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Agbo, Samuel

Cumulative GPA: 1.57/4.00 with 39 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 1.54
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 1.17

Electrical Engineering Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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EE 211 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 7:15 pm, Dec 18, 2009		Agbo is a good guy as long as you turn in your hw on time and don\'t ask questions...his tests were easy as long as you do your homework and understand it. Also, study his notes!!! class notes are similar to the test questions. Students complain because he is only lecturing from his notes but that\'s all you have to know to do the hw problems. Lastly, the final was a bit challenging compared to the midterms but I am sure he made a big curve at the end.

EE 449 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 2:04 pm, Mar 27, 2009		Normally, the lab kit should be enough to allow you to complete the lab, but the way Cirovic wrote the manual didn't allow it to be so. We were required to buy a $10 relay component to complete a single lab procedure, and when my lab partners and I engineered a way to show that we could operate the circuit without a relay Agbo scolded us for not having the right materials. He then proceeded to loan out a relay to another group. This guy is smart, but it doesn't show from his lectures and lab monitoring. He constantly had to refer to the lecture text to find examples and took him several minutes to recognize the circuits we already built. I used to think that courses like these rewarded us for being creative engineers but now I know it's just another sophomore level circuits lab.

EE 314 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 1:32 pm, Mar 25, 2009		Lectures off the overhead most of the time, and combine that with the hard-to-understand accent, it quickly turns into a sleep-fest. Honestly, despite being a smart guy, he just seems unenthusiastic about what he's teaching. Both the midterms and the final are relatively fair and straightforward if you take good notes and practice homework problems. Agbo isn't the best or worst professor for this class, but since I'm not going into communications anyway, I'd take this prof over Breitenbach any day. One thing to note is that he doesn't bring his poking stick much around anymore, which he uses to poke at students sleeping in class. He did kick someone out of class this quarter just for reading the newspaper during lecture, though.

EE 346 Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 2:46 am, Jan 9, 2009		I'd take Wilson over this guy but probably this guy over Braun. I got a C in the lab I THOUGHT because we didn't turn in a couple prelabs, but my lab partner got a B+ and right now he's retaking 306 (while I'm onto 307). It just doesn't add up. Don't expect to learn much Agbo, and know that he doesn't hand out A's like Chinichian.

EE 347 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 2:46 pm, Jun 7, 2008		This teacher is absolutely ridiculous. The grader for this course graded with plus points and did not ever specify why we got deducted points on the lab. When I went to ask him about corrections he told me he did not have time and did not care if the grader made a mistake or not. He also missed the first two hours of a lab once and was always late to office hours. This teacher is the epitome of a tenured lazy uncaring professor and should never be considered a decent professor.

EE 151 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 8:07 pm, May 1, 2008		Ok so here is the deal if u r just planning 2 pass the class then go ahead & take b/c I assure u, u will pass just as long as u pretend 2 care 4 the class and no matter how u do on the quizzes u will pass with a C.

EE 314 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:12 am, Mar 26, 2008		Dr. Agbo is a really smart guy and he has a wide knowledge of many topics in EE. This however doesn't make him the best instructor. I got the impression that he is not very confident in the way he communicates and that he has a chip on his shoulder about it. I don't think that he answer's are questions very well. It's sad that this man knows so much and has such a hard time conveying it. He also is not very organized. This being said, you still have to read the book and study and all that normal stuff for any EE class. A lot of people in this major don't go to his class because they think the teacher isn't up to par or whatever. Guess what..you still gotta go to class. Learn to show some respect for the people who are imparting their knowledge to you, no matter their race, creed, orientation or teaching method. THEY KNOW MORE THAN YOU. WE AREN'T ENGINEERS YET. THEY ARE. GET OVER IT. Back to Agbo: His tests come out of his notes so you really need to take good notes and GO TO CLASS. The text is a good reference but you will not see many test questions (if any) from it. The homework can be a little gnarly but it does help to reinforce the lecture. He also curves a lot. If you are concentrating on communications, I would suggest taking another professor for the class, like Breitenbach. Yes, Breitenbach. Deal with it. If you aren't into commuications, then Agbo is fine. The bottom line is that Agbo teaches a LOT of different courses in EE and it's highly probable that you will have him at least once. Go to EVERY class, do the homework, know your trig identities or put them on the notesheet, and make sure your tests are VERY complete and you'll be fine.

