Alex Karaivanov - Simon Fraser University

Professor: Alex Karaivanov

Department: TBD

College: Simon Fraser University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ECON455W
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He is a very nice person and he'd love to help students during his office hours. The materials are not hard if you already took Econ 355w. Highly recommend for 4-level course!!!!

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Best prof.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

One of the worst handwriting I've ever seen and there's no slides provided

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Super clear lecture. He actually tells you how to solve the problems during lectures, and if you go to his office hours, he will take his time to teach you how to solve them. Make sure you read over the lectures and all his exams are based on the lecture notes. 2 midterms and 1final, tough, but dw, everyone else are "indifferent" (wink wink)

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This is the professor that made me decide not to do an Economic Minor and turned me off the area of study. He was incredibly boring, would write illegible mess on an overhead all class, and brought lots of math into the class which was unnecessary. I do not recommend at all.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

His assignments seem easy, the examples in class seem easy, but wait until you get to the midterm and the exams. Hard AF. Go to your tutorials, do the practice problems, and ask your TA for help. I've never taken such a hard class. The exams have 5 true or false questions, and 3-4 multi-part long problems. Good luck.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: C-
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

His tests are really hard, good luck guys.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

ECON 201 is a nightmare for me. Hard exams and time consuming assignments.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

less math based than other profs but still hard, practice exams are easier than actual exams with curveball questions. He is a good explainer but you don't hear anything he says because you're trying to decode what he's writing . He's friendly enough but doesn't reply to emails and doesn't help out beyond class time and 1 office hour after class

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: C-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

His tests are really hard. Terrible handwriting. He gave you 2 practice finals from 2014 and 2015. And the 2016 final is completely different. Avoid it at all cost. He only have one office hour (1hr) per week.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Great prof. Perfectly paced lecturesnotes that really help you understand the material-I was rarely bored. Karaivanov seems like a helpful prof. As ECON's gatekeeper, I found this course too easy though. The exam material is very straightforward IMO, finished with an A+. If you think you're good at BASIC derivative calculus, you'll ace it.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECON201
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Great Prof. He is very knowledgeable and super nice. Very handsome as well. Easy to understand and you will never fall as sleep in his class. Exams and assignments are fair but not easy (especially the true false section). However, his handwriting is terrible and he has only one day (1 hour) office hour per week.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ECON355
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

excellent professor.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ECON355
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

the class is a breeze i never showed up and ended up with a B+, the exams are fair the final was a bit more challenging than the midterm but not impossible. The only bad thing about the class was the TA favoured some students over others and this was a bit annoying but the class was interesting and easy and Alex was a clear prof

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECON455W
• 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:

Solid class, interesting topics. Highly recommended.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ECON355W
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Really great professor. Notes are clear and explains concepts really well so that you don't even need to read the book. Assignments are relatively interesting and aren't too difficult. Midterm and Final's are fair but the quantitative parts involving math are definitely challenging and tricky.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ECON301
• 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:

Fair Midterm, but very hard final. Overall, it still worth to take it

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECON301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

I was warned about Econ 301, but I was surprised at how easy this guy taught it. So easy, it seemed to be a repeat of an Econ 100 level course.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECON455
• 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:

Great Prof. Great class. Loved it.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECON301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Any shmoe could teach this class. He did a decent enough job doing it. He wasn't easy, he wasn't hard. Take his class, get a B, and move on to more interesting courses.