Patton, J Scott  

They don\'t call him Easy A Patton for nothing. He is incredibly generous with partial credit. All tests are open notes open book. For the material we actually covered, he did a good job explaining it. However, I feel underprepared for thermo 2. He made class entertaining for the most part.

Dr. Patton is, bar none, the worst professor I've ever had. If you want a masterclass in how to waste your students' time while infuriating them in the process, take him. Otherwise, avoid him at all costs. I could have taught fluids better than he did, which is really saying something, as I learned next to nothing from his class. He couldn't give a coherent lecture if his life depended on it. If he worked in any other field, he would have been fired for gross incompetence. How this guy got (and continues to have) a teaching career is beyond me.

Patton is very available for students to talk to and get help from. He's very open to students with questions--not at all intimidating. His lectures are interspersed with humor and audience interaction. Be prepared to do odd jobs for him in class, like passing out papers. Fluids with him is probably as bearable as it can possibly be. There's a lot of crappy math in this class. He spends about equal time deriving expressions as doing examples. I recommend taking Patton for fluids or whatever else.

Dr. Patton made me actually want to go to class. He is funny in a cheeseball kind of way which makes lectures go by faster. I heard fluids was really hard, but it ended up being my favorite ME class so far. He conveys material well and is good in office hours. Midterms and finals are open note and open book, but you have to know your material. Tests are moderately hard and LONG, but not unfair. He gives good partial credit. I am taking him again this quarter for thermo and plan to take any class possible with him. He is good. Take him.

"Easy A Patton" isnt such an easy A, but its very possible to get an A in his class. There are a few homework assignments worth 10% of your grade, one midterm worth 40% and the final worth 50%. The midterm was very straight forward and fairly easy. (the avg was a 77%) The final was 10 times harder and most people took the full three hours to finish. He spends about half the class in theory and half doing problems. The only complaint that I can give him is the handouts that he passes out. Instead of lecturing on all the theory he uses handouts to cover some of the lesser important stuff; however, his handwritting is not the clearest and its hard to follow what he does on the handouts. If you get a chance take Patton I would recommend him; you learn the material but he's not out fail students for making stupid mistakes like some other proffesors that teach fluids.

Professor Patton is a really nice guy! I would recommend taking him bc he really cares about his students, however I feel that i didnt learn as much as i could have. He is way less stressful than taking someone like locascio for fluids and he likes to have a good time during class by making jokes. I wouldn't miss the oppurtinity of taking him if you can.

What? There is a good professor in the ME department!

I had to re-take fluids with Patton, after having got a D with Kean. Honestly I feel I learned more and understood more about fluids with Kean than Patton. Pattons lectures cover a broad basic aspect of fluids that I felt didnt adequately teach the required material. However he tested us on his lectures not on the required material. That is why he is known as "Easy A Patton", he also grades very generously. If you want to understand fluids or are interested in the subject dont take Patton you wont learn anything, Id reccomend Kean. However if you just want to pass this crappy class and get it out of the way Patton is your man.

Prof. Patton is a very good person. He is a good teacher and truly cares about us learning the material. He has a weird/dry sense of humor and tries to crack jokes in class, but everyone is super shy and doesn't laugh, so it makes it pretty awkward for him. The homework is really hard and I suggest getting the solutions from someone. But don't worry because the midterm and final are pretty much the same as the example problems he hands out. He is a very very generous grader. I felt like I didn't learn anything and got a 79 on the midterm and ended up with a B in the class. Can't complain...it was an easy B and if I tried a little harder, I could have gotten an A.

I had mixed feelings on Patton early on in the quarter. He tends, especially in the beginning, to lecture on ALOT of theory and really go fairly in depth with each derivation of the base equations used in the class. But, by the midterm he had really kicked up the amount of example problems he did in class which was extremely helpfull on the midterm because they were essentially the same, only a bit longer on the test. I think I learned a huge amount in this class. He knows that alot of the stuff teachers try to cram into a quarter is rather worthless, so he really trys to focus on the most important material and the material you're likely to see again which I was glad for. The homework assigned is always WAY harder than you'll see on a test and he hardly ever mentions anything from the homework much less lectures at anywhere near the same pace the homework moves at. Its more of perfunctory task he assigns just to make sure you're doing something for the class, rather than just waiting until the first (and only) midterm to study. He's extremely smart, one of the smartest professors I've come across at poly, but its not immediately obvious by his off the wall humor. If you're having any problems keeping up I definetly recommend going to see him in office hours. He's extremely helpful and his humor makes you comfortable enough to be willing to ask any question, no matter how stupid you may feel it is. Its been said that there's a fine line between genius and insanity, and I think Patton might be somewhere near that line....which side he's on I'm not sure. Overall, I thought he was an awesome professor and I'm really glad I had him and he really sparked my interest in fluids so i ended up taking fluids 2 with him and I'm hoping to get him next year for the grad level fluids class he said he would be teaching.

