McCaughey, Timothy Griffin  

McCaughey is the best math teacher I've ever had! He's a grad student so he knows what it's like to be a college kid. He gives tons of extra credit and the hw is never turned in or graded. There are quizzes every week that aren't too difficult and most of the time he throws in a few extra points to boost your grade. I never did the hw, but I did study. I actually learned a lot since he explained things really well. He's super down to earth and is an overall great guy.

Timmothy McCaughey is the reason I cant sleep at night. After failing the first midterm I went in and showed my concern with my grade. He said if I keep showing improvement and get a good grade on the final he would replace my grade. I went into office hours every day of the week. If he didnt have them I scheduled them. After all this ass kissing I was improving and by the time of the final he fucked me over so bad my grade lowered because he decided to weigh my grade in favor of an F because it was "only fair to the other kids". Not only did I fail because he weighted me differently. He is the worst professor or teacher I have every had. He only lectured every day of the week, he weighter the homework way too much. And he had a terrible grader who would count you off if you put 4/8 instead of 1/2. McCaughey is the demon that climbed straight out a hell hole to make students miserable. He is the bal 30-something year old man that still wears graphic tees in hope that he too will find a lovey lady. Maybe thats why he fucked so many people, he hadnt gotten any action in years. Avoid this "teacher" at all costs

Professor McCaughey was a difficult professor for this class, and not just because of the course material. The subject is simple and straightforward, but it is difficult to learn because he makes a lot of mistakes in his lectures and in entering grades. I was able to get a decent grade in the class because I have taken Pre-Calc before, even though it's not my strongest subject. He doesn't let you use calculators on tests, which is something I would really have liked to have known before taking this class, because I am terrible at doing basic math calculations in my head. It seems unnecessary. He also grades the homework based on correctness, which, in my opinion, is too ridiculous considering that the homework is much harder than the lectures.

I love Tim. He's the best teacher I've had in my first quarter at Cal Poly. Out of the 4 classes I've taken, his is the only one I don't fall asleep in. He is engaging and is the type of guy that laughs at his own jokes. He reminds me of the Blue's Clues guy cause he's always upbeat and animated. He's really chill and as long as you show up and do your work there won't be any problems. 100% recommend this teacher.

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Tim is a great teacher. This was is first time teaching Calc 1 but you couldnt tell at all. He gave quizes every friday on that weeks material, two midterms, a final, and homework. He was very laid back and friendly. He recognised when he made mistakes and would listen and learn from students. Although this class is hard due to the subject matter, Tim is an amazing teacher and I understood math material better than I have before. Also if your not very good at algebra (like me) he will explain the basic steps behind the math very well which is suoer helpful. I RECOMEND TIMOTHY MCCAUGHEY

It seems like the other reviews are either high or low on Tim (with more lows). I had him for Calc 1 fall quarter and the class was alright. I didn't like how he graded his homework (choosing certain problems to grade), but the quizzes were ok. I took Calc in high school, so I can not comment on the effectiveness of his teaching because I already understood the concepts, but it appeared he did a decent job doing it. Lots of definitions and theorems, but that is just Calc 1 for ya. I did not experience any of the other issues that the other reviews from his business math class had. He did respond to my email about the homework that was due that day in a timely fashion.

He did a great job I thought. Reading a lot of these other reviews sound like either he was totally different between our classes or just sour grapes

Tim is a nice guy, but an absolutely terrible professor. Stay away from his class unless you want it to ruin your quarter. What Tim does is take exact examples from the book and explain them in a convoluted, often confusing way using only words. He then gives harder homework and often doesn't know how the hell to do the problems he gives you until he goes and looks them up himself. Unless you're a math major or otherwise love math, Tim is a terrible educator.

It’s nice that Tim gives graded homework to boost grades, but his lectures are sometimes hard to understand because he goes so fast. Be ready to take notes on the concept of a chapter all class with no examples.

I’m sure Tim is a good person, but that’s about all he has going for him. I had him for Calc 1 and he was hands down the worst teacher I’ve ever had. His class essentially consisted of poorly explaining (at most) one homework question, then copying his notes onto the board. This would be awesome if he understood what he was writing down, except he doesn’t. His homework questions were extremely obscure and common-core like, and they made concepts even more confusing than before. His midterms and finals had material that I had never seen before in the class. Normally I’m an excellent math student, and I never blame my difficulty in a class on the teacher, so this is saying a lot. This class absolutely killed my GPA. Save yourself and switch out if you have him.

