Mulhall, Declan  

hi, dec

He is very energetic about teaching and s quite funny. If you dont pay much attention in class you could get easaily lost. If ou do its not too hard, and he's always willing to help you during office hours. And stresses that you ask questions in class so you know whats going on. He really wants to make sure everyone knows whats going on, and tries to convince you to become a physics major

Dr. Mulhall is the funniest professor I've had here at Cal Poly. He is funny because he he has multiple ideas in his head, and he is saying them out load all at once. It's confusing, yet funny as hell. It's like he is improvising up there. Nonetheless, he keeps your attention for the entire lecture. At times, he tends to move sort of slow and doesnt get to the point. That makes his lectures a little hard to follow. If you dont understand in class, check out the book and definitely go to office hours. His tests are not bad, and he doesnt make you turn in homework. Make sure you do the homework anyways, so you can pass the midterms and final with a decent grade. If you want to have fun while learning, I suggest you take Dr. Mulhall.

His lectures are fragmented and disorganized and he has to rush throught the material. However, he is very humerous and entertaining and presents the material in a real world, yet unorthodox fashion. His exams are easy and thinks we can't handle the tough material. He's just a cool guy in general.

What else is there to say? Fine person, nothing interesting. Class was meh... Blah, blah, blah... Fine person.

He's funny and has a funny sense of humor. He loves physics and is fair in grading and approachable in office hours. He is very open to suggestions and wants everyone to ask questions. He wants everyone to learn.

Me tinks he is a ghetto Irishman. He wears green all the time and is really funny during lab. He really wants the students to learn and he knows his stuff. If you don't take him.. u are a dumbass, enuff said.

He is a really cool guy. He's funny and has a great personality, but he isn't the greatest teacher. I'd take him again if I had to, but not by choice. He's definately very fair at grading (2 midterms and final) and he curves and wants everyone to understand and do well. He's just not very good at presenting it. He has disorganized lectures and rushes through at the end if he's running out of time. But he is better than a lot of the physics profs. I've heard hororr stories, and he isn't one of them, he's just not the best either. I think eventually he'll become a really good prof, but as of now his teaching ability is somewhat lacking.

I have taken Dr. Mulhall for PHYS 131 and 132 and I am going to take 133 next quarter with him. He is the funniest Irishman i have ever met. I rarely get bored during his lecture and never catch myself looking at the clock to see when class will be over. When I was in 131 with him it was my first quarter at Cal Poly and I tried to approach all my classes with an open mind. Although disorganized at first Dr. Mulhall has made steady improvements in the clarity of his lectures. He is hear from Ireland and has been teaching at Cal Poly since fall of 2002. His accent takes a few class periods to get used to but you'll find Dr. Mulhall to be one of the most entertaining professors on campus. He is consistently trying to make adjustments to his class. He hands out note cards once a week to everyone so people can comment about what they like and dislike about the lectures. He uses these ideas in following lectures and tries to accomodate the overall consensus of the class. Occaisionally he can get really into deriving equations that no one cares about except how to use them and other times class will run over because he truly has a passion for what he is teaching. Dr. Mulhall presents the material in a realistic way and gives examples of the concepts from reality. He constantly asks the class if his methods of teaching are working for them. A common question you'll hear from Mulhall in his class is, "does everyone understand every symbol that is on the board?" if you don't ask and he will clarify it. Dr. Mulhall doesn't collect the homework but I would reccomend that you do it or at least try it and get help with what you can't do. Ussually his exam questions are similar to homework questions there have even been a couple that were the same only with different numbers. The most valuable part of taking Mulhall's class is his tireless effort that he makes during office hours. If you are unable to make office hours he will generally let you come to one of his labs or make time elsewhere in his schedule to help you. At office hours you can get sense of what kind of questions might be appearing on the exam if you ask him about enough of them. Mulhall likes it when people ask questions (except me I think he is getting tired of my questions). But for the most part if you ask a question he will either make sure you understand it or strait up tell you that your question is irrelevent for what you need to know for the exam. I also have him for lab this quarter. He generally reviews concepts and answers questions for 20-30 minutes. And then cuts you loose for the lab. For 132 lab he makes you write up 2 labs total and checks for understanding on the rest by talking with you about the experiment. Our longest lab this quarter got out an hour early. Usually lab started @ 3:10 and my group was done by 4:30 instead of 6:00. Many other people I know who are smarter than me are taking PHYS from other professors and are doing terribly. Mulhall geniunely wants everyone to succeed in his class. He is iccredibly smart and has a lot to offer. Over the next few year Dr. Mulhall will find his niche and evolve to be one of the best teachers Cal Poly has to offer. Many other teachers I have had treat their students like a # Dr. Mulhall knows the majority of his students in his class by their first name.

Declan is the man. LAb usually lasts an hour and a half or so, no mare. You only have to do 2 lab writeups the entire quarter out of 10 labs. SOOO EASY its unbelievable. He has a thick accent from Ireland or sumthing like it, but you will get a kick outta him. He's way funny and explains things to the class reely well. you will definately have a good time with him.