Professor Patton is a great teacher, he definitely makes fluids feel doable. His tests are fair and he grades them twice to make sure you receive as many points as possible. On our final he literally went through every problem and gave a basic approach as to how to solve. He's really big on theory in lectures, but makes up for it with in class examples that you can use of exams!

True to his word, Patton is an easy A. However, don't think that fluids is easy. It is one of the most theoretical and wierd ME subjects. I had a hard time understanding it, but Patton made it bearable. He tries to balance between lecturing on theory and doing example problems. The homework is generally harder and doesn't resemble the midterm and final. The examples, however, are much closer to the midterm and final. Overall, I'd take Patton again.

Like most people say Dr. Patton was very theoretical. Test resemble the difficulty of example problems. Homework problems are usally very hard. If you can get the idea of what is going on in the homework, and can redo the in-class example problems, you should be good to go. Tests are open book open notes (no homework or solutions). Unfortunately, Dr. Patton is going back to his roots in Florida so you guys won't have the opportunity to take him. Thanks Patton. ND

Bestest teacher evAr! It is too bad that he left Cal Poly last year, but on his way out he gave everyone A's!

For anyone who actually wants to understand and enjoy fluids, take a different professor. I had an impossible time learning from him and actually started attending another professors lecture to supplement his. The difference was night and day; the other prof actually found fluids interesting and it showed. Patton provides notes with lengthy derivations and rarely connects them to their physical representation; as a visual learner this irked me. He couldn't believe we didn't know what volume dilatation was and he'd yet to present the material to us. I failed his first midterm and everyone seemed to think it wasn't difficult. The exams are open note so take good notes. He gave 3 graded homework assignments during the quarter and then gave us solutions to the rest of the home works that we didn't actually do, on one of the last days of class. In class he just messes around and calls everyone by nicknames. He mixed up 2 asian kids in my class 7 weeks in. He'd say "does everyone understand?" and I would respond "no" to which he replied "moving on." He didn't even show us a picture of a moody diagram which is integral to studying pipe flow. He spent the first 7 weeks 25% of the material and the last 3 on the rest. I took a priority to get this guy and I'm incredibly disappointed in cal poly for rehiring such a lazy buffoon.

I have my final for Fluids the day after tomorrow. Thanks to Patton, all I have to do is learn 10 week's worth of material in a day and half. Also he's weird. Course summary: 1 midterm, 1 final, couple homework assignments. Exams were open-note, open book, open laptop.

Nice guy, a bit strange, but didn't learn anything in this class. Probably one of the worst professors I've had in terms of conveying material.

This class was too easy. I did not learn anything at all. I recommend that you do not take him at all. In my future classes, I had to apply some of the concepts I was supposed to learn from Fluid Mechanics. I felt so clueless. It seemed as if I never took this class at all.

Taking Patton's class was a waste of time. He knows Fluids very well so he treats this class like a joke. He rarely explained anything he was doing in class and the few things he tried to explain just confused everyone even more. The HW was not even remotely close to what we learned or were tested on in class. He held two class periods at different times then normal class time which multiple students couldn't attend because of other conflicts; in those two class periods he discussed material that was on the Final and then didn't talk about it all during regular class hours. Patton went at a relatively slow pace throughout the year and then the last week tried to cram as much as he could before the final. I'm disappointed with the effort he gave for the class, I didn't learn anything and wish I had taken a different professor.

Honestly, I am shocked as to how he is still teaching at Cal Poly. The guy takes the whole class period to write less than a page worth of notes. He informed us of what his office hours were in week four and didn't have a grader up until we turned our homework in (week four also). This guy should retire soon because he is honestly just wasting our time and money, and now as an ME, I find myself having learned nothing about fluids which will screw me for fluids II. Avoid taking him if you can, unless you are just looking to get a good grade and do nothing.

