Ken Kasa - Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC

Professor: Ken Kasa

Department: Economics

College: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He gives great lecture, interesting assignments, thought provoking comments and directions. I wish my brain was at the speed of his speech. Its a huge pity for not having the chops to appreciate his intelligence and awesome insight sharing. Sadly when you learn from the best, you need to have all these preparation to appreciate things. do ur best.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Ken writes incredible notes. He provides all of his past exams, so as long as you spend the time doing them in preparation for the midterm and final, you'll do really well. He is a really nice prof, but his lectures are SO boring. I would recommend going to them anyways even if you don't pay attention because he took attendance once

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Boring professor. Talks way too fast. Does not care about students. Cannot even get a hold of him outside of lecture hours. He is never at his office hours. Avoid this prof if you can.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ECON305
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He looked the other way when there was obvious cheating going on during the midterm (with class average 87%) and always came in late for lectures. I had to wait 30 minutes while he spoke to a master's student during his office hour and told me to just email him because he needed to leave. Macroeconomics was my favourite until I took Ken's class.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Kasa is definitely knowledgable and he assign relevant Econ articles to read which I thought was pretty neat. He helps you gain real world knowledge. However, his lectures are super dry and he talks too fast. It seemed to me that he was not interested in teaching the course to undergrad students. His approach is well-suited for grad level.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Talk too fast in lecture. Basically don't care if the students can catch up or clearly understand anything.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ECON305
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Class is pretty dull, his lectures are a snoozer. Studying lecture notes and reading text when necessary is all you need. Final was just a mix of questions from past finals which he posts online

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ECON305
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Kasa is the best prof as I know. His presentation is according to the book but add something else, like IS-LM curve. I failed in midterm, but finally passed this course. Practices questions post online can be helpful, and read textbook& notes before classes, you will feel better during the 2hrs lecture and exams.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Tests are straightforward. If you read the textbook and keep up, and practice the various test examples in his site you should be fine! The final was much easier then the Midterm. Essentially all you have to do is understand the concepts and everything should fall in place.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• 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:

Decent class (albeit slightly dry). Will do well if work really hard and review old Problem set and exams to prepare for final. Exams are similar to past exams. Goes through notes in class word for word basically. Recommend the textbook.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• 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:

Worst Proff I have ever had. Speaks a mile a minute and when you ask him a question he goes off in tangents about multiple other things. When you don't understand concepts in class he basically tells you to "stare hard enough and you'll figure it out." Worst proff I've had and worst econ class I have ever taken at SFU. Enough said.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECON305
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

i never went to class since its so dull, he is a good teacher but his class is more dull than watching MASH. His exams are very fair and he is a nice guy.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ECON305
• 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:

holy snooze fest batman.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ECON305
• 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:

Failed hard for the midterm, but eventually passed the course in the end. he likes graphs

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

he's a good prof. very fair on the mark distribution. i got a C- in the midterm (b/c of the TA's way of marking) and after the final exam, i somehow got a B (and both exams were 40% of grade). he posts ALL previous exams up so no surprise on whats going to be on them. highly recommended prof. encourages questions! wants his students to do well.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

has a very kindly grandfatherly way about him. very approachable, knowledgable and best of all writes predictable, fair exams exactly like the past ones he posts online. also posts all notes online which are thorough and easy to follow. definitely recommended! awesome prof!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Great professor, very knowledgeable about the topic. Sometimes goes off on tangents, but explains the theory pretty well. In addition, all of his notes are available online. His exams are always similar to previous ones, just practice those (and understand the theory behind them) and you should be fine. Good class, highly recommended!

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

ONE OF THE BEST PROFESSOR'S! Extremely intelligent, replies quickly to emails and is very approachable. His midterms and finals are predictable, exactly the same as past one's and finals. Questions aren't "easy", but are defiantly fair, which is all you can ask for! VERY GOOD PROF! TAKE ALL HIS CLASSES!!!!!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECON345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Kasa is a good guy. His notes are posted online and he's rather approachable. He's highly intelligent butI think his lectures go a bit off tangent occasionally. The notes sometimes deviate from the book so make sure you emphasize the book rather than the lecture notes. His assignments are brutal but his exams are fair (and marked quite leniently).

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECON305
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

HE'S LAZY!!! all the answers for his assignments are somewhere online. he does it for his other courses too. you just got to google it. he's knowledgable but very boring.