This class with this professor was the absolute worst. I attended every lecture (MTWR) and had absolutely no idea what was going on. He taught this class like everyone had taken AP calculus in high school, which I did not. He would write directly from his notes to the board with no explanation, making the lectures pointless. He would explain the math using word definitions and sometimes one vague example. I went to his office hours to get help with homework, and his reexplanations made the concept even more confusing than before, if that was even possible. I felt tears in my eyes as I walked out of these office hours and got myself a real tutor. His example midterms had material that we had "learned" in class, which I would go over with my tutor for hours before the exam. However, on exam day, the midterm/final would be nothing, and I mean nothing, like the examples we had gone over in class and on the example test. He would also cancel class on more than one Wednesday which took away from my learning time. Please if you are considering taking this class, do not take it with Tim. You GPA will suffer greatly.

The quarter started off with me failing the first midterm, despite having studied multiple hours and believing that I had a good grasp on the material. It seemed like the only students that did well were those that had already taken the class or had taken AP calc. I quickly realized that the only way I would not fail Calc would be to start teaching myself the material because Tim was entirely incompetent as a teacher. After the second midterm, I realized that math professors can some how subjectively grade math problems based off of how well they liked the student. It seemed like he had a personal destain for me as I would get a 2/10 for doing the same exact thing as another student who would get an 8/10 on a problem. I had to bring in both my midterms and point out how he graded certain problems incorrectly. After doing so, my grade on the second midterm went up a full letter grade. I ended the class with a B+ (somehow) but he didn't curve the class despite the average being below a 70%, and I believe I would have better off if I had been left alone with a textbook and not had Tim as a professor.

He's a good lecturer, very clear, and teaches the concepts pretty well. However the final was quite a bit more difficult than the stuff on taught in class and on quizzes.

Tim is dope af

He misses class often saying “he can’t make it to campus” and doesn’t teach in great detail. He often spends have of the class time explaining the reasoning and proofs behind problems rather than going through practice problems to help students complete homework and do well on the quizzes. When students come to him worrying about their grade he assures them that he will curve grades if The class needs it... he failed half the class.

This professor doesn't know how to teach calculus in an intuitive way. He's more concerned with flexing his knowledge on definitions than the actual steps to solve a type of math problem. His fail rate is alarming.

McCaughey (pronounced McCoy) is a terrible professor. I, and I am pretty sure almost everyone else, withdrew from his class by the 7th week.

AVOID. He is literally such a bad teacher, half the time he writes entire paragraphs on the board out of the book and the other half of the time he writes wayyy to fast while standing directly in front of what he is writing so all example problems are impossible to follow. The HW is straight ridiculous after learning barely anything in class. I would maybe say he is a nice guy in general but an awful awful teacher and this class is THE WORST.

Wastes a lot of time on proofs that are unnecessary and doesnt focus on practicing enough math problems. Im pretty sure he wouldnt be able to pass his own tests had he not taken them directly from the book. The homework is long; not hard just LONG. He updates students really late and super last minute. He doesnt curve his tests when the class average is a 50 percent. I could go on and on. Bad jokes all the time. Bald.

This man is the reason I can't sleep at night... I'm not kidding. In class all he does is right down definitions from the textbook with a couple decently easy examples on the board, but once you think you have the hang of it you do his homework and realize you have absolutely no idea what is going. The homework is actually so hard that you can't learn anything from it, so you pretty much create a cycle of barely knowing what's going on in class to getting even more confused at home doing the homework and eventually becoming completely lost to the point where it's hard to even reteach yourself. If you already know the material then Timothy's class won't be too bad (homework and midterms are still pretty damn hard with a average of a 56% on the first midterm), but if you were not that good at calc I or just had a terrible teacher in calc I then I suggest not taking this class.

ABSOLUTELY AVOID. I consider myself a decent math student and have learned much of the material before. I saw his polyratings and with an ICMA in effect, immediately signed up for a workshop. SAVE YOUR GPA. The class average on the first midterm was a 27/50 and he WILL NOT curve anything but the final grade if he HAS to. After the first midterm, I had a C but was ranked 7 in the class. That's just plain wrong.

If you end up in Tim McCaughey's class, do everything you can to get out of it. A friend of mine had him for MATH 141 and warned me, but I (regretfully) didn't listen. I'm well aware that "X professor doesn't care about GPA" is a cliche, but this is the genuine case here. Following Midterm 2 (of 2), he congratulated the class via email on a class average score of 50%. He does not curve even one assignment, no matter how low the average grade is. Furthermore, he teaches straight from the book, with easy to understand examples and relatively simple homework problems that lull you into a false sense of security. On his tests and quizzes, he mixes complicated theorems together and utilizes the most irregular numbers and trig identities he can think of, and will not allow you to use even a 5-function calculator. He's a few minutes late to almost every class, and is often stumped by student questions in class. If you rely on quiz and homework feedback prior to your midterm, brace yourself, as in a class with less than 30 students (and a math department grader), it takes him 2-3 weeks to return homework, quizzes, and midterms. When you do finally get your assignment back, the feedback is a series of cryptic slashes that don't help you understand at all where you went wrong in your work. Don't tell yourself that you can self-teach the material from the book like I did, because his test and quiz problems are commonly a whole league above what you'll ever see in the book.

