John McCracken

School: Indiana Wesleyan University
Department: Education
Location: Marion, IN
Overall Rating
rated by 18 students
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Pros: Hilarious stories
Partial credit on exams
McCracken is a great guy. Frequently tells stories in class about his college experience and does experiments. Actually writes notes on the board instead of following slides. Exams are a lot of writing problems out so it's easy to get partial credit. Again only need an 80% to 4.0 so it's very reachable
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Pros: -nice guy
-writes on the board
-gives partial credit on exams
-gives out exam reviews
-homework is mostly all on google
Cons: -reminds me of squidward
-exams are hard and stress me out way too much
-exams all are written. no multiple choice
-exams are similar to his practice exams but the difficulty of the problems increase
-some of the stuff he writes on the board is overwhelming and repetitive
-doesn't really explain, he just tells.
-this class made me realize I hate chemistry and I switched my major
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Pros: McCraken is an awesome guy. He actually writes shit on the board, unlike Professor Geiger.
He gives out exam reviews before the exams
All written exam, and you get partial credit if you just write steps and an answer down, even if its completely wrong.
Cons: Exam reviews are only a little similar to the exams.
He always puts one motherfucking question on the quiz that more than half of the class doesnt get right.
He will have the same concepts from the exam review in the actual exam but the problems are very very diffucult in the exam and require you to think about it. If you're naturally good at figuring out math problems in your head and methodically working it out, then you'll be fine and probably fly through the exam. Theres always one question that he puts on there that is completely insane to figure out(it just requires you to connect the dots and make equations equal each other etc..).
Over all this class is pretty awesome. McCraken drops your lowest test score and hes a really easy going guy.
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Pros: Cool prof
Cons: Difficult course
Exam reviews are much easier than actual exams
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Pros: Engaging and Funny
Great at Explaining the Material
Allows has time for his students
Plans and Teaches the course in a very logical manner
Cons: Lecture Notes are not posted
Hard to study for his exams
Professor McCracken was pretty awesome. I had taken AP Chemistry in high school, and 152 encompassed every topic that I didn't quite get the first time around. So going into the class, I was a little nervous. Now that the class is over, I can say I am 150% more comfortable with kinetics, thermodynamics, and equilibrium, and it is because of McCracken. He hasn't taught General Chemistry classes in a long time, but the structure of the course, and his explanations of the material made it seem like he had taught the class his entire life. His exams were fairly difficult, and I found them hard to study for (they are usually 6 questions and some take a lot of thought to find the right approach), but you get a formula sheet, so you should be fine if you go to or keep up with the lectures. He puts a lot of work into his class, and he isn't out to get you by any means. He writes the exams, a practice exam, and all the recitation worksheet to all test you as a Chemistry-based major (makes you think) instead of just a test for useless facts. I would recommend him to anyone, and I'm hoping I can get him again for Physical Chemistry.
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John McCracken is an amazing man. I looked forward to all his lectures just to witness his hilarious antics and hear his stories. I think McCracken is the only prof that teaches this course anyway so if you have to take CEM 484 you don't really have a choice....I just wanted to emphasize how amazing McCracken is.
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Pros: Hilarious guy, he'll tell you stories about gluing his eyes shut with super glue and lots of stories about people being poisoned by old refrigerators and stuff.
Cons: His lectures don't necessarily help for his exams directly, because they're almost entirely theory. Be ready to go through the book and work examples.
Great teacher, fairly straightforward exams and an easy grading scale (>80% = 4.0)
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McCracken is a great professor. You'll honestly go to class just to listen to his rants and stories.
There is a 'homework' paper in recitation almost every week, but it's never hard you just have to show up and basically try. (This might somewhat depend on the TAs.) There are also problem sets due about once a week, as you're turning it in someone will fish a number of out a hat/bowl/his hand to decide which number is graded. (Only one is graded.)
The class IS difficult, but he definitely wants you to learn the material and do good. Just go to class and pay attention.
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" Somehow I ended up with a shitload of kids"
He is the shit, he is so funny in class. He talks about random things sometimes but it makes the class more interesting. His tests can be a little tricky even if you do all of the homework. However, the material is very similar to cem 141 and cem 142. If you study, a 3.5 is very attainable. Plus, the final exam was just previous exam questions so it was easy. if you have to take this class, take it with him.
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the best prof in MSU! take it of possible, he will make you enjoy class and understand the material, TA's were nice as well.
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This guy is AWESOME!!! If you take this class and pay attention there is no way you can not get at least a 3.5. He curves the class in the end. I had a 42% in the class at the end, took the final(Which was exact questions from previous exams) and got a 4.0 in the class!!
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If you have to take this class, take it with him if you can. The tests were not the easiest, but it is basically plug and chug, if you know the right equations (which he gives to you).
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"my second daughter... she is shit"
i cannot believe Mccracken said that during lecture...
this class was pretty easy
compare to other cem classes i took
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This professor is the shit. He is fucking hilarious. The class is easy and overall will make your day/week. Take it for an easy GPA booster
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I would give him a higher rating if the course wasn't such a waste of life. The exams get consistently harder as the semester goes on in direction opposition to the students declining interest in the material.
Its way too in depth for people who want to be doctors. Its the only bad part about being physiology major.
The lectures are just 50 minute derivation of equation sessions.
McCracken is hilarious though. You almost just want to go to class just to hear his jokes and his take on the material. He goes on tangents about random crap like snowstorms in iowa, and professors from Ukraine. He blatantly skips all of the information that would be useful to life science people. Its interspersed in the book, we just didnt get to cover it.
Take the class if you have to.
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The lecture notes are posted online, but I liked going to class anyways. This guy is hilarious. He goes off on these tangent stories for up to 5 minutes long. He talks funny too. As for actually learning stuff, I did a bit of that. I did fairly well in the class. The exams aren't too bad, you even get an equation sheet (not abbreviated) at the end of the exam to use. Good class, waaay better than the nightmares I've heard about previous p chem profs. He doesn't stress the calculus part of p chem very much. The class mirrored general chemistry 141 and 142
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Great professor, really knows his stuff and on top of things. all the lectures are online along with exams and practice problems. Also very helpful if you go to his office hours with any questions.
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He's not outright terrible, but he will spend a lot of time deriving equations instead of showing applications and getting in more practice. His exams in fall 07 were inconsistent, with the difficulty really ramping up in the later exams. It sounds like he was better than last year's prof, but he's not anything amazing.

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