Schumann, Thomas  

This guy needs to work on his teaching skills and how to speak in front of a class. Often trailing off, mid lecture, you had to really work at trying to understand what it was he was trying to convey. Tests weren't too bad, quizzes every couple of weeks were homework problems so they weren't bad either. But, the class was graded on a curve, not individual quizzes/tests. So, you really have no idea of where you stand in terms of grades until the class is already done. Also, he's not that great with answering questions, he rarely addressed the issue at hand, and didnt' make much of an effort to understand what students really were asking.

He will go more than the extra mile to help you in whatever way needed. I've seen him go without lunch so he can help a student. Take him soon, he'll be retiring in a year.

He is horrible at lectures, as though he hates the subject. His voice tends to fade as he gets deeper into the lecture. Even though i got a C in the class, i had 47%, so your percentage does not reflect your grade. The whole thing seems to be a joke to scare the class. I heard that he is retireing, so you are lucky, but if he stays around to torture more students, be ware!!!

Mr. Schumann is a fair guy. His three quizzes we took during the quarter were homework problems, so they were incredibly easy if you did the homework. His tests aren't that bad either. But there's the catch; he only gave us three quizzes, two midterms and a final and that was our grade. If you bombed one, you're SOL. Plus, he seems to do a lot more examples than explaining the topics. He'll go through and GIVE you the equation, then go back and show you how he got it, spending half the class teaching us about this formula that he already gave us. On top of that, he'll trail off sometimes and get you confused. However, he is nice about you taking a quiz if you were sick. And he will help you if you ask him.

I was surprised at how poorly this teacher taught Physics 121 to my class. I dreaded going every day because he sucked any and all excitement out of this otherwise interesting subject. The tests were hard and seemed extremely unfair given the fact that I did all my homework problems twice and still got low scores. In fact, our class averages were in the 40% range, and this guy didn't really seem to care that everyone was doing so poorly. The curve helped us as a whole, but when most of the class is missing more than half the test questions, it should really be a wake-up call to a tecacher that "Hey, maybe I'm not teaching this subject very well." He showed complete apathy towards our test grades and the entire class in general. I definitely would not recommend this teacher to anyone.

DON'T TAKE HIM HE IS VERY HARD

This guy isn't too bad, a pretty decent professor. HE isnt as bad as everone makes him out to be. He wont try and get to know anyone, and he doesnt really care how well the class understands the material. On a good note, however, he presents the material pretty clearly, giving good examples and evidence to back it up. The class is boring, and gets to be a pain in the ass towards the end, but its not too bad. The midterms and quizes are a piece of cake if you have the slightest bit of a brain, it shouldnt be a problem to pull off an A. Overall, I would recommend him for phys 121.

Maybe the reason I didn't get an A was that I couldn't force myself to pay attention. This guy is extremely boring, and basically teaches a math class. Our class average for the two midterms were 63% and 45%, but he didn't seem to be concerned. He only tells you about tests about a week in advance. I got 5 points marked off because I forgot a minus sign. He doesn't answer questions clearly and makes whoever's asking sound stupid. In all fairness, I did fairly well and I think the reason my classmates didn't is that they thought the material was more difficult than it really was. It's pretty basic, even w/o hs physics.

The most boring professor I have had at Cal Poly. It was a struggle to stay awake each class. His grading is very harsh. The quizes were worth a resonable amount of points and there was no partial credit. Find another professor.

When he lectures, he kind of mutters and is not very able to help students when they do not understand the material. It seems like he wishes he was elsewhere.

Dr. Schumann is horrible in every sense of the word. I didn't even bother going to class because I preferred sleeping at home and not in class. He gives quizzes at random off of the homework, and his tests are way off the wall. Everyone failed the second midterm because the majority of the questions were on one portion of the material and the questions were impossible. His final was easy, which saved my grade. I even went to his office hours a couple times only to have him do the problems for me, not teach me how to do them. In lab, he drones on for an hour before the he lets you start the lab... making little sense the whole time. And in lecture, the few that i went to, he talks to the bored and does every step of the algebra, not because we don't know how to do it, but seemingly because he needs the practice. You ask him a question on the homework and he scratches his head and gives you a blank look and an incomplete answer. He's horrible... take my word for it.

