Scott Pratt

School: University of Oregon
Department: Philosophy
Location: Eugene, OR
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
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Pros: It was interesting and he did a lot of cool tricks in class.
Cons: This is a very hard class if you've never taken high school physics before this.
You have to take this class if you're an engineer so there's not much you can do about it. Good luck:)
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He still mucks up problems, difficult to understand. He works a second prof, B. Alex Brown, and he's even worse.
For everyone saying exams are straight from Lon-CAPA, in PHY 183 this year the second exam had absolutely none of the exam review questions on it. However, the first exam was made up entirely of the material on the Lon-CAPA review.
The average went way down. Since they're difficult to learn from, people took solace in the fact that the reviews would reflect the exams. This is the only class I've really had difficulty with and it's because of their teaching styles.
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He is a really good professor. He doesnt always go through each step of a problem but he will always verbally tell you the steps you need to go through so it is easy to figure stuff out. He explains stuff really well and doesnt just ramble off in "physics lingo" that you dont understand. The exams are very straight forward. Most of the questions are straight off the CAPA. He is a pretty funy guy and keeps you entertained.
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His lectures go quick, but he gives you the info you need. He might not always go completely through a problem, so you may get tied up, but just write down the solution and what work he did and go over it when you get home to better understand it! His exams come almost directly from CAPA so if you understand CAPA, you'll understand the exams. I only got a 2.0 but I slacked off at the end of the semester. If you keep working hard and go to class for the clicker points, you'll do fine!
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I got a 4.0 in this class.
Yes it is a difficult class but just follow these steps and you will get a 4.0 . TRUST ME.
1. previes the lectures notes and try to solve the example questions/clicker questions by yourself. Don't just write down the answers. It may take you 30 minutes or more to figure out the answer, but don't give up.
2. go to class everyday with your clicker (for the extra credit points) try not to miss the class because you want the answers for the clicker questions cuz clicker questions are likely to be on the exams.
3. when doing your CAPA problems, try REALLY HARD not to look at others' work. if you get a habbit of doing this, you won't get a 4.0 in this class. DO IT BY YOURSELF!!! please!! TRUST ME.
4. try to do CAPA problems as soon as he talks about the topics that appear in the CAPA problems.
5. for the exams, go over all your lectures notes (especially example problems and clicker questions) and review CAPA problems.
I may sound like a typical person who doesn't know what she's talking about..but this is the way how i got over 100% in this class.
It will take a long time to figure things out by yourself, but remember if you do it by yourself, you really learn from it (copying others' work doesn't help you at all.)
it's a 3 credit course. put your effort into it.
these steps are hard to follow but if you keep forcing yourself to follow these steps, YOU WILL GET A 4.0
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This class is REALLY hard. i believe the class avg. last semester was a 2.65..
Pratt isn't the greatest at explaining things, I found the book to be helpful where i didn't really understand what he was talking about. Somehow I managed to pull off a 3.5 by studying for about 10 hrs. b4 each test and getting help with capa problems in the study room. oh yeah capa is a bitch too, takes about 3 hrs to complete each set every week if u actually try and understand the problems because they are so freaking hard
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Cnnot really teach concepts, wans't really a good professor at all. But after my first year at STATE I'm finding that there are no really good professors that can teach you the material, its all self- study. The only reason I am giving him a 2.0 is that you know the clicker questions in advance(you have all the ppt slides already), and almost all the questions on the test come from the capa promlems or the old practice tests. You can definately 3.5-4.0 this class, but you have to allow yourself enough time to understand the CAPA problems, and do previous practice test. Go to the PHY help room, they really help you out, cause the TA's are great. I would just do my CAPA problems in the help room, trust me it was much easier.
The thing that really sucked in this class, was the terribly long CAPA problems, I mean 40 questions, it was ridiculous.
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I'll admit I was skeptical of him at first but he really came through. I think he was a great professor. He is very nice to his students and his lectures are generally interesting. I three pointed this class and have never taken physics before and I'm generally poor at math. The only issue with him is he doesn't necessarly like to work through all of the problems during lecture. He'll just say "Then you do some algebra..." etc. All in all though, great.
