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Mitchell, David

Cumulative GPA: 3.59/4.00 with 39 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 3.69
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 3.51

Physics Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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PHYS 121 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 3:06 pm, Jan 2, 2013 Report Evaluation		Dr. Mitchell is such a great teacher! I am not into physics at all and barely remembered anything from high school physics, but he explains things really clearly and makes it easy to understand. He lectures in an organized and structured way so my notes from class were a good study source. This class was a 50 min lecture 4 days a week, which makes it sort of a pain to go to every day but it's nice because they don't drag on forever. You really need to go to class because his tests are based off stuff we do in class, plus we had a weekly quiz that often resembled problems we worked out in class. The quizzes get old, but they really help you to keep up with material. Also, he assigns homework problems that you dont need to turn in, but it is really important to do it if you want to get good grades on midterms and the final. If you have questions definitely go to his office hours because he is super nice and willing to help.

ASTR 101 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 12:55 am, Dec 1, 2012 Report Evaluation		I've never been the "front and center student," but I was in this class- my mind was blown almost every time. LOVE when that happens! Half the class he is answering questions from the students, which makes it really non-intimidating to ask questions. However, make sure you write, and write, and write during the quizzes and tests, because odds are you'll leave something out and get partial credit. His questions are vague, but he expects super detailed answers (most of the things I forgot were things I knew but just didn't SAY). This class changed my perspective on life, knowing that everything that we are and everything that there is came from one crazy random chain of events.

ASTR 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Support) 9:30 pm, Nov 14, 2012 Report Evaluation		great teacher.. really smart and funny guy. one of the best teachers i've had at cal poly so far. the lectures are really straightforward and he does a good job at keeping them interesting. the tests can be tough, but if you go to class and study enough you'll be fine. answer the short answer questions on the tests in extreme detail!

PHYS 122 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 4:03 pm, Apr 3, 2012 Report Evaluation		Dr. Mitchell is an amazing teacher. He is straight forward and explains all of the material covered in the course thoroughly. Make sure to do all of the homework because it will help tremendously with the weekly quizzes and the exams he gives! He genuinely cares about his students and is very helpful in class and office hours. I would highly recommend taking physics with him.

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 4:47 pm, Mar 27, 2012 Report Evaluation		I love Dr. Mitchell. I was expecting this class to be a drag but this ended up being the most interesting class I've had at Cal Poly. Mitchell's lecture style is very straight forward (he uses the chalk board only) and it's very obvious what you need to write down. He has quizzes every week straight from lecture notes. Only thing to watch out for are the exams. I thought the first one was going to be pretty easy based off of how well I was doing on the quizzes and I nearly failed it. Make sure you study hard! Overall, I really recommend this glass as a GE. Mitchell is a great and funny guy and he teaches really well.

PHYS 122 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 9:17 pm, Mar 11, 2012 Report Evaluation		Professor Mitchell, like most professors at CalPoly really cares and wants his students to succeed. Phys 122 was not to bad. Quizzes once a week forced you to keep up with material which was nice around midterms. I spoke to friends who had other professors for the same course and they seemed to be struggling while i did not find it to be too hard. I think he simplifies things a lot more then other professors. Overall good experience.

PHYS 201 Junior Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 6:23 pm, Dec 22, 2011 Report Evaluation		Mitchell is a good teacher. He genuinely cares about his students. He's funny and tries to help his students as much as he can. However, his exams are more than what I expected. You really have to study the book and do the hw problems and memorize the notes. He also gives quizzes every Wednesday. Students either use this to their advantage to boost their grade or these quizzes can lower a student's grades. Study hard for this class.



ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 2:13 pm, Nov 30, 2011 Report Evaluation		I love this professor! I found his class to be super easy. I didn't open the book once or do any of the homework and I have done amazingly so far in his class. You do have to actually go to class though because his tests are based on his lectures, but they are interesting and he is funny! If you need to fill a GE and want to learn something cool, TAKE HIM AND THIS CLASS!!!!!

ASTR 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 8:26 am, Nov 6, 2011 Report Evaluation		On the first day of class, I was a little worried I would have to fight off nap time every day because Mitchell was a little dull. However, his class definitely picks up and is super interesting. The midterms are like a cold shower when you're half asleep.. they hit you fast and hard and you're not expecting it. STUDY. There are quizzes once a week and one is dropped, but if you don't stay on top of your game, you call fall into the hole and never recover. Overall, he's a very sweet guy and I enjoyed my time with him.

