain, but doesn't finish. He even confuses himself sometimes. I got an A in Biophysics I, and on this first test, I got a D...I had no clue what was going on, even though I did the homework and attended every class. Take Bassey, or even Bryant. Don't consider this terrible professor.

I liked Van der meer. he was a nice guy and a good teacher. He gives a hard test though. But if you don't understand something he'll give you all the help you need. Also, he is the king of partial credit. As a teacher, he puts Bassey to shame.

The exams are very hard. He really makes sure you know what you are talking about. He gives lots of partial credit on the exams sometimes. His quizes are staight forward. His notes are mostly examples of problems and are hard to follow.

He really cares and is a great human being. Funny guy too in his own way. I definitely recommend him.

Dr. Van deer Meir was an excellent physics professor. He was readily available outside of class to help answer questions that you might have. I recommend him strongly above 3 of the other physics professors I've had at WKU. He can be tough, but he makes you learn your stuff. If you get a chance, take him because you'll actually learn something.

He didn't explain things clearly. The tests were composed of about two problems straight from the book and then several problems he got from somewhere else. He gives a lot of partial credit on test problems though.

Van Der Meer gives way too much home work before he lectures about it... For the final you need to study more than six hours, and you have to memorize a lot of formulas that are not even on the test. He is smart and funny. A lot better than Harper or Humphrey, but his tests are nothing like the practice tests. If you want to study for one of his tests, study the text book and the notes, but do not depend on the practice tests he gives, because they are nothing like the acutal test.

If you've had Humphrey or Harper, this man is a blessing from above. He is able to keep your attention with witty jokes and a thick accent. Tests are somewhat difficult; however, the grading is not. If you must take this class, take Van der Meer, while avoiding Gelderman like the plague.

Dr. van der Meer was always doing something to make us laugh and it is really funny how he goes about teaching Physics but you learn it. His exams usually come straight from the book or from examples he did in class, so as long as you do the problems in the book, you'll do fine. The course isn't easy, but it helps if you take van der Meer. He is one of the best professors I've had at Western.

The best professor I've had at WKU. He never lost my attention.