This guy is horrible. Nice enough person but it's impossible to get an A and nearly impossible to get a B. The class average on the midterms were both well below 50%. Even if you get stuck with him, drop the class, it'll just confused you more otherwise. Do not take this class unless your life depends on it!

Lectures were confusing and did not focus on practicality or relevance. Tests had only a couple of problems.

one hw due every week. hw questions are hard and don't prepare you for the quizzes every week. the midterm was hard, the final was harder. prepare to study a lot. McCaughey sucks

If your a math major, Professor McCaughey may be a good option for you. Each class he goes over the proofs following up to the final answer which is usually the formula we use for the given concept. He's told us he's worked at Khan Academy after graduating from Cal Poly and seems to know a lot about what he teaches. However, if you're looking for an easy A or your an engineering student looking to pump out your math electives, his course may be more than you may bargain for as the math questions on the homework are tricky and can throw you for a loop. And although the proofs he provides in the course are interesting and thought provoking, he may take half the class to show it and examples may be glossed over at times. In the end, McCaughey is a good choice for those who are looking for a good introduction in the math major but may not be the best for those looking to easily slip past math electives. Aside from the course itself, McCaughey seems to be a really nice and upbeat person who cares about his student's success and is well-spoken and vibrant in his classes.

He literally just reads off the textbook, and he tries to be more cool than actually teaching the material

He needs to know how to actually TEACH his lectures, not read us what his notes are from the book. He also didn't give a lot of homework, which CAN be good and bad. The good thing is that it didn't take up too much time, but the bad thing is it didn't give us enough practice. However, he is a nice guy though. I have hope for him for his future years.

I learned 90% of this material in high school, yet Tim still managed to confuse me most days. His lectures come straight out of the book, all the way down to the examples. He spent far too much time on long proofs that didn't help you understand how to use the formulas but just put you to sleep instead. Weekly homework, weekly quizzes, two midterms, and a final, but he never enters any grades. You just get the final grade at the end and he says he's gonna go back and enter all the past grades but then he never does??? Don't do this to yourself, take someone else.

This guy, what can I say... His lectures are almost worthless- he writes on the board from his supposed "notes" but everything he writes down is copied exactly from the textbook. He doesn't even change the numbers in the examples. He also spends too much time on stuff that may be useful to know but is not required at all for the class, e.g. he spent multiple class sessions explaining proofs that weren't exactly needed to explain how a certain concept worked. His work policy is okay, he gives about 20 questions a week due Friday and an easy quiz on Friday. His midterms are okay, a few tricky problems here or there, but if you study the amount that a college student should be studying, you'll be okay. However, the final is a different thing altogether. The final was extremely difficult and used obscure examples that we did not study for in the textbook and had problems that required very long solutions. All in all, he wasn't the worst professor ever, but I definitely would not recommend him to anyone for Calc 3. Do yourself a favor and skip Mccaughey, or if you must take him, don't take his Calc 3 class.

Was a fine teacher, let students asked questions for a few minutes at beginning of class then lectured for the rest, plenty of room for questions. Midterms and Finals were hard but fair, all around good professor but nothing special.

Holy shit this guy sucks. He knows the math but he doesn't know why it works the way it does. Even worse at trying to convey any of the information. Luckily I had good enough calculus teachers in High School which helped me get a B.

Please avoid him. He is a human textbook and cannot teach to save his life. He has trouble recognizing when students are confused and struggling. His explanations are straight from the book. Overall, just please avoid. I struggled and I had workshop as well as studying more for this class than any other.

He’s is amazing take him!!

Tim has mixed reviews, but I generally liked him. His lecture style was what I had expected, and his homework assignments were the right amount. He was fairly understanding and empathetic for his students, and he has a very likable personality. What I did have a problem with, however, is that he does not curve tests, even though the average of the first midterm was at a failing level (64%). This, I believe, was too difficult of a test, and should have either been curved or been made easier to begin with. Aside from that, he's a funny guy, and I enjoyed his class for the most part.