While Patton's class can be hilarious at times, I couldn't in good conscious write a good review. Despite being given an A. Patton's lectures were disjointed and incoherent, like the scribbled notes we were handed in class. There was no unity, no larger picture, no sense of direction. Just an unfulfilling drag of lectures. I feel bad because it feels like he can't stand being a teacher, but that can't be impacting the education of hundreds of students a year. In short, if you value your education and you have an option, don't take him.

DON'T TAKE HIM IF YOU TAKE A DIFFERENT FLUIDS II PROFESSOR. Patton is a genuinely nice guy. He listens to students and is empathetic to most circumstances. He is also a smart guy (graduated from Cal Tech and has years of industry experience). However, I would not under any circumstance say that he is a good professor that knows how to convey his material. He is awkward and quirky, which I sometimes like; but he is awkward to the point of distracting an entire class and often finds himself on superfluous tangents. He is not organized. He loses notes, assignments, and does not explain material in a logical fashion. He contradicts himself and has presented incorrect information. Without the aid of the book, I don't know anyone that could have fully understood fluids from his material alone. Although I got a good grade, I am screwed for fluids II. I do not know fluids on a fundamental level. He is a waste of tuition money and sabotages students learning, sending underprepared graduates into the work place.

Nice guy. I'm sure but his class is a joke. You WILL NOT learn fluids here, which sucks because you'll probably get your ass handed to you by Hans in Fluids II. His exams are based on his sloppy and incoherent notes which make ZERO sense. I didn't want to write a bad evaluation when he handed to them as I would feel guilty if he got fired but a piece of me wishes that I wrote what was really on my mind. AVOID patton unless you're just taking the class for an OK grade and NOT really looking to actually learn Fluids.

I got an A in this class, but I regret taking this professor. It was spring of 2015, and I decided to take fluids with easy-A Patton. I loved it at first. I walked out of every one of his classes the first couple weeks thinking "wow, I love this class." It was about week 3 when I realized "wait, I haven't actually learned anything." All he does is throw up a bunch of integrals on the board and let's us frantically copy them down and expects us to actually understand fluid mechanics based on those. And his weird comments and jokes in class started getting less and less funny and more weird and borderline gross. He made a "joke" one time that he punched a girl in the face. His exams are open book and open notes, and pretty much every question is an example almost exactly out of the notes, so you just have to copy it down on the exams. That's pretty much the only reason I kept going to class. And before the final he had an "extra review session" where he ended up teaching material that he hadn't got to yet. I was fortunate that I actually went, because the new material was on the final. Lots of people who had schedules that conflicted with the "review session" got screwed. And the day we did evals, he gave us this guilt-trip sob story so we'd go easy on him. And sadly, it worked on a lot of us. I walked out at the end of the year with an A in my pocket and almost no knowledge of fluid mechanics. Skip forward to Fall 2016. I'm now in Fluids 2 with Hans and I'm desperately trying to get a grasp of the concepts and I'm constantly playing catch-up because Patton can't teach worth a damn. If you actually want to learn fluids at all and don't want to risk getting screwed in future classes that involve fluids, then for the love of God, please take another professor. If you don't have to do Fluids 2, and you want an easier quarter, go ahead and take him, just be prepared to learn so very little.

For the sake of your own well-being, do not take Patton. To start, I think Patton is well-intentioned, but he should not be a professor. It was an incredibly uncomfortable class to sit through, dude makes unwelcomed jokes and spouts a stream of consciousness that in no way relates to the material. Calls people out on things they're wearing or random things like that expecting to get a laugh but receiving only deafening silence. As far as the class goes, there is absolutely no organization or logical progression. Patton (barely legibly) copies down random definitions and integrals from his notes with no context and expects you to somehow learn from that. When you ask a clarification question you'll either get a vague answer like "because we like to do it that way" or an overly in-depth explanation that tangents itself into some story about research a colleague of his has done. Homework was assigned twice throughout the quarter, but he forgot to get a grader so we never got that back. You basically have to teach everything to yourself as you'll get nothing out of his lectures. I taught myself about 85% of the material in the two days before the final and did well enough, but it would have been nice to have a somewhat competent professor. We're going to be fucked for fluids 2. If you haven't made up your mind by now, TAKE LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE.

