McKim, Patrick  

I was a student of Dr. McKim's in the early 1990's and took his human evolution class and his sex-death-human nature class. These classes gave me a small taste of possibly the most important breakthroughs in 20th century thought: the dawning of a new approach to behavior, one based on an uderstanding our mind as the product of human evolution. I knew that this approach to the mind was it,. It explained some many thigs that were so much a part of everyday life: sexual attraction; competative interactions, fighting over girls...what have you. I finished my bachelors degree at UCSB in BioAnthro, and got into grad school at Berkeley. My dream was to develop the environment that Homo erectus survived in. I will file the thesis in the fall, and have co-written several papers. I found a Homo erectus cranium, and was a coauthor on the recent early Homo sapiens paer seen in nature. If it wasn't for Pat, none of this would have happened. Thank You Teacher McKim inspired a career

This class was not hard at all ( I didn't even read until the last test and got a B and the tests were all on reading pretty much ), but frankly, the class was boring as hell. If you take this class, which is one of the better choices, just read the book and never go to class, otherwise you'll hate it. **********Note!!!!!!!!! DO go to class the last week or two before the final, because he tells you some abstract stuff that has nothing to do with the class and puts it on the final, to reward those who go, so go then, but never before!

First of all has the voice to put a whole city to sleep! Knows material very well and has some interesting stories. Has a fair and easy grading system. The class is simple read the book and take a multiple choice test. There are five test but you can drop one. I didn't have to take the last test so take this class.

Bring a pillow with you. This guy will put you to sleep within the first 5 mintues of class even if you got plenty of sleep the night before and no matter what time of day you have his class. Make sure you bring a tape recorder to the lecture and read the textbooks for the midterm. His class should have been an easy A or B, however he provided no motivation at for me to get interested in the material during class, hence I went home not caring to study. Anyways avoid this dude if you can but if you get stuck with his class just make sure you read all the assigned chapters and you should do fine.

Do not take this guy for this class unless you have to. He is terrible, one of the worst I have had at Cal Poly. He is not organized and he is definitely far from interesting except for the random yelling. His lectures do not help with the reading and is test jump around from what he thinks to what the book says. Find a different teacher if you want to make your life a lot easier.

Dr. McKim is the guru of anthropology.I have had him for more than one class and the classes were very interesting with interesting textbooks/readers.McKim has been around Poly and students long enough to sort the slackers and B.S'rs from the serious students.Therefore, as long as you show up to class(and be on time), do the readings and take notes, you'll have no problems.( Attending class is important because he supplements the text info with his own additional lecture material not found in the text.) His tests cover both lecture and text material and since he doesn't lecture on every single topic from the texts, its important to read them because questions covering topics not discussed, but found in the readings are all fair game on the tests. What is nice about McKim is that he gives 3-4 smaller tests instead of a huge midterm and final, which means there is less to remember for each test than in some classes. Don't worry about the writing assignments-they're totally do-able;very short and fun. Some days he is more approachable than others so FYI. All in all, the guy is a great teacher with a huge knowledge of anthropology and a very fair system of testing and grading.

Mckim is about the most average professor ever. Not bad, but not great. He's pretty boring in lecture, but if you can pay attention you'll probably be fine. His tests are pretty easy. The hardest part about this class was getting up for the 7am start, which I didn't even do sometimes. I'm pretty lucky I still got an A though, because almost everything on the test is based off the lectures more so than the homework.

HANDS DOWN THE EASIEST CLASSES I EVER HAD... JUST BUY THE BOOK!!! AND U WILL NEVER HAVE TO SHOW UP TO CLASS... HIS TEACHING IS EXACTLY FROM THE BOOK... I BOUGHT THE BOOK AND SHOWED UP TO CLASS LIKE FIVE TIMES (INCLUDING THE DAYS I CAME IN FOR MIDTERMS) JUST BUY THE BOOK... YOU DONT WANT TO LISTEN TO HIS LECTURE ON HUMAN SOCIETY...

Professor McKim is a pretty good teacher. His class consisted of 2 midterms and 1 final, none of which were cumulative. We needed 2 textbooks for this class, 1 textbook and another book of articles. Do the reading! It seems like his lectures are taken directly from the textbook, which they are, but the reading helps for the midterms. The articles book is very important! Several of his test questions pertain to that textbook. Go to class!! It is an easy class to want to skip (7 AM, big class, etc.), but going to lecture made the reading a lot easier. His midterms and final aren't too bad, especially if you go to class and do the reading. Regarding the reading, make sure you don't procrastinate. The chapters are long and get boring if you have to do a lot at one setting. I thought the lectures themselves were very interesting. McKim is a good teacher.