EE 151 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 4:10 pm, Jan 8, 2008		This guy is the biggest waste of human being I have ever met, pretty sure he doesnt have a soul. Dr. Samuel A. Agbo, when called upon will dumbly stare at your work, and maybe, just MAYBE 20 minutes later, he'll figure it out. I swear to god he lacks a brain and a soul. If you take this class, everyone on the first day will say his accent is SOOO cool, but in reality, his accent will woo you to sleep. YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT HE"S SAYING UNLESS YOU'RE FROM NIGERIA. If Dr. Agbo is your only option for the class, just dont take it, and take the class next quarter with a different teacher, you will not regret it.

EE 151 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:47 pm, Dec 14, 2007		I seriously do not understand what comes out of his mouth. He has a heavy african accent. Half the time he is trying to explain something he get confused and will spend 20 min staring at what he did wrong then gives up and just tells us we should be able to figure it out. Try to avoid him if you can.

EE 151 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 2:46 pm, Dec 12, 2007		Im extremely into my EE major, and was very excited to take college EE classes, but Agbo put that energy away. Hes hard to understand, and has a hard time understanding others as well. It seems that hes assigning labs that he has never done before because he cant answer some questions as to why certain things happen. The majority of the class was confused every lab about what to do. He gives quizzes every week BEFORE he lectures (based on lab reading) which only helps the students who already know the material like the back of their hand. Many people in my class failed the quizzes every week, hopefully they turn out fine... The final had more to do with basic EE than the labs and material covered in class.

EE 409 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 1:32 pm, Nov 24, 2007		I\'ve heard that this class was supposed to be one of the most important EE classes at Poly because it brings together everything that we\'ve learned up to Senior year. Well, it is an important class, but unfortunately our only choice was to take it with Agbo. He is the worst EE prof. I\'ve ever had. He\'s even worse than Ahlgren (if that\'s even imaginable). His thick accent is a huge problem in the class because you spend all of your time trying to understand what he is saying. Nothing in this class so far has clicked with me. Agbo\'s presentation of the material does not help information sink in. The book is your only help, and it is very dense and hard to read. And don\'t even try going to office hours. If you ask this guy a question, he stares at it for 5 minutes and can\'t figure it out. I don\'t know how he has permission to teach the most important electronics class without even knowing his stuff. And another thing, his solutions are typically wrong, so get the manual if you can. Avoid at all costs (especially for this class). I\'ve done well in all electronics courses so far (2 A\'s and 1 B), but I may even have to retake this one! Good luck if you HAVE to take him.

EE 314 Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 2:09 pm, Apr 3, 2007		Nice guy. Very fair in grading. He actually curved a lot because I'm pretty sure I bombed that final. He took students not going to class a direct sign of prejudice and disrespect and got butthurt about it on the day of the final. Students weren't disrespecting him, they just didn't like the material or the timing (it was lunch hour...) and didn't go? But overall, homeworks weekly from the book, 2 midterms (pretty abstract, no study guides) and a average hard final. Fair professor and a really nice guy. The material was just boring so I personally didn't go to class. Wasn't being prejudice or disrespectful like he thought? Whatever...

EE 314 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 7:06 pm, Mar 29, 2007		Prof. Agbo has a good heart. He honestly puts a ton of effort into his lectures. He basically broke down the book into basics -- which are his lecture notes. If I would have studied his notes, I would have easily gotten an 'A,' but instead I studied his old midterms, which he changes each quarter, so don't do that. His tests are questions from his notes!!! The reason he got upset, like this idiot below me says, is because the kids in his classes don't appreciate his effort as much as they should. Agbo simply comes from a different understanding of school- he is from Africa and he worked his ass off just to get where he is, so when he sees negligent kids, especially ones that do try to smear him, of course he gets pissed. If you simply talk to this guy you will see what he is all about. Don't assume what everyone else says to be true. Agbo is a good man with a good heart whose small language barriers cause kids to hate him. Agbo is fair - dont BS him and he wont you. Homeworks once a week, 2 midterms, and fairly straight forward final -- with very very fair grading.

