John Willoughby - American University, Washington, DC

Professor: John Willoughby

Department: Economics

College: American University, Washington, DC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Avoid him at all costs. If you can't, don't buy the textbook (Principles of Macroeconomics). There is an online version that's free and has the same information. The lecture is very boring, but don't skip it. You have to take a quiz almost every class (they're graded for participation, not correction) and those end up helping your grade in the end.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

The worst professor forever!! I got 100%right on the online hw. But he only give me 85% percent grade. And his lecture is boring. He didn't teach us anything. And when I ask him about my grades, he responded extremely slowly. It had been 1 month away from the exam, he didn't give me any useful responding.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Willoughby is a nice guy, and will answer your emails promptly, but you are relying on the TA's to be taught, lectures dont help, use the textbook from the beginning and try to get the basics down, pretty sure the essay was given full credit if you just hand it in, and online hw is hard, but you have as many tries as you need to get it right

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Terrible in a large lecture. Nobody pays attention, and the lectures are pretty boring. It's easy to do well on quizzes and homework, but the tests are hard. Also because he's such a bad teacher, it's hard to be prepared or know what is even on the test. The textbook is used only for the homework.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He's alright. Out of who you can take for Macro at AU, he is fine. He gives in class quizzes which you get 100's on just for taking them, and the online homework has unlimited tries so you can really get 100's on that too. His exams are okay, but his lectures really suck.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Be prepared to learn more from the textbook than you ever do in class. Lectures are irrelevant and he goes off on tangents, then tries to break 200 people up into small groups with undergrad TAs all in the same room and no one can hear what's going on. If you're new to econ and want to actually learn it, you'll probably want to pick someone else.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Willoughby's class was extremely boring, which is sad because he was a very interesting and respected man. Huge lecture classes are hard enough to pay attention in and his lectures made them even harder. The only reason I did well was because of my amazing TA, but my friends in the class who didn't have great TAs were not so lucky.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Willoughby's class is not too difficult if you attend class. He is a pretty easy grader and always extends assignments if asked

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He is the worst professor and his class was awful. He gave long lectures unrelated to the class topic. Too many assignment for an econ 100 class and his TAs are as bad as he is. There is a huge disconnect between what he teaches and what is on the tests and assignments. Waste of energy, time, money and brain cells. DON'T TAKE THIS WORTHLESS CLASS!

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Not very charismatic but the class is easy and the material is interesting. The paper on growth is an easy A if you aren't brain dead, lots of homework, and attendance is a huge part of the grade which is a big free giveaway (16%, and he gives everyone 4% anyway, so 20% o the grade is free). Overall, he's a good prof and this is an easy class.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Willoughby is a nice man, but his effort was laughable. Lectures didn't address the concepts in the plentiful homework, and neither correlated to any questions on the test. He left most of the actual teaching to confused TAs. He asked subjective questions on tests. Asked students for global warming solutions on a paper about econ growth.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He's a great teacher and very flexible with the due dates of all the class assignments. Truly recommend to anyone who has to take an economics class.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Very nice guy. Make the effort to go to office hours and make sure he knows you. Excellent teacher- flexible, interesting and so kind! One of my favorite professors at AU.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I enjoyed having him as a professor. Not the easiest class but not difficult either. Would take him again. Tests aren't too bad

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: D-
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

The materials for his class are way too many & overall expensive & somewhat unnecessary to be frank. I had to spend more on his class than I had to spend in my art class for an entire semester's worth of materials, & art stuff is expensive. His lectures are a drag, his readings are boring & long, his grading is questionable. Avoid him if you can.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I never really went to class and I still got a B. Do well on papers. He assigns a bunch of homework and I'm sure that's what kept my grade up. Because the tests were hard.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ECON620
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Pro. Willoubhby is very easygoing and sympathetic. He will give you a chance to balance your too-much-pressure academic life. Moreover, ECON 620 is a great opportunity to earn new ideas and bridge the gap between your dream and reality. Nevertheless, you have to learn how to create your own pressure so that to benefit the most from his class.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Economics truly is the dismal science, and this class won't necessarily prove otherwise. That said, he gave us a lot of information on what would be on tests, the TAs were very helpful, the homeworks were fairly easy and the written assignments involved a lot of reading but weren't to hard. A nice guy, but not a dream professor.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His lectures do not correlate to the exams whatsoever, and there is a huge disconnect in the class. It is a large lecture class where you can learn more from the TA's than from the professor. Stay away if you can, and take an econ course with a smaller number of students.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECON100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

One of the worst professors I've had at AU. There is a huge disconnect between what he lectures on and what are on the exams. He doesn't talk about what's on the exams at all/ provides review sheets that are not relevant. He gives extremely boring lectures and the only way to do well is to attend the TA sessions. Stay away!!!