PHYS 442Electricity and Magnetism 3
- Units
- 0.50
- Faculty
- Science
- Subject
- Physics
When it runs
- F24
- W25
- S25
- F25
- W26
- S26
- F26
- W27
- S27
Ran in 3 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.
Review of the origin of Maxwell's equations, conservation laws, potential formulation of Maxwell's equations and gauge choices, vacuum solutions of Maxwell's equations (free space, waveguides, dispersion), solution to Maxwell's equations for arbitrary sources (static and time-dependent problems), relativistic formulation of electrodynamics, macroscopic Maxwell's equations and plane waves in macroscopic media.
Prerequisites
- Complete 1 of the following
- Must have completed the following:
- PHYS342 - Electricity and Magnetism 2 (0.50)
- Complete 1 of the following
- Must have completed the following:
Antirequisites
None listed.
Leads to
No course lists it as a requisite.
Fall 2026 sections
| Section | Class | Enrolled | Meets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | 7194 | 73 / 100 | MW 11:30–12:50 |
Reviewed on UW Flow
31% liked it44% easy47% useful
From 13 ratings and 7 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
Very useful course. Fairly engaging professor in O'Donovan. But man, I did not really enjoy the course. It was difficult, though what we learnt is truly very useful.
Aug 2026 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this
This course has been a masterclass in inefficiency. I’m honestly impressed at how thoroughly it manages to consume time while contributing essentially nothing to my understanding.
For a fourth-year course recommended for grad school, it’s baffling that the instruction can’t reliably cover even the basic mathematical scaffolding. At that point, we’re not doing “advanced physics,” we’re doing “advanced confusion.”
The workload is relentless, two multi-question assignments per week plus readings, plus tutorial question every week, yet the outcome is mostly just existential reflection on why I took this in the first place.Jan 2026 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this
I don't know why grad schools insist on us taking this course, we don't need yet another E&M course. Taught by O'Donovan, he was a terrible prof and I would never wish taking his class upon my worst enemy
Jan 2026 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this
First of all, I have to say Chris O'Donovan is one of the best profs I've had in uni. He's super kind, helpful and always looking for ways to help out his students. The course itself was pretty fair - we were given 1 tutorial assignment due every Tuesday (10% of the course). We had 2 mini assignments due every Sunday which were mostly questions from the textbook along with a reading assignment on certain sections in the textbook (10%). The midterm was 2 questions that had many parts to it which were questions we did in the assignments - one question was actually a question from the assignment (35%). We had a bonus book report which was worth an extra +10%. The final consisted of 4…
Dec 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
This was such an annoying waste of time, but at least most people seem to get through it in one piece.
Dec 2025 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
15 posts and comments in 15 threads mention PHYS 442, August 2016 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Fall 2024
If you are attending the PHYS442 post-exam tutorial, please DM me immediately 2 points, 8 comments
u/kalashnikovgobrrrr: “I am urgently trying to contact the prof and can't seem to be able to reach him. I cannot attend the tutorial as I will be on a flight.”
4th Year PHYS Electives 2 points, 0 comments
u/Patience_is_aVirtue: “… There are a few options out there such as PHYS 434, 442, 454, 468, and 490. I am just wondering if anyone has taken these. If so, how was your experience? Did you like the course? …”
Spring 2024
Fun PHYS & AMATH Courses 5 points, 1 comment
u/eranand04: “seems like u have AMATH 250, MATH 237, PHYS 121. If u like lin alg: PHYS 234, 334 ,434, AMATH 373, 473, 474. If u like DE: PHYS 363, AMATH 361. If u like vector calc: PHYS 242, 342, 442”
Winter 2023
What’s been your easiest and hardest year so far? 10 points, 16 comments
u/TheRealArjun: “… - AMATH 353, AMATH 373, CS 436, CS 467, ECE 459, PMATH 332 4A - ECE 222, ECE 351, PHYS 434, PHYS 442, PHYS 454, PHYS 475 WT5 - ECE 350, ECE 454, Coop 5 4B is looking bad and its only been one month...”
Fall 2022
Phys 442 exam crying thread 1 point, 1 comment
PHYS 442 Test 1 crying thread 8 points, 3 comments
Spring 2022
Mathematical physics Course blueprint recommendations 3 points, 21 comments
“Hey everyone, I’m going into the mathematical physics program at Waterloo next year and I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on a sort of blueprint I could follow for courses because …”
u/Yu-Li: “… First coop term Do your first research coop PHYS 342 3B Fall AMATH 473 AMATH 351 PMATH 347 PHYS 442 (get override request) PHYS 475 (get override request) / PHYS 468 Change coop sequence 4A winter: AMATH 474 PMATH 863 AMATH 475 PHYS 359 One more physics course you like (I would …”
Fall 2020
Any one have any wild speculation for what happened to O'Donovan in Phys 442 & 363 18 points, 10 comments
Spring 2020
Fuck this bird course bullshit: what is the theoretical hardest term you could do? 49 points, 27 comments
“You're limited to a maximum of 5 classes, you're only allowed to do courses that would be allowed for the program/major you pick. …”
u/cabbagemeister: “My upcoming year will be pretty tough: Fall: PHYS442 (Electricity and Magnetism 3), PHYS437A (Honours Research Project), PHYS475 (Cosmology), PMATH945 (Clifford Algebras, Spinors, and Calibrations), AMATH473 (Quantum Theory 2) Winter: PHYS444 (Intro Particle Physics) PHYS476 …”
Fall 2019
Courses whose grades are not up yet megathread? 17 points, 33 comments
“Stat 230 Online :(((((((( CS245”
u/Phijkchu_Pikachu: “Phys 442 as expected lmao. Thanks O'Don, it's not like our exam was on the 10th or something.”
Winter 2019
Why Don't We Have Waterloo OpenCourseWare? 13 points, 2 comments
“All these "too cold for school" posts got me thinking...is there a reason why we don't have something similar to MIT's OpenCourseWare. …”
u/cabbagemeister: “… I think there are a few fairly standard 3rd and 4th year courses which would be okay to have online (such as PHYS342, PHYS442, PMATH347, PMATH333, and PMATH334 -particularly the ones which don't change very much in core content every year/term).”
How are the physics professors here? 2 points, 34 comments
“I'm in first year and haven't come across any great professor apart from Richard Epp. Are the upper year professors also bad?”
u/cabbagemeister: “Out of the professors I've had some sort of interactions with: Top Tier: Avery Broderick (Stars, Planets), Richard Epp (121/124/263), Eduardo Martin-Martinez (GR) Good Tier: Rajibul Islam (optics, …”
u/cabbagemeister: “… There are indeed more phys courses in the sci faculty (mainly accounted for by PHYS124/236/363/442/434) Here are the equivalent AMATH credits in Sci for Math AMATH 231 Calculus 4 (also in SCI) AMATH 242/CS 371 (Equivalent is PHYS236) AMATH 251 (also in SCI) AMATH 271 (PHYS263 …”
Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026
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