Alan Kaplan - Ryerson University, Toronto, ON

Professor: Alan Kaplan

Department: Finance

College: Ryerson University, Toronto, ON

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: AFF713
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Kaplan's way of teaching is not the typical "read slides then do some practice questions". He teaches in a way that incorporates real life and textbook information. His slides are used for his own benefit, not the students. Better take down notes, exams are based on what he said during class. Still enjoyed his lectures.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: AFF713
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Very funny prof. His slides were very easy to understand because there is nothing on them. Good luck to whoever is taking his courses.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: AFF604
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Very TOUGH grader I don't know why. You need to work A LOT for this course. He gives a lot of assignments and writings.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: AFF604
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He is fine. His lectures are fine and easy but his grading system is bad. Lots of assignments! Lots of presentations. He is a very very tough grader. He expects students to be at his level. Unfortunately, he never puts a full grade to anyone.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: AFF310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He's honestly a good professor but the key to succeeding in his class is to ask questions if you have any. He is more than happy to answer questions during class but he won't be thorough if no one seems to have any questions. There are "pop" quizzes every other week that are pretty simple if you just pay attention during that specific class.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: AFF310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

If you have Alan , I'd strongly recommend you to ask him questions when you have ones. If you expect him to go over every single concept - don't, but rather talk to him after class if you didn't get something. Very knowledgeable professor and a nice person.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: AFF310
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Alan is there if you need help understanding how to do the problems. If you're lazy then sorry you won't do well.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: FIN710
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Alan is an amazing professor. Makes the lectures interesting and engaging. He is very kind and approachable. If you have questions or need feedback on assignments, he is available and gives good feedback. The class is not easy, but Alan makes it a good class.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: AFF310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Okay firstly, that person above is straight lying. He does not know how to teach, doesn't know how to explain excel files, and especially is unfair. Told us to put our hand up if we were done out quiz, I did, and he did not take my quiz as well as many others and said our quiz does not count. I will escalate this issue but beware at all costs.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: AFF713
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Alan Kaplan is a second to non professor. Very knowledgeable and compassionate about making sure students learn and engage in class. The course is very valuable as its assignments and projects replicate real world scenarios. It validated all the theory learnt from previous classes. The class is not easy but it is worth all the hard work!!!!!!!!!!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: AFF310
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

In my opinion, this prof is very vague and does not cover the relevant material in class, compared to other profs teaching the same class. He is miles away from other profs, and I have to end up going to a different section just to understand the material.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: AFF310
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He is actually really really bad, doesnt even teach and for a class where a 67% is mandatory this guy does a horrible job at teaching content and explaining how to get answers

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: FIN710
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Alan Kaplan is an bluntly honest professor. He demands nothing short of due diligence and hard work for his advanced corporate finance class. Very practical course as it is case based. Make sure to pick out a good group that can work hard or else you will fail your assignments. Fun and engaging for finance students. Not so much for others.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: FIN710
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

By far one of the worst finance profs of all time. Does not give any hints towards the final, and was completely blindsided even after doing all the questions in the book. Avoid at all costs.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: FIN710
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

The course was based on case studies done in groups, make sure your group is strong. There isn't a whole lot that people haven't seen in FIN 401 before and having taken FIN 631 is an asset for this class. Alan does his best to explain the logic behind what is happening in equations to help students learn as well as drawing on real-world examples.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: FIN710
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Best FIN course. Bi-weekly cases are an amazing component of this course they take up ALOT of time - but you learn tons. Make sure to attend case review classes every other week as well. Prof was quick to respond to emails , final was based on cases. Did all of the q in book and midterms + was heavily involved in each case. Got an A+.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: FIN719
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof. Kaplan is one of my favourite Ryerson profs. The course itself has a heavy workload in terms of the bi-weekly cases, but the 15% Aplia is free marks. As long as you follow what he wants on the cases, you'll do great. As for the exam, past exams didn't really help me; but he did mention that he gives marks wherever he can.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: FIN710
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Although I did the practice finals, the textbook questions, as well as the case, do not count on the textbook type of questions nor the practice finals type of questions to be on the final. He gives good feedback, but he does not give any hints of what's going to be on the exam whatsoever. The final was brutal and unrelatable to the curriculum

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: AFF300
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Had him as sub for Scott Anderson. He talks about irrelevant things and skims over his slides - events in the world but nothing about the course. You may like his stories and find him inspirational, but not during tests because you havnt learnt a thing. I prefer Anderson because he teach what you need to know and spend stories afterwards.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: FIN710
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

If you know your FIN401 material well it will make this class easier. For the cases, you have to present your excel, memo and ppt the way he tells you to and be very clear, in order to get a good mark. If you took FIN631 doing excel will be easier. The final was based more on lectures, slides and cases rather than the textbook.