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Alkhawaldeh, Sami | |||
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EC 304 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 1:57 am, Nov 10, 2005 |
1 of 1 people found the following evaluation helpful: I don't understand why so many people had problems with Sami. He stuck to the concepts in the book religiously, so you know what was coming at you. I believe people just had problems with him because he is a very intense person. People are making it sound like this class is as difficult as upper division engineering classes. All you need to do is read the book and do the problem sets and you'll be golden. Was this rating helpful to you? |
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EC 304 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 5:32 pm, Apr 12, 2005 |
1 of 1 people found the following evaluation helpful: makes you feel like an idiot if you dont grasp a concept. grad students teach off a pre-made set of instructions, but this guy doesnt do much extra. Was this rating helpful to you? |
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EC 304 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:37 am, Jun 29, 2005 |
Sami was an excellent professor. He did stick to the book, but he went in depth with the material. Furthermore, he hardly needed to use his notes- indicating an impressive grasp of the subject which he certainly has. The class was not 'easy', but why should it be?
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EC 304 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 6:30 pm, May 6, 2005 |
First of all I'd have to agree with the last comment. Sami is a tough professor, but if you work hard it will pay off. This is my first 300 level cours I've taken and it gives me an interesting perspective on how difficult upper level classes are. Biggest thing you can do to do well in this class and understand what's going on is read the chapter before attending class. Once you have a general idea of the material, it's much easier to follow him in class. It's also a good idea to be familiar with calculus because he expects you to know it(not so much for tests, but for participating in class discussions). The problem sets will take a long time, but once you figure them out, they help a lot for studying for tests. Sami can also be difficult to follow in class because of his strong accent and fast pace of talking. All in all, he has a good sense of humor and you'll enjoy the class a lot more if you bull shit wiht him as a peer instead of a intimidating professor.
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EC 304 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 2:59 pm, May 4, 2005 |
A word of warning first off, Sami is one of the more difficult instructors probably in the entire University, and he has expressed his desire to teach at an even more frentic pace in the future. Fortunately for most students, he may not be staying here very long because he is finishing up his dissertation and going back to Jordan. A few tips if you really want to do well:
1) DO THE WORK. I spent a ridiculous amount of time studying for his class and it has payed off. But don't just read the book and do the problem sets, KNOW THEM! Know them like the back of your hand, inside and out, and know why the models are behaving how they are, take notes on the book. Unfortunately most of your learning will come from understanding the material in the book, but will be supplemented will by the notes you take in class. If you can explain the concepts and models to other students, I would say you are pretty well off.
2) Review calculus! Sami has little patience for a lack of understanding of the prereqs for the class. He wants to use even more mathematics in the future so be prepared.
3) Go see him as much as possible, not just when you need help. Sami is actually a great guy, but has come from a very rigorous academic background, and hates complainers and does as much as he can to ignore complaints. He will listen if you have genuinely thoughful concerns and suggestions, and will help you as much as possible if you obviously have gone through the material and tried to understand it well.
4) Don't panic, freak out, or get frustrated. This will only make the class tougher and tougher, especially on the tests. I saw some of the more intelligent people I've known get frustrated and panic during the test and not do as well as they should have. My advice is to prepare well in advance for tests and chill out as much as possible, have a beer and relax, the night before and day of a test. Also, if you ask a question and he gives you an impatient or seemingly annoyed response, don't let it bother you. It's just his nature.
5) Have a sense of humor. Just as in anything else, if you focus on the difficulties, hardships, and overall crappiness of your situation, you're going to do terribly. Coming to the class with a bad attitude every day is a recipe for disaster, and you might as well just quit early on. Sami is a goofball and has a skeptical attitude in regards to just about everything, so try to just enjoy it, it's pretty interesting and good to know that people from across the globe have a lot of the same sarcastic ways of looking at things as we do here in the US.
6) Know that its going to require a lot of dedication. If you aren't willing to give up a lot of free time and spend sometimes an entire half of a day in the library, Sami is not your teacher. It's a lot of work and little to no direction, so just go over everything. It's really not that bad.
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EC 304 Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 8:21 pm, Apr 25, 2005 |
Now I'm not saying Sami doesn't know his Macro material, but here is the problem. HE HASN"T TAUGHT ME ANYTHING! He belittles you in class if you answer a question. Most teachers, that is to say all other teachers, give a review before a test (which counts for about 90% of your final grade.) Sami's idea of a review sessios; give you the chapter numbers that are on the test (easy enough) and gives you how many questions from that chapter to expect on the test. I know this is college and all, but for a midterm that consits of 7 chapters of information, any review would be better than his "2 questions from chapter 12" type of review. One more note, a friend and I worked on a homework assignment together (which is cool by him) and had the same answers when we submitted to him. Some how I got about 11 points (which is 44% more) than he did. Talk about an odd grading scheme.
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EC 304 Senior Grade Earned: D Required (Major) 12:07 am, Apr 26, 2005 |
0 of 1 people found the following evaluation helpful: wow, where to begin...I suppose with the positives. 1. ...hmmm... maybe there aren't any afterall. negatives: 1. worst college professor in the history of the world. 2. he is a horrible teacher, and not a fair, friendly person. I enrolled in this class because i need it to graduate. before this semester began, i had a 3.0 gpa; i did my homework, and went to nearly every single class in my entire tenure at school. then came sami, and his ec 304. no doubt, the man knows his economics, he is probably a brilliant econometrist, but by far the worst professor i have had in my college experience. he is not organized, his class lacks structure, his notes are vague, and unintelligable, and he does not care about his students understanding of the material. Seeing how this is an upper division course, i can understand the instructor demanding the pupils have a firm base of knowledge going into the course, but how this applies to learning the knowledge the instructor is repsonsible for teaching, is beyond me..and clearly out of sami's reach as well. Never have i ever encountered a teacher who is so openly apathetic towards his students understanding of HIS material, or their grades. i have attempted to contact him several times to discuss my grade, and any tips he has about how to improve my standing so i would not have to repeat/delete this course..his response also lacked concern for my understanding and and a concern for my concern. If a student is openly concerned with their grade as well as their understanding with the material, one would think the professor would at least make an attempt to help. Im sure he will be very good at what he does when he leaves CSU, but maybe he should reconsider his teaching position here for the duration of his stay here. Was this rating helpful to you? |
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