Peter Amato

School: Drexel University
Department: Philosophy
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
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Pros: 1. Loves teaching this course, even though he knows most students don't want to be there.
2. Is a brilliant man.
3. Wrote a textbook for the course that is straightforward and all you have to do is pay for it to be printed out at the CopyCenter, which costs $15.
4. Teaches you how to think, not how to pass. Very valuable tool.
Cons: 1. Talks very quickly at points; I can see how this would be very frustrating for a person who isn't quite as familiar with English.
2. Doesn't hand out A's like their worthless, but that's not a con, that is really just being fair.
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Pros: very chill prof, and VERY helpful and understanding. visit him during his office hours (as he almost begs you to do in class) and he will be your friend for the rest of the term. He learns everyones names by the second or third class and calls on you by name. very interactive.
Cons: attendance is required. easily sidetracked, causing the class to run behind the schedule on the syllabus. read and participate and you'll do great!
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His style is to require you to read a few readings and discuss them in depth while other philosophy professors want you to read much more. It's not an easy A, but an A is possible. Attend class, listen to lectures, and you will get a good grade while learning a lot of things. Extremely enthusiastic about Philosophy. Get back to emails quickly. Always willing to help.
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Pros: I recommend this prof. he is a really nice guy! The homework is straight forward takes some time but it really isn't difficult. He is nice and understanding and the class is actually interesting which makes it easy. The concepts are simple... This class was one of my last priorities and I still expect to get an A just put some effort towards it go to the class say hi to him raise your hand occasionally and you will be fine! I def. Recommend him we had 4 easy homework sets and that was it all of my friends had to do papers all the time.
Cons: He is definitely a little different... He is kind of just a goofy guy, but don't let that stop you from taking him!
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His attendances are mandatory. He talks forever and it may be a bit boring but it's interesting sometimes. He gives you a study guide before exams which will be almost exactly like the exams. You'll get an A if you go to class and listen to him.
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Reproduce the material in his textbook on the homework and you will basically get a 100. The tests are based exactly off of homeworks, so if you do well on homeworks, you will succeed on the tests. Some of the concepts take time but simply working out the examples will nearly guarantee you a good grade. Contrary to his syllabus, participation really isn't counted, I responded once and got an A+. Not a hard class at all just basically pointless.
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Pete Amato is a great teacher!! Especially if you want a good grade and want to actually learn something. The work load is not that hard, and you don't even have to do the readings because he explains everything in class. I warn you he is a little crazy though, he likes to do crazy dances while he is up front and while in the middle of a sentence he will randomly start screaming!
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PHIL 105 is one of the easiest classes ever. You just memorize the questions from the homework he gives you and that's what is on the midterms and final.
His teaching style is quite erratic, and he asks for participation (to no avail) - but you can basically bring your laptop and do whatever else you want to do because he just goes over verbatim what is in the textbook that HE wrote.
I finished the final in 15 minutes and got an A+ in the class. If you want to get an easy A in PHIL 105, take Amato.
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Overall good teacher. He definately goes off topic and spends way too much time on one subject (It took us the entire term to get through like 7 out of 14 articles). And would spend about 15 minutes explaining something that could have been explained in 3 minutes. There are two midterms (He was very loose about the due dates) two tests, and a final. Attendance is required. But overall the workload was evenly spaced out so you are not overwhelmed.
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Amato is GREAT!!!
He makes class fun and interesting. His movements are funny and his answers are very informative and detailed but never boring. You will not fall asleep in his class. In fact you miss more not hearing him than reading any text you have to read. Work is fair and if you just show up to class and listen you will get an A.
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Great professor for phil 105. He's a very enthusiastic guy, and he tries to make the class fun and interesting. Couple long assignments , 1 midterm and final. Watched a few movies - which we could watch at home if we wanted to, instead of going to class. If you're an idiot or a slacker you won't like his class, but for those who know how to hand in assignments on time and show up, its an easy A.
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Excellent Professor. I would definitely retake his class, without a doubt. I typically don't write long reviews like this for my professors, but I want to make sure that no one misses out on his class like I almost did.
First of all, I want to point out that he will tell you that it "may be" the most important class you ever take, and he is right. I am getting ready to take my GMATs now, and about 1/6 of the test is on concepts from critical reasoning. For me, this class may have brought me GMAT scores from just getting in to a 40% scholarship. Not to mention, it helps with other courses, so take it to heart.
He may be the professor at Drexel who is most respectful of his students and their opinions, and is very conscience of his words and actions. This comes from someone who leans to the right politically, so all those below here who say that he is a flaming liberal who hates any conservatives are entirely wrong. Those comments almost kept me from taking this class, and I am glad I ignored them.