This guy is not too bad. The only thing is that his lectures are a little rushed. If you do the homework, even though its not required, you'll do okay. Go to office hours. The guy will hook you up and call you by your first and last name.

Declan's awesome. This guy knows his stuff, and as long as you do the homework (which he is now collecting in all his classes), you'll do just fine. He's hilarious in lecture and lab, and manages to keep your attention the whole time. If you have the opportunity, take all your physics classes with him.

Take this man for any and every class you can. What you'll read in these reviews is completely true. There are very few times in your life you will listen to a lecture, not understand what was said, but somehow end up with a complete understanding of physics. It would absolutely amaze me. He made every class worth going to by being hillarious, and yet, it all somehow related. His accent points out that he is a crazy irishman, and every sentence ends in "ya know?" But he always makes sure everyone understands by circling through the rows of cowering students and embarassing everyone into admitting their questions. His examples of how to do the experiments were excellent, like: "We're not to stick our eyes in the laser." Then he'd look right down the beam. You will laugh your way into knowing physics, and end up better for it. And he can draw a PERFECT sine wave. How many of your profs can do that, huh? Take Mulhall, ya know?

Well like many I agree... Mulhalls lecture is a comedy hour. He can get anyone to see conceptual physics and he is an awesome guy. But... yea you knew there was a but coming, he does not teach the math part of physics. I would say that we did maybe 3 or 4 actual examples (involving numbers) in class and that was over the whole quarter!!!! I would get home and look at the book and wonder what the hell all the formulas were and how I could use them... sure I could picture what was happening and I understood it all really well.. bue when it came to his tremendously difficult tests I was screwed. basically because I had no idea how to solve any of the problems. I would sy take mulhall if you want to conceptually grasp the material and if you want to laugh a little. Just be aware that the first midterm will be much harder than anything you go=over in class and be prepared. expect the hardest test f your life that way you will do well and not be behind due to failing one test. Mulhall has the potential to be the best teacher at Cal Poly... he just need to give a few more numerical examples.

Dr. Mulhall is entertaining to watch, but sort of how a traffic accident can be entertaining to watch. He's very disorganized in my book. He tends to jump all over the place, and constantly praises what a wonderful book we have to learn from, and his lecture is just there to supplement the book. Problem is the book is terrible. That's probably why I couldn't sell it back, as they are switching texts. Homework was due everyweek, usually before he lectured on the subject. His exams were mostly theory, but not terribly difficult. I would rather take a hard teacher that explains well than one like this.

Mulhall is great. He's laid back and doesn't mind answering questions. He specifically has time in the beginning of the lab for answerings questions but remember to bring your book so he can actually see what the problem is. You can ask him to look over your lab before you turn it in but make sure that you actually do your own work because he'll catch you if you mooch off of your lab partner.

Declan is quite possibly the best teacher I've had for any subject. He is very entertaining, but in a way that makes the material interesting, not like one of those professors that will have a humorous but irrelevant rant and then go back to boring subject matter. But the best part is, as reviews below say, he really wants everybody to understand all the material. He shows more concern for this than any other professor I've encountered. If you're struggling with something, anything, talk to him outside of class. He will not give up on you. After getting a C in 132 (and that was with regular attendance of that professor's office hours), I was beginnning to think I would need to hire a tutor or something for 133. Mulhall became that tutor. It felt good to know that I got my A not because the tests were easy, but because he helped me to really understand the material. Of course, he's also a really cool guy who will basically try to become buddies with everybody in the class. That doesn't hurt. Oh (in reference to the comment below), he does often tell the class to study the examples in the book, rather than spending class time doing lots of examples (not that he doesn't do examples, but there's only so much time in class and he does need to teach the concepts and whatnot), but again, if you think (like me) that the book's examples can be pretty confusing at times, just talk to him. I just wish I'd been able to take him for 132...

Don't be fooled by his high polyrating!!!! Mulhall is the worst teacher I have ever had. A funny guy, but a lazy instructor. Expects you to fully understand PHYS 133 just by reading the book, but this stuff isn't that easy. He is worthless in the lab too. He doesn't collect (or even look at)your lab report, but still expects you to stay the entire 3 hours, plus he doesn't explain how to do the lab. Nobody finishes the experiments, since every one is lost. The homework doesn't help you learn either because its all on-line and it doesn't explain why u are doing the problem wrong. Lectures are pointless because he assumes that you understood everything through the reading, so u end up being more confused then before. Picking Mulhall as my professor because of his high polyrating is one of the biggest mistakes in my life here at Cal Poly.

A bit rough his first time around teaching the class, but he did a fair job as long as you go to his office hours. He is extremly helpful when you talk to him and is a really nice guy. His homework is a little much, but i hate doing homework. As far as i can tell, his grading is very fair and you get what you deserve in his class. Dont listen to people who complain about his accent, you'll get it after a day or two. After that you just sort of laugh at the funny lookin Irish guy in the front of class who's jumping around like a school girl.