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 3:37 am, Mar 29, 2011 Report Evaluation		Dr. Mitchell is truly a great teacher. He has a brilliant sense of humour, is extremely knowledgeable, and is organised and efficient. The best teacher I have had so far. I thoroughly enjoyed his lectures and never once was I bored. However, the reason I got a B in the class instead of an A was because of his tests, which are shockingly difficult. The weekly quizzes are cake if you pay attention and take good notes. However, watch out for the midterms and final. He assigns homework but doesn't collect it, so you think you can skim it and be done studying... WRONG. Just when you think you know the material in class, you have to turn around and explain it... It's the only difficult part, though, explaining it. HOWEVER: there is a reason he does assign homework: if you do the homework, and make sure you understand all the questions, you will be just fine, at least a solid B gauranteed. He is there to help you, use it. Over all, great professor, just DO THE HOMEWORK NO MATTER WHAT, be careful on the tests, know your stuff and this class will be fun and interesting.

PSC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 12:26 pm, Feb 16, 2011 Report Evaluation		Professor Mitchell is a very nice guy! Great teacher. you can tell he wants you to learn the material. But the tests are way to hard for the class. The material is stuff that i learned in elementary school. But, he is a very hard grader. He marks off a lot of points for leaving out random words. No matter how long i would study and how well i knew the concepts, i would get marked off for random reasons.

PHYS 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 1:51 am, Jan 5, 2011 Report Evaluation		what else is there to say about Mitchell? He's just an overall good guy. very nice and helpful.

ASTR 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 12:08 am, Dec 6, 2010 Report Evaluation		Professor Mitchell is a great instructor, who loves what he teaches. It is very easy to follow his lectures, and as long as you write down what is on the board and study those notes, you\'ll do fine on the midterms and finals. If you have the chance to take Mitchell, DO IT!!!



PHYS 121 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 4:05 pm, Dec 5, 2010 Report Evaluation		I suggests taking him as a teacher, he is very helpful and make physics easy, it not an easy A tho, Before easy test look over pre-lab questions because his tests are very similar to those questions, he has a quiz every monday, in which helps me understand what is going, and he even provides the equations.

ASTR 101 Junior Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 12:48 am, Dec 4, 2010 Report Evaluation		He’s a genuinely nice guy and really cares about his students. His lectures are easy to follow. It’s not necessarily a “hard class” but it definitely is not an easy A. But if you just take some time to study the lecture notes, you should be fine. Grade was determined by weekly quizzes, 2 midterms, one final, and 2 small projects.

ASTR 102 Senior Grade Earned: B General Ed 10:27 am, Jul 26, 2010 Report Evaluation		I took Dr. Mitchell for a 5 week summer class and it was not the easiest class to comprehend at 8am, so avoid that if you can! But, he is very enthusiastic about the material and a super nice guy. The class material is hard and so are the tests, which at 70% of your grade, but the rest of your grade comes from hw, showing up for class, and going to an observatory session which is cool. Anyways, if you go to class everyday and pay attention, you should do fine! Dr. Mitchell is awesome!

PSC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 12:25 pm, Mar 1, 2010 Report Evaluation		Professor Mitchell enthusiastic about what he teaches; however, I don\'t think that he knows that what he\'s teaching is, for the most part, common sense. His tests can be tricky, throwing in examples that we never went over in class, and he grades homework harshly. The class itself is simple. Go in for two hours, do an experiment with your group, talk about group questions for way too long, and leave. The performance of many people is unpredictable, based on the unpredictability of his tests.

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 11:15 pm, Feb 28, 2010 Report Evaluation		David Mitchell is a fun, exciting teacher who knows what he\'s talking about. You can see he loves his subject and talks about it with excitement. The class consists of everyday lecture, a quiz every Wednesday, Midterm, Final, and 2 projects. Overall the tests are easy if you study for them and the 2 projects are very easy. This class was fun and I would recommend taking Mitchell if you want to enjoy Astronomy and get an easy grade.

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 7:43 pm, Mar 31, 2009 Report Evaluation		Awesome teacher. Class was SOOO interesting and I learned a lot. I actually looked forward to going to class and was never bored. He definitely knows his stuff and loves questions. Very smart. If you go to class every day and take all the notes, you'll get an A. I didn't have to study very hard, just understand the notes and I aced every test. He is also very understanding and flexible with any problems you have. Great teacher, take this class!



ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 1:21 pm, Mar 24, 2009 Report Evaluation		First off this was a very interesting class. Mitchell is a good lecturer. However, I took this class because I was told that this was the "easy" science class to take. Not true! The first test I admit I did not study very much for and failed. However, I studied like crazy for the second only to get a C. He is a very tough grader. It is probably better than Physics or Chem, but if you take this thinking it will be easy, think again

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 1:46 pm, Mar 23, 2009 Report Evaluation		This guy is legit. Highly knowledgeable of all that is in the nighttime sky. The lectures feel too fast, but really aren't. He just talks and writes fast. It feels like you didn't catch everything he said, but when you review your notes you realize you did. Strait forward quizzes on Thursday (or Friday). Just learn from my freind and be complete in your answers. Everything is fair (no surprizes) and pretty easy. Just pay attention. In my opinion, the text really isn't needed, but that's just me who liked this stuff already and knew a good portion of it before. Midterms and final are longer copies of the quizzes. Take Mitchell if possible, and prepare for a cool class.

