Polyratings.com: Robertson, James

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Robertson, James

Cumulative GPA: 3.60/4.00 with 25 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 3.56
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 3.48

Mathematics Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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MATH 244 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 1:06 pm, Mar 31, 2013 Report Evaluation		Robertson is very good at teaching Linear, but he stresses topics than many other linear classes never even go over. Much of his class is based on seeing patterns. He has three midterms and a final with three parts corresponding to the three midterms so if you do better on that section of the final than you did on the midterm then it will replace your midterm grade so it is possible to get a 90% by just taking the final, the other 10% is quizzes.

MATH 244 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:08 pm, Mar 26, 2013 Report Evaluation		Robertson was one of my favorite professor thus far at Cal Poly. He is very laid back and he understands his students' struggles. He really knew what he was talking about and he makes his lessons very easy to follow and understand. He doesn't assign homework but he gives you suggested problems to do form the book. From the very start, he tells you that he doesn't like the book and recommends not to use it, so it is your choice to buy the textbook or not. Personally, I just got the PDF file but didn't bother to look at it. Just pay attention in class and ask questions when you need help. He has quizzes every Tuesdays and Fridays, but they are easy. When you don't have a quiz, he will give you a midterm. There are three total and five quizzes per "sections." Before midterms, he will also email you past midterm questions for you to study. I found them extremely helpful and worked on them as though I was really taking a midterm to prepare myself. He will also do the same for the final which he divided up into three based on the three midterms. Overall, if you are going to take 244, I would highly recommend taking it with this guy.

MATH 142 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 5:46 pm, Jul 6, 2012 Report Evaluation		He was my first math teacher as a Freshman and I thought he did a great job presenting the material. I just wished that I did all of the homework because even though he doesn't collect it, it helps a lot with the midterms. Overall I wished I could have taken him for Calc 3 and 4.

MATH 244 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 6:53 pm, Mar 25, 2012 Report Evaluation		If you use the normal linear book that the other teachers use, he doesn't like that book and his problems don't end up looking anything like the homework problems well, the idea is the same, but the problems aren't asked in that sense, the final is in 3 parts, each part matches up with a midterm so if you do better than you do on that matching part than he will replace that score on your midterm, which is really nice. Basically if you wanna do well, you MUST do this practice midterms and finals that he give. If you are still having problems after that, ask him for more practice midterms or finals, i only asked him for one extra practice final, but i'm pretty sure he is willing to give out more if you need them also he has 3 finished skyrim characters

MATH 143 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 4:27 pm, Mar 25, 2012 Report Evaluation		YOU MUST TAKE ROBERTSON!!!!!! Hes my favorite teacher I've had at cal poly. he really teaches the material well and makes you understand it. he gives you suggested practice problems to do every night but doesn't collect hw. he gives quizzes twice a week but they're super easy if you go to class and he drops the lowest out of every 5. my favorite thing about his class is that hes really forgiving. he gives 3 midterms and the final has 3 sections on it so if you do better on a section of the final than you did on that midterm he raises your midterm grade. you could theoretically fail all the midterms and still get an A in the class. hes really helpful in office hours and hes a really funny guy. also, i believe his name on pass is james robertson but his real name is mike. so mike robertson and james robertson are the same person. you can check out mike robertson's reviews too

MATH 142 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 2:20 pm, Feb 4, 2012 Report Evaluation		A brilliant man who cares more about his students understanding calculus than memorizing formulas. And he cuts breaks on Algebra errors! Definitely will take him for all of calculus.

MATH 112 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 11:04 am, Mar 28, 2011 Report Evaluation		He is a chill teacher who is unique but still chill. There are no due dates really its pretty interesting and he lets you turn in all homework for full credit as long as it is before the Final. Overall it is a great class to take to fill math credits



MATH 244 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 12:50 pm, Nov 30, 2010 Report Evaluation		glad I was in this class! he simplifies everything down to something that is easy to comprehend, and we have multiple attempts to raise our scores. If you don\'t get an A in this class you\'re just lazy.