Brilliant guy with a good sense of humor. Keeps the lectures entertaining which is good especially when you have lecture at 5pm on a Friday. Plenty of in class examples that help you understand fluids and prepare you for the 1 midterm and final. Open notes and open book exams which was great because I couldn't memorize all the formulas and tables that are needed to solve the problems. Got an high B on both the midterm and final, and with the curve I ended up with a B in the class. Not sure why they call him "Easy-A Patton".

What a waste of a class and tuition money. If you care about you education, take someone else. This guy is a joke.

Dr. Patton is a joke. He did his absolute best to ignore his teaching responsibilities at all times. The class was full of awkward pauses where he would pick on students for their appearances, clothing, affiliations. He would constantly pose questions to the class that he knew full well that we didn't know because he never taught us these things, and then would say "c'mon you guys know this stuff." By the end of the class nobody knew anything about fluids. We had a bunch of handouts that vaguely described the equations in a bunch of chicken scratch, and that was pretty much all we had to go off of on the tests. And then he showed up to one of the other section's final late. A whole hour late. So he decided to give them the complete solution to one of the four problems on the test. I somehow got a C out of a class that I put just as much effort into as everyone else, beat the average on the midterm, did all of the homework in, and probably suffered at the hands of the completely unethical curve on the final. Thanks Patton.

Biggest waste of tuition money ever. I would strongly recommend taking anybody else. If I were going into a field that required knowledge of fluid mechanics, I would be absolutely and fatally screwed.

Seriously FUCK this guy. Usually I don't write reviews after I get my grade or after the quarter is over but I'm writing one now so I can warn future students to STAY AWAY. He seriously doesn't freaking teach. All he does is make fun of students half the time, make weird ass noises (for ex. wuhh-whaaaaa or babababaaaaam), and writes chicken scratch on board. For example problems, he rarely gives us the context of the problem so we have no idea what we're solving for and most of the time he's deriving some ancient hieroglyphics that's apparently fluids. At first I couldn't resist the 1 midterm and non-cumulative final so I signed up for him. Now I just found out in week 7 I have another midterm in week 8. I'm seriously mad and confused about this because how can he give us a second midterm when he hasn't taught anything after the first one?!!!?!?!?! I should've signed up for Kennedy because I ended up getting 2 midterms and a final. Also, this guy is not easy A (He now calls himself easy D). I'm just praying to god I don't end up with a C in this class. Tl;dr: STAY THE FUCK AWAY

In hindsight I feel I could have earned an A had I put in more effort in this course. I resorted to cramming all test material days before the exam and all nighters each day before the exam. The homework load was not terrible, we had 4 assigned homework sets, although he ended up not collecting the last one. Note that each set does take hours to complete though. Be prepared to contribute at least 4 hours to homework alone. 2 midterms and one final with the final being worth 40% of your overall grade. The midterms were not that difficult, but I found myself averaging a C in both of them due to my inadequate study habits for this class that quarter. I have never studied more for a final ever at Cal Poly than I did for this one. I felt extremely well after taking the final, and all the hard work payed off. It was hard to study from the notes he gave in class and the textbook wasn't very concise either. I would highly recommend watching online lecture vids from other schools.

Absolutely learned nothing from his lectures but ended up with a B. He's definitely easy B Patton now. I was stressed throughout the quarter because I didn't learn anything but in the end I kind of like him now considering he gave everyone B's. It was 10000% worth pushing fluids off a quarter so I can take it with Patton and NOT Hans.

If you go talk to Prof. Patton and clarify what you need to succeed in his class he responds well. I noticed that after talking to him in office hours and explaining that we needed more context and examples he changed his teaching style immediately. I wish I had gone to office hours to do this much earlier in the quarter. He does care about his students, and wants to teach well, but I don't think he gets much constructive criticism. I'd recommend talking to him early in the quarter and explaining what you'd like to see in the class. Overall not a bad professor, but he needs student feedback during the class.

Disaster.

Patton is a great guy and a fun professor. He's big on theory. His exams are very similar to his examples in class, and not like the homework. He is a fair grader. He's solid.

