2.8
Quality3.3
Difficulty47%
Would Retake104
Reviews47%
Would Retake
104
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
104 total ratings5
28
4
13
3
16
2
9
1
38
What Students Say
“Cohen turned me off Economics, a topic I was passionate about entering his class”
ECO105Y1 - 2.0 rating“I REGRET taking this class”
ECO105Y1 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
23%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.91 avg changeRatings by Course
ECON1000
5.0
(1)ECO105
3.6
(40)ECO105Y1
2.4
(62)Difficulty by Course
ECO105Y1
3.5
ECO105
3.0
ECON1000
2.0
Reviews (103)
Prof. Cohen's class was an ideal economics course for me to take as I am able to make connections with material learned to the outside world, something I found hard in regular economics. Coming to lectures, making use of ALL of what MyEconLab offers, reading the text, doing all the homework, and asking lots of questions you will do well guaranteed
Everything he talks during lectures is in the textbook. His lectures are boring and useless. You just need to read the textbook then you will be fine.
Held in a bad lecture auditorium but other than that little to no complaints. Making use of all paper/online resources he offers and following his How to Succeed guide guarantees a great mark in this course. It is easy to fall into the trap of listening and believing the criticisms of him by students in his class not doing well so avoid that. GL!
I love this class. And Prof Cohen is duuuuuhhhhhhhhhh bestest
Not a good orator, just read from the textbook. Exam and assignments were a piece of cake.
Amazing prof, fun and engaging, made econ exciting (which I didn't think was possible). Does office hours at Neds Cafe right across the street from the lecture hall and was always helpful and fun to talk to.
Prof. Cohen is useless. His 8am lectures were a repeat of his left-winged textbook he wrote. Read the textbook and you'll be totally fine. The course itself is fairly easy but the content was very boring.
You will zone out during lectures. He is a good economist but there are people who just need more communication skills to keep students interested. I have taken Eco classes before and never had difficulty understanding concepts. The problem is that every Professor in this world wants you to understand the subject in their own way.
Everything in the lecture is covered by the textbook - save some news stories. The 8am Monday class is a crime against humanity, but since the lectures are recorded it's not so bad. He's a perfectly good lecturer taken in isolation though. As long as you make sure you understand the concepts you will easily get an A
Cohen's monotone voice made it difficult to endure the 8am Monday morning lectures, however he showed significant passion about economics and the material we were working on. Study hard for his tests- they make up a majority of your grade and take advantage of his bimonthly online quizzes that are a nice 1-2% bonus for your grade.
Cohen turned me off Economics, a topic I was passionate about entering his class. Lectures were boring and patronizing, he forced us to buy his own overpriced textbook that read like it was meant for 9th graders, and then lectured about the ingenuity of forcing us to buy it. Boring, mediocre and full of himself, makes sense he's a York prof.
Prof Cohen is one of my favorite professors in my freshman year. I love his lectures and I never skip it even though it is on 8am. Definitions and concepts were well explained and real life examples are often used to help understanding and application of economic principles. Acing it is easy if you read the textbook carefully and do the practices.
He was a great prof and made economics seem interesting and easy even though I had never taken economics in my life before. I only took this course as a requirement and was surprised when it turned out to be one of my best courses in terms of grades.
So competent and knows how to teach! Doesn't waste time with bs. Records his lectures too which is helpful since the lectures are at 8am.
Great intro to economics course! Great professor! Loved the online component!
It's funny but in my years in education I've never had a teacher so unaware of how he presents himself, such as trying to post the best student grades online (against school policy). He lectures so patronizingly to the point where i simply stopped attending. I just read the textbooks and passed the class, missing out on condescending and droning.
I really wanted this course to be easy but it wasn't. He is a nice guy and wanted you to understand the content but there's only so much he can do. Pay attention to detail on his tests. He gives you previous tests and exams and still his tests were challenging, watch out for multiple choice. TAs mark fast but should have been more hands on.
This was a very challenging course, but I put the time into it and I got a very good mark. I think Cohen's textbook is amazing in terms of explaining economic concepts in a way that is understandable. Yes, you will have to study A LOT, but it is not Cohen's fault that the study of economics is hard. I recommend him as a professor.
As someone who has never taken any economics classes until now, I was worried about university level economics, but Cohen taught really well, and made learning economics kinda enjoyable. He makes the content easy to understand, and with the textbooks and lecture notes you know what is important to know and study. Overall, amazing prof!
