McKay, Ian  

Professor Ian McKay is by far one of the best professors I have taken at Cal Poly. He truly cares about his students and tries to help them as much as possible. Whenever I was confused, he was quick to answer my questions and help me fully understand the material. His class is organized in a way that makes it nearly impossible to fail. 10/10 would recommend this professor to anybody!

The class follows a routine. Every Tuesday, he lectures on the first half of the chapter, gives you practice problems, and then you take a practice test, which does not count toward your grade. Every Thursday, he lectures on the second half of the chapter, allows a little time for review and additional practice problems, then you take the chapter test. You cannot take a test until you have completed the practice test for it, and you can only move on to the next chapter once you have passed the one before it. You can go into office hours to catch up. It's kind of a surefire way for you to pass the class because if you pass all the tests, you will pass the course. There aren't any surprises, and Ian is pretty consistent. He always does his best to help students with any questions and confusion. I'm sure you could manage without the book, but I found it helpful. The readings are short--about 15 pages per class but it really isn't a lot because most of the book is examples and practice exercises. The final is an essay which is super easy because there is a specific layout to follow; so much so that it is basically mad libs. Good professor, overall.

Super clear on what he expects of you. All you need to do is follow the directions he gives you and read the book if you don't understand things. Definitely recommend to fulfill A3

Professor McKay is super helpful in office hours, literally tells you exactly what to study for each test, and won't let you move on to the next test without getting a C- or better on the current one (basically makes it impossible for you to fail the class). Theres hardly any reading for the class and while it isn't the most interesting class it's definitely better than some other GEs and Ian McKay is an awesome teacher!

This was a very easy class. There is a very fair test every Wednesday on the chapter of the week and one paper at the end of the quarter. No midterm or final. McKay really wants all his students to succeed, he's a great guy. I would highly recommend to do anything you can to take him.

Ian Mckay is a gift to the students of Cal Poly. This guy can teach, and I mean teach. He also understands that students have difficulties outside of class along with in class, so he offers you a retake if you fail a test. McDawg is Canadian too, so you know it's gonna be lit when the homie is reppin Toronto. Anyways if your gonna take this class take Ian McKay.

Ian Mckay is really nice, which makes it impossible for a student to dislike him, but I don't think his system is very efficient. On Mondays he lectures on the first half of the chapter, following by a worksheet. These worksheet are challenging, and most of the time we don't finish but he says they're designed to be that way. The problem that I had with this class was that his office hours were on Monday and Wednesdays before class. This meant that on Monday there were no questions to be asked since we hadn't gotten the worksheet yet and since Wednesdays were test days if you did go to office hours to ask questions you better pray to god that you understand it in those 2 hours otherwise you're going to walk into a test that you are guaranteed to perform poorly on. I might almost suggest failing the whole thing if you think you're are gonna get below the grade you want so that you get that extra retake. Ian was a good professor and he taught well but his class was WAY too rushed. It was hard to keep up at times and the material was actually much more challenging than I thought it would be based on all the great polyratings I read. This class is NOT easy to get an A in. It is doable but it is will be challenging. I honestly think that Professor Mckay has changed something in the way he does things because there is no way his class could have always been this hard not one of the polyratings to mention it. Long story short if you get this guy it's not the end of the world but don't be fooled by the other polyratings this class is tough.

This class is definitely the easiest A3 option. However, getting an A in the class is not as easy as you may think. Your grade is based off of weekly worksheets, ten tests, and a final, which are hard to get an overall A on. Honestly, I did not get much out of this class as I had hoped to; I feel that a lot of things were easy to learn on my own, and I did not necessarily need to go to class to learn from him. However, even though the material is easily doable on your own, attend every class, as each time you do not turn in the in class worksheet, that is -1% of your overall grade. Overall, I don't think the class helped me in any way, but I'm glad I took this to avoid writing essays.