Arguably the worst math teacher I've ever had. His teaching style is flawed on the most fundamental level; He spends almost all his time in class giving pointless proofs for equations that take 10 seconds to copy down in the textbook leaving almost no time for and practical explanation. I would drop a math class before I spent another 10 weeks with him. To be fair he does bring a good attitude to class and is willing to help student in office hours and in class. He just struggles greatly when it comes to actually conveying the knowledge we need to know to pass his ungodly difficult exams and quizzes.

TIM IS A BIRD. Now that I have your attention, I'll explain. He is in disguise of course, but ever since revealing his true identity, this class was definitely worth attending. Before I go into the conspiracy, let me evaluate Tim. His notes are straight from the textbook, so all I write down in class are definitions, corollaries, and the examples provided by the book, so lectures are very boring. That being said, his quizzes and midterms are very easy if you study for them. And he drops the two lowest quiz grades, so if you have a bad week, it's not a big deal. He definitely has a sense of humor when he decides to rarely show it, otherwise, he's pretty bland. Okay, back to the conspiracy. First of all, he loves to use bird examples. Birds flying along a path, birds turning, etc. He uses figures of speech with birds in it "a canary in a coal mine situation," "as the crow flies." When he writes on the board, his left arm is propped on his hip and looks like a wing. He has a bald head, looks like a stork, and constantly snorks his nose like a bird would do. Basically, if there was a chart of flightless birds, it would go as follows: Ostriches, Emus, Chickens, Tim McCaugheys, Penguins, Dodos, etc. He fits right in. ALSO, his last name is pronounced McCoy so he definitely is giving us a fake name so if he accidentally shows that he is indeed a bird, he can fly away and the cops can't find him under a false name. Semi-evidence: He wears socks with fish and birds catch fish.

I have taken Calculus 3 before and Tim still managed to confuse me. He teaches straight out of the textbook, word for word. The problem is, the textbook is extremely confusing and Tim makes no effort to present the material in a more understandable way. He failed to show up to office hours with no warning on multiple occasions and one time he slept through our lecture. He doesn't seem to care about his job at all or how well his students are doing. He told my class that we did well on the first midterm when the class average was a D. Worst math teacher I've ever had. Avoid taking his class at all costs.

Tim is a great guy and is really friendly and casual (he shows up in shorts and sandals everyday), but I have less good things to say about him as a professor. He spends most of the class writing textbook definitions on the board and then follows with one or two examples that were quite different (a lot easier) than those on quizzes/exams. He knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't explain things very well and doesn't seem to recognize that the students are completely lost. You can definitely get away with missing a few classes, as he doesn't take attendance and what he talks about in class can be just as understood by reading the textbook. There are weekly homework assignments that are actually helpful, however, he grades them on accuracy which I think is ridiculous for a math course. There are also weekly quizzes that were pretty fair in terms of difficulty and grading. The exams (there are 2 midterms and a final) were really hard in my opinion and I didn't feel prepared for them even after countless hours of studying. I barely passed the class which is saying something considering that I've only ever made As in math classes up until now. Try to avoid Tim, but if you get stuck with him at least know he's a cool guy.

Yeah McCaughey is fine. He is fairly good at teaching the material, though he will go quickly and expect you to ask questions. And his office hours are always filled with people, so be warned. However, he decides to make his quizzes and tests extremely difficult and expects you to remember formulas you learned back in previous math classes (especially trig formulas). This was annoying because most of the time it felt like he wasn't really testing us on Calc 3 material. Homework isn't a big deal, though you will be marked off for getting enough answers incorrect or not completing it. Also, he takes quite a long time to return graded quizzes and homework. Overall, I would not recommend, but you'll be fine if you're good at math.

Prof. Tim McCaughey prefers to be called "Big T". I got really freaked out when this professor had below a 1.00 on PolyRatings before I took the class. He definitely deserves at least a 2.00. Calc 3 is a beast, but if I made it, so can you. There is a 15 min quiz every week, homework due every week, 2 midterms, random in-class problems (in groups), and a final exam. In my opinion, the homework load was rough, but not terrible (try to track someone down with the answer key tbh). He has a quirky sense of humor and is a nice person, so talk to him if you're struggling and he will gladly help you out.

