Vivek Venkatachalam is a Physics professor at Northeastern University rated 3.11/5 by 1158 students, with 3.81/5 difficulty and 29.0% who would take them again (TRACE + RateMyProfessors + Reddit, updated July 2026).
Vivek Venkatachalam professor reviews and ratings: 3.11/5 from 1158 student reviews at Northeastern (29.0% would take again). TRACE + RateMyProfessor + Reddit.
Your grade is made up of mainly the midterm and final. Basically had to teach myself everything since class time was spent doing group work while you had to watch videos at home to learn concepts. I would avoid.PHYS1145 2025-12-16 16:18:07 +0000 UTC
I think he was the best out of the three professors. Then again, it's not a very high bar. He lectures a bit more than the other two and runs review sessions. He also is pretty lenient with grading and drops your two lowest quiz grades (there are weekly quizzes). However, he is a nightmare to talk to, so just go straight to the TAs.PHYS1145 2025-12-15 20:40:53 +0000 UTC
Makes things so much more complicated than they need to be. Insanely condescending and 0 empathy. Does not reply to emails and is very little help. Avoid.PHYS1145 2025-12-13 16:46:08 +0000 UTC
Vivek is the worst of the three professors in this class for fall 2025. He was TERRIBLE at explaining concepts and made everything more confusing than it should be. Avoid taking his class if possible.PHYS1145 2025-12-08 17:50:15 +0000 UTC
Terrible professor. Rude about questions and doesn't actually teach. Between the three of them one brain cell is shared.PHYS1145 2025-12-07 17:24:21 +0000 UTC
Structure of this class is very annoying. No in class lectures, all online and when you ask for help he's super condescending. Literally made fun of a student once in the middle of lecture. Be prepared to teach yourself everything. Not amazing for people that haven't taken a physics class before.PHYS1145 2025-12-04 16:13:32 +0000 UTC
The flipped classroom setup works as long as you do the preview work before class. Of the three professors, he seems the most talented at teaching these concepts. I was never great at physics but still did decently. The midterm is very simmilar to the quiz problems.PHYS1145 2025-12-02 14:48:10 +0000 UTC
Class is terrible. The flipped learning setup doesn't work at all. You teach yourself everything. The professors barely explains anything in class and expects you to already know the material. It's completely unhelpful, confusing, and honestly a waste of time. If you actually want to learn, this is not the class or professor for youPHYS1145 2025-10-17 03:29:10 +0000 UTC
Avoid this professor at all cost all if you can he is ABSOLUTELY horrible. He told me that they want us to teach the material to ourselves because its better for learning. There is zero reason to show up to lectures because they arent informative, and you're teaching yourself in them.PHYS1145 2025-01-10 19:36:22 +0000 UTC
so basically its three professors and they switch out every couple of weeks. quite literally the worst 3 professors ive ever had, there extremely lazy with grading and you basically have to be prepared to teach yourself because there are only 10min lectures outside of class. midterms and finals are nothing like practice problems.PHYS1145 2024-12-21 02:01:47 +0000 UTC
I took AP Physics in high school and hated it but Professor Venkatachalam was pretty good at these explaining concepts, and happy to explain further after class or in office hours; the structure of this physics class, which balanced homework and exam grades to make up a final grade, was really great.PHYS1145 2023-11-28 20:30:41 +0000 UTC
Professor Venkatachalam is very passionate about physics, but it was hard to learn anything in his class. A typical day consists of 20 min of lecture and 45 min of practice problems. The problem is that the practice problems are much more difficult than the concept covered in the lectures, so I felt like I learned nothing the entire coursePHYS1145 2022-12-16 20:24:37 +0000 UTC
He's alright, nothing special. Lecture is a waste of time though. Most of the homework / Top Hat questions assigned in this class goes beyond what was discussed in lecture. And he teaches too quickly it makes it hard to decipher how to solve a problem sometimes. Paul teaches the course in the 2nd half of the sem. He's way better. Go to him for OHPHYS1145 2022-11-14 03:06:18 +0000 UTC
Take anyone else. Lectures last no longer than 20 minutes most days, then you work on homework on your own. Most of the time this homework is past the level of the material lectured. There is also homework through another website that usually has concepts that were not learned in class, is barely reviewed, and often doesn't relate to test material.PHYS1145 2022-10-20 19:13:33 +0000 UTC
Excellent conveyor of the physics curriculum. Engaged in class and helpful during office hours. Always willing to assist students with academic concerns.PHYS1145 2022-08-02 01:32:15 +0000 UTC
Vivek Venkatachalam has an average rating of 3.11/5 from 1158 student reviews. 29.0% of students said they would take them again.
Vivek Venkatachalam's classes have a difficulty rating of 3.81/5 based on student reviews.
Vivek Venkatachalam has taught PHYS1145, PHYS1153, PHYS1157, PHYS4305 at Northeastern.
Data updated July 2026.