Tsekouras, Konstantinos  

This guy has a heavy accent and a lisp. Very hard to understand anything he says. So pretty much learned nothing from him. Quizzes and Exams were difficult.

I was nervous to sign up for physics 121 as I had never taken a physics class in the past. When I registered, the dreaded "staff" showed up as the professor. Right before the quarter started I realized that they found a teacher for the class. As soon as I saw the guy's name I knew it was going to be rough. I came into the class with an open mind, however, and tried my best. Kostas is Greek, and he has one of the thickest accents I have ever heard. This made it very difficult to learn from him as I couldn't understand him half of the time. He is not only difficult to understand, but he isn't very proficient at presenting the material. For example, he would work through a problem in class, only to reach the end and tell you that he wasn't sure of the final answer because he hadn't worked it out yet. Lastly, the entire class had no idea what their overall grade was until the last week of the quarter when he finally updated PolyLearn. Kostas is a brilliant man, but really shouldn't be teaching physics in my opinion. Avoid him at all costs!!

Kostas has a pretty thick accent but it gets much easier to understand him after the first few classes. He is a fairly average teacher but is very willing to help students in and outside of class. The only major complaint that i have is that he will often rush through example problems without explaining very much. I wouldn't exactly recommend him as a teacher but I wouldn't say that people should avoid his class either. He is a sensible grader and you will be able to pass his class without too much difficulty.

Dr. K is very kind and understanding but his teaching methods are not good at all. The only thing I learned from his class was how to try understanding example problems without actually learning physics. He made this class way too stressful for a basic physics class. This was supposed to be a class that was low on my priority list of classes for the quarter and I had to focus more on it because of Dr. K's lack of teaching ability. I think the only reason I did better toward the end of the quarter was because he felt that students had no clue what was happening in his lectures and he felt bad for us. Avoid Dr. K if you can

Kostas is very intelligent, but he teaches an introductory physics class as if it were an engineering physics class, making it way more difficult than it should be. He often gets his own problems confused and NEVER uses numbers to solve problems, which can be confusing in your notes when all of your practice problems have no answers, only a mess of variables and complicated algebra. His accent is difficult to understand and his test problems are far more complicated than anything in the book. He either gets problems from the engineering book or from books written in Greek. I would not recommend him as a teacher unless you are already proficient in physics because his teaching abilities are well below what they should be for someone teaching an entry level class.

He has a pretty strong accent, so it's difficult to understand him, and he also rushes over material and leaves his students completely lost at times. In example problems, he would only write certain things on the board, and say the rest, so it was hard to keep up and fully understand how he was solving it. Also, he uses variables instead of numbers, which is super annoying because if you decide to plug in numbers, you have no way of knowing if your answer is correct. I never knew what to study for the exams. I just reviewed my notes over and over, but his test questions weren't like the examples he did in class. Going to office hours only helps a little, because he answers your questions with short, non-explanatory answers. He also picks favorites– the people who constantly ask questions, go to his office hours, and are girls (at least that's what it seemed like in my class). A lot of his test questions are extremely difficult, but he gives partial credit, which is nice. I would advise taking someone else, especially if this is your first college physics course or if you've never taken physics before.

This guy is AWESOME! He has a pretty thick accent but you get used to it. His lectures are organized and clear. He encourages questions and takes as much time as you need to understand things. He is super helpful in lab too. He doesn't outright give you the answers but does his best to guide you there. Midterms are really fair, if you do the homework you'll be fine. He allows formula sheets too, which help a lot. I hate physics but he made the class way better! Definitely recommend him!

AVOID!!!! He is the worst professor that I've had at Cal Poly. Sure he is smart but he can not teach. I did not learn ANYTHING this quarter. The only reason why I got an A was because I took AP Physics and I knew most of the topics that were covered in class. His accent is not as bad as people make it seem you just have to get used to it, but his teaching is really bad. All he does is go over power point slides and theoretical stuff and then expects you to understand everything and do all the problems. If you want to get a good grade in this class you are going to have to teach yourself everything. He is helpful during lab and explains how to do everything and clarify any questions that you might have. Overall avoid him if you can because you won't learn anything.

