Polyratings.com: Maxwell, John

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Maxwell, John

Cumulative GPA: 3.52/4.00 with 30 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 3.48
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 3.44

Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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CHEM 129 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 4:08 pm, Jul 13, 2006 Report Evaluation		Great professor. Very funny once you get used to his style. HE DOES NOT TEACH HERE AT CAL POLY ANY LONGER. So, not really much use in anyone posting anything further, good guy.

CHEM 129 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 1:57 am, Jun 3, 2006 Report Evaluation		It's hard not to like Dr. Max. He's so happy all the time and is really enthusiastic about Biochem. He's a great guy and wouldn't hurt a fly (though he says he'll kick his dog if you make dumb mistakes on the midterms). Unfortunately, he's retiring after 28 years at Cal Poly. He deserves a polyrating one last time I think saying what a great teacher he is. Max rocks, end of story.

CHEM 129 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 5:03 pm, Apr 10, 2006 Report Evaluation		This guy is really interesting because he was a bad student in college (as he'll tell you often), then became a Biochem professor at Poly. After teaching Biochem for a while, he complained that the students taking 129 weren't learning enough and that the teachers sucked. So the department chair made him teach 129 (haha!). So he teaches 129 with a sourpuss attitude. My class was full of morons that didn't know how to take the natural log on their calculator, too, so that might be why he was pissed all the time. But he's the only teacher who was and probably still is teaching 129, so if you have to take that class, I laugh at you because you're stuck with him. Just get someone else's old tests, labs, and homework, go to lecture and lab, and you'll do fine. Heck even I got a C and I don't give a Shiite.

CHEM 128 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 10:20 am, Apr 8, 2006 Report Evaluation		Dr. Maxwell is an amazing teacher. There is no doubt that he is absolutely insane but in a good way. He is hilarious, but you will still get all the information necessary. He is very approachable in office hours and will try his hardest to get to know his students. Definitely ask questions and take advantage of the online tests.

CHEM 128 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:54 am, Dec 17, 2005 Report Evaluation		Dr. Max is the most helpful professor I've ever had. If you are stuggling, he'll give his own time to help you understand the material. He makes you feel like he cares about your well-being as a person.

CHEM 128 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:22 am, Dec 14, 2005 Report Evaluation		Dr. Maxwell is a great teacher who really cares about his students. His class is difficult but he provides the all of his old tests which really, really helps to study from.

CHEM 129 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 2:47 pm, Jul 23, 2005 Report Evaluation		he's a great teacher and does not hesitate to help you even when it is not his office hours



CHEM 128 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 11:41 pm, May 12, 2005 Report Evaluation		Quitr possibly the best professor I have ever had.

CHEM 128 Freshman Grade Earned: D Required (Major) 11:42 am, Mar 30, 2005 Report Evaluation		Dr. Maxwell is a great professor. He does everything he can to help you get a better understanding of the material. He gives you a blue sheet before each exam that is worth about 10 points of your test. He also gives you many practice problems and practice exams to work on. Definitely do the practice exams!! Some of the questions on the practice exams will be exactly like the ones on the actual test. His lab quizzes can be pretty hard but you will do fine if you study the previous lab and also the one you are doing that day. Make sure you know how to do the calculations done in Excel! You will have to do them by hand on the quizzes. I really recommend that you take Dr. Maxwell.

CHEM 129 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 10:16 am, Feb 22, 2005 Report Evaluation		Maxwell is a great guy but this class is too dumbed down to be of any worth. I got seriously worked in organic chemistry because of the things we just glossed over in general chem and I am considering retaking it with one of the other instructors to fill in the gaps.

CHEM 129 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:42 pm, Dec 7, 2004 Report Evaluation		Maxwell is far and away the best chem teacher I have ever had. His lectures are about as engaging as chemistry can be, his grading and tests are both extremely fair, and most of all he genuinely cares about whether or not you understand the material. I wish I had known about him before I wasted my time with other professors in 127 and 128. Seriously, do yourself a favor and take him.

CHEM 127 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:09 pm, Apr 26, 2004 Report Evaluation		Maxwell is awesome. He's a bit off the wall during lecture, but his level of orginization is awesome. He gives you note outlines, previous exams, and collects no homework. The three tests during the quarter are nearly identical to the exams the previous exams he gives you, so they are a great study tool. Tkae him if you can, because he makes Chem about as easy as its gonna get

CHEM 127 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 4:33 pm, Mar 29, 2004 Report Evaluation		It doesn't get ANY easier than Dr. Max. He gives you his old midterms and final to practice for exams with, and he just changes the numbers on the new tests. So, you know exactly what to study, and don't waste time on material that won't be covered. Sweet. Even better - he drops the lowest midterm or half the final, and doesn't give quizzes and doesn't collect homework. He assigns problems from the text, but I just concerned myself with the old tests instead and did just fine. He's also got a pretty decent sense of humor for a chem nut, I was surprised. Take him!!!!!!



CHEM 127 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 8:49 pm, Mar 16, 2004 Report Evaluation		Maxwell is great! Even though i did not do that well in his class, cause i suck at chemistry, he is a really good teacher. He wants his students to do well and is always there to help. The best part about maxwell is that he tells you everything that is going to be on the test. He gives you all the previous exams from the year before and the test are basically the same thing but a little different. Definitely take maxwell for chem, he is awesome!!

CHEM 127 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 9:04 am, Mar 16, 2004 Report Evaluation		Maxwell is an awesome teacher. He makes jokes and he thinks he's funny when he's not, but that just makes hime funny. He wasn't supposed to teach this course, he is department head, but he did it with enthusiasm. He loves the subject, and wants you to like it just as much. He is great in office hours, he is very approachable and really wants his students to do well. If you can, TAKE MAXWELL!