ASTR 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 11:07 pm, Feb 3, 2009 Report Evaluation		I was really worried coming into this class because GEs are always hard for me. But Mitchell was really good at explaining complicated material clearly. It's easy to not show up, but just go! He will randomly do attendance quizzes and sometimes mention answers to quizzes or tests during classes when a lot of people are missing. Also, hearing him explain things makes everything WAAY more clear than reading it out of the book. Take the time to study for tests and you will at least get a B.

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 12:03 am, Dec 29, 2008 Report Evaluation		Dr. Mitchell was HILARIOUS! This guy is literally 26 and the typical science nerd......but that is what makes him great! He presents his material very well. He gives notes in class that are easy to follow and his tests are based strictly from them. He gives easy weekly quizzes, 2 midterms, and a final. # projects but they are very easy. I totally recommend this class. I HATE science but he makes it fun and interesting!

PHYS 101 Junior Grade Earned: C General Ed 11:16 pm, Dec 16, 2008 Report Evaluation		The class is overly easy and he seems to recognize that because he grades harder than any professor I've ever taken. This is a class that everyone should get an A or B in but there is no way everyone could possibly do that. The homework is worth more than anything else and if you have a single slip up he docks of a LOT of points. He figures that it is helping you learn if he takes points off the homework so that you know how to take the tests better, but the tests aren't worth nearly as much so that theory doesn't make sense. PUT DOWN EVERYTHING you can possibly think of for the answers to the tests because every little piece of info you forget, you lose at least 50% of your points.

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 12:05 pm, May 28, 2008 Report Evaluation		I wish I had put just a LITTLE more effort into this class, but no matter. Dr. Mitchell is a cool nerd whose lectures are fun, informative, and easy to study off of. The book is useful for those times you may miss class (for homework purposes), but other than that, if you attend lecture regularly you should do well. I took this course with a friend and we spent a lot of time giggling about how adorably geeky he was--but seriously, he's a wonderful teacher and astronomy is a fun subject!



PHYS 122 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Support) 9:45 pm, Apr 7, 2008 Report Evaluation		Mitchell is an interesting teacher. He is a very good teacher and if you attend class then you will learn the material. He is also a nice guy who will help you if you have questions. HOWEVER, he is the worst grader I have ever had, ever. It makes you want to cry/laugh at how harsh he grades everything. no matter how right your answer is, there is ALWAYS something wrong with it. if you want to learn and believe you can survive his extremely picky grading then go for it....and good luck.

ASTR 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 7:06 pm, Aug 6, 2007 Moderated Comment		The man is a funny ass mother. He puts up with a lot of your shit if you ask him stupid questions ... !! Plus he looks like Matt damon when he smiles...not that I....whatever it amused me. His quizii are easy and his class is fuckinf awesome. He also likes long awkward silences where no one asks questions. He explains that shit easy ... .

ASTR 301 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:27 am, Jan 12, 2007 Report Evaluation		Dr. Mitchell is huge nerd. Thats why he's such a great teacher! Always enthusiastic, he will let you ask as many dumb questions as you want, and is great at presenting new materiel. I highly recommend him, and if you make sure to do your homeworks well, and ask him all your questions before you turn them in, you will do well.

ASTR 301 Junior Grade Earned: A Elective 11:08 am, Jan 8, 2007 Report Evaluation		Awesome professor! He is really excited about the material, so he doesn't just stand there and talk dryly for an hour about the planets. He brings in a lot of pictures, and the observatory assignments are pretty cool. Very fun guy, and since this class isn't required for anything, he's perfectly willing to go off on tangents about any interesting astronomy facts someone brings up. Definitely recommended.

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 2:36 pm, Dec 7, 2006 Moderated Comment		Dont take this class unless its with a different teacher.

ASTR 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 7:28 pm, Nov 3, 2006 Report Evaluation		i thought mitchell was a great teacher! he is really into the material and makes it easy to understand. as long as you take notes in class you should do fine. you do need to study for the tests, but if you pay attention in class and understand what hes talking about, its an easy A. i actually thought this class was really fun! much more interesting than a usual physics class.



ASTR 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 10:18 am, Jun 16, 2006 Report Evaluation		This guy is tight. Yeah, a little dorky, but he presents stuff really clearly and knows what he is talking about for the most part. DO NOT BUY THE BOOK. ALL test questions are out of the notes which is money. I got a flat A without ever unwrapping the book. Take him if u can.

