2.0
Quality4.0
Difficulty22%
Would Retake101
Reviews22%
Would Retake
101
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
101 total ratings5
10
4
11
3
7
2
13
1
60
What Students Say
“He spends the entire class reading lecture slides, has minimal class interaction and does not engage you to want to learn”
MAE400 - 1.0 rating“I dropped the class and later took it with Chen and he is great”
MAE240 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
71%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.85 avg changeRatings by Course
MAE570
3.2
(5)MAE240
2.3
(8)MAE241
2.2
(43)MEE482
1.8
(6)ASU101
1.8
(6)Difficulty by Course
MEE434
5.0
MEE340
5.0
MEE482
4.7
MAE340
4.6
MAE482
4.3
Reviews (100)
MAE 240 is a hard course but Bocanegra does an astounding job. He only teaches part time and works full time in the private industry. He is really inspirational and always gives examples from his work. Exams are relatively easy. He makes the lectures really easy, but in order to do good, you MUST READ THE TEXTBOOK.
Had a special text book that was a sloppy compilation of 2 other text books. As someone who actually had a fair amount of thermodynamic education before, it was a hard class. His grading criteria is absurd, as he care more about pointless assumptions and a "neatness" level that impossible to achieve. Cant effectively teach students. Arrogant.
Super tough professor. Makes things harder than they need to be. I dropped the class and later took it with Chen and he is great. I actually understand. Bocanegra's tests are super tough like no joke. I would say take someone else if possible
Super tough grader. Homework given is a lot. He's not clear about certain points on the homework. Super particular about attendance. Sometimes calls out any name to answer his question. Not enough time given for his exam. Well he's funny. Overall, I hate his class. Do take any other lecturer than him.
He's one of the worst lecturer at asu. He's too concerned about attendance. His homework is a lot. His grading criteria is tough. Not intellectually tough, but more of a neatness, clarity kind of tough. If only I could turn back time, I would have never taken him as my lecturer. Its too late now. Don't repeat my mistake.
ASU 101 is a pretty BS class, and it didn't seem like he particularly wanted to be there most of the time. It wasn't a BAD class, but I didn't enjoy it either.
Worst professor you can expected.
Luis is OK as an instructor. He manages to cover most of the topics in exams and PPT slides are well-made. Problem is that he graded the exams not based on effort or understanding but on whether you got the correct final result or not.
Bocanegra sucks. He reads a PowerPoint every class and doesn't understand anything for which he doesn't already have solutions. His grading is harsh and subjective. On exams, you lose a certain percentage for everything he "feels" you should have included. He gives little to no partial credit and the final is multiple choice. No curves. AVOID!!
This professor is a really good instructor and highly respectful. Students may not see that early in the semester. However, when you show him in office hours how much you care about each and every single point you lost in a report or exam, you will be amazed how helpful he is. You only need to show him how much you care, to be guided to success.
NOT helpful at all. This professor reads power point slides every single class. I won't recommend him at all but sadly there is no way you can avoid Thermodynamics.
Boring lectures and boring professor. But the class overall is fairly easy. You do not need to be smart to get an A.
He spends the entire class reading lecture slides, has minimal class interaction and does not engage you to want to learn. His lack of enthusiasm makes the class miserable as you spend the entire class watching him read powerpoints. He keeps students from skipping his pointless powerpoint lectures by making attendance mandatory, so expect sleepers.
Pros Really knowledgeable about the subject. Pushes each student to do better, most interpret that as a negative aspect. Cons Class size is too big
Dr Bocanegra is an amazing teacher! Yes he teaches tough classes which come with the territory but he truly truly cares not only for your learning but your success as well!
Bocanegra made thermo a much more manageable class to pass than others from what I've heard. The lectures aren't too necessary since he posts every lecture online, but with that being said it's definitely smarter to attend the classes. He wasn't a tough grader and did his best to give everyone a fair grade on the exams.
Decent professor, don't like him as a person. Lectures are boring but he will help if you ask. Literally pick any other thermo professor
By far one of the better thermo professor I've taken. Extremely helpful during his office hours all you have to do is ask for help if you need it. Test were fair and honestly easy if you do the Hw and go to recitations. He's also really nice he just expects you to try at least the bare minimum. Lectures are helpful and also his in class examples.
2nd time around and wow this guy knows his stuff. He came from the industry and is now teaching. Genuinely cares about his students learning and it shows. The people who bash him want an easy A . This is college; not daycare; if you put in the work you will have an excellent grade and career. Recitation is mandatory , tests are like the HW.