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Although this class can be difficult, if you find good people to sit with you will do fine. Pratt is really understanding and a great prof. He starts all his lectures playing music or videos, does tons of demonstrations (usually using students), talks to his students, jokes around, and writes out all of his clicker questions so you can actually understand them. There was one time when I mixed up the due date of my lon-capa and Pratt reopened it for an additional day so I could finish. If you want to get picked on sit in the front. Pratt does clicker questions everyday and lets you talk to neighbors so find someone who knows what they are doing and learn from them. It does help and who knows you could end up being friends. Pratt's exams are basically straight off of the lon-capa sets so just study those, do the clicker questions, go to class and you'll be fine.
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He was reallly not a good professor. I ended up with a 3.5 but it was only because I studied my ass off, which is necessary, but I didn't learn anything from him. He constantly degraded his students calling us stupid and refering to us as having the inteligence level of monkeys. He may have been funny sometimes, but mostly he was just a jerk....he's a bad prof....it's pretty straightforward
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okay so this class seriously sucks. the only reason i gave pratt anything above a 0.0 is because while his exams are pretty difficult, they usually come straight from capa. there are usually 20-30 capa problems due every week though so good luck with knowing how to solve every single one. he doesn't explain anything in class, clicker points are the only reason anyone went. just try and teach yourself how to solve the problems and hope to god you do decently on the exams.
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Oh Pratt. I gave him what he gave me. He had some humor but usually it was purely making fun of students. After a while they weren't funny they were rude. It is true the questions to the final are all from previous exams and lon capa, but if you have trouble in this area like I did its hard to know just which questions to study. I feel he is not a great teacher, more just a shower of questions. You could probably stick it out and do decent but you have to work harder than hard if this material is troubling to.
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The guy seems pretty cool, but isn't really approachable.
The final absolutely KILLED me... I had a 3.5 going into it, and ended up with a 2.5 overall. Kept me off the Dean's list.
When he does the problems on the overhead, he doesn't usually explain why or how he used the equations (it was hard especially for someone who hadn't taken a physics class in 5 years).
CAPA was easy, the clicker questions are easy points, but you've got to study your ASS off and figure 90% of it out yourself if you want to do well on the exams.
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pratt is a very easy teacher. His tests come right off of capa and the practice tests. He even gave us a curve on a few of the tests when the averages were a little lower than normal. The final was pretty hard, but all of the questions from previous material were from the old exams, if you learn how to do everything from the old exams and keep up with the capa it's a very easy class.
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I'm givin him a higher score than most is because if you actually learn the capa you are guaranteed a 3.0 if not better. He is kind of a goof but when it comes down to it he is willing to help people out even right before exams. I liked the class even though it was a bunch of work. I highly recommend old tests because you can just study those which is what i did and did fine. Take the online one the class one gets screwed over in the end not only with harder tests but less points added to their final scores.
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I loved him. I dont suggest taking the course online because those students averages were wayy lower than the lecture sections. He was super nice and approachable. He wasnt strict with the grading either. you need 92 points out of 107 to get a 4.0 which isnt bad for a physics course. I have no physics background and I ended up with a 3.5 in the course and sincerely I didnt put as much effort into the course as I thought I would end up doing. I would definately take him again.
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Got anally raped by the final, but it was probably my own fault. Was always very generous when I went to office hours and gave me the benefit of the doubt on my final grade. Pretty decent guy (to me), but others have had some issues.
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Theres really no point in even going to this class. Take the online one. He is a big goof and mucks up equations, sample problems, and even inclass experiments. It is not very reassuring if the prof cant even get the right answer for inclass problems. I would find myself laughing at him cause he can't perform the simpler parts of math. Not that i can talk, hes the "Dr." and all, but to be quite honest i dont know who is allowing him to teach this course. The class isnt terrible. But dont expect any mercy from Pratt. I had to go to the hospital and i notified him cause i couldnt do capa in time, and hes like, "I must discuss this with my colleagues." Next time i asked hes like, no, too bad. So i got shit on for it. He is a dick if you personally get to know him, from my experience anyways.
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Dr. Pratt made the class easy to do well in. His exams were almost all CAPA problems, and the final was all exam problems. To 4. just do the CAPA and review the old exams for the final and you should do just fine.
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People give him bad rating because they dont know how to study, dont go to class or are too dumb to realize that every single question is straight from capa! If you put in the effort to do the capa and study that, u will be fine! I mean, come on, you only need a 54% to 2.0 the class!

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