John Smithin - York University (all campuses), Toronto, ON

Professor: John Smithin

Department: Economics

College: York University (all campuses), Toronto, ON

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ECON5500
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

a legend in canada and around the world in the area of monetary theory and monetary thought. he's about the smartest person i have ever met and having him as a professor was an honour and a privilege.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECON3430
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

All he really does is regurgitate Keynesian theory as if it's factual material, even though stimulus caused most of the economic problems of the '70s and '80s. Didn't learn a whole lot in this course. There were also severe issues of people cheating on the exams in the course and they never ended up getting punished.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECON3430
• 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: Mandatory

Comment:

This is the sort of professor that teaches from an understanding built from years of intuition an experience. Textbooks be dammed, he knows too well what he's talking about to follow a script. Attend his classes, ask him questions, and listen carefully. I'm enjoying my major in economics thanks to this man.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ECON3430
• 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:

Extremely helpful and smart professor. Exams & Grading scheme is fair, solve past papers.. Gained so much knowledge in his class. If you;re a Keynes lover, you'll love this prof.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECON3340
• 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:

Greatest man I have ever met. the only reason for him being "incoherent" is because he explains money from an interdisciplinary level. learn a second subject other than economics (which is normally useless and overspecialized). he knows one thing better than anyone else: money. I am thankful everyday that i have been taught by him.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ECON3430
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Great prof. solve the past midterms and go to his office hrs. if u dont, it'll be your loss. extremely smart professor. Got an A+

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ECON3430
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Great prof. solve the past midterms and go to his office hrs. if u dont, it'll be your loss. extremely smart professor.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ECON3430
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Forget the textbook, it's useless. Read the handouts in the reserve. You won't understand his lectures and slides without reading them. Even then his lectures can be confusing bc he rambles off a tangent too much. Do the practice exams since the real exam is near identical. Most people still do bad bc they read the textbook and not the handout.

Rating # 9

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

ECON3430:Extremely talented professor. Hardly uses the textbook but he teaches everything what the course demands. Really helpful to the students who bothers to go upto him and ask any questions they have. Easy grader, just practice his sample papers but make sure you understand everything in his slides. Refer back and forth to his research papers.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECON5100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Very nice person. Equally horrible at teaching. I've take 5 Economics classes in my life and this is by far the worst.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECON5100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Extremely boring. His textbook is one of the most confusing materials available. After a while, nobody showed up at his class, cos it was a complete waste of time. His grading is simple though. Exams are based on previous papers.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECON3140
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

he is knowledgeble scholar and the only one who can be called real economist at york's econ faculty, fairly speaking, if u just wanna get a good mark without learning anything,don't go for him!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ECON3140
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

gives really brief and unclear powerpoints, tons of notations are unexplained...materials on powerpoints are inconsistent and sometimes not found at all in the text book. Very hard to follow his lectures, he just talks freely about the materials instead of real emphasis on import points. s

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ECON5100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

John Smithin was one of the worst things that happend during my MBA. Simply one of the worst instructors I've ever known. His classes are totally useless as his textbook.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECON5100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I have the honor to say that John Smithin was the worse professor I ever had. He hates the stuff he teaches and his textbook is a waste of time too. Attendance is mandatory otherwise no one would attend his classes.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ECON5500
• 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:

Extremely knowledgeable and always available to help...He knows what he is talking about. I learned "A LOT" in his class....One of the BEST professors in the department of economics...

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ECON5500
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Not a very strong lecturer, but extremely knowledgable. you can learn a lot from him.his classes are not boring and he is fair with the exams and markings.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECON3400
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He is a good prof but his boring British accent make all the class fall asleep. He knows his stuff very well, it's just hard to focus and follow him.Attendance is mandatory, otherwise nobody would probably come to the class. He understands that people sleep on his lectures and makes his slides hard to decipher if don't follow him on the lecture:-)

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECON5100
• 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:

You may hate him at first, but he actually becomes much more interesting and coherent as the course progresses. He's much better at teaching Macro than Micro. For the midterm, just study exams from previous years.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECON5100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Jolly guy, but useless lecturer. His examples are completely irrelevant. He tells students we're inferior to him, since he has 3 degrees in Economics. He's made it clear he does not care if students like his class, because he won't get fired anyways. He regurgitates the textbook, then goes off on tangents about his personal life. Not recommended.