The people who complain about the material and their grade are those who do not put in the work. Go to office hours, pay attention in lecture, and read the book. Guaranteed A or B if you do that. He offers so many retakes and opportunities to master the material. Just put in the time and you'll do great. Ian is a pretty cool dude too, so it makes a not so interesting subject interesting. The first few weeks were dry to me but the last weeks of material were interesting and I truly learned a lot. Class didn't used to have a final, but it does now. Don't let that scare you- the final was cake. : )

Dr. Ian McKay is a fantastic instructor. He presents the information clearly, concisely, and always keeps the lectures to the point and precise. He is MORE than willing to stop and answer questions and really makes sure students are comfortable with the information before moving on. The course moves at breakneck pace, but Dr. McKay does an excellent job of keeping the class together and makes it fun as well. I really hope to get Dr. McKay again for another course later on!

I figured most of you are trying to register soon, so I thought I'd help you out since I'm literally taking it this quarter. I think it's the right choice for you if you hate writing essays. I know one of the worst things is having your entire grade be three essays and then bombing one and realizing you're lucky to even get a B in the class. PHIL 126 is so much better! Your entire grade is ten tests (80%), ten worksheets (10%), and a final (10%). The worksheets are just free points. All you have to do is show up to class and try on them each week; you don't even need to finish them! It's basically a participation/attendance grade. And the whole time you're doing them, McKay walks around, helps you do the problems, checks your work, etc., so by test time the next lecture, you know how to do everything. And McKay can TEACH. He might be the best teacher I've ever had which is super impressive considering the fact that the class should be boring. The tests aren't super easy, but if you do well on the worksheets, then you should get at least a B on them. If you want an A, spend like an hour tops doing the optional practice exercises he gives you from the book and have him check your answers at his office hours. He's great at answering questions and knows that it's a class no one is taking for fun. If you're really struggling (like failing every test), then he gives you retakes to help you at least pass. Also, all of his tests are themed. One test was Rick and Morty themed and another was Men in Black. Honestly this is an awesome class, and the best A3 option. That's not to say it's an easy class because people do fail it all the time, but it's one of those classes where trying when you're actually in class means you don't have to do very much work outside of it (my favorite kind). Take McKay and this class. You won't be sorry

McKay is a a great professor. He clearly explains course objectives, material, and his expectations. First class of the week is usually lecture and worksheets, which look exactly like the tests, just less difficult, and the second day of the week is usually half lecture half test. READ THE BOOK. You don't have to do all the problems, but if you learn by doing, DO THE PROBLEMS. Overall great professor.

He's a really nice guy and his class is generally pretty relaxed. He is a good teacher but when it comes to his ability/willingness to answer questions it can be kind of intimidating. He's one of those guys who when you ask a question he responds with "you're on the right track but keep thinking." There is room for this in education, its good to make people think and I value this kind of response but showing someone how to do something or working through the answer logically is also a good way to teach. He can often times assume you didn't do the reading or exercises before class which is a major hot button for him so if you ask the wrong questions he will think you didn't read and write you off. He probably would have been easier to work with had I ever been able to go to his office hours but I always had class and he is a very busy man so I could never get time with him outside his office hours (I did not pursue time with him as much as I should have). Overall I have taken worse GE's in my life but I have also taken better GE's. He's a pretty decent professor and a nice guy but DO NOT expect to get an easy A.

To do well in this class you're gonna have to read the textbook chapters before class, and work hard in class to complete the worksheets. There's a test every week, which is practically identical to the previous worksheet. For me, it helped to remember that this class is a logical class, and that there are logical steps to take to solve every problem, and thus no problem in unsolvable. Only thing I didn't like about this class, as one person mentioned above, is that Dr. McKay expects you to figure out what you're doing wrong on your own, which can be a pain sometimes. Also, instead of posting our final exam grades he just put our grade on student center and took down PolyLearn, which I think is dumb, as I was curious to how well I did on the final. Other than that, he's a fine professor.

Professor Mckay is such a pro at teaching this class I think he could do it in his sleep. That being said, it makes it so he is not very flexible in how he does things. The material is not easy to learn right off the bat and he is not willing to help explain it differently so that you can understand it. He really wants to be helpful, but not in the way that students need help. In office hours he is super easy to learn from, but in class your questions are kind of brushed off if you don't understand the material. You also have to go to every class if you are at all interested in a good grade. You cannot make up the material that you miss, it will severely hurt your grade. This is not a particularly easy class, but it is also not overly hard. For the most part, Professor Mckay does a good job. He is a super nice guy with a great sense of humor.