Prof. Schumann has the gift of making pretty much anything boring. He is concise, and very accurate, but will put the class to sleep. He spends most of the lectures doing mathematical derivations that will never be seen again on a test or in any other class. There are three quizzes given during the quarter, which are harder than the tests. The final is just like a long midterm (about 8 physics problems), and fairly easy.

Prof. Schumann is a really nice guy who grades fair above all (a rarity among many teachers here at poly). Yeah, his lectures are a little bit boring, but his examples are usefull. Tests and quizes are not hard, but you have to know whats going on. No calculators allowed during quizes or midterms, so know the trig. He'll go out of his way to help during office hours. Hes a good teacher, take him if you can, his class isnt particularly hard. Tests are basically just plug n chug problems.

Hes a pretty cool guy. Yeah hes a little boring in class, but his quizzes are straight from the homework, and so are the tests. He lets you use a formula sheet on the tests like most professors in the dept which is usefull. Going to office hours will help your grade, I think i got a better grade because i went once or twice. Overall not too hard if you put some effort into the class and do the homework he gives out.

Schumann doesn't have a whole lot of personality, but he did deliver the material consistently and thoroughly. He had some difficulty understanding student questions. Grading was curved fairly.

Dr. Schumann is really bad. It's not even worth taking the class. I found my self just staying home and doing practice problems instead of going to class because he complicates things that are really simple. The tests aren't to bad, but he really doesn't give partical credit on tests like he says he does.. He seroiusly has a hard time TEACHING...so avoid him.

This guy is actually pretty easy, all you have to do is get the printed solutions from the textbook and have some basic physcis knowledge. I rarely went to class, except for on Tuesdays and Thursdays (he pop quizes on those days directly from the homework). Some of his quizes were hard (I only scored points on one quiz out of 4, lol) but the rest of the class failed them too (the average for one quiz was a 0.8/20 and another it was a 2/20). Just do well on his 2 tests and final, and you should do fine in the class (it is massively curved) My only complaint is that it is very difficult to get an A since I think he only gives one or two (just his way of doing things) but he makes the class average a C+. If you really truly dont understand physics, you can go to his office hours and he will do the problems for you (no joke, I walked by his office and this kid had Schumann do every single one of the problems for the homework, and he just sat there and coppied while Schumann did them) In conclusion Schumann is kind of boring, but he isnt too bad and you really dont have to show up to class to do decently.

Do not take this teacher. I've taken AP Physics before in high school and I still had a hard time with this class. He doesn't really give partial credit on his midterms/tests/quizzes. For the pop quizzes, they are either 100% or 0%, but they do come straight from the homework. This teacher was really hard to completely understand and most of the time it seemed like he was trying to teach himself the subject rather than teach the students. If you do take him, expect to fall asleep in lectures... they aren't too exciting. And he grades on a MASSIVE curve. I swore I was going to fail this class... was really surprised when I pulled a C.

man i never knew physics would be so hard!!! he can't explain the topics at all. the guy just talks to the board all period doing examples. its hard to decipher what the hell is going on. there are 4-5 pop quizzes, 20 pts. and its ALL OR NOTHING! so most everyone got 0 on them. and the tests are hard to study for cuz he says "it could be anything in chapters X-Y know it all". the final was rediculous! 10 questions, most people got maybe 3-5 right. but he curves the grades up so that helps. still, try to take PHYS 122!

Shumann is terrible at presenting the material, I know physics extrememly well and I found myself second guessing myself because of him. If you have to only take him if you had physics before, it's darn near impossible to learn it from him, he does proofs without even telling you and you will never need to know them. Do the homework because there are quizes based on it, watch out though, he gives no partial credit on the quizes which are like only one problem, and very little on tests. Try to get someone else.