Best advice is to not take him. He can barely speak English and horribly presents the material. When I say he can't speak English, I REALLY mean it--I don't know how he was ever able to land a job. Also his test do not match his in class examples or the homework. He is also the first teacher to ever give me a grade below a B.

Can not convey information clearly. If you know physics his lectures will make you worse at it. Over the course of the quarter he did a lot of example problems incorrectly, and while he would recognize mistakes if you explained them to him, he couldn't convey the correction well to the class. PHYS 141 is supposed to be a class that uses calculus, but professor Kostas never once had us use derivatives or integrals to solve problems. Chances are you can't really choose a physics prof cause they all show up as staff in pass and cpreg, but if you end up with Kostas you'll have to get used to learning a lot of the material out of class. Lastly his quiz and final problems are a bit ridiculous and implausible, making them a lot more confusing than they have to be.

Do not take this professor. 1) He doesn't speak English very well and has a lisp. 2) He was taught Physics using the Greek language, meaning that he forgets to use alpha and uses a instead and visa-versa depending on if he forgets. 3) He is not effecting on teaching a subject even when asked to clarify several times. Therefore you will have to teach yourself using the textbook only. 4) His tests are much harder than the textbook problems meaning even AFTER he fails to teach, and you take the EFFORT to learn from the textbook, it is still EXTREMELY hard to get good grades on his tests. He is not a bad person, but I would not want him as a professor EVER again. DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR IF YOU VALUE EITHER YOUR LEARNING OR YOUR GRADE.

He is hands down the worst teacher I have ever had! He has a really bad accent and is very difficult to understand, has awful handwriting, and is a total asshole when you ask for help when you don't understand. Avoid him at all costs!!!

Kostas is nice enough, and may be very smart, but should not be a teacher. He is incredibly unclear and unorganized in his lectures, and often makes mistakes in his examples that he will not catch until the next day. It does not seem like he gives much care or preparation for his classes. Also, the quizzes he gives do not represent what the course material had been. He does not make you turn in homework, but you should do homework that is assigned. You will not learn a thing from lecture, so doing book problems is the best. Though I did not find Kostas to be a very approachable professor, I would recommend going to office hours. He will try help you with anything, even if its not one of his recommended problems, and often give points back on midterms for sometimes unknown reasons. You can get away with using the 2nd addition of the physics book, and do not need the workbooks that come with the third edition.

This professor is the definition of easy examples and harder homework. His quiz/test problems are even harder! He is ridiculous and he acts as if this class is engineering physics. Not to mention i cant even understand what he is saying half the time. He gets his powerpoints online so the problems on there are nothing like the one he gives you for homework or on tests. God help you if you have this guy.

This guy is the man. Sure he's almost impossible to understand, but once you get past that you see that he is a ridiculously brilliant and nice guy. He's like a teddy bear that I just want to hug while I fall asleep. The course consists of weekly quizzes, two midterms and a final. The midterms were really easy and he curves them really hard anyway. Also he's a pimp.

If you're good a physics, this class is easy to do good in, and doesn't take much time outside of class. However, if you struggle at physics this class is going to be difficult for you because he is not the best at explaining tricky concepts. His Greek accent is confusing at first, but easy to get used to. Kostas is not a bad teacher, and is willing to help during office hours. If you go to his office before a quiz, he'll usually tell you what's on it.

nice guy, while im sure that i failed everything, but he is nice enough to give me a passing... im better when i work with numbers, but he is very focused on theories, theoretical stuff, all semantics... I would recommend him if you have learned physics and feel ok with it, but if you work well with numbers like me, then maybe try someone else... Liked him alot, very nice guy!