MATH 244 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A Required (Support) 9:09 am, Apr 23, 2010 Report Evaluation		STOP READING THIS POLYRATING. James Robertson is the same person as Mike Robertson! Go look up Mike Robertson right now to get a much more accurate interpretation of what kind of teacher he is. This Polyrating is very misleading.

MATH 244 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 3:02 pm, Jun 15, 2009 Report Evaluation		Take him. Great teacher, only teaches you what you need to know, tests are very fair, no homework, weekly quizzes, helpful in office hours, very understanding of student's priorities. I don't think i studied more than an hour ever, showed up to every class because he didnt make it a drag to go, got an 87% B+ in the class and i'm about an average student. One of the best math teachers i've had.

MATH 141 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:55 pm, Jan 6, 2009 Report Evaluation		Mr Robertson a.k.a James a.k.a Mike is a fair instructor. His grading policy is really great and saved me from failing his class. Basically, if you do great on the final, then you get the grade on the final. Try to do your best on the midterms so your not stressing about your final and you should be fine. Now, about his reasoning. Thats just a whole different story. He becomes annoying sometimes with how you have to be precise about things but once you come to accept the fact thats how things are, you should be fine. Its only 10 weeks :)

MATH 162 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 3:42 pm, Jun 9, 2008 Report Evaluation		By the way...an 85% in his class is still an A-. Sweet!

MATH 142 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 12:49 am, May 25, 2008 Report Evaluation		The frequent quizzes are way better than turning in pages and pages of homework every week. Just keep up with the quiz material and the tests are easy. He really likes you to memorize the identities though, which obviously wasn't my cup of tea. Very helpful in his plethora of office hours, he wants you to get it.



MATH 142 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 4:35 pm, Apr 30, 2008 Report Evaluation		very good at explaining concepts, very fair on all tests and quizzes, no homework required... I would always take this professor if i could!

MATH 244 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 2:10 pm, Dec 18, 2007 Report Evaluation		Best math teacher I've ever had, easy quizzes, twice a week, often group and he still maxes out 2 of them in addition to the first 2. He is very helpful in office hours, and you can get back 1/5 of the points you lose on the midterms by showing up with a key and sometimes more if he's in a good mood (which is often). If you see him for any course you have to take, go for him, you won't regret it.

MATH 142 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 2:50 am, Jan 12, 2007 Report Evaluation		First of all, Mike has a real good understanding of calculus. In class he explains all the useful parts of a chapter rather than the entire chapter. He gets excited and frustrated at times when in office hours. And both it's welcoming and motivating. His personality and way of teaching is wayyyyyyy laid back, yet humorous and informative. I would recommend Mike to anyone because of his incredible flexibility. Points would be handed to you for corrected quizzes, and he will work with you on your exams so he can add some points. He would like you to succeed, but you will have to personally show it to him in office hours. Overall, easy, laid back, humorous and goto his office hours.

MATH 142 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 5:11 pm, Jul 11, 2006 Report Evaluation		A really chill and relax professor. His lecture sounds like he doesnt really care, but you realize its his calm way of speaking. He makes math relaxing. Comparing his lectures to the actual book, he made the material look REALLY EASY. His grading scheme described below is true. Final replaces midterms. But they can be really tough and tedious. Some concept problems or two. I would defintely take him for any math class again. It just seems way easier!

MATH 344 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:59 pm, Dec 28, 2005 Report Evaluation		Dr. Robertson is very understanding of his students. He teaches the course well and allows students to redeem themselves on exams. On the third midterm, the superposition principle was suggested as a hint...just remember what he said when he showed you how to analyze bubbles or refer to the textbook beforehand. He's more than willing to work with any trouble you have during office hours.

MATH 143 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 1:36 pm, Jun 6, 2005 Report Evaluation		Amazing calculus teacher. I took him for 141 also and I will continue to request him. He explains so clearly that it leaves no doubt. Twice weekly quizes are good because they are so easy it just boosts your grade. 2 midterms and a final. They are hard, but he lets you do test corrections, lets you retake and he has the nicest grading policy ever. The final is broken into 3 sections, first section is midterm 1, second is midterm 2, third is new stuff. If you get a 100% on the midterm 1 section, it replaces your midterm 1 with 100% grade. So basically, you are guarenteed atleast a B in this class. Nice guy, great in office hours and hes funny.



