Alastair B McLean - Queen's University at Kingston, Kingston, ON

Professor: Alastair B McLean

Department: Physics

College: Queen's University at Kingston, Kingston, ON

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PHYS212
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Teamwork is encouraged through the "problem classes" each week. The course material is tricky to get your head around - a new style of thinking. The problems, however, are often structured in such a way to bring you up to speed. The exams will definitely test your ability to think critically. Dr. McLean genuinely wants his students to understand.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: 212
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Really nice guy who will help you as best he can. Lectures are really boring and focus solely on modelling things in Matlab, barely glossing over the actual concepts we needed to know. Learned everything from the text book. Assignments were way too easy because they were mostly programming in Matlab, but the exam was really hard.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PHYS212
• Grade Received: INC
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Appreciated the intentions of the prof, but in practice found the course to be disjointed. Didn't have a clear picture of what our progress should be at any point. Assignments were long but rewarding. The Final was a completely different format to anything else in the course; very unforgiving and a disappointing end to the course.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PHYS212
• Grade Received: INC
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Assignments were long but helpful. The Final Exam had a very different format to anything else in the course and practice materials were misleadingly easy. Appreciated the intentions of the professor; didn't really work out in practice. Often unsure of what was needed or what I should have learned.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PHYS212
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great to talk to about physics but I will avoid his courses in the future. Loves Mathematica models but neglects the physics theory. Used new "active learning" resources very inefficiently, which may have hurt the waves portion of the course. Large disconnect between what was taught and what was tested. Chose a very poor engineering textbook.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

An absolutely amazing professor. I would recommend this class to anyone who likes physics and is up for a bit of a challenge. The material is slightly more difficult, but having him as a prof makes it worth it. :)

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Inspiring prof. Really cares about his students and shows a lot of passion for teaching, and made me think about physics in a different light. Yes, the material is hard, but you will definitely learn something.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Absolutely wonderful teacher. He is very clear with his explanations, goes through problems very systematically and makes physics understandable. He's also quite funny, adding in anecdotes and little jokes at random times. Great prof!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This professor is awesome! Future students of his, you are in for a treat. He really cares about all of his students, he has the best accent, and he tells the occasional silly joke. If you put in the effort, you can do great in his class.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Hard Class but he is very helpful, one of the only profs I had that seems to truly care about the students!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I absolutely can't say enough good things about him! Always available for questions, pristine notes and powerpoints, and it's almost impossible to do poorly if you do old exams, all of which are posted. Very funny if you listen carefully and he's dedicated to teaching. I loved this prof!

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Love his soft spoken accent, basically passed me in the course when I went to him before the final expressing my doubts in passing. For that, I love him. Derivations and proofs go on for too long and are confusing, look at past exams when studying, the textbook questions don't really help. Confused about anything - GO SEE HIM.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great prof, but his derivations and calculations need to be better organized. Soft spoken, kinda hard to stay awake in his lectures. Cool guy though!

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I could never do his goddamn assignments.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

McLean is the best prof I have this year. His explanations of the subject are logical and clearly presented, and his powerpoint is clean and professional.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great prof

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

What a fantastic teacher! Makes me want to be a physics major. Wonderful examples, more jokes than variables and he's always so cheerful. The exam difficulty IS unpredictable, but understanding the notes and problem sets is invaluable.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Hard course, great teacher.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very soft spoken man; unless you sit near the front you can't hear him. Lovely accent though! He explains examples fairly well, although the derivations of formulas are very hard to follow.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: PHYS106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

In class jokes are key, you really have to stay awake in the class or the material will fly over your head