EE 314 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 1:03 pm, Mar 28, 2007		The story of the self-righteous prick Samuel Agbo WARNING: Never take this guy. You can't understand what he is saying. His lecture is just going over projections that are HORRIBLE attempts to just repeat what the book says without ACTUALLY teaching. Teaching, what a wonderful concept, who would have though? (sarcasm) Then on the finals day he waisted 20 minutes by B!tching to the students, and called us prejudice against him. He accused us of trying to get him fired. If I wanted you fired I would have gone to the dean and told him what you did right after the final. I KNOW YOU'RE READING THIS SAMUEL AGBO SO HERE YOU GO, I AM HERE TO MAKE YOU HAPPY! NEVER TAKE THIS GUY

EE 314 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 11:59 pm, Mar 15, 2007		DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR!!! First of all, his accent is VERY thick. I couldn't even understand a thing he was saying. I spent more time trying to understand what he was saying than what he was teaching. He's not lenient on the grading. Agbo has to be the worst EE professor I've taken at Cal Poly. Save yourself the time, money, and frustration by taking someone else.

EE 306 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 4:57 pm, Feb 26, 2006		what a waste of tuition... you can't understand anything he says... all he does is read off slides... on his tests, the problems build off each other so if you mess up one part, you lose 20% of the midterm... literally... do yourself a favor and take someone else because 3/4 of the class was sleeping... even the ones that are awake for all classes... no joke

EE 306 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 8:48 pm, Dec 31, 2005		I am so frustrated about my EE career after taking him. Dr.Agbo cannot explain materials very well. When you asks him specific questions, he just gave answers correspond to the questions he thinks you are asking. You will just feel frustrated and go to sleep later. I tried to care about this class, but I just find it hard to care...after the 3rd day. Even though he claimed that no sleeping during class is allowed, you see literally 3/4 of the class falling asleep. You can just copies homework from solutions, and guess what, you can get all 10's, too. Sure he is easy and chill, and you will not fail the class if you take him. But what is the point of taking him if you cannot be competitive out in the real world. EE students, take him if you can learn by yourself. Otherwise, good luck.

EE 306 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 8:10 pm, Dec 5, 2005		Positives: Easy to get a high grade with minimal effort. Virtually impossible to fail his course if you have a pulse and a pencil. Negatives: Aside from what others have written, he has a low level of enthusiasm and there is evidence that he puts a minimal amount of effort into the course: 1) He recycles his slides from quarter to quarter, and they aren't even that clear, since they are cobbled together pieces of the book and his personal handwriting, figures are often improperly labeled, etc. 2) His posted homework solutions are easy to find since he assigns the same homework every quarter, and I noticed that the SAME mistakes have perpetuated themsevles from the distant past. He solves THE WRONG problem on the homework solution at least once per assignment, and the grader (at least my grader) was too stupid too notice, instead marking my CORRECT homework wrong. 3) His pop quizzes can be characterized as "pernicious." They are closed book, closed note. While these quizzes are simple, they are pretty much always on things that 90% of the students haven't had a chance to study yet. The ONLY purpose of these pop quizzes is to boost his sagging attendance rate, since an hour spent with the book is far more valuable than his lecture, and all of the students figure this out within two weeks or so. 4) He doesn't seem to have a complete mastery of the material, and he gets awkwardly defensive when you ask questions. I stopped even bothering to try asking questions after week three or so. Final recommendation: Don't take this guy if you want to learn. He's boring and he doesn't care about you. He has tenure, and he knows it.

EE 306 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 12:04 pm, Nov 22, 2005		Horrible accent that I still don't get by end of quarter. Lecture is extremely boring in the dark with overhead slides along with the difficult to understand accent makes many people just want to sleep in class. We can just read it ourselves from Blackboard and understand it better. There are few example problems given. Also, his random pop-quizzes(90% closed notes) are an annoyance because it doesn't really encourage studying compared to weekly quizzes. So... I'd recommend someone else if u want to learn.

