Cavanaugh, Mike  

I must say that this is honestly one of the worst proffesors i have ever had at cal-poly. He does not have a feel for where the class is, nor does he know when people in the class don't understand something. he is often vauge and his lectures have little if any structure and are extreamly difficult to follow. His test do not follow what he teaches in class and are often a suprise when you see what you were lectured on is not even on the exam! He assigns homework about once every 2 weeks, this was kinda cool but it also lets you slack of even more. The room that I took this class in was also kinda crappy becouse you can't actually see the teacher rather you just see what he is writing on the board. I had Daly for 251 and i was hoping this guy would be something like Daly but boy was i wrong. Daly was Strucutred, i new exactly what to expect when i came into class; with cavanaugh its just like whatever he feels like talking about...I would not recomend this teacher to anybody and although I do realize that he does try to make himself understood; he just doesn't cut for me. If your gonna take 252, i suggest you take Daly or anybody else but this guy. Even though I am sure i will pull a B, i think i might of learned a lot more from a professor with a little more experience.

Yeah......uh..I really cant advise you to take this proffersor becouse he lectures are disorganized and not very helpful to a student who is trying to the material. His grading is somewhat difficult espically on the mid-terms and i think he could take it a little easier on this part. Most of the class sleeps thorugh his lectures because they are not very entertaining and tend to be extreamly monotonus. Make sure you get a book because this is where i learned most of the material. The book illustrates the concepts much more cleary then he does. I have often found myself getting lost or confused in the lectures and turning to the book to find out exactly what was going on. All around I guess he is a good person but i think some more experience under his belt would be required before he is up to par with the rest of Cal-Poly's faculty.

I am currently in STAT 252 and hating every minute of it. Professor Cavanaugh is a nice enough person, but he is a terrible teacher. He frequently uses such technical terms as "stuff" and "blah blah blah" when doing example problems for the students. Everyone who sits around me is constantly confused about what he is saying. It appears that he does not prepare examples ahead of time to show the class but merely makes them up as he goes along, and he is constantly being corrected by the students because he often writes the wrong answers. He does not clearly explain concepts to the class and I myself only understand most of what he is trying to do because I am repeating the class which I received a D in last quarter when I took it with Dr. Wheeler. Most of the time we end up teaching ourselves from the textbook. His grading is fairly easy and would be the only reason I might recommend taking the class from him, but I'm not even sure that is worth it.

Despite the horrible ratings, this guy is actually very nice. Unlike some teachers with poor ratings, this guy is approachable, and he will always try to help you out. He will even let you argue your grade, and sometimes he will change it. That said, this is the worst teacher I have ever encountered in my short lifetime. I cannot even express how much effort I put in in order to get a C-. Doing well in this class is almost futile. Either you will naturally understand all aspects of the subject matter, or youre screwed. His tests are just gnarley. He does not give you any indication of what is going to be on the tests, and manages to find something he hasnt covered and put it on it. There isnt any homework, and sometimes have to fight him to give you suggested problems. I wish everybody had to go through the anguish this class has caused me.

Let's see...I have never encountered such a bad professor...don't get me wrong...he's a nice guy, but can he learn to teach?! I don't think I understood anything at all in his class and I usually pick up on math pretty fast. I am hoping for a C- in the class so I don't have to retake it, but as of right now I am in the D range. He can't even explain what he is teaching when a student asks...he just laughs and them moves on saying that he is just writing what is in the book. Do NOT take any stats class with this professor...he is by far the worst professor I have ever had!!!

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.