Reviews of professor Benjamin Spike

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Dr. Spike is a sweetheart, but his lectures were very bland and hard to pay attention to. I really struggle with physics and pretty much had to teach myself since the lectures are just random problems without explanations.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 2.0/5
Spike and Timbie are two of my favorite professors (they co teach) and I had them for physics 103 and 104. They were awesome both semesters. I felt that their exams were always reflective of what we did in class, so nothing was too hard on the exams. They were also really nice.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
HARD CLASS. SO HARD. physics in general seemed so hard on tests. Benjamin was nice...but those exams...nearly impossible to prepare well for.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Constantly swamped and we don't get feedback. Prelecture, lecture and "bridge sets" (homework questions) due 4 days of the week, quizzes and bigger homework assignments due twice a week. Get a subscription to Chegg if you wanna pass honestly, it's saving my butt as far as explaining the material.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Professor Spike is very kind and a concise lecturer. His exams were fair. My only complaint would be the general structure of the class: poor communication about grades/exams and a very disorganized structure in general. If I had to take physics again, I would want him as one of my professors!

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Tests were not an adequate way to measure student's mastery of the material. They were riddled with trick questions with one wrong answer completely dropping your grade a whole letter. No Notes allowed, No partial credit. Disappointed in this class

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
This professor has lectures that are elementary level and then writes exams that are meant for physics doctorate students. Our exam averages were in the 50s which is way worse than any other class i've ever taken and I'm a stem student. Do yourself a favor, and just don't.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Professor Spike is very good at teaching and you can see he loves the material. His teaching style is effective. He co-teaches the class with Professor Timbie and I had both of them for 103 too. They are both nice and try to make the class fun since its online. Exams reflect class material well but are challenging, and attendance is mandatory!

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Very good teacher and gives clear explanations of difficult concepts. I had him for both 103 and 104, and I am glad that I did! Only complaint is that he sometimes struggles to finish the lecture slides (but this seems to be a common issue in the physics department).

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
His lectures were very confusing and hard to follow. Exams were very difficult, with mandatory discussions and labs that were equally confusing and frustrating depending on your TA. He's a nice guy, but it's an extremely difficult class. Would not recommend.