Dr. Bocanegra is intense and passionate about what he does. He expects the same from his students. No curveballs on tests. Wants his students to succeed as well as learn the material. Helpful office hours. If you show up to class (I'd highly suggest going to his class), and put in the work, you will do fine in his section. Would recommend him!
Interrupts students during discussion based days in class. Does not respect students at all. Requires attendance. Essays are overly specific but at the same time vague. Do yourself a favor and take someone else.
Absolutely the worst professor Ive had at ASU. Ive never actually considered a personal vendetta against a professor until I met him. Hes pathetically useless at relaying any information to you, he is incredibly BORING, and only reads from PowerPoint slides. Hell mark you down a full letter grade for being over word count on essays. AVOID 100%.
Changes requirements for a project right before it is due and says, and I quote "You all broke the rules because I changed them". Berates us for not having knowledge that he wants for our reports (yet doesn't teach it himself). I do not know how he is genuinely shocked that people do not pay attention. People do not want to be talked at, engage us!
Has no time management skills, goes slowly on unimportant items then flies through the last few slides that are always crucial. Test problems have a weird twist you've never seen before. Partial credit is nonexistent, later portions of a problem depend on early parts so any issue midway, that problem is over. Class emptied after final drop date.
Bocanegra belittles his students and humiliates them in class for asking questions. His grading criteria is vague. He doesn't solve his own exams before he gives them so we had a problem that was physically impossible to solve and yet he wonders why his students perform so poorly. His lectures are miserable. Avoid Bocanegra at all costs.
Very rude in class, vague expectations for assignments and papers. Randomly changes the syllabus without warning. Very helpful during office hours however. Exams were fair
I took MEE 482 Intermediate Thermodynamics with Bocanegra. We had 7 homework assignments that took about 3-5 hours each. 6 quizzes which were challenging but fair. We also had 3 projects and he took the best two scores. Tests are difficult and he grades pretty harshly. Overall I would say this is a more difficult class but you will learn.
Bocanegra is one of my favorite professors! He is super knowledgeable on the subject and was always available to help when I was confused. His powerpoints were very easy to follow and his lectures highlighted the material that was important to the chapters. Great guy and a fun class.
His class was very heavy when it comes to homework and his tests are fairly hard. I had to put in 10-20 hours a week outside of class to complete the homework. He is a hard professor, but I did learn a lot from this class. He usually likes people who come into his office hours assuming you have tried the homework already and have some questions.
This professor is very helpful for students but get ready to work your ass off for a good grade. This class is no joke and is one of the hardest classes I have taken.
Worst professor I have ever had. He does not follow the syllabus, he will add extra homework or quizzes at random, his tests are long and you can never finish them. The quizzes do not follow the homework even though they are called homework quizzes. He will make sure that when you take his class it will be a living hell, stay away at all cost.
The method that the teacher uses to teach the classes is to read a PowerPoint presentation where the concepts are not clear and are not explained. Really bad attitude and treatment of the teacher towards students both in class and through emails. In addition, the organization of the course is very bad, he makes changes in canvas randomly.
Uses multiple choice for half the test which doesn't allow for partial credit. He also gives little partial credit for short answer questions. Often has questions with parts B,C,D relying on part A. Also he uses wileyplus for some hw and quizzes, so again, no partial credit. This causes everyone to suffer so he curves:) My D+ became a B.
Find another teacher. It is a hard class to begin with but he does not help at all. Often when students would ask questions he would try and explain but never to any avail. Exams (4) are worth 70 percent of your grade. The class average for every test (including curve) was never above a 70. Run away children. Run away.
Honestly not that bad. Put in the usual amount of work to do well and understand the recitation problems; the exams are pretty easy. Homework is harder than what we are tested on. The hard part about the exams is the time, but the same test is used by all professors. He wants to help you learn, so if you reach out he is very accommodating.
Genuinely the worst professor I've had at ASU. He teaches straight out of a PowerPoint directly from the textbook. Few in class problems worked out, all of them were done on the PowerPoint as well, and if you're an engineering student you know how important practice is. I did not learn much from the professor, a lot of it was from the textbook.
Bocanegra is a solid ASU101-MEE/AEE professor. I can not speak for him as a lecturer in terms of a normal class (ASU101 is a very basic welcome to ASU course), but he was kind and explained the topics well. I had no issues with him whatsoever, that could change if I have him again in a proper course
Had him for Thermo, which was a coordinated course. He can be strict at times if you get distracted in class. Gets very happy when you ask questions in lecture and show interest in the material. Tends to take his time at the start of lecture and then runs out of time at the end somewhat often. Overall, not bad.