MATH 141 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 3:45 am, Mar 17, 2005 Report Evaluation		This is the best professor I've encountered on campus, and I don't think you could ever find a better math professor than this one. I love everything about him: his teaching style, his "take it slow" attitude with the problems, his clear and clean explanations, his sense of humor... among many other things. The thing I liked most is that he seemed to be able to make me and the class as a whole understand all of the concepts he was teaching instead of rushing the problem. He definitely has unique approaches to the topics that make you think of Calculus more intuitively instead of by memorization of a bunch of techniques. I don't know if this will apply to all others, but I've done very well throughout the quarter with minimal, minimal study time (except for a select few difficult topics) -- so I felt that his lectures were clear enough for me to understand, remember and be able to reproduce, so I didn't have to put in a lot of effort into studying. Also, the grading scale he has is probably the most lenient in the school. It basically forces you to get a good grade. He has two midterms (and one practice midterm) and divides the final up into three parts. He takes the max of the midterm grade and its corresponding part on the final for both sections and gives you a practice midterm a few days before the final which shows you what will be asked of you on the final. I think the tests were of moderate difficulty -- some problems of course were easy, others were pretty difficult. The quizzes, in general, were easy as cake. And he's a fair grader and allows you to regain lost points on your midterms if you visit him in his office hours. I could go on and on about the positives of this professor. They need to have more professors like these and less professors like O'Gorman on this campus. TAKE THIS PROFESSOR IF THERE'S ROOM! CRASH IT IF THERE ISN'T!

MATH 241 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 4:56 pm, Mar 13, 2005 Report Evaluation		Professor Robertson really knows and loves his math. He is very helpful and teaches a good class. There are two quizzes a week, so it is very easy to stay up on the material. If you take good notes in lecture and at least do a little homework the class should be a breeze. You will never have to read the book. I reccomend him for any class he teaches.

MATH 141 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A Required (Support) 1:33 am, Feb 25, 2005 Report Evaluation		Robertson is a great teacher. If you are an engineer, take him. He explains the most basic examples of concepts and doesn't go into the really difficult problems (since the only ones that need to know how to do that are math majors). There are quizes twice a week, but he basically tells you whats on them, and they are really easy problems (2-3 on each quiz). He is awesome in office hours and is always willing to help out. He explains concepts very clearly and never rushes through them. He drops your 2 worst quizzes and his exams are not too hard. The final is broken up into 3 sections (mid 1, mid 2, mid 3) if you do better on one section of the final, he will replace your midterm score with the score you got on that section of the final. This is REALLY helpful. I would definatly reccomend him and I will take him the next chance i get.

MATH 142 Freshman Grade Earned: F Required (Support) 9:05 pm, Jan 2, 2005 Report Evaluation		Robertson is a good teacher; he explains his material as clearly as calculus II can be explained and will gladly help out if you need it. He sorta reminds me of Bob Ross (the crazy hippie painter guy with the 'fro on PBS,) except with integrals instead paintings. Two quizzes per week, which should be pretty easy if you're keeping up in the class. Two midterms and a final, which shouldn't be too bad if you're doing well on the quizzes. Homework isn't required, but you should probably do a couple problems just to make sure you know how. I failed this class, but that's my own damn fault because I didn't study, do any of the homework, or go to office hours. And because it was at 8:00 in the morning. Try to avoid that if you can.

MATH 141 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 9:32 pm, Dec 27, 2004 Report Evaluation		He was so cool. He is an extremely nice person, and makes getting a good grade the class very easy, with out sacrificeing the quality of learning. Would definitly take him again.

MATH 141 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 12:26 am, Nov 14, 2002 Report Evaluation		Robertson did a good job teaching. He presented the material well. There are quizes on the homework every tuesday and friday. They arent too bad, if you do the homework you will be okay. I enjoyed his class. He was a very straight forward teacher who would help you whenever you need it. Definately take him for calc 141. He will teach you well!

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