Ismet Altunkaynak is a Physics professor at Northeastern University rated 3.58/5 on Rate My Professors by 12 students, with 3.3/5 RMP difficulty and 75% who would take them again (RateMyProfessors + Reddit, updated October 2026).
Ismet Altunkaynak professor reviews and ratings: 3.58/5 from 12 RMP ratings at Northeastern (75% would take again). RateMyProfessor + Reddit.
Watch out for the labs. They are killer and Barris is super unhelpful if you require any help! Your best bet is Google and 18 hours of library time! Good luckPHYS1151 2026-09-24 06:16:18 +0000 UTC
Baris allowed for late submissions on homework with no penalties and would extend deadlines if everyone needed it. He even moved our second exam to be take-home since he wanted the class time to properly cover the material before the finalPHYS3601 2024-12-13 19:51:37 +0000 UTC
Baris was incredibly kind and available to the students, but lectures were a little unhelpful. He would give “in class assignments”, but they were never done in class. You'll survive the class as long as you study and have friends with other professors to compare notes and get info on the tests and quizzes since he doesn't make them lolPHYS1151 2026-05-02 02:19:58 +0000 UTC
Overall, he is okay, the lectures are boring, and it can be very difficult to understand and hear him. The homework assignments take a while but aren't that difficult. He seems like a chill and nice guy, just not the best at teaching. Attendance not mandatory but most of the time you need to go to class to solve the ICA unless a friend can send it.PHYS1151 2026-04-28 22:48:44 +0000 UTC
He's kind and really wants his students to learn. He even brought demonstrations to class. You can always ask questions since he is frequently in office, but his explanations can be confusing. Lectures drone on with equation derivations. LOTS of hw and also difficult, especially if you've never taken physics. I learned most in ILS.PHYS1151 2026-04-26 22:06:07 +0000 UTC
lectures are unhelpful and make everything more confusing, but hes nice and chill.PHYS1151 2026-04-19 00:46:37 +0000 UTC
I LEARNED A LOT but he was a so so professor. He wasn't bad, but wasn't particularly interesting. He was nice, but his lectures kind of droned on. He thoroughly showed the derivations of equations, taking up the whole board, but these weren't valuable, and actively made the content more confusing. By the end, no one showed up to his class.PHYS1151 2026-04-14 14:23:09 +0000 UTC
super chill guy, but his class can get quite boring. especially in a big lecture hall, it's difficult to hear him. goes too fast sometimes and doesn't really give you time to do the examples yourself (important if you prefer that). his explanations aren't the clearest, but the course isn't too difficult.PHYS1151 2026-03-24 21:28:45 +0000 UTC
Overall pretty good guy, not the best at teaching the material but not bad at all. He derives everything which is cool but can be boring and also not help sometimes. The homework can take a while Aswell.PHYS1151 2026-03-17 22:16:09 +0000 UTC
Great lecturer, put all the equations we needed for the quizzes on the board, he also brought demonstration objects to every ILS which were cool to see. He was also really helpful when doing the group problems and provided guidance.PHYS1151 2024-12-16 20:35:11 +0000 UTC
Honestly a very good professor. He genuinely wants to see his students succeed, and he usually allows formula sheets. He derives equations so that we can understand the concepts but that can be a bit confusing, so don't be too worried about lecture. Make sure you mostly know how to tackle the homework (which is harder than the exam/quiz questions).PHYS1151 2023-09-08 03:39:48 +0000 UTC
I could not have had a better re-introduction to physics than through Dr Altunkaynak (or Baris as he likes to be called). Physics is physics, so studying and preparation is going to be needed regardless of the professor; however, Baris does the most to make sure you are prepared and honestly just wants to see you succeed.PHYS1151 2023-08-23 04:45:34 +0000 UTC
Ismet Altunkaynak is rated 3.58/5 on Rate My Professors from 12 ratings. 75% of RMP reviewers said they would take them again.
Ismet Altunkaynak's classes have a difficulty rating of 3.3/5 on Rate My Professors.
Ismet Altunkaynak has taught PHYS2303, PHYS3600, PHYS7200, PHYS1151, PHYS1153, PHYS4305, PHYS3601 at Northeastern.
Data updated October 2026.