One of the worst professors I have ever taken. He talks way too fast and a lot of the time he doesn't make any sense. There are clicker questions during class and he gets mad when the class doesn't answer the questions correctly. This class is tough already, but he makes this class unbearable. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PROFESSOR AGAIN.
READ THE TEXTBOOK. He goes over exactly what is on the textbook and do A LOT of textbook practice problems and his lecture problems (will be in the exam). I took it in the summer, he wrote the tests & made them confusing. But in the semester, all professors make the test. Read before going to class. Chapters 5-7 are very heavy material.
He "teaches" from Thermodynamics by Cengel (mandatory) a 100 level book. However the tests and the never ending homework comes from Engineering Thermodynamics by Moran (a 300 level book). So if he said 2+2 4 in class, prepare yourself to be asked Lagrange multipliers and Laplace transforms during the test. Also beware of trick questions!
Avoid taking him for MAE 400. The class is literally just an outlet for him to talk about his career and all the great things he did. He will assign two to three times as much work as other sections and will not provide feedback on grading. Exams were about 50% trick questions and had so many typos it was hard to understand. Avoid at all costs!
Luis is the perfect example of a professor who has given up on teaching and his students. His homework is usually pretty tough and the exams are a whole different category. He gets upset when students don't do well on his exams without considering that the issue is him reading off of a slide show and not properly teaching concepts at all.
I made an account to write this review. Bocanegra is one of the worst professors I've had. Extremely rude and he couldn't care less about his students. I had to do an honors contract for his 400 class and he found a way to make every little step unnecessarly difficult. Avoid at all costs
All of these 'good' reviews must be from Dr. Bocanegra himself. He has admitted in class he is only here to do independent research and is forced to teach the minimum amount of classes each semester. After the class average for the first exam was 30% he laughed at us for the entire next class. Reads straight from the book but requires attendance.
Spent more time talking about 'cheaters' and chegg than teaching thermo. Homework is graded just as meticulously as exams. If you use chegg be very careful because they care more about catching 'cheaters' than you being able to learn from and understand the HW. Wasted the majorities of lectures talking about 'cheating.' Avoid him at all costs.
Thermo is not easy. Spends more time discouraging students to ask questions and talking about how disappointed he is in exam grades than anything else. Exams are unclear, hw questions are unclear. Won't round grades no matter what. Avoid at all costs. I would rather take a gap semester.
Bocanegra is so monotone during lectures he makes it hard to pay attention. Slides are straight from textbook. Homeworks are very difficult and long, and the tests are even more so. Attendance is only a bonus point grade so theres no point in showing up. Recitations are godly in this class, and lowest HW/2 recs are dropped. Take someone else.
Thermo is hard and you have to work for your grade! The professor seemed disconnected from his students. The expectation for the class was unclear. I learned most of the material during the study sessions and on my own.
He doesn't want to teach the class and even told us so on the first day of class. He's more interested in his research and in catching cheaters. Spends at least 10 mins every class talking about cheaters. Reads off of slides and then expects us to know all the answers, and gets angry if we don't know them. Avoid taking him at all costs!
the worst of the worst I would rather change my major rather than taking it with him again
Avoid taking Bocanegra at all costs. He is a very smart man, but that does not mean he is a good teacher. The best way to describe him is that he is disconnected with his students. He gives very long, uninteresting lectures with little to no interaction with the class. Super tough grader and gets mad at class for not doing well. AVOID
DO NOT TAKE THIS PROF!! I am an A and B student and I got a D!! He does not curve and literally laughs at us for our poor grades and over half the class dropped because they literally could not pass. TAKE ANY OTHER PROF!! I thought I was a brave soul and went for it after being warned and boy was I wrong. Save yourself the tears and misery.
The worst instructor I've had. Assigns ridiculous amounts of homework. To fully grasp concepts, must read the entirety of the textbook, attend all lectures and do ALL problems in textbook. Tests are borderline impossible to complete within the time limit and are incredibly difficult if you do not understand everything 100%. ONLY TAKE IF NECESSARY.
Seems like a good guy, lectures can drag. Can be very unyielding on deadlines and attendance. Insists on group projects that are meant to prepare for capstone, but feel pointless. Overall, tries to give you tools for the future, but can be lost in the middle.
Thermodynamics is a tough course no matter what professor you take and probably one of the hardest classes at ASU. This means this class requires you to invest your time well. The book was excellent with tons of examples. The HW was super hard but all the professors use the same HW. Bocanegra's notes were very useful and organized.