CHEM 128 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 12:11 am, Dec 11, 2003 Report Evaluation		Maxwell is a great guy! He truly cares about his students and shows it by going above and beyond a professors normal duties. He is always available and willing to help. The only problem is that lectures tended to be a little unclear at times. He always seemed to go off on tangents about biochem because that is his specialty. Overall he is a good teacher and you should take him if you can.

CHEM 124 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 3:08 am, Mar 29, 2003 Report Evaluation		This guy is the biggest jackass on this campus. Considering the fierce competition for the title at Cal Poly, this really says something about the man who has foolishly been put in charge of the Chemistry department. Unhelpful, unwilling to work with students. If you're not a Chemistry major, you can go to hell, as far as he's concerned. Simply put, I hate the man.

CHEM 124 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 4:08 pm, Mar 4, 2003 Report Evaluation		He cares alot about his students. He is a very nice man. He is very enthusiastic, and really knows his stuff. I advise you to take this professor.

CHEM 124 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 11:43 am, Sep 17, 2002 Report Evaluation		The best.



CHEM 124 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 10:30 am, May 22, 2002 Report Evaluation		I THINK DR. MAXWELL IS THE BEST PROFESSOR AT CAL POLY. HE IS A VERY NICE MAN, AND HE LOVES TO TEACH.

CHEM 128 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 11:09 pm, Jan 24, 2002 Report Evaluation		Dr. Max was so great! By far the best chem teacher here. I have always struggled with chem, but Dr. Max made everything seem so easy. Sure, I sruggled to get my B, but in the end, I got it. He truly cares about his students. He wasn't supposed to teach this class, but did, on top of being the chairman of the dept. He made time for his students and helped them whenever he could. His tests were relatively fair, and he does everything he can to prepare you for them - especially the final. He told us exactly what to study, and he stuck by that. I also had him for lab - awesome. So much fun. He's a funny guy. So, if you have to take chem, take it with Max - no doubt about it.

CHEM 111 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		This teacher- even teaching a forum style class of 100+ students- made an extraordinary effort to help each student and make himself available durring his office hours AND if you needed help otherwise. He explained concepts in an easy to understand manner and answered any questions we had as many times as the question was asked. The study guides for exams and study sessions WITH THE TEACHER before the big tests helped immensely. Even though Chem 111 was a difficult class Maxwell made it very "doable." I rate him an A++!!!

CHEM 111 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		Dr maxwell is and extrordinary professor. His lecture material is allways well thought out and his class is at a reasonable pase. He is friendly, out going and really wants you to pass the classes he teaches. His test are fair and require a reasonalbe amount of study for, but Dr. Max gives out all kinds of old exams to study from. He is one of the best professors I've had her at Cal Poly

CHEM 111 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		Maxwell is a great professor. He really wants the class to learn. He trys many ways to help you learn. The Sunday before a test, he holds a review session so you can ask him questions. That really helps, to clarify things you are confused about. He is really just a great guy who loves his job!

CHEM 124 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 2:07 pm, Dec 2, 2000 Report Evaluation		Dr. Max is the best chem teacher i've ever had. TAKE HIS CLASS. There is no homework, lots of practice tests which he uses for the exams, just with different numbers. Though more than half class got D's, that's because they're stupid. Dr. Max is always there for office hours and he always curves tests. If anyone ever said Dr. Max doesn't care, they're wrong.



CHEM 111 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 2:04 pm, Mar 14, 2000 Report Evaluation		Dr. Maxwell gives each and every student the opportunity to come visit him and ask questions. Hell, he even requires it when he hands out the pretest. If every teacher would help the students as much as Dr. Max does no one would have to repeat courses. As for study lectures, how many teachers do you know that come on campus on a Sunday to help students? I highly reccomend this instructor.

CHEM 124 Freshman Grade Earned: F Required (Support) 3:15 pm, Mar 3, 2000 Report Evaluation		Dr. Maxwell is a very energetic professor. Most of the time though the time he takes in class doesnt really explain anything. He goes off on tangents that dont really pertain to us kids that werent doing too well in his class. His tests were quite diffucult...he took all the ideas of the couple of weeks and though of the hardest problem involving all of them. Try to stay away from him, unless you are naturally good at chemistry then take him and you will have a fun class.

CHEM 124 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 5:20 pm, Feb 3, 2000 Report Evaluation		TAKE DR MAX'S CLASS!!!!! He is truly a great professor who makes an effort to help his students in any way possible. No homework is assigned, tests are tough but very fair and almost always curved. Also, he has many practice exams available on the web, and is class will outright say "remind me to make that the first question". I never once opened the text or did the homework because Dr. Max's lectures covered the material so well.

CHEM 124 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 12:21 pm, Oct 20, 1999 Report Evaluation		Dr. Maxwell is VERY enthusiastic about Chemistry. He is always willing to answer questions and help during office hours. He doesn't want anyone in his class to fail, and helps out when people are sturggling.

CHEM 124 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 5:58 pm, Jun 28, 1999 Report Evaluation		Maxwell is very passionate about chemistry and helping students. If I actually liked Chemistry, then he would be one of my favorite teachers. Unfortunatly, thinking about him conjures up visions of chemical equations and stoiciometry, so i don't really have many fond memories of this class. If you like Chem, then, you will probably love Maxwell. Personally, I understood Chem better when explained to me by the TA's. But maybe that's just me.

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