Alright.... First off, IMO, he's not anywhere near as bad as the other reviews might indicate. That being said, I'm generally really good at math, and he's not great. I took AP Calc BC in HS, as well as AP Physics C which introduced me to vectors. Knowing the material already, especially series and sequences, was super helpful in doing well. At first, going over series and sequences, he presented it in a way that was extremely confusing and made me feel like I didn't know how to do any of the math even though I did. He seemed to improve throughout the course though ending at a point where I can say, He for sure knows the math, He can explain it if you ask the right question, He really cares about his students and is really friendly as well as willing to help you, but he heavily relies on rewriting the textbook on the board and wasn't consistently there at his office hours. Overall, if you are in his class, and you're good at math, you'll be fine. If you aren't super great, you might be okay if you ask good questions and get help from him, and from someone who has already passed the class, but I'd suggest taking a different prof if you aren't all that confident in your math capabilities. Not Great, Not Terrible.

Tim will pretty much just rewrite the textbook (even using the exact examples from the book) to teach. I personally like to have things derived for me, I want to know WHY we do something and Tim doesn't really follow along with that style. The weekly quizzes are annoying but in all honesty they effectively keep you on top of the material (as long as you consistently put a lil effort into studying for the quizzes). Midterms were pretty easy in my opinion and final exam was ridiculously easy. He threatened to curve the final but said that everyone did well enough that we didn't need it. All in all, Calc III is challenging (series will fuck you over at first) but jump on Khan academy and try to understand the conceptual parts of things.

if you haven't taken calculus before or even if you had please do not take this guy if you struggle at math. he makes things extremely difficult and the tests are NOTHING like what we go over in class or in the book. ridiculously difficult, but he is nice on grading

Your basically going to be teaching yourself Calculus I in one quarter from the worst textbook I have ever seen. But he's a nice guy though

If you like teaching yourself then he is the guy for you. The homework is nothing like lecture. His midterms and final is nothing like his practice tests. Please AVOID him!!! I never received a homework back until the week of the final. He takes forever to grade things. I didn't get quizzes for the first midterm back until the day of the midterm. However, he is a very nice guy but not the best teacher.

Tim's definitely a good guy, but as a teacher leaves a lot to be desired. Chances are you'll be studying as hard as possible for a passing grade like myself and just about everyone I've talked to in the class. Good luck.

Although everyone seems to be shitting on Tim, I liked him, I have never taken any type of math close to Calculus but Tim definitely taught me a lot with the little time we had together. GO TO OFFICE HOURS they are the best things ever and you will learn so much more than you would in class and he is more than willing to answer any questions. GREAT GUY and an good professor.

I thought Tim was a really nice, awesome professor from a personality perspective, but if you have no background experience with calculus, then I would HIGHLY suggest a different professor. There are quizzes every week, which are quite similar to homework problems, and then there are two midterms and final. For the midterms and the final, Tim posts practice tests which are in all honesty not much like the actual tests at all. I did every practice test from beginning to end and studied days in advance for his tests and still am worried I did not pass this class. I basically taught myself calculus this quarter because he glosses over every concept during lecture and office hours. If I had known just how incredibly difficult learning/studying for this class was going to be I absolutely would have dropped it.

Tim is a nice guy no doubt. But the only reason I did well is because I took calculus courses in high school. I can see how people who haven't been exposed to this type of math before might struggle due to Tim's teaching style. The glaring problem is he fails at the simple things. He is horrible about getting things graded quickly. Also he just uses the book examples, rather than mixing in a few of his own problems that mimic something that could be seen on exams.The few positives- his quizzes are the easiest thing in the class probably if you study for them weekly for an hour or so. The tests aren't bad either if you work out countless problems from the book. He just gave off a lazy vibe that led me to believe he didn't care much about what he was teaching and who he was teaching. Overall average to slightly below average professor.

Tim is mostly great at lecturing, but he is HORRIBLE at organization and communication. He never gave back any homework assignments the entire quarter and didn’t give any quizzes back until a few hours before the midterms. This was really hard for me because I didn’t know how I was doing in the class and wasn’t sure what I really needed to study. His office hours are terrible and extremely crowded. He never posts homework on time and never posts homework on weekends so you basically have no time to do it before weekly quizzes. My advice is to do as many odd problems as you can if homework isn’t posted and go to all his office hours that you can. He tends to take true false questions from the chapter reviews so I recommend completing the chapter reviews at least a week before the next midterm. Good luck!

This is going to be the most honest review out here, so listen up. Seriously, avoid him at all costs. This man is a good guy, without a doubt, but his teaching has a lot to be desired. First off, expect the 10 minute weekly quizzes to get back to you in 3-4 weeks MINIMUM. Considering how short the quarter system is, that's essentially a lifetime for a 2-3 question quiz. His lecturing ability is lacking in that he just straight up teaches exactly from the book, with little to no clarification on many topics. Now for midterms, expect your worst nightmares on a couple sheets of paper. This man does not understand how to write a test given the current material. Many times he had questions on the midterms that were material that he had not discussed nor had we learned just yet. The applicable test questions were ridiculously hard and were often nothing like anything on homework/quiz questions. If you have experience in calc you can get by but if you don't, consider swapping sections or be prepared to take a fat L.