To clarify some points below, his textbook is available at the copy center for $15, but he also posts it online for free (he's not one of those professors that forces you to buy his book to get royalties, then doesn't use it the whole term). So, if you have access to a printer where you don't have to pay for toner or paper (i.e. the honors center or the CRC), there is no cost for the text. Print or buy the text, because it is useful to have it in class.
The homeworks are a cakewalk as long as you look at the textbook. All of the questions he asks in the homework are straight from the textbook or notes in class. It is easy to come up with 8-10 sentences. After he returns the homeworks, he goes through how he graded them and what he assigned point values to. Pay attention to this, because you'll see these questions again on the exam review. Then, the exam review has all of the questions that will be on the exam, so if you have trouble with the exams then you must not be learning anything. And that is the point! You don't have to panic about what will be on the exam or spend a whole night studying. You will get a good grade in this class as long as you LEARN and pay attention. That doesn't mean memorize, it means you have to learn the stuff to get a good grade, and Pete makes it extemely easy to learn.
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Class structure:
3 long homeworks (10% each)
3 closed-book exams modeled after the homeworks (20% each)
participation (10%)
The homeworks have 6-8 essays questions, each requiring 8-10 sentence answers. The exams are basically the same questions that you did for homework, only now it's closed book so you have to memorize the questions. He gives you a study guide of what you should expect to see on the test. The study guides have 12 questions on them, so you have to memorize 12 essays (10 sentences each, so 120 sentences total) to be prepared for the exams. He only asks about 6 of them on the actual exam, so it's really not that bad. Some people can't handle it but that's because they're idiots. You're not an idiot, are you?
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One of the best professors i've had and will ever have here at Drexel. There is no reason why anyone can't get an A in his class. He goes over everything in depth and he gives you a textbook. As long as you follow along with the reading assignments and do well on the 3-4 homeworks you will get total, the midterm and final are a breeze. (Just be prepared to write alot and thoroughly). Will definately, 100% sure, retake that class!!!!!
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great teacher. one of the best at drexel.
this class has a medium amount of reading and a medium-heavy amount of writing required (this coming from a business student). Expect bi-weekly assignments that involve a lot of writing. He expects answers to be complete and will readily take off points if he feels you didn’t explain something clearly. However this should not be an issue because he goes over all the material very very clearly during lectures and the “textbook” also does a good job of explaining the material. The midterm is also straight forward but very long so its tough to complete the exam within the time limit. You wont have this problem during the final.
Again…this is one of the best classes/teachers I have had a Drexel to date. You will learn a lot of useful facts about the world and will most defiantly take away something of value. Anyone who says otherwise is a lazy bastard who probably did badly in the class because he/she didn’t feel like putting the time/effort into it. honestly, it’s a huge loss on their end.
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I think Prof. Amato was one of the best professors that I have had yet. Not only does he truly care about the material he teaches, but he really cares about his students. He was always available for assistance! The exercise sets were time consuming, but if you spent the time completing them, then you're set for the exams. The midterm exam was hard because of the time constraint, but the final was all I had hoped for. I learned more about life and learning in that class than in any other and I look forward to taking another class with Prof. Amato in the near future. Take him, you won't regret it.
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I have no idea why people are giving Pete bad reviews. He is a great guy and if you take notes and study you will get an A in his class. He encourages you to think and ask questions. I have heard students give completely wrong answers and stay off-the-wall things in his classes, but he always spins it so the student is not left feeling embarassed or stupid. Take his classes and enjoy learning!
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First and foremost, attendance is REQUIRED. If you dont want to go to class choose another teacher it will count against you!
Now other then that I have had Peter for 2 classes now, PHIL 105 and PHIL 210. He has been a great teacher in both of them and is very energetic, he knows not everyone cares about philosophy the way he does so he is very energetic to get you amped up. The workload is pretty light and he is willing to help you with it if you need it as well. You can turn an assignment in early and get it graded and then re-hand it in after making corrections as well so hes nice with grading and helping you learn.
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One of the best professors at Drexel. I talked with him a few days ago, and he is honestly one of the coolest guys ever, let alone professor. In class, he allowed me to think in ways I never have before (and yes, I know that sounds cliche, but please take that for what it is worth). He truly cares about his students and is passionate about the topics in class. A must take in my opinion.
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He was a good professor. He's got some quirks to him, but he's good. I learned the material from his lectures more than from the book. He tells you right out what you need to know for the tests and homework assignments. He grades fairly, and all the work is based on his lectures. It's not his fault the material isn't exciting, but he does his best to make it interesting for the students. And he's kind of entertaining to watch. I would recommend him for anyone who is dreading this class like I was.

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