Carico, David  

Physics

2.94/4.00

16 evaluations


ASTR 101


Junior
B
General Ed
Jan 2003
I sincerely liked this class. As a non-science/non-technical student, I thought Dr Carico's Astronomy class was great. Plus he is fun and not at all uptight. He focused on concepts and ideas instead of numbers and specifics. I have a new found love and apreciation of the night sky thanks to his observing log assignment (which was an easy 10% of the final grade). The midterm and final were very manageable. His text choice was good and his lectures efficient. Quizzes were the only catch... if you don't study for them you are screwed. Read the text, go over your notes, show up to class and you are set. If you are thinking about an astronomy course and Carico is teaching... take it, you won't be sorry.


Freshman
N/A
General Ed
Jun 2003
Overall Prof. Carico was an ok teacher. He tried to give us too much information for the amount of time we had and the type of class it was. I would recomend this teacher only because he does not assign a lot of extra work, but he is not anything special.


Sophomore
A
General Ed
Jun 2003
I had a great time in Carico's Astro101 class!! This quarter he said was the first time he's used PowerPoint to lecture, and it was sooo smooth and easy to follow along with! I learned a TON, and every day was interesting. I didn't miss a single class session because of it. I also read the book at the beginning but sometimes skipped chapters when I didn't have time to read - and he tells you everything you need to know for his tests in lecture. You don't even need to read the book, but you'll get a lot more out of the class if you do. Do you know that Earth may have had rings at one point in history? Pretty cool stuff. Carico doesn't expect any math work so the class is conceptually based...which is great. I definitely recommend taking him without a doubt!

MATH 118


Freshman
A
Required (Support)
Jan 2003
Dave is a really great math teacher once you get past the intellectual crap in the beginning of the course. His tests come straight from the homework. If you have trouble though understanding the concepts get a tutor, he is funny as hell and is really entertaining in class, but goes fast and does not write clearly. He kicks ass though, take him if you can, i will.

PHYS 131


Freshman
A
Required (Support)
Feb 2002
nice guy, gave us weekly quizzes instead of midterms, not too hard cause mechanics is pretty easy anyway, curves at the end, so an A was probably like a 87% take him if you can or if you have to, really nothing special as a professor good or bad.


Freshman
B
Required (Support)
Mar 2002
Carico was overall a good instructor. He is still trying to perfect his curriculum and the difficulty of his weekly quizzes. The first two quizzes were very straight forward, but because people were doing well he decided to make them more tricky to lower the average grade. A lot of people slacked off after the first 2 quizzes, and therefore, were not prepared for the ones to follow. If you keep on top of things and really pay attention to your notes more than the book, passing should not be a problem. However, this means you should go to class, but staying focused on his lecture was not too terribly difficult.


Freshman
N/A
Required (Support)
Apr 2002
I had this prof for lab, not lecture. The labs were well-run and everyone knew exactly what all requirements were. The only problem I see with his teaching, is that class time is not always used efficiently. His pre-lab lectures went on too long sometimes, causing students to have to rush on the long labs. But most of the classes were short enough to get out way early. You will not have homework if you take his lab, but you must go to each session.


Freshman
C
Required (Support)
Apr 2002
Physics is not my subject of excellence, so I had a difficult time with the class. The only reason I even passed this class was because of the weekly quizzes instead of a midterm. I thought the class was hard and extremely boring. But I am sure that I would think that of all physics classes. For those thinking about taking him as a professor, it is an okay choice. He knows his stuff and is willing to help. Nothing too special or exciting about him, just a normal guy who loves physics and a normal teacher who can help you learn the stuff.


Freshman
B
Required (Support)
Apr 2002
Carico's your bog standard physics teacher. if you had the misfortune of taking the ap physics exam and not getting it to count for anything cause youre an engineer, it should be really easy going. I got a B cause i screwed up on the weekly quizzes. the final exam i thought was easy, cause the questions were basically the types he did in class.


Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Mar 2003
Carico was so cool!! He absolutely loves physics. And when we didn't understand something he knew. He explained the basics very well and only went on when he knew we were ready. Quizzes every week and they were like 1 or 2 problems- easiest things I've ever taken. The final was a challenge and so was the homework, but he's so awesome!! Long hair, one earring, he really relates to students, doesn't mind when people yell out and ask questions. AWESOME.

PHYS 132


Junior
N/A
Required (Support)
Nov 2002
This guy only goes over the basics. When it comes to doing problems, you'll be lost for sure. This is basically a "Learn on your own" type of deal. You'd expect him to teach you something useful that you can use while you try to solve the problems, but it doesn't happen. If your the kind of person that learns best from someone teaching you, then take another prof. If you're the kind of "Learn on your own" person, then he ain't bad. I need someone to teach me that's why i didn't like him too much.


Sophomore
B
Required (Support)
Dec 2002
Professor Carico was a pretty good professor but he doesn't take much time to do any examples in class. You really gotta study and read the book if you want to do well in his class. He does not give midterms, only weekly quizzes, which I thought was better. He's lectures are not very clear somtimes, but overall he's ok.

BMED 208


Freshman
B
General Ed
Nov 2016
What the guy/gal below said. Amen. I too took this class and have long since graduated from Poly, but I was cruising Poly Ratings for a kick and thought that I should pipe in and let you know how much of a joke this prof is.

PHYS 211


Sophomore
B
Required (Support)
Mar 2002
Carico is a fairly decent professor. He had never taught our class before, but still did pretty well. There are no curves in his class, but if you pay attention (attendence is mandatory) and do the homework, then you should be O.K. He explains things pretty well, and will help you in office hours if you need it. His tests can be a little hard, just be sure you understand the major concepts he goes over in class.


Sophomore
C
Required (Support)
Apr 2002
When retaking Physics 211 with Carico, he filled me in on everything that I never understand before. Most importantly, he thoroughly explained the fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics, instead of immediately jumping into the mathematics and tedious computation. The previous professor I had just jumped right into the math. The course is a very difficult subject to understand, because you have to take a completely different approach to solving problems, which may at times defy logic. Considering he'd never taught the course before, I thought he did an excellent job presenting the material. The difficulty of the two midterms were at both ends of the spectrum, but again it was the first time teaching Physics 211.


Senior
B
Required (Major)
Apr 2003
He's ok. His lectures are kind of disordered, but so is the entire class. He's not bad, but he's not good. Just about what i'd describe as the epitome of a mediocre teacher. At least he didnt grade our homework, that was nice. As long as you did it and put a significant effort towards it (had some sh*t down) then you would get credit. But he is a stiff grader when it comes to tests. I dont recommend avoiding him, but if i were to take it again, i'd try someone else.