This guy honestly sucks ass. I thought I would be okay considering my calc class in high school taught limits and derivatives (the majority of this course's material), however Tim had me praying to pass this class by the magic of a gracious curve (which he granted so I passed with a C+ even though I was ranked like 11th in the class). Our entire class's average for the first midterm was a 56%. Tim wasn't even fazed this was the average; he simply said the test was hard. No shit, Tim. He put problems on the exams that were never on the quizzes or homework. When he lectures, he doesn't show his work. This is awful for following along. He also simply recites the theorems and writes down parts of a proof, assuming it's clear. Maybe one half-assed example covering HIV injections pulled from the book. His quizzes are deceivingly easy, however. Kinda weird his homework assignments are worth more than his quizzes though. Wish I could have switched out faster.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS! I do not recommend taking this class if you have not taken a calculus class before, even if you have, I still would not recommend. This professor skips through material assuming that you already know everything. Even while explaining a problem that the class does not understand, he skips around and often gets the wrong answers. Our class's averages on the midterms and final was a consistent F, and when confronted with this he shrugged if off saying he may or may not curve the class's overall grade. I attended class 4 days a week and still had no idea what was going on. If you take this class expect to be spending majority of your week reading the textbook, watching online videos, and going to tutors to teach yourself the material because this professor will not.

He treats all his students like they have had previous calculus experience, which a lot haven't. He reads directly from the book and seriously overcomplicates the topics. The way he teaches was not effective for the quarter system and it was pretty obvious that his students were struggling because the average on both of his midterms were 'D's. I ended up self-teaching myself the information. Avoid this professor at all costs.

I could literally see his dick through his too small pants Every. Fucking. Day. He also put a trick question (he fucked up and messed up the question) on the midterm and when asked about it he said it was our fault for not realizing his mistake. He gets satisfaction out of confusing his students and if you ask him a question he just confuses you more and leaves you with basically a trick question. Convinced he only became a math teacher to write with chalk and slide through the chalk dust on the floor like a fucking child.

This professor did not understand how to teach Calculus to students. He seemed like he was trying to tell us how he understands the math. I took honors calculus senior year of high school, and took this class my winter quarter of freshman year and felt as if I was learning, or trying to learn something completely new. If you understand Calculus very well or you love teaching yourself math, then this is the professor for you. But if you have even the slightest trouble with math, please please please do NOT take this professor. He's very charismatic, but is probably one of the worst professors I know.

run as fast as you can. he doesn't know shit. run

I think he did a pretty good job, overall.

Worst teacher I'v ever had. Scrapped by with a B- because I worked my a** off

Does not seem like Tim is fully committed to his job. He cancelled class because he could not unlock his classroom, meanwhile an open and empty classroom was available right across from us. Does not make any effort to respond to student emails (has been over a week now). Lacks feedback on homework and quizzes. Unclear on expectations and assignments. Is not consistent with policy and has trouble being timely. Does not seem supportive of student needs. I do not recommend this Professor.

i am currently taking his business calculus class and we have a midterm that he did not review for. the last class he had a substitute teach three new sections that are going to appear on the midterm and he skipped some of the important information on the study guide. the class before he cancelled because he was locked out of the other section of this class and wanted to keep us on the same track. so far we have not gotten any of our homework and quizzes for the entire quarter back so we dont know what we need to work on. in addition when taking notes in class he writes and talks so fast you can either listen and try to understand or write down all the notes. there is no way you could possibly do both. this leaves almost the entire class confused and unprepared for the exams. in addition the homework is not representative of what we learn in class and we get graded on completion as well as correctness. 10/10 DO NOT RECOMMEND

I am currently taking Bus Calc as a freshman and I just have to say #OhTim. He missed the class before our midterm cause he was in disneyland(and didn't bring us lollipops:( ). The sub we had didn't teach us any of the main stuff we needed to know for the midterm. Although the whole class told him this right before the midterm and in emails, he did not take that into consideration as I received a 0 on many of the questions of the midterm and got an overall D although I studied a bunch. Generally math is my strong suit but I am practically failing this class. He teaches directly verbatim from the book including all examples so you are really not learning and it doesn't prepare you at all for the homework WHICH TAKES ME HOURS ON HOURS because I can't figure out how to do it. Her is a nice guy but please, if you want to do decently calc, take another teacher.

Oh Tim...

