Patrick Clarke

School: Drexel University
Department: Mathematics
Location:Philadelphia, PA
Overall Rating
rated by 10 students
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Rating Comment
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Pros: Teaches content clearly and will take time to explain concepts to students in class
Genuinely cares about his students
Knows his linear algebra really well
Takes time in class to think about what he wants to do next or to consider questions
Lets you make up half the credit you lost on quizzes by answering correctly.
Has a quirky sense of humor
Cons: Occasionally he'll go on tangents that aren't useful, and certain topics can be less than stellar
Really enjoyed having him as a professor, the exams are hard and the quizzes can be difficult but he really teaches the content clearly for the most part in my opinion.
Overall
Helpfulness
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Easiness
 Pros: Great at explaining course material, will explain things further when asked, has a very strange sense of humor and a good personality. A very nice guy that never talks down to students.
Cons: Can be somewhat disorganized, but usually has no effect on the class.
Overall
Helpfulness
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Easiness
 this class was basically taught all online.
we used a site called "Khan Academy" and needed to get 21 hours in order to get credit for it. not too hard because class is in Korman and youre on a computer.
Hes a nice guy, dry humor----but doesnt really teach. If you ask him for help, he'll hep you, but basically you teach the material yourself.
There is no quizzes to help boost your grade, so you dont really know if you know the material until you take the exams.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Pros: Very smart man. Always will help you if you ask for help.
Cons: Teaches a lot of abstract material. If you aren't good at critical thinking some of his material will be difficult.
Patrick Clarke is a genius. He sometimes is a little too smart and will move quickly through complicated material. He will always re explain it however if you ask him too. He teaches very complicated material really well. If you want to actually learn I would highly recommend him.
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Helpfulness
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Easiness
 He may wear funny graphic tees, yes, but that is no reflection of his teaching skills. He frequently goes off topic and makes mistakes when doing example problems in class. He has a tendency to trail off toward the end of a problem or proof and say something like "Yeah, so ...." and leave you wondering how it was supposed to end. Reading the textbook he requires helps to an extent, and then you get to the homework problems and are confused all over again. He often teaches complicated techniques for doing things when there are certainly easier methods out there. If you do have him, my suggestion is to use khanacademy.com to look up Linear Algebra lectures and/or go to Paval Grinfeld's classes. Paval gives his students online lectures to watch to help with what is taught in class, so you might want to find them and ask them for the urls. Or if you have a choice, just take Paval and avoid all this.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Pros: He's nice
Can be funny
Good with grading
Cons: Can be boring
Doesn't always explain things well at all
Hard to read his faint writing on the board
Doesn't give great notes
Hw due every class. He's sometimes funny, but pretty boring. Generally nice. In my opinion this was a tough class. The midterm wasn't bad, but I struggled with the final.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 Pros: always on time to class. wears funny t-shirts
Cons: thoughts arent organized. ideas arent well communicated and moves too quickly
i dont recommend him
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 Clarke is a bit out there. He is hilarious in his own way though. Cool guy
Overall
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Clarity
Easiness
 Pros: Not a lot of work
Cons: 2 chapters in an entire term so effectively no one learns anything
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
 He goes off topic a lot.

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