Roberto Samaniego - George Washington University, Washington, DC

Professor: Roberto Samaniego

Department: Economics

College: George Washington University, Washington, DC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Lectures are very detailed and well organized. Discussion every week is a good summation and supplement to lecture, but don't plan to skip either regularly. Homework is online and you need to buy the textbook (get the Etext) to get the access code but you'll rarely use the text. Entire grade is three exams + HW, so maximize your efforts on HW.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor S. is a good teacher and really knows the subject, but his lectures are long and tiring. Lectures are not mandatory, but you need to go to the discussion -- during the discussion, you receive printouts of notes covered in class that week. 75% of the grade is made up of 2 midterms (20% each) and one final (35%). Weekly homework (25%).

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Not spectacular but serviceable professor. Won't inspire the same strong opinions that Foster will, but I enjoyed his class.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I showed up to 2 lectures and 1 discussion and did fine. His lectures are unorganized and hard to follow so theres no point even showing up, you won't gain anything. As long as you're good at teaching yourself, the class isn't too bad. I never even used the textbook, each topic is explained well on sparcnotes.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• 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:

The lecture for this course did not contribute significantly to my learning. Read the textbook, go to discussion and use the notes the TAs give. The TAs definitely teach more and affect your grade more than Professor Samaniego does. Get to know your TA and ask questions early on! The final is worth 35%.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ECON8307
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Prof Samaniego did a great job on graduate level course. I felt surprised to see comments out there. In this macro class, we learned what we need the most as a future economist or researcher. i.e. how to calibrate our model by using Matlab and Dynare. Most recent labor econ models are well explained. Weekly projects are time consuming but helpful.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: Audit/No Grade
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He tried to make his lecture interesting, but it did not help students to understand. If you have patient to read the textbook, then you do not have to go to lecture at all. Lecture does not really cover the material during exam. TA discussion may provide more information and useful practice.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• 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:

I never skipped lecture and discussion and I don't really know how much that helped my final grade. the content is overall easier than micro but I don't think the prof really does much in terms of helping you learn it. Very dry and boring

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Samaniego is nice, funny, and interesting. However, he is not great at teaching. His lectures ramble, are unclear and often contain little concrete information. The discussion sections and textbook will teach you the whole curriculum. Exams are not impossible but certainly not easy. Overall, he is cool, but class is meh. Not a horrible option.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Decent professor, but take Foster if you can. 100% better than Terrell, though. If you want to do really well in his class, get your hands on some old exams because he reuses questions. Other than that, the exams are very fair and similar to the practice ones. Not the most interesting lecturer and doesn't emphasize banking in the course enough.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• 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:

Better option than Terrell. Online homework answers in text. Joon was wonderful as a TA, very helpful notes and practice sets. Lectures aren't overly helpful in understanding the material, text is more helpful. Sample exams are VERY helpful in knowing what questions will be on the exam. Questions are straightforward if you understand the material.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

To be fair, for this class you can choose to avoid the lectures & even the discussion sections & be very successful. He will post practice tests (3) and the final online beforehand to study. This was immensely helpful. Just note that the 3 tests, final, and online HW are the only grades, this could help or hurt you depending on your learning style.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• 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:

Lectures are virtually useless, TA was less than sub-par. Online homework is okay. If you want to succeed in this class and (actually) understand macro, you MUST read the text. Teach yourself. Three midterms and a final, which can be vague, and multiple choice is challenging. Only nice thing is that nothing is unpredictable, (no pop quizzes.)

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Well, he's not a great professor, but the class isn't bad thanks to the amazing TAs. Skip the lectures because he just goes on tangents . The TAs will give you practice sheets and practice midterms that will almost exactly mirror the actual assessments. The online HW is annoying, but you can find answers in the txtbk. I would recommend him.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECON1002
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He's fine, i guess. Most of what you learn is from the TA so I don't know why I go to class. He's not bad though and you learn the concepts so it's alright. The tests are fairly straightforward as long as you go over that notes from the discussion section and he really knows his stuff.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

roberto is a fair teacher, but your grade is pretty dependent on your TA. lectures and exams are pretty clear. show up, take notes, do your reading, do your homework--you should succeed. lectures can feel a little long sometimes, so make sure you're awake!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ECON1002
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His lectures are absolutley useless, and most of what you learn is from the TA. You basically teach yourself the entire course,if you study do hw/use the TA/do practice problems online/do the practice tests you should be okay. He is really an awful professor and doesnt know how to teach, but its a requirement .You really need to work for your grade

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• 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:

Arrogant. If you can avoid I would highly recommend. Otherwise your textbook is your new best friend.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

this class is not an easy A, like i thought micro was... exams look easy but just are not and his lectures are DRY... rely only on the textbook. do not take.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECON1012
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Loved him, would take for Macro Econ or any other class.