Good professor overall. Go to class, exams are directly from class notes and often include random things that he mentions in class.

Professor McKim is not an exceptional teacher, if you could call him that at all. He has a very monotonous voice that will put you to sleep in an instance, especially for a 7am class. He often just reads definitions and discusses them very briefly. He couldn't really answer most of the student's questions they had. On the other hand, the class itself is SUPER easy. You could pass by simply doing the assigned readings. His midterms and exams are high school-like "fill in the blanks" or recall facts from the book. If you get him, don't panic, just do the readings and you will pass. Easy GE fulfillment.

Loved him! All these people are just cranky and probably went into the class already having their minds set on the type of teacher he is. The material is really interesting, the reading is not that hard, and all you need to do is read and go to class and you\'ll do fine. All the people who wrote negative things about him were probably the ones who NEVER showed up and therefor didn\'t know the things that he went over in class. The tests are easy, just a short answer and around 35 multiple questions. He also grades on a curve. Professor McKim is also really passionate about the subject and you can tell when he teaches. He\'s a good guy and is really nice. I definitely suggest you take this class! I had it at 7 and it wasn\'t bad.

Good guy. Cheerful disposition, and explains things clearly. Lots of memorization and occasionally he tests you on something obscure he only mentioned once in lecture, but other than the unit where we had to memorize the epochs and the scientific names of all those prosimians, the class is pretty easy.

I was told to take this class because they would only be offering it once that year. However, it turns out they offered it all year. If I had known this I would have waited and taken it with another teacher. Super super super boring class. Mckim is stuck in the past. He drowns on about neanderthals off of an overhead projector until you want to cry. He is always describing women as insuperior. The entire class is on evolution,so DON'T TAKE IT IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION. His exams were difficult even after doing all the reading and studying lecture notes. Take a different GE.

Professor McKim is extremely well organized and knowledgeable. His lectures are well prepared, structured, and full of additional info that is not covered in the books. This makes for more interesting lectures and an overall better experience for the student. There are 3 required texts for this course, which is quite a bit of reading, but about 85-90% of the test questions are covered in lecture.There are 3 required take home essay assignments, because of Poly's new writing requirements. They are however, very small, and required no additional research besides what was presented in the text ( 500-750 words each).I still think McKim's best class is Ant 344, but this one is also pretty good.

His lectures are very slow and boring. They have no structure to them. This class was completely based on memorization. His lecture material doesn't coordinate all that well with his test, and expect a rediculous amount of detail on the them. His class is very hard to stay awake in. He knows a lot, but doesn't do a good job of channeling it to the students. Overall, avoid the class if you can.

Mckim is a pretty good guy. There's a lot of interesting material in this course. However it's a bit haphazard, there's a lot covered and the order in which it's done is seemingly random. Be careful to know what sites you're are being covered in what time frame under what rulers. Also go to class, he covers a lot of stuff that even the 500 some odd pages of reading doesn't touch. Overall not a bad course but not amazing either.

He had a few funny stories, but for the most part the class was really boring. The tests were pretty hard. He seemed to cater to the social science majors, on the first day he asked how many of us were not majors, and when a few people raised their hands he mockingly said, "good luck" and laughed. if you don't have advanced knowledge, it's kind of a struggle.

What a boring and horrible teacher McKim is, thank god he is retiring soon. He thinks he's funny but he's not and sometimes he's even plain rude. He never can answer your questions so don't bother asking any. There were two midterms and a final, and the tests were so random it doesnt even matter if you study. Overall, don't take him if you can avoid it.

Took meso from McKim. It was an okay class. His lectures were good, but his lecture notes were somewhat scattered and unorganized. The final grade is based off of 2 midterms and the final. He offered us one extra credit opportunity which raised our grade by one grade point (for example: the extra credit could bump you up from a C+ to a B-). He doesn't offer any study guides so you are on your own for the exams. They aren't extremely difficult, just pay attention to little side-notes he might mention in class as they may be an essay question on the exam. Good class overall, would take him again.