I mean if you take it with him, u have chosen to suffer
Not helpful
Do you want to work a full time job and attend college? Take Boca's coarse. Be prepared for harsh exams that are riddled with confusing work that is in the textbook. Or mentioned in brief in class. Homework is not comparable to the exams. Exams are hard, and weigh alot. Failure rate and complaining about boca will be your new hobby.
Just do not take this
Do not take this class, tests are ridiculous and the grading criteria is absurd. Lectures are pointless, have been off schedule, and we are misaligned from the syllabus. Barely any homework given prior to a test. Homework is harshly graded for the most tedious things. Took Bocanegra for thermo. Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice?
So awful. Boring lectures, terrible tests with little to no guidance on what to expect. Super harsh grading criteria. Learned everything for this class from recorded lectures by other professors online. Do not take unless you want to suffer :).
Bocanegra is the worst professor I have had at ASU. His lectures are insanely difficult to follow to a point where it's a waste of time trying to learn from him. You'll do better by learning from professors on youtube. He grades incredibly harshly, chastises students for asking questions in class, and is an overall bad teacher. Avoid at all costs!
I made the mistake of taking Boca again after thermo. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. He expects your exam answer to be more detailed than the textbook solutions. He has forgotten crucial information on every exam and has had to make corrections halfway through. Other profs might be bad for learning, but at least you will pass. Boca is frustrating.
Save yourself the trouble. It is simply not worth it. You can get the correct answer on the test and still fail because he did not like your method.
Very dry lectures. Had the misfortune of taking him twice. There is a difference between professors who want to help students flourish and those who make it their goal for students to fail, and he is the latter. Notes are just the textbook, tests are ALWAYS too long and impossible. DO NOT take him.
DON'T. The worst in all of the MAE department. it is worth taking a course the following semester if he's the only one teaching it. I had points taken away from me on EVERY exam I took when I get to the right answer. One of the exams, majority of students selected the book answer, marked everyone wrong and said the book was wrong and he was right
Professor is tough but not as bad as most of these say. Thermodynamics is difficult, I put in about 20 hours a week into this class (studying, homework, classes, etc). If you are hard working and go to the lectures (I didn't) the professor seems notices this quite quickly. Sit in the front of the class if you expect to struggle and want to do well.
I took him for thermodynamics and I legit didnt do most of the hw's and attended 1 weeks wroth of class in the whole semester and scraped by with a B . The averages on the tests was 50% and below tho and I would get like 80's so if you just do the hw and score average on the test you can get an A- . Do the homeworks!!
The worst human being you will encounter in this life. Avoid him. grading is very harsh. treats everyone with no respect. He just reads the slides and refuse to do any problem. have the worst grading criteria for HW.
If any other professor is available take them instead, might even recommend waiting a semester to avoid taking Bocanegra. He has no real grading criteria, just assume any way you can think to do it is wrong. If this class with Bocanegra is your only option i highly recommend using Dr. John Biddles heat transfer series on youtube.
Do not under any circumstance purposely pick this professor . Reads off of a powerpoint . He gives random homework which sometimes does not have any co-relation with the class. classes are too boring you are better off sitting in the back and do other homework that is if he actually decides to show up for the class . your grades depend on his mood.
Honestly he is a really tough professor, but if you actually learn the material and give your best effort you won't have a problem in the class, I've had him a few times and he grows on you. Tests are very difficult but he hints at what will be on them. if you attend office hours he is extremely helpful and will treat you better, lots of studying
He understands the course material, but his teaching style, combined with the poor curriculum structure for the ASU 101 course, is not a good combination. He attempts to be engaging with students, but the approach and methods used are ineffective. He was willing to work with me on an additional assignment; however, our conversations seemed distant.
The lectures he gives will be great background noise for your nap. This class is extremely boring and convinced me not to become an engineer. He just reads off PowerPoints and calls on students to answer dumb questions.
Very tough, harder than other profs
Worst professor I have taken at ASU.
TOUGH GRADER. He wants you to solve things in a very specific way, but dont be afraid to ask for a regrade if he's being unreasonable. If you can muster the strength to make it thru his lectures you will learn exactly what he wants from you, but plenty of people did well never going to class and just reading the book. Hes boring, but knowledgeable
Bocanegra is not that bad. If you can make it through lectures (which are boring) you'll understand what info he expects you to know. He's a tough grader, never had to request a regrade but many people did. Just be prepared, this class takes a lot of work
His lectures are so boring, I never wanted to go. His tests are so short too, not enough time given its like he wants his students to fail. He also has no issue putting students down. I do want to say that if you talk to him directly, he knows what he's talking about but he is rude.
