Lydia Ortega - San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

Professor: Lydia Ortega

Department: Economics

College: San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ECON1B
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

For Econ 1B: This class is all about the basics of economics. She will teach you about economic systems, the laws of economics, graphing and critical thinking. It's very easy once you understand it but it's also easy to get lost. Luckily, you're put into groups so you can help each other out. Great professor, great class. Especially for bus majors.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECON1B
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

First of all, this professor is not great at all with communicating via email. I attempted to contact her on several occasions and she has yet to reply. Also, she is very rude during class periods, as she constantly bashes students for not getting answers right. There has only been around 3 lectures all semester, everything else is online. A waste.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECON1B
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The way she teaches on top of how unorganized she is makes this class unbearable and you never know what is going on. Doesn't email us assignments until day before they're due, cancels office hours and doesn't tell us, sources for articles are very questionable - they went back to nazi groups. moves due dates around to add more requirements, AVOID

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ECON1B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

By far the worst professor I have ever had. Online quizes, homeworks, assignments due every Wednesday and Saturday starting the beginning of the semester. Meet up once a week to go in groups while having confusing assignments that none of the group members including yourself would know what to do. Many more individual assignments. One tough exam.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

If you pass her, you can pass anything. My group helped A LOT!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Not the nicest or friendliest approach but she does challenge you. Need to attend class and be engaged in order to survive. She calls on students randomly. Exams were not similar to problem sets. Also gave back exams really late as she did not want us to focus on our grades. Challenging experience but never again.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ECON1B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I wouldn't recommend taking this professor. We only met in class once a week and when we did meet in class we got in groups and discussed readings. She never really lectured. There's alot of online homework and weekly online quiz. One thing I really didn't like is she would email us assigning assignments the night before it was due.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ECON1B
• Grade Received: C-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Worst teacher I've had at this school. Teaching a basic intro microecon course and yet she teaches it like an upper-division. Aplia is horrible. The tests were impossible. The lectures seems to not relate to the tests. She is passionate about what she talks about, but she makes the class unmotivated to come to class.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Betting those who made the bad comments didn't put enough effort into class like she expected. Ortega may be intimidating at first but if you get to know her, she is a very caring professor who just wants the best for the students. You have to talk to her to understand why she is so hard on her students and why the class is designed this way.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: INC
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Professor Ortega is quite honestly the most useless professor I have taken at San Jose State. She doesn't teach at all just rambles about her sister and other pointless stories wasting our time. There is no textbook for this class and she expects us to use google and youtube to learn, might as well be an online class because she doesn't do anything

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

She assigns weekly questions to each group which two people must randomly answer the following week. If those two people don't answer the questions to her standards the entire group loses points. The problem is that she DOESN'T TEACH US THE MATERIAL TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. She has no book and wants us to use youtube to learn. She's not a professor

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: D-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Don't take this professor's class. extremely tough. she expect a lot but taught quickly that student may not able to follow her speed. Too many out of scope knowledge that not necessary.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Very hard class. need to pay attention in order to pass. But not hard to get an A if your motivated. Be prepared for long lectures!

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This was by far one of the more challenging courses I have taken in my college career. I completely failed the first test and told me to drop the course. I ended up sticking it through and I earned a B in the class. A lot of people start giving up, but this class is extremely beneficial not only for Economics but for improved critical thinking.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Make sure you pick a good group. You will have to meet up with your group at least once a week to help each other out. You don't need the book but it can help you out (I didn't buy it). Exams are pretty tough but make sure you every question on the practice questions. Don't memorize anything just try to learn it. Makes it easier

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: 101
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Fabulous professor, if you engage her after classes or office hours. If you don't participate with your group you will fail. If you do not learn quickly enough to adapt to the way she tests, you will fail. What she teaches is far beyond memorizing economic concepts. She really let's you know if you have the brain for this major.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Best class I've ever taken. Also one of the most difficult I've ever taken. Those thinking of taking the summer version of this class, I advise against that. You will learn SO MUCH from this class. Beyond just the subject matter, you will learn an effective approach to thought and problem solving. Increase your human capital. Seriously.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Ortega is extremely tough, but only because she expects you to learn everything in groups. Her lectures are horrible because they don't focus on the material. She doesn't like memorization and emphasizes applied problem solving skillsproblem sets. You will be spending a lot of time with your group over the semester.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Ortega emphasizes on learning economic tools and applying it to a wide range of real world issues. She teaches you how to really tackle real life problems using microeconomic tools and demonstrate what kind of insight you can get from it. Overall, she teaches Econ 101 differently each semester. Look up videos before her tests and study with groups.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECON101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Ortega may be a challenging teacher but thats because she is a teacher worthy of a college level course. This class is only difficult if you do not go to lecture, go to lecture, learn the tools, and apply them to real life situations, this class has taught me A LOT about how to think like an economist. I Highly recommend this class.