Check out the big brain on Scott. Lord Patton is a fun professor who makes the lecture go by quickly with off the wall jokes and weird comments. The HW doesn't really reflect the lecture or tests at all, pay more attention to the examples he gives out. He is a very fair grader, If you give him something to grade on a problem, he'll hook you up with points. Fluids is kind of out there, but so is Scott, so they fit perfectly together.

Ah. Didn't learn much from Patton, so I'm pretty much screwed in fluids. But a nice guy and caring teacher. He's off to Florida so you won't have him, but I just wanted to leave a good review for him.

You can pass fluids by either working your ass off in LoCascio or taking Patton. I chose the latter. You can learn a lot from him if you really want too, but you can also rely on being able to spit out example problems on tests. Either way, I waited a year to take him for Fluids I and II and it was the best thing I ever did. Sadly, he is leaving Poly so everyone who needs to take fluids is going to get an new asshole from LoCascio.

He's back bitches!

Patton is 5'10" 260lbs about 60 and runs a 4.4 40! he can clean & jerk a a pen and he swears he was cleared sane by a psychiatrist.... well idk bout that last one. his midterms are easy and he will make sure u dont get anything lower than a C. im in his class this quarter and we had a midterm today, so trust me. if u can take this guy do it!

If you want to play iphone games during class and get by without learning anything, Patton is fine. You'll get a grade from his A through C random grade generator for showing up for tests and the final. But if you want to learn something, he can't teach for shit and doesn't try. He's the laziest pos ever and doesn't understand the information himself.

Anybody who says that Dr. Patton doesn't know the material has apparently never ventured far enough from their comfort zone to ask him a question in class or office hours. He is a doctor in this stuff and has plenty of work experience, so he can explain concepts to any depth you need. He's most definitely qualified to teach, so let those fears be assuaged. It's HOW he teaches that can be debated. The first half of class is extremely derivation-heavy--moreso than any other class I've taken. The second half of class is biased much more toward examples, which made it the more comfortable half for me. All the time, he'll make little quips about students in the class or what's going on in his life. It keeps the fifty minutes moving, but sometimes the class feels so informal that it becomes harder to pay attention to what's actually important. Also, the lecture always feels somewhat intangible... it's tough to explain, but I felt it easy to get lost in a sea of partial derivatives as he was deriving things on the board. Despite all this, you will cover a ton of material, and his lenient grading is there to back you up when you need it. One midterm, and no graded homework. Beware the lab reports--they're long. Really, Dr. Patton's a guy you need to experience to understand, so take him.

Funny but senile guy. Loved his fluids cheer but I get the impression his best days are behind him. Super smart and loves the subject but lectures are unfocused, no HW, and easy exams. Don't feel like I learned much. Final was surprisingly hard... not covered in lecture but open book helped.

Patton is amazing. He tells you exactly what you need to know. You may not get as in depth as another professor, but you will learn the basics and come out with a baseline understanding of the material. He is a very friendly guy and makes class very entertaining. Fun environment to be in and not as stressful as other ME upper division classes. Knows your name and will address you as so throughout the quarter. As Patton says, "The Life of R...."

Biggest waste of time. I’m writing this in class because he doesn’t teach. Please move on dude and stop teaching. Can you dig it?

One of the worst professors I've ever had. He obviously didn't give a shit about the class, and would always complain about having to be there and teaching. All he did was read straight from his slides, which were often wrong. It was the biggest waste of time ever. To put it in perspective, there were 36 students enrolled in my class and the average number of students that were in class every day was 11.

In the nearly 20 years of being a student Patton is by far the worst teacher I have ever had. If you want to learn something avoid at all costs.

Fuck this guy. Id like to stick my tounge up his ass.

Anyone who goes out of his way to make the class this easy for the students deserves a standing ovation, which he sometimes ask for. Lord Patton is freakin awesome. Gets a little getting used to, but just talk to the guy when you get the chance. He's an awesome person and he is really damn smart. Always a pleasure taking his class.

Lord Patton...need I say more? Despite all the awful things said on this page about Patton, his graduate level teaching is completely different from undergrad. Yeah there are days where there's some confusion, but give the guy a break he only teaches this class once a year. His research in fluids and heat transfer is extensive and he really knows his stuff. Whether you're new to Cal Poly or continuing in the blended program, take this class, especially if it's with Patton. He's one of the few professors who makes an effort to ensure that all of his students understand what is being covered. He also might throw a pizza party at the end of the quarter, so you got that to look forward to.