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very engaging, likes to teach and play devil's advocate when discussing philosophy - i definitely recommend him!

This guy is thoughtful and clever. He really pushes your buttons and makes you leave the class feeling a bit of an activist. You can't leave being stupid either, unless you try. This class got me interested in my current career goal of cognitive sciences, so expect deep thinking.

Instructor gets people to talk by asking hard questions, and encourages disagreements. Challenging class, hard quizzes, but fun sometime. Grades are fair but hard to get a A I think.

The guy is competent, enthusiastic, straight-up and pushes people to discuss topics in class. Not easy but not that hard, just follow instructions and you can pass. i recommend him.

Goes through some hard material and gives good examples. Makes the guidelines on expectations clear so the people that can't figure it out should go back to junior college. Also- he's got the best body in the phil dept, kind of looks CIA or army...

This class was fun and interesting at the beginning of the semester but eventually became boring. The amount of notes greatly drops after the first few weeks, and he puts most notes and all handouts/extra info on his sac CT page. The only assignments in the class are 5 online quizzes that are spread out over the semester. Need book, don't need to g

I got a B in this class, and I totally forgot to do the midterm, so if you're into Philosophy and can remember lectures enough to answer quiz questions, you can easily get an A in his class. People think he's scary or imposing, but I don't understand why. He plays devil's advocate a bit, which is nice, and he knows his stuff!

Dr. Merlino is a great teacher. He really wants you to learn the subject and apply it in everyday situations.

Very fair class. Treats all students equally. Easy to get an A: read his handouts, take notes in class, follow his directions, and study. He is very clear on what he wants and what you should be getting out of the class. Seems extremely hard at first and while the subject matter is complicated, it's taught well and he is very fair. Recommended.

Class turned out to be more interesting than I thought. I liked the debate back and forth. Melrino usually takes the opposite side of an argument and makes you disagree. I think this bugs some people but it made me think. Tests were easy, just read the book.

Of course many of u might agree that philosophy is boring.. That is why i rarely attended his class. My reason for that is that his grading rubric is the best in the entire university! All you have to do is read the book, take your quizzes on time. About 13 quizzes per semester and 1 final. Only 13 questions, also online. Recommended for phil4!

Extremely knowledgeable, charming, charismatic, and entertaining; EXCELLENT professor. The subject is difficult but his grading scale is ridiculously fair: you can get a C with 40% of the total points. It's incomprehensible how anyone couldn't do well, even with minimal effort. Also, surprised not to see a "hot" pepper because he certainty is!

At first he seems like a hard teacher but he isn't. His grading scale is extremely fair. Makes it pretty hard to fail the class. 3 un- announced quizzes and 3 online. Helps to take all of them. I missed 1 test and still got a B-. There is a lot of discussion and debate in the class, which is entertaining and helps you understand the material.

Easy, you cant fail

I really liked his class. He can get a bit sidetracked on lectures, bit that's every philosophy professor.. be sure to take detailed notes and do all the readings. 4 pop quizzes, but he gives you the possible questions at the beginning of the semester! I learned a lot about science and how to think critically about scientific evidence.

Professor Merlino is one of those very rare professors that actually care. He tries his hardest to be unbiased and provides only the most relevant examples for class discussions. Extremely knowledgeable! I don't understand the negative reviews at all.

His class is supper easy! Tons of extra credit, it is really hard not to get an A. I took it as a GE, but if phil is you major he is a very passionate professor who tries his best to clarify the topic and his lectures are pretty entertaining..

I took Merlino for epistemology. Great experience, overall. He can act a little scatter-brained from time-to-time, but he is always organized and ready to go. Very interesting guy who knows his stuff. You don't have to attend every class to get an A, but you should just for the discussions alone. Easy A if you read the book and participate.

Professor Merlino is awesome. I struggled a bit in the beginning of the semester, but after I started going to his office hours and doing the readings before class my grade shot up. I went from a C to an A in the class easily. Pretty much if you put in work then you'll get a good grade.

Took this as a hybrid coarse so attendence was pretty much mandatory. Weekly quizzes in class that were easy and could be discussed with other students and also weekly quizzes online that were fairly easy. Most of the time i was pretty confused, but his grading system makes it so you dont have to understand whats going on to pass the class.

Easy A, only 230 points for an A. In class clicker test every week and one online test every week 10 questions and you get 5 tries! There are a lot of points offered so theres no way to fail.

Super easy class. Just read the book and his blog online and study, you'll be fine. Grading is a point based system so i only needed 230 points for an A. I easily passed with a 245 with little to no effort. I just had to read and go to class. Tests online include 5 attempts so use them to your advantage. I RECOMMEND THIS PROFESSOR!