PHYS 141 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 2:34 pm, Jun 1, 2006 Report Evaluation		Dr. M was one of the better professors in the physics department. I wish I'd gone to office hours more often because that is when I got the most help. Yes, he is young, but that works because he understands that his class is not our only class. Midterms are hard - but the curve helps. Do the homework to get the right answer - not just to BS it like in high school. Factiod: His birthday is on Valentine's day. Overall great guy.

ASTR 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 7:37 pm, Mar 27, 2006 Report Evaluation		i really can't say enough about dr. mitchell. he is a really cool guy who cares about his students and is really into the material. i really liked the class and he always seemed excited about presenting the material. there are a bunch of 20pt quizzes that really arnt that hard. if you listen in class you really dont need to read cause he does a great job of clearly giving you everything you need for them. i would recomend this course and professor 100 times over.

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 4:29 pm, Mar 27, 2006 Report Evaluation		Teacher was very well organized in his presentations. He presents exactly what you need, if you take good notes and pay attention you should do well in the class. It's also kinda nice having a teacher that enjoys their subject as much as Dr. Mitchell likes Astro, it really comes through in his presentation and that makes the class quite entertaining.

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 11:25 am, Jan 5, 2006 Report Evaluation		Dr. Mitchell Rocks! I've never met someone so excited about what they teach. The material is esay to understand, and you really don't even need the book. All the quizzes and tests are straight out of the notes. So take good notes! There are 2 required visits to the observatory which I would recommend doing early in the quarter..the week before finals gets so packed that you'll never see a thing. All in all Mitchell is one of the best teachers I've ver had.

ASTR 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 3:20 pm, Dec 19, 2005 Report Evaluation		Good teacher! Midterms are difficult, but they definitely make you learn. The material presented by him is so out of this world, he does a pretty good job of teaching. Quizzes every friday, two midterms, and 2 papers, and homework that you are supposed to do but you don't have to turn it in. Do the homework by the way



PHYS 141 Sophomore Grade Earned: D Required (Support) 9:43 am, Aug 15, 2005 Report Evaluation		For my first phys class since high school, Mitchell did a great job teaching the class. You have too midterms, which was the reason I didn't get a C, but he does adjust the grades of the class so the majority of us don't fail. He gives a quiz every week I think. Hmwk is the Mastering Physics along with a hard copy of the problems (show all your work), so you get graded twice on the hmwk. So if you get screwed by MP, then... But, Mitchell was a great teacher. Go to the office hours, he is very helpful there, especially with the concepts you might not get in class or by reading the book. I received a D+ because my midterms were horrible, but if I could I would take him again. The Final is ok, not easy, but not terribly hard!!!

PHYS 141 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 7:38 pm, Jun 16, 2005 Report Evaluation		Good guy. A professor fresh out of grad school and straight to Cal Poly Winter 2005. I was pretty frustrated at first that he just went over theory in the lectures (stuff we could have read in the book) with some wimpy example problems. But his office hours are golden. I didn't go until the last half of the quarter, but they were really helpful. Got all my questions answered. The first midterm wasn't bad at all, just a lot of really careless errors on my part. The second midterm was definitely painful for all of us, but most of the problems came from the suggested homework (which I didn't do). I studied pretty hard for the final (which was alright), and came out with an A. He does use Mastering Physics (Satanic online homework system), which is just a pain in the ass, but overall: A good teach. With some more experience he'd make a great professor. I'd take him again.

PHYS 133 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 4:12 pm, Jun 15, 2005 Report Evaluation		Mitchell explained the material for this class very well. He does not go through a ton of derivations and focuses more on the concepts. Homework is via MasteringPhysics.com and was due about once a week or less. We did not really go through example homework problems, which a lot of people did not like, but there was really not time to do that in class, and should be taken care of in recitation in lab (most professors do not do this though.) There were two midterms and the final. You are allowed a 3x5 notecard for each of these. The averages for the exams were fairly low, but he allowed corrections and he shifted the grading scale at the end of the quarter. Mitchell really seems to want to do a good job, and he really seems to try hard to get everyone to understand the concepts. In all, I really enjoyed Mitchell's class and would reccomend him.

ASTR 102 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 5:53 pm, Mar 29, 2005 Report Evaluation		Utmost admiration for Dr. Mitchell (what can I say -- I love nerds and intellectuals... oh, and glasses)! Everyone I talked to before the quarter started said I was making a big mistake in taking Astronomy, but Mitchell made it worthwhile and comprehensible. He's extremely passionate about his field of study and it shows. He illustrates just about EVERYTHING on the chalkboard and walks you through the material, which is not complicated if you pay attention. If you do the reading it will help make the concepts concrete in your mind. -- I am now officially an astronomy-lover. Worlds of praise for this professor.

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