EE 306 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 6:16 pm, Jun 17, 2005		Given that his accent is difficult to understand, many will find his lectures hard to stay awake through. He tends to take material straight from the book, but what's nice is that he posts all overhead-display notes on BlackBoard. Weekly homeworks, 2 midterms, and a final are what comprises your grade, and they're really not hard; he allows a 1 page double-sided notesheet for each midterm and 2 or 3 (depending on the class) pages for the final. Technically you're not supposed to put figures or pictures on them but he doesn't collect them, so if you're good at drawing tiny circuits it's a win-win situation. He tends to go through the material a little too slowly, then later attempts to "catch up" to the lab, which is really impossible because of the way it's structured, so that's nobody's fault but the EE department's. Bottom line: Recommended if his sections are in your ideal time-slots, and if you want to get a good grade. If you want to learn the material inside-out, take someone you can understand better.

EE 242 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 9:49 pm, Apr 4, 2005		Alright, so his thick accent is hard to understand. He's ok for a lab section, though, since he doesn't have to talk much. He is able to help you with your circuit set-up and is straightforward about how he wants the reports done. Other than that, I can't say much about him until I finish EE 306/346 with him. Then I'm sure I'll have a more solidified opinion. Bottom line: Not recommended in general, but take him if it's in your best interest to get a specific time/day of the week.

EE 228 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 4:53 pm, Aug 10, 2004		Agbo is a great professor. His accent is very thick, but once you become used to it he is very easy to understand. He is one of the most patient EE instructors that I have had and he is very generous grading the exams. I know of a few people that should have failed this course, but passed with a 'C'. The material is what is hard to understand...not the instructor. I worked hard for my 'A', but Agbo was available to help me throughout the entire course.

EE 228 Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 1:45 am, May 6, 2004		This instructor is by far, one of the worst instructors I've had at Cal Poly. He puts up slides on the wall, and reads right off of them, as if we can't read it ourselves. The way he grades mid-terms are horrible. He's very inconsistent when it comes to taking off points. If you can, take some one else. Agbo is a waste of your money.

EE 228 Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 7:27 pm, Mar 24, 2004		man this teacher rocks, he's lecture are really boring though and his midterms and finals are pretty straightforward, i failed both midterm and ended up with a C in the class

EE 414 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 3:04 pm, Sep 3, 2003		Agbo is a solid EE prof. His has very clear lecture notes (in the same league as Breitenbach). He does have an accent, but it should not be a problem unless you cant speak english very well. His tests are hard, and he can be a bit picky about them. Also, he does ask obscure questions which serve no purpose other than to lower the average grade in the class. But if you take him for 414, remember all the circuits (modulators etc... ) and graphs (freq. spectrum), and dont put them on your note sheet (he doesn't allow them) because he will take it away from you in the middle of the test.

EE 112 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 8:59 am, Aug 6, 2003		This guy is one of the worst teachers I have ever had. It was hard to understand what he was saying, but if you finally understood the word it didn't really matter because the sentance didn't make sense. Every time someone asked a question he would get confused and talk about something else, although many times other students were helpful and would answer. Agbo had no idea what was going on in his class

EE 112 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:36 pm, Jun 20, 2003		SO BORING!!! The thick accent + the lack of any real human characteristics + (if you were unlucky like me) having this lecture at the end of a long day = falling asleep and feeling miserable. I hated having him as an introductory class... it made me had EE classes. Fortunately I had an awesome lecturer (at least way better than Agbo) for EE211 (Jeff Gerfen). Avoid Agbo AT ALL COSTS!!!!! I didn't start understanding the material until the end of 211...

EE 301 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:25 am, Mar 26, 2003		This professor was ehhhh. Lectures were extremely boring. If the lights went out so did your eyes no matter how hard you try to fight it. Well whether you slept of not you wouldn't learn anything in class. Tests were ok and he's forgiving with partial credit. The only thing about him is I didn't like his smile. It's always lying. He could be smiling at you and he could be thinking you are such a dumbass. And when you go into office hours you can say Hi but don't expect anything back. Great social skills huh?!