I took his online class. At first it is very intimidating because there is a ton of assigned reading and videos. But not to worry once you get a hang of his style you will do well. The online blogs are fairly straight forward and worth roughly half your grade. The online tests are the tough part, but you can retake it 5 times. No joke.

He has in class clicker tests so you must attend class to get points, once you reach 250 you have an A in the class. Easy A if you actually put in effort and attend class. Overall he is a good professor he just over explains everything. Was a hybrid class so we only met once a week and we had weekly readings. Would recommend.

Super easy! It was a hybrid class so we met once a week to do an online clicker test and the rest of the assignments are online. His powerpoints and handouts are super helpful you don't even need the book! Would recommend! The grading scale is great too!

I took his critical thinking class and it was alright. Sometimes he would ramble and then say "forget what I said thats for another day." His class relied heavily on clicker tests so its mandatory to be in class because there are NO RETAKES. We used a textbook(he preferred eBooks) and used it all the time. Overall, he's a funny guy but he rambles.

Easy class, 7 quizzes and 7 discussion boards including a response and reply of a classmate as well. NO TESTS. Keep up with the modules and do your readings for an A.

Pretty easy class if you do all the work and readings on time. Very clear grading criteria and not a tough grader at all!

Enjoyed his class. He often rambles off a bit but overall, his lectures and examples are good. I found his class to be fun and interesting. His class was an online class, and meet once a week for lectures. He also does in class clicker tests, but those are easy if you do the work. His class does need a textbook, but he advises to just get the PDF.

Book not necessary. Posts all study info to pass on SacCT (slides, vocab, etc). Graded by weekly online HW (10 multiple choice questions) and 1 final (10 MC ?s like HW). 5 retries for all HW and final. No reason not to get an A. Counts high B+ (like 87%) as an A in final grade. Very friendly in class + will explain to the few who don't understand

TAKE THIS CLASS. Seriously. It's so easy. And it counts as a graduation requirement. Definitely the easiest class I've ever taken at Sac State. 10/10

I took PHIL131 online with Merlino, easiest class I've ever taken. 7 quizzes, and 7 discussions and that's it. Quizlet. Just put some thought into the discussions. Super easy A, I recommend highly!

7 discussion questions, 7 quizzes for the whole semester that you can take up to 5 times. He is super cool has a blog page that goes through most of the discussion questions. quizlet is your friend !!! don't buy the textbook. debates are super long and dry but you don't have to watch them all. gives you at least 2 weeks for each discussion/quiz

Love this class! I think he takes it easy on students so we'll be openminded and more likely to learn and grow instead of stressing out about grades. He does provide a lot of optional reading (you can choose how hard you want to work in his class). The bad reviews are probably from students offended by the material, which is not Merlino's fault.

Very easy online course. Merlino responded quickly with questions. I don't usually like online classes, but this was a pretty good experience. His video slideshows are very easy to watch and follow along with. He includes much more detail than you need to learn for the tests.

The subject matter is difficult, but the class is easy. 7 quizzes and 7 discussions. You get five attempts at every quiz. Take every attempt because lots of the questions make an appearance on the next unit's quiz - they are all cumulative. The only effort really required is to actually do the reading and watch the videos. But it's very doable.

This class is a fairly easy A especially for an online course. The content is somewhat hard to grasp but the overall workload was lax. 7 quiz + 7 discussion posts. Grading is very strict so make sure you set reminders to do assignments ON TIME. Overall I personally put minimal effort into the class roughly 0-3 hours/week and received an A

You have the decision to show up or not but be prepared for the in-class quiz. There is a quiz that you can take within 2 weeks and you have 5 tries. Quiz is 20 questions. The final is the same thing but each question is worth 3 points. Prof was nice & caring. I enjoyed coming to his class. He also gets off topic but thats what makes his class fun

Online course w/ heavy content. He allows 2 weeks to review a LOT of info for 7 discussions and 6 quizzes (can take up to 3 times for the best score). Very helpful in his responses. Stay on top of timelines and reading. Quizlet helped somewhat with quizzes but you need to be familiar with the reading. Not an easy A, but doable.

You have 7 quizzes that are based on the readings, but you get 5 attempts on, in class quiz every week, which halfway through the semester he lets you work in groups, and final at the end of the semester. The in class quizzes are based on what he lectures on and the reading vocab. Grades are based on how many points you get total not percentage.

Easy-ish online class. Your grade consists of ONLY weekly discussion boards and quizzes. No papers or exams!!! You can tell Professor Merlino knows how to run an online course. He even has a separate blog for further interaction with his students. Discussion questions take some thinking, but overall straightforward if you read the material.

Good upper division class that really gets you thinking about religion. Only 7 discussions and 6 quizzes. He gives you a lot of material to prepare for the quizzes and gives you 3 attempts

Class is super easy. Easy A. I do recommend watching the lectures.