This class was very interesting..there are a lot of different views that are discussed...there are three books you have to read...but they are good...and only take about a day to read them..I will agree that McKim has a boring vocie..but he is a good guy...The only problem with this class is that it is kinda hard to get into..since the first word of it starts with sex..but that is not all that it is a about...his tests are fair..there are no suprises... STUDY YOUR LECTURE NOTES..The writing requirement is not too bad..it sucks to have to write 4 essays though...but they are only like 750 words...Take this class...it was a learning experience

This guy is the perfect example of the evolving monkey he tries to lecture on in this class as well as the other sorry subjects. A bafoon with a breathing inparement when lecturing. If you have the tolerence to listen to this guy for two hours go ahead. Don't be fooled by the class name because his teaching strategy sucks. I missed an exam when I was at an away school competition and he awarded me with a exam from hell. Don't take this class or any of his classes unless you like listening to fool.

Well I can find three things wrong with the title of this class. I was going to take the course anyway, but the lecture was just too boring to justify waking up for. If you like studying evolution I would recomend him- I think that anyone will be boring for that.

Dr. McKim is an excellent teacher who really knows the material and presents it very well. His exams are straight foreward and test on both reading and lecture, however, the lecture illuminates what reading should be focused upon. The class is stimulating and presents a theoretical perspective that allows people to view the world in a different and intesting light.

This guy cracks me up. He is like a crazy chain smoking grandpa with a slightly off sense of humor. He sure knows a lot about the anthropology and the subjects he teaches. He is a great professor. Don't expect there to be much class contribution, he's got his lectures pretty well prepared and follows a consistent structure. He has a list of key topics on the overhead and discusses each one in the order he has them written. Show up to class! I missed one and the short answer question of the test came from that day. The readings were okay, but a little dry. He gave three tests and used them to get your final grade, no busy work in this class to boost your points. Very interesting material.

This guy stresses/yells random words during his lectures to startle the class which is pretty funny

He is absolutely ridiculous and completely boring to listen to. Not only that but randomly during lecture he decides to shout. It get really irritating, really fast. His test are ok. You have to do all the reading and go to all the lectures otherwise you are screwed. The class was pretty much learning about genetics. There is about 2 books you have to read per midterm, which there are 3 of.

McKim is an alright professor. The course material was interesting and straightforward, the books were pretty entertaining for the most part. His lectures are key - go to class and write down everything on the outline and you'll be golden. If you want a good grade, reading is key too. He's serious when he says lectures are just a supplement; you really won't get too far if you don't do the reading. He's not the most helpful guy, and seems kind of offended/annoyed when you ask questions, but he's damn knowledgeable on his subject. But he does yell random words, which is just plain weird. Like he literally YELLS words in the middle of a sentence, like he's super grumpy or something. Overall an interesting class and a pretty decent professor.

Crocs and Hawaiian shirts every day. Yelling for emphasis. Great class. Enough said.

I have had McKim for a lot of classes and I think he's great. This particular class was no different. He picks books that are generally easy to read and I have actually kept some of them by choice. His tests are all multiple choice with one short essay-one paragraph. you can almost always tell what the essay will be on because he will repeat that particular idea/example over and over again. you do need to go to class because his notes cover whats not in the book. pay particular attention to the examples he gives because they show up on the m/c and essay portion. i would say that doing the reading makes a difference between getting a A and a B because he can ask for some details you wouldnt pick up from skimming. at least he curves the tests.

What a great prof! McKim really turned me on to the subject of anthropology. His lectures are really interesting and he's down to earth. There's quite a bit of reading but I felt he's quite reasonable in that you don't have to know every minute detail--the overall picture is what counts. (but DO the reading) Take good notes and review them thoroughly before exams. Fascinating class taught by and excellent teacher.

Dr. McKim is one of a kind. He can be moody, but is very reasonable when it comes to appropriating enough time to lectures which will cover the readings. He can also be very interesting and funny. He never flies through a chapter. His tests are very fair and not that hard if you've done the readings and attended class. He will throw in things in his lectures that aren't in the readings, so attend class, because you are tested on the lecture info also. If he has an opinion re: a particular theory or research, take note. That may also appear on the test.His textbooks are very interesting and easy to follow.Ant 360 was a great class.

Avoid this class and instructor if you can! Only one of the books (by Changnon if it matters) was intereting but that was IT. Other than that the books (all three of them), the class content, and the lecture are super slow going, repetitive and will bore you to tears. I had a noon hour class and got PLENTY of sleep as well as coffee and nothing could keep me awake in his lectures! They are really boring. The only way I got a C was keeping up with the reading and that was LABORIOUS. It's the class I studied most for and disliked the most. AVOID IF POSSIBLE!!! seriously

I actually thought the readings that were assigned in this class were interesting. Although the test sometimes focused on detailed information. I truly felt Mr. McKim recognizes when yous study hard.

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!