Tim was a very nice person outside of class. But as a professor I don't think he did a great job at teaching us the course material. His homework is collected at the end of the week. He grades us by grading a certain number of problems from the homework. His lectures are not extremely boring but they are taken directly from the book. So, if you miss class don't worry because you will find the same lecture in your textbook. As for the in class assignments, they are the same practice problems in the book but slightly changed. So bring your book to class because it will show you how to do his in class assignments step-by-step. Tim is pretty cool in the sense that he will drop your lowest two quizzes (And there are weekly quizzes) and if your final grade is higher than your first midterm, he will replace that midterm score with your final score. However, his midterms are somewhat difficult. I thought I did extremely well but got a C on the first midterm--And I took Calc in high school. His grading methods are not explained so it will show a -4 but doesn't show why you got it wrong. Also, one time he didn't have the room key to our classroom so he canceled class... and then he went to Disneyland and had a sub teach his other class 3 new sections that were on the midterm which was taking place the next time they met. And he didn't bring them a souvenir back from Disneyland :( Not that the key thing was technically his fault but we were set back in our lectures and are behind the other classes. Overall, Tim is really cool and is a great person but I would not recommend him for a Calc professor. It is cool that he is a young teacher and is a recent grad student but I thought that he would be a little less harsh because he knows what we students are going through. But he is pretty harsh on grading and his tests. But he is very nice :) #Tim

One of the absolute worst teachers I have ever had. I have never failed a class before and his class may end up being the first because he is the absolute worst teacher ever. He skips steps when teaching because he thinks students already understand things he hasn't taught, He never gives back work, he has horrible office hours that are always packed but refuses to answer emails when help if needed. Honestly after my 3 years here at cal poly I can confirm that I have found the WORST teacher they have ever hired. Maybe is he focused a little more on teaching students instead of just trying to act cool we might actually learn something. Horrible Teacher is the nicest thing I can say about #OhTim

Tim does not have very good time management skills. I guess this is typical of recent graduates who never learned how to stop procrastinating. This quarter is almost over, and we have never received a single homework assignment back. I genuinely do not know how I am performing in this class and the lack of feedback makes you unclear on what subject or chapters I need to work more on. Tim also takes on average three to four days to assign homework on material that was lectured on, and gives a one day time period to complete the homework assignment that is based on one week's worth of lecture material. This type of scheduling doesn't allow for any time to ask questions, get clarification, or tutoring. This also applies to Tim's midterms. There are no review sessions for his tests. We are always in such a time crunch in this class (because Tim cancels class every other day), that all of his midterms will consist of at least half new material that would be introduced just the previous day. We wouldn't even have the time to do practice problems pertaining to the new subject material before we'd have to take a test on it. All the other reviews are also accurate, in that Tim will not respond to your emails (so don't even bother). Tim also cancels his office hours every other day (last minute too), so don't expect to receive much help from this Professor. Tim isn't here to help you learn Calculus.

He does not recognize how hard the class actually is.. He also thinks that everyone is in his brain and can see how he jumps steps when he is trying to teach you a new subject. YES he skips steps while teaching you.. how do you learn the material if he does that? The correct answer( which you will never get for you homework, quizzes or midterms) is you don't. I think he is so busy trying to teach to the teacher's pets that he forgets about everyone else in the class and if you need help good luck his office hours are always packed with students. You also can't get one on one time because he won't answer your email either. By far the worst teacher I have had at Cal poly. DONT KILL YOUR GPA AND TAKE ANOTHER CLASS!!!

I am not a fan of professor McCaughey. He knows his material but does not teach well. He just gives examples from the book to you in his class. He tends to cancel office hours a lot... especially during midterm weeks. He does very inconvenient 1 hour of make up office hour on midterm day. He cancelled office hours the two days before the test and gave us a "Sub" that didn't teach us anything and tested us on the stuff we were suppose to learn. Also assigned us 40 more homework problems the day before the midterm. Make sure you have time to attend free tutor hours. He gives weekly tests and homework.

