Bill Watson - McGill University, Montreal, QC

Professor: Bill Watson

Department: Economics

College: McGill University, Montreal, QC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ECON423
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

William Watson really fuels interest in the subject he teaches. He isn't the best lecturer, they are sometimes long and hard to stay focused on. However he promotes intelligent participation, you may answer the midterm questions using graphstextmaths, whichever suits you most, and the material is up-to-date and interesting. Would Recommend.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECON409
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

A gentleman and scholar

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECON319
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Watson, while a respectable economist, is mostly a mediocre lecturer. His grading practices are what really upset a lot of us. Curving down the exams for a perfect 70 average resulted in a lot of uneven grading. Expect a grade 10 marks less than your raw grade without good reasons, even if you study hard and are interested >.<

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ECON408
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Stay away from 409. This prof is a complete tool when it comes to grading. Have you seen someone scoring 84/100 in the final and ending with a C+? You will see it in his class, because he wants a median of 70 so even if you do very well in your final, chances are you won't get an A.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECON408
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Watson is a fair guy. The material he choses to teach you is often based off current events. It can be a bit boring since the class is at 8:30, especially if you don't do the readings, but the material isn't overly complicated so you can follow along. His exams are fair, not too complicated. Watson is a nice guy, but apathetic at times.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ECON423
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Great prof! Recommended for any third or final year students who wants to learn where economic knowledge can be applied in the real world. He is very up to date with current financial and economic affairs. 830AM class is a pain, but worth it. There are piles of readings but they are far from boring. He is also very helpful and insightful if you ask

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ECOSECT
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Booring guy. period

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ECON423
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Easy enough to do well and very interesting in the upper level courses. You read articles about current issues of interest rather than theory out of a textbook and other stupidity. If you want to you'll actually learn something interesting here.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ECON219
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Not easy, but a wonderful teacher and person.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECON219
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

once, he spent the whole class reading all of the exports and imports between canada and the U.S. that have ever been traded "Dental drills, Dental chairs, jam, bacon..." fascinating material.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECON423
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Watson is a great professor - I've had him for several classes. He's really into what he does, and wants students to come away from economics with an ability to analyze real-world issues (not just theory). If you know the readings very well you'll do fine on the final. Not many profs as good as him!

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECON423
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He is a fair guy...good guy too. The lectures are unbelievably boring, especially if you haven't done the readings for class which most people don't. I hear the class will be at 8.30 am next year...You're probably not gonna go so make sure you read the readings WELL and you'll do great.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ECON223
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Still good, but much better for 400 level courses where he doesn't repeat stuff nearly as much and can really talk about more interesting articles and the details of the economics behind them.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ECON199
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Watson is a good professor, and the globalization seminar is pretty interesting. Just keep his biases in mind when listening to his lectures, and make sure you edit your papers at least 10 times. The class isn't too hard, and he is a fair (but not easy) marker.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECON219
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Watson's funny in a dry sort of way. Class is easy if you do all the readings, I went to 20% of the classes and got an A. All Watson does is discuss readings in class, so do the work yourself and you're fine. Class average was 72. If u don't like to read, don't take this class,the readings's intense

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ECON219
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Umbelievable prof. A pleasure going to class and being taught by a reknown and well-respected economist. Very fair in grading and makes time for, and cares for his students. Great communication and makes WebCT very user-friendly. I guess there are good ECON profs out there!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ECON219
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

very well spoken, makes current economic problems very interesting even to non-econ students like me, answers questions well, very fair about questions on midterm that kids complained about, readings are longish, but he explains well, easily offended by kids talking in class, cuz he really cares.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECON199
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I'm a big fan of Watson. He's a great economic mind always willing to help his students. The class material was provocative and informative. I would highly recommend taking his first year seminar.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECON434
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He's a nice prof who's ready to help his students. There's a lot of readings to do and his lectures can be boring at times but overall, you learn a lot from his classes.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECON219
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Bill's a great teacher who commands respect, but it's easy to fall asleep and the material gets boring and repetitive after he starts to talk about it for a few classes. Overall, he makes current economic problems more interesting than it really is.