EE 112 Junior Grade Earned: C General Ed 12:59 am, Mar 12, 2003		ever smell burnt shit before? well, it doesn't smell very good

EE 112 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 12:09 am, Feb 14, 2003		Ok, where to start. First of all, if you like hard to understand accents, this is the class for you. The first midterm is easy. The second one is impossible. The class average was 42%. Agbo "teaches" by using examples from the book. You could read the book and learn the exact same thing, although it is worth showing up to class on the off chance he makes up an example. All examples are laid step by step and are relatively easy to understand. They are simplified examples though, and he usually does not explain them. That is about it, pretend you are watching a video. DO NOT EVEN THINK OF ASKING HIM A QUESTION. He will not understand you, then misinterpret the question to something easy to answer and obvious. That is, of course, if you can actually understand his answer. If he is your only choice, I would reccomend waiting a quarter.

EE 112 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 12:21 pm, Dec 20, 2002		He is definitely one of the worst teachers I have ever had. The only reason I was able to do well in the first half of the class was because I was able to teach myself the material. He would incessantly blow through problems and lecture with his barely enunciated words. He would ask students if we had questions and turn right back to the board without hesitation no matter what we said. He would never take a few minutes to answer an easy question or fix something on a test, he would just make us go to his office hours. I never went to his office hours because I felt there was no way possible it would be beneficial but maybe I was wrong, right. To top it off, after getting horrible grades on the second midterm and final, I somehow get a B in the class to my astonishment. He never mentioned a curve and would never inform us of how he was grading and somehow he gives me a B when I pretty sure I didn't even get a C.

EE 112 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 10:55 pm, Dec 19, 2002		His lecture is very straight forward and easy to understand. After class I felt like I had learned alot. His tests are a little difficult, but he gives tons of partial credit. Overall a very good professor.

EE 414 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 3:55 pm, Aug 7, 2002		I've had prof Agbo for 309,349,414 and 460 (but that one doesn't count). He's a decent professor with a slight accent. I don't like his tests, but I have gotten good at figuring what obscure information he will choose to put on the tests. His lectures are straightforward and he usually does a decent job of covering the required material. Agbo isn't my favorite EE prof; nor is he despised (like Chinichian). He's a fine choice if you need to take the class, nothing to be afraid of other than dry lectures and elusive material on the tests.

EE 309 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:24 pm, Aug 7, 2002		I am not going to lie and say that agbo is a great teacher. However, i would recommend taking him for this class because he makes the class not too hard. I got a low stress B that I thought was going to be an A. He has homework due almost every week that is hard and pointless to understand because the test questions are way different and way easier. The way to go it to get solutions and just copy them, because spending countless hours to do hw that isn't going to help you on the tests and is only 10% of your grade is rather pointless. The tests are rather easy and straight forward, very fair. If you study hard for the tests, his class isn't bad. I would take it over cirovic for sure.

EE 307 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001		Clearly goes over all the material needed to do all the homework, and pass the test. Test are fair. He does have an accent, but is understandable. And he write neat, too.

EE 212 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001		Agbo is a nice person, and that shows in his teaching. However, some difficulty with the accent. Try using the material from the board and the book to learn.

EE 307 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001		Tests are medium in difficulty. Test material is DIRECTLY out of the lecture material. This is fair, considering that he does not expect the student to know material above and beyond the scope of the class. Unfortunately, however, this is not conducive to learning. If your cheat sheets are done correctly, the exams are more or less plug-and-chug.

EE 212 Sophomore Grade Earned: Withdrawn Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001		This Prof does not take well to students who already have an understanding of the material. He accused me of cheating simply because I earned a 100% on the first midterm. I took the issue up with the dean and orally answered all questions correctly. He "compromised" and gave me an 85%. I promtly withdrew from the course. Has a major EGO problem.

EE 307 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 6:18 pm, Jun 18, 2001		I liked Agbo because he was very fair - the tests were from the material we learned in class. He was also very helpful during office hours.

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