Lin, Patrick  

Dr. Lin is a very interesting professor. His resume outside of teaching is very impressive, and it really shows what a person can do with a philosophy major outside of just going to law school. Every lecture my mind was blown or I had to totally rethink how I thought about the world. Dr. Lin's course is cool because he gives his students an overview of what all of the different branches of philosophy are like. The class is broken down with two midterms (each worth 20% of your grade), some short online writing assignments (20%), participation/effort (10%) and a final (30%). He is very helpful during office hours also. The tests are very hard but their is a very generous curve. Know the notes, but equally important is being able to critically think about the multiple choice questions. The questions aren't meant to trick you, but sometimes they feel that way.

Professor Lin is one of the most incredible people I have ever met, and probably the single best teacher I have ever had. He is wildly accomplished and is majorly credible. His lectures are interesting and the reading was minimal with few homework assignments that were very fair. His tests are very difficult, but he applies a huge curve and is very generous in grading. He is also very helpful during office hours, especially the session right before a test. Professor Lin makes philosophy interesting and touchable.

Professor Lin was an amazing teacher. His knowledge of the subject is incredible. His resume makes you confused why he is teaching. Do the readings and actually put effort into the writing assignments. Go to class and ask questions... You'll do great. He grades very generously, but his tests are extremely hard so it is imperative to study.

One of the best teachers I have ever had. He was so organized and really wanted every one to succeed. He had a very fair grading process and workload! If you pay attention in class, you will do fine. Super nice guy, and he always keeps his lectures and discussions relevant and interesting.

Professor Lin clearly enjoys the subject and enjoys telling students about it. The class is definitely geared toward getting as many students to understand the depth of what philosophy is and what they may have further interest in, it achieves these goals. I am a philosophy major so I guess my review should be taken with a grain of salt, as I can't testify to how interesting this class may be for say a computer science major. Lin assigns weekly writing assignments that are generally less than 200 words and easy to get done in under an hour. Midterms and finals are a breeze if you take thorough notes and just attend class. I would highly recommend Patrick Lin for philosophy 101 and likely any other class as well.

I don't know why there aren't more comments about him, but if you have to take philosophy, take it with Lin! Most philosophy classes are, as we know, very hard. Lin makes it so incredibly reasonable. The tests are open book, so just make sure when you take notes in class to write down all the sections of the book to study from later. There are three non-cumulative tests, all multiple choice. Even though the tests are pretty difficult, he gives an unreasonably awesome curve. My first test I technically got a D, but ended up getting an A because of the curve. No one ever gets below a C on the tests, so definitely don't take this pass/fail like I did, I definitely regret that!

HE IS THE SHIT! This guy is so freakn smart and really down to earth. He assigns three books to read for the quarter. The are pretty hard reads, but honestly, he bases his midterms almost solely off his lectures. Take good notes! And...he has a GIANT CURVE! Seriously, I should've gotten a D on the first midterm...yea I got an A-. So yes the material is hard, but at least he understands that! The way he teaches makes you want to be there! Love this guy

Professor Lin is one of the most fascinating people I have ever met. This is the second class I have taken from him, and I would love to take more. This class was rather difficult since the readings are dense, but Lin makes it much easier. His lectures are very thorough and cover nearly any question that might come up from the reading. His first two tests were 20 questions,and the final had 35 questions, which seemed like it would be easy to manage. His tests are fairly difficult, but he gives a very generous curve. He tries to be as accommodating as he can, "meet me halfway" kind of philosophy. He is very helpful in office hours and will go over any tests with you and answer and possible questions you may have. Lin also holds review sessions that generally happen the class meeting before the exams, these are extremely helpful. Overall, if you need to take a philosophy course Lin will be able to make it interesting for you, and you will most likely end up getting a decent grade.

Professor Lin is the best. I came to simply fulfill my C2 requirement but left feeling interested in taking more philosophy courses in the future. He is very understanding that this might be your first philosophy course, so he grades his exams on a generous curve. His slides are very thorough and organized. Take good notes and you should at least get a B on the exams. Class lectures are very entertaining and he does a great job relating course concepts into recent headlines. Take him if you can.

Took this class for my C2 and Professor Lin is MORE than reasonable with grading. Everyone of his tests have SUCH a HUGE curve!! He never failed anyone, even if they got like 2/20 on an exam. Got an A, never read a single one of the books and I still did well on the exams. Pay attention during lecture and you'll pass! If you have to take philosophy, I would definitely say take it with him! Really easy to do well.