I know you're probably reading these reviews and saying "he can't be that bad.. I think I'll be fine..". HE IS THAT BAD, YOU WILL NOT BE FINE. Worst, most unorganized professor I've ever had. He made MAE400 feel like fluid mechanics. Test average was around 50%. Unclear directions on everything. I'll probably get a C. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
JUST DON'T TAKE HIS COURSE ! !! full of nonsense and reading power points. If you have no choice pls get ready to learn everything by yourself and prepare every single homework in advance to make sure nothing is wrong so he not gonna deduct all the value of your work.
The class is difficult but I had not realized how terrible Boca is until I went to Milcareks Lecture for the same class. Boca's lecture offers nothing because he only reads off of the slides that he shares with the class. Homework is assigned weekly but you need to start right away. He doesn't cover all the content for the homework good luck!
Very tough grader and very slow, boring lectures and answers some questions with a sarcastic answer without the actual answer. Better to just go to his office hours where he is much more helpful. Don't rely on just his notes, I would get notes from another professor as well.
Boca is very knowledgeable but lectures are a bit monotonous. Homework is very important but if you do well on homework, you'll do well on the tests. I got a lot out of the textbook readings as well. If you participate and ask questions, he will reward that.
Luis Bocanegra is the worst professor at ASU. He is not interested in teaching at all, but a very tough grader when it comes to grading your hard work. Throws away all he made you do throughout the semester when it comes to final grading. Also, extremely rude to students when they have to ask him questions. Please avoid taking his class.
Agree with all comments he recieved here. Don't wanna make anymore comments because I'm really tired of him...
overheard him talk to a TA during our final exam about how shocked they were majority of the class was still on problem 1. bocanegra proceeded to laugh and say "this exam is supposed to be easy". would rate a 0 if i could
Horrible Professor. Skips through his slides. Always behind when it comes to teaching his lessons. Doesn't offer partial credit. Doesn't provide any help. Don't expect curve either.
I wholeheartedly agree with all the comments about him. He makes things unnecessarily difficult, and I would describe his grading and exams as if he was examining other professors in thermodynamics rather than undergraduate students, even if you show your hard work. This is the kind of professor you'll have terrible university memories about.
Constantly late to class and lectures are very boring as he read off of the slides and talked about random stuff
I am sorry if you have to take this class. Taking a class with this professor was the worst experience in my 4 years of college.
I don't even know what to say, one of the worst professors I've ever had. Extremely tough exams and projects, and will never ask what you expect. Never, and I mean NEVER take him
Tough class, but if you work hard and have a general passion/curiosity about thermo, you can excel in this class. I learned more in this class than any other class. But it was not easy. Projects and exams are graded tough, but that is the standard that engineers should be held to (if you don't want the next bridge you drive over to collapse).
Could not recommend Bocanegra enough! Throughout my time at ASU, Boca has given us the easiest exams, and made sure we all understood the content! He was extremely nice and very caring! He ensured that every student passed, and had an amazing time in thermo! If you can take 241 with Boca, I'd really suggest you do it! Handsdown the goat!
Professor Bocanegra makes this class unnecessarily tough. His lectures are dull, and exams are designed to trick students rather than assess understanding. Definitely use unstuck AI and other resources like the textbook to supplement the course.
This professor is probably going through something at home because he gives so much attitude towards students. Instead of being caring and explaining, he easily gets upset when explaining. AVOID AT ALL COSTS HE MUST RETIRE
In my entire engineering education, I have not experienced anyone worse. Probably one of the most straightforward courses you could imagine taking, yet somehow this man manages to disturb everyone's efforts and make it a miserable experience. He might hold the 1 star record on here. Someone should formally report him.
Worst professor ever. Don't know how he is still teaching here at ASU.
not responsive to emails and makes the class unnecessarily hard. lots of assignments and they will not prepare you for the group project or exams at all. if he's your only option, i'd take a different class to fulfill the mechE requirement. it's survivable, but i went into the class thinking it would be a pretty light workload, twas not.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
71%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.85 avg changeRatings by Course
MAE570
3.2
(5)MAE240
2.3
(8)MAE241
2.2
(43)MEE482
1.8
(6)ASU101
1.8
(6)Difficulty by Course
MEE434
5.0
MEE340
5.0
MEE482
4.7
MAE340
4.6
MAE482
4.3