John Solow - University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Professor: John Solow

Department: Economics

College: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Really different teaching style where he rambles on during lecture about nothing, but he assigns kahn academy videos which basically covers EXACTLY what will be on the test. Lecture is boring because you learn very little, but answering the clicker questions is vital or else you'll miss out on an easy 12% of your grade

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Solow rants for the first 20 minutes of class and the rest of the class is doing clicker questions, which suck. He does not teach you anything and you must rely on learning from the online videos and reading the textbooks. The class is curved based on who your TA is and some of the TA's are awful.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• 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:

I absolutely HATED this class. It's a flipped course; which means you watch khan academy/youtube videos and go into class for clickers. ONLY clickers. He doesn't teach us how to graph; nor is the test geared towards the textbook at all. It's so abstract. And the fun part? Your grade ARE your exams. If you do bad on one; you're screwed.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

If you don't go to class, you'll lose out on 12% of your grade

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is an awful professor, rambles about nothing and doesn't teach you anything. Only reason I went to lecture was because of stupid pointless clicker questions. You have to teach yourself everything in this class and the exam are nonsense - avoid if possible.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

It is a flipped course so you learn everything online and then you answer questions through response ware in lecture. The tests are super hard even if you know what you're talking about. There are 3 major tests and that's what your grade is basically based off of. The questions during lecture have a little bit to do with your grade.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He does not lecture. All you do in lecture is answer questions based on the readings., so if you don't go to lecture you will not pass. He makes you go to the TA before you can come to him in his office hours. The exams make up over 80% of the grade.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• 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:

The only reason to go to lecture is because he has in class graded questions. Doesn't teach anything in lecture so you have to learn everything on your own. The overall grade only relies on your tests so if you do poorly on one you're in trouble for an overall grade. 0/10 would not recommend

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

You have to show up to every lecture to get quiz points, but if a lot of people miss a question he'll do a re-poll. If you do a little reading and watch the videos you'll do great. Don't be one of those idiots that walks out right after the quiz, he actually has a lot of good info even though he gets off topic a lot. Really lax teaching style.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Have quiz at the beginning of each class and did't teach much after quiz

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Professor Solow was not very helpful. He gives in-class quizzes that are not graded consistently. When he does lecture it is very boring. The class itself is very easy, but Professor Solow was not helpful.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Lectures consist of him rambling for the first 10 min and about 20 min of clicker quizzes. Half the class left after clickers. After that he'll explain stuff and go through practice problems, which can be very helpful depending on how hard the material is. The tests were sometimes hard and but he curves everything.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Easy course, recommended as gen-ends

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He wasn't too bad, just make sure you show up every day for the clicker questions. he likes to rant about things that are redundant to the class, other then that, do the readings and homework and you'll be alright.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Going to class is a necessity because there are quizzes for every lecture. Have yet to learn anything from him from going to a lecture. He is not at all helpful and come off as condescending. He relies way too much on technology for someone that does not understand how to use it. Overall, not difficult, but you must teach yourself everything.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Quizzes every lecture but you could work with anyone so there is no reason to not get close to 100% on each quiz. Quizzes were 42% of total grade so its easier to get an A than you would think.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: 1100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Rambles on about nonsense. Bring a newspaper or something to read before class because he spends the first 10 mins talking about irrelevant stuff that puts half the lecture to sleep. Not only that, his rate of speech is so slow. So if you are paying attention it drags on.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Solow doesn't make it through more than a couple concepts per lecture. Lectures are mostly anecdotes that he tries to make economic concepts applicable to. You cannot rely on his lectures to succeed in the class. I stopped going to lecture after a couple weeks. Rely instead on the textbook and online homework guidance.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• 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:

His lectures are purely optional in my opinion. I thought he was interesting to listen to but he rarely covered course material. Everything I learned from this class was from the book and a weekly online assignment. I was perfectly fine with this style but I pretty much taught myself. Got a B+

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECON1100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Average Professor for an average class, the tests are pretty tough but a good amount of studying should make it pretty easy to handle. Isn't the most effective lecturer and comes off as rude. You can teach yourself with the book but he does manage to help in class every now and again.