Lin is a college student in disguise. Legit his GE lectures are super simple and use really relevant cases and examples that make it easy to understand. His Major courses are interesting because he talks about practical uses for the information instead of focusing on some abstract concept. All in all take his class.

Patrick is good at teaching, but does not know how to test effectively. His exams do not test on how much you know the material. His tests have 20 multiple choice questions (A-E) and his curve is based off of a 4/20 being a C-. The test questions are so ambiguous and irrelevant that it is harder to get significantly better than you would just randomly guessing. I studied very hard for the first two exams and got a 4/20 and a 5/20 which were both a C-. I learned, instead, to use a pattern of methodical guessing for the final and didn't read a single question which earned me an 18/40 which was a solid B thus bringing my class grade up from a C- to a C+. Moral of the story is that reading and studying will not help you do better on the exams; you must come up with a unique way to do well on these tests. It's not going to be about how well you understand philosophy with Lin, it's about how you can decode either the language of the test or the patterns in answers. If you are psychologically smart, you may be able to decipher the connotation used on his exams and what he is intending to ask. However, if you find that this does not work, you can statistically formulate a system of guessing to earn you at least a C+ in the class.

The dude above me has no idea what he's talking about. Lin is a great professor. If you have the option to take him for your Philosophy general ed, do it. He presents all the information you need in the lectures and it's not necessary to read the books. His tests are difficult because for each question he has "two of the above are right", "all of the above are right" and "none of the above are right" as possible multiple choice answers. Some may see this as unnecessary and unfair but once you figure out how his tests work, you'll realize that he wants the information very specifically. If the answer doesn't say exactly what it said in the book, then it is wrong. This makes it easy to do process of elimination. Besides this aspect, he is incredibly nice in grading. Typically a 10/20 is a B with his curves. He always rounds up and at the end of the course he made the final optional. Not only that, but even if you bombed the final, it couldn't hurt your grade. Seriously, Philosophy is interesting stuff and Lin is your best bet at getting a good grade for this GE. Take him and you won't regret it.

Professor Lin is such an amazing and thought provoking professor. He is definitely too overqualified to be working at Cal Poly but still 10/10 would recommend if you need to take philosophy. I know a good amount of people who got As and people who barely passed. Aside from that he gives huge curves and truly tries to help increase your grade if you show signs of dedication to improve. I consistently did well on the exams and he rewarded us by making the final optional without it affecting our current grades. Philosophy isn't an easy subject but he gets that and makes the lectures really simple and concise by highlighting everything that will be on the test. My tips to do well on the exams are to highlight everything he says will be on the exam(there will be a lot of this) and then just rereading/memorizing it. His questions on the exam are so straight forward you'll find yourself annoyed at how you could've gotten it wrong even after having the exact answer written in your notes and highlighted. TBH didn't read any of the books but I did shmoop them when I was studying to just follow along with my notes. Overall you'll leave this class feeling like you understand how logical thoughts and arguments work better. Take him if you have a chance!

This is honestly one of the most interesting classes I have taken at Cal Poly. His tests are hard, but his class is very easy in that he curves his tests extremely high so that almost everyone gets an A or a B. The topics you cover are very practical, but you have to think about them really hard and listen to the information he has to say. Don't plan to go in and talk about your ideas because you like the sound of your own voice, plan to learn and develop a complex opinion from there. If you are even a bit of an intellectual and care about how science/technology affects society, you will love this class.

Well this class was interesting. I am honestly surprised no one has had anything to say about him yet. He comes off as being very cool and relaxed. He tells you that the midterms and final are open book. He does not tell you that he will grade extremely harsh on these. My advice is to take very good notes in your book during lecture, highlighting key quotes. To get an A on the essay midterms, basically copy his notes onto your bluebook. He is looking for very specific examples. There is also a peer evaluated presentation which really boosts your grade. He says he will be lenient in the end in deciding grades, but he honestly has very little sympathy and is very rude if you go to meet with him in offic hours.

I learned that if I were to take up hunting, I should shoot deer, not bears, because a bear will hunt me back if I successfully wound it. Fascinating! I didnt know that the key to production and operations management was so brutally simple!