#oftim ... agree with what everyone else just said below beware of tim

After spending over $200 on tutoring sessions and doing the practice test for the final exam, you'd expect that walking into the final you'd be able to manage at least half the problems right? Wrong. Tim, I don't know how you did it man but you managed to make the final exam NOTHING at all like the practice, or anything we've done in class. That takes skill. Thanks for absolutely 100% nothing

Oh Tim... He knows his shit, I will give him that, but he sucks at teaching. He is not very personable and doesn't know how to properly teach this course. I worked my ass off, got relatively good grades on the midterm and just BOMBED the final. If you are looking for an easy class... don't take this. You will need to work to even get a C

..............ohhhhtimmmmothyyy. His lecture consists of an exact copy of what is in the textbook. He goes over material very quick expecting you to immediately understand what he is saying. He gives ALOT of homework, and grades random problems from it. We have group classwork which he grades and then throws away instead of passing it out for the students to look over and study. He doesnt hand your homework back either, you have to attend office hours to look it over. The tests take a very long time to get graded. He missed a class the day before a midterm, let a substitute teach three sections which were not understood by anyone. The midterms were not too bad ( and graded semi easily) but the Final on the other hand was RIDICULOUSLY difficult even though I spent HOURS studying for multiple days and did the practice midterm multiple times. The solutions were not given until the day before the Final and multiple answers were incorrect. Good luck.

#ohhhtimmm I left the final yesterday and literally started crying for 20 minutes. I studied for it for 26 hours. This studying included doing the midterms over again twice, reading all of the chapters in the book, doing most of the homework again, doing the practice midterms and doing the practice final 5 times. Why did I do this? because I failed the first midterm (because he had a sub teach us 3 lessons that consisted of the first midterm) and I wanted to replace my midterm with the final. The odds of me getting a low F on that final? 99.999999%. It was absolutely ridiculous. In class in general, he teaches word for word from the book and all of his examples are easy so you don't actually have a clue what to do on the homework. I would like to say though that Tim outside of class is an amazing person. He is a really nice guy and I do think he cares. He also is very helpful in his office hours. He's a smart guy who knows his stuff and I think give him a couple years to get experience teaching and he will do good things:)

Avoid this class if possible. The final was not only hard, but extremely unfair, like everything else in this class.

Still awaiting a grade in the class, but regardless of the outcome I highly recommend NOT taking this course. I don't know how this guy got hired and I seriously doubt he will have this job for long if he doesn't make some serious adjustments. We take a quiz and turn in a homework weekly, as homework and quizzes make up 15% of your grade each. One might think if they are worth a large portion of your grade, he would return them, but that is not the case. In class he writes notes straight out of the book and offers little to no insight or further advice, which are very hard to follow unless you have previous knowledge on the topic. He then assigns even problems(so you can't check the answer) for homework that are far more difficult than examples from class, that I would highly recommend going to a tutor to solve. Only good thing about this course is that he is a nice guy and gives somewhat fair midterms, but the final was not what he led us to believe it would be. He would cancel office hours before midterms and never post solutions that he claimed he would. Overall this was a poorly taught math class, avoid it if you can.

Tim isn't really committed to his position as a professor, and could care less about his job. You can discern this vibe from his personality, when he makes less than subtle jokes about quitting this position after hitting rich (from being on jeopardy or something), and through the lackluster effort he puts to catering to his students needs. The math department really made a terrible decision on this hire.

I thought he was pretty good

Nigger

This professor does not explain the material clearly whatsoever. Also does not assist you in office hours at all. His only knowledge is explaining it in terms of some late Einstein. He can't translate his knowledge into material/lecture that students can understand.

Not a good teacher at all. He doesn't know how to actually teach the material, he simply reads off his notes and doesn't explain any further.

Oh Tim. This guy does not teach in a way that the students understand. He is scattered all over the place and when you ask for an example he rarely can put one on the board. Then the examples he does give are very simple and easy, but the ones on the Weekly quizzes and midterms are much harder. Course Breakdown: Homework graded for correctness (and you don't get it back in a reasonable time), quiz ever week, 2 midterms, and a final. I managed to get an A by going to the workshop (decently helpful) and Study session (Best help from this) and getting help from calc 3/4 friends. Also, I got a C on the first midterm but asked him why he graded me so harshly on one of the questions and I was able to get my score raised 4%, so that was the best thing he did for me all quarter. All in all, avoid Tim at all costs, but if you have to take him make sure you have a calc background or use your resources well.

He is most definitely the worst professor I've ever had at this school. He does not present well. His lectures come directly from the textbook word for word. Tries to act like a nice guy but really is an asshole he can't teach for his life. Practice midterms aren't even close to how difficult and what will actually be covered on the real midterm. DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO SWITCH OUT OF HIS CLASS. This shit isn't worth it when he doesn't curve at all and half the class is failing.

Teaches straight out of the book. He seem like a really chill dude, but can't teach for his life.

This guy is not the teacher you want for calc 4, his lecture come directly from the textbook and his homework sets are so much harder than they should be. Also, he doesn't curve any tests so if you fail one of his extremely hard midterms your grade is screwed.

Thanks for being just awesome you really know your stuff!!

Hey was very easy to approach and ask questions.

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!