Dr. Ian McKay was an amazing professor for Phil-126. He definitely knows the course material well, and genuinely wants you to do well in the class. Some main points: The class is easy to get an A in, if you are willing to put in the work. There are no essays or homework. GO TO HIS OFFICE HOURS if you are having trouble - he will help you!! His tests mimic the worksheets and never have anything you won't except so do all the worksheets.

This was my second time taking PHIL 126. The first time I took the class I did not pass (D) and had a different professor. I retook the class with McKay and succeeded. There are weekly chapter tests, weekly in-class worksheets and weekly recommended exercises. Everything is completely do-able. The weekly exercises took forever because there are a lot of problems but they are very helpful and should be required instead of just recommended. The tests are open response/short answer. I don't know exactly how to categorize them but they're definitely not multiple choice. The first day of the week is a lecture in the first half, then working on worksheets in a small group in the second half. The second day of class is split between review and the test. Listen, Take notes, and complete the exercises and you'll do great.

Ian is a great professor but an odd dude. His appearance comes off very chipper, happy-go-lucky, and friendly, and almost seems like he's acting up in front of the class when lecturing. He puts on a very approachable, friendly, and helpful appearance, but from my experience I found that most of it is fake. First - Getting in contact with him is way too difficult: his office hours are limited, doesn't put answers for worksheets/study guides online, and sucks at responding to emails. Second - When you ask for help on worksheets in class, he is more than happy to come over and point out what's wrong, but rarely does he actually give you the answer and kind of just lets you struggle on your own. Third - He makes it seem like it's quite literally the end of the world if you don't understand concepts early on in the class, and often gives you little threats like "if you don't understand this thing on this chapter, I will GUARANTEE you will get everything wrong on the test" or "NEVER look for shortcuts or keywords, or else you will definitely struggle for the rest of this class". I get that he only wants the best for his students and doesn't want to see anyone fail, but he could do it in a lot less enticing way. Overall, Ian really knew the material and explained it clearly. The tests are usually exactly the same (if not easier) than the worksheets which was nice. I ended up with an A- in the class (having done like half the things he warned us never to do) but as long as you do the recommended exercises before every test you should be fine. This class doesn't take a lot of work, just instructing following and a little comprehension.

So I got a B- in this class and I worked my ass off. This class is so unnecessarily difficult, confusing, and frustrating, but I don't think that's all of McKay's fault. The textbook/material itself is super hard (imo) but McKay was just not a very compassionate or supportive teacher, which made this class even worse. Best way I can describe my experience: I left every class with a terrible headache. He encourages students to ask questions, but when they do, he like judges/humiliates u and makes u feel bad for being confused. He gives off a "how don't do u get this? or why tf would u think that's right" kind of vibe. He's SO condescending. We have weekly chapter tests, which are usually just like the worksheets (sometimes easier, sometimes WAY harder), and trust me there is 0 lenience. Logic is like math with words; there's only 1 right answer or the whole thing is wrong. Im a phil major so im rly not looking forward to taking symbolic logic bc i hated this class so much. I wouldn't say avoid McKay bc i dont know what the other teachers are like, and logic as a subject just fucking sucks, but I definitely wouldn't recommend him.

This class was SO HARD for me. For some reason I just couldn't grasp the material easily. I feel like I taught myself the entire course. The textbook really wasn't that helpful because sometimes Mr. McKay would want it done differently. The class was set up where we had to do all the reading by Monday then he would lecture on half the material we read. We had a worksheet in class that we had to turn in every Monday. Then by the time Wednesday came along he lectured on the second half of the material, then we had a test on the material he just lectured on. This was the schedule for every week. His office hours were at odd times and it felt like they didn't fit in with the schedule since we had a test every Wednesday. If you take this class, be prepared to do a lot of reading, practicing, and teaching yourself the material.

BOYCOTT!!!