This course is mandatory for a few programs at U of T so if you've gotta take it you should just try to make the best of it. Avi provides you with all the materials you need (textbook, lecture, quizzes, practice exams etc.) but you need to put the effort in to succeed. I'm not a big fan of him personally and things he'd say in lecture.
Great prof, really knows how students think and therefore aims his lectures and topics towards this. Makes things simple, and goes at a pace so no one is less behind. Good clear speaker, has a background in economics, and knows what he is talking about
Great prof for introductory course. Had no any background ended up with A+. Very interesting lectures with 100% understanding. Lectures follows the textbook closely and very easy to study for tests.
He's OK. Makes so many mistakes affecting grades. Can be patronizing at times and the instructor he uses for the writing assignments,Andrea Williams is extremely patronizing, it is hard to watch her videos. She should be teaching 8th graders. You almost have to dumb yourself down for writing assignments. This should never be the case.
Professor Cohen is a good lecturer but his class can get boring at times. He records his lectures and makes them available for his students in case you miss class. He cares about his students and recognizes those who performed well on each test. If you have any kind of knowledge in Econ, this is an easy course to do well in.
This is my favorite professor in my first-year courses. The lecture is easy to understand and the test is basically based on the lecture materials. If you go to the class and read the books you will get an A, otherwise, it's your own fault. Past exams are provided and just do what is asked to do.
I bought Avi Cohens book for the online version of ECO105, which cost several hundred dollars (and included an access key for the course materials). To my surprise a year later, the book expired after the course ended. Apparently all that money was only for a subscription to his book. Could not believe it.
It is his responsibility to check that if all marks are correctly uploaded. However, he missed several final exam papers which includes mine. And when I send him a mail, he answers he will leave tomorrow and will not return until June. During this time he will not answer any mail. It seems like he is irrelevant to the loss of my final exam.
8am lectures of which I did not miss a single one! (That was just unlucky, should be fine in later yrs) Although the online textbook was pretty expensive and mandatory, the overall course was very enjoyable. I took this course as breadth/for fun and it did not disappoint. best 3/4 tests 15% each, 25% final, 2 small writing assignments 300words
I actually really enjoyed the course material but really didint like him as a prof. he wrote the textbook and it's exactly the same as the lectures so if you dont click with his teaching/analogies you are screwed. Half way through the year I stopped attending lectures and after that my grades increased around 10 percent...
I went into this class with no prior econ background and only went to 2 lectures and got an A-. Prof Cohen designed eco105 from scratch to help students, like me, who had no background in economics, which I thought was nice of him. The tests are hard, the text book is more useful than lectures, and there are lots of easy ways to get extra marks.
Lectures were clear if somewhat boring. All his tests relied heavily on lectures and materials from his textbook, which are basically the same considering he wrote it. Writing assignments were easy marks and the tests weren't too bad, mostly multiple choice. Nice guy. You could do much worse.
Good prof.
This was, hands down, the most organized class with the clearest grading criteria I have ever taken. Although there is a lot of material, Avi tells you exactly what you need to know and provides you with every past exam, guide, and exemplar essay that you might possibly need. Following his advice (which he happily shares) will get you an A!
This class is very doable, even with no prior econ background.
An engaging professor who makes content easily understandable. Textbook matches the lectures exactly - lectures aren't mandatory. He provides a lot of resources for students who need extra help. Beware though - he can be cold in first-person and isn't sympathetic if you don't like your mark. A good prof, but is strict and don't expect niceties.
Really good at simplifying concepts so it's easier to understand.
He is a good prof but for his online class he assigns way too much work and the exams are nothing like the Pearson labs that he makes us breaks our backs for.
This prof does not give you any time for tests. He expects about 80 questions to be answered within 45 minutes and 4 long short answers to be answered within 20 minutes. He is unfair and will not accept any late submissions even if it is a real reason.
Econ with 45 minute seminars vs 3 hour lectures DEFINITELY changed the game. Love Econ, one of my favourites classes and Cohen is very passionate about the subject. He even wrote the textbook (which I personally think you dont need to buy because he has lecture slides with the exact same information). Cohen is the best Econ prof at york hands down
He's literally the worst! His exams have nothing to do with what he teaches. He purposely makes this class harder than it has to be just to maintain a low average. He does not care about his students and will not give extensions (even if your prove you have COVID during the pandemic)! Also this class is terrible online! Do not take!
I took ECO105 as an elective (music major) and it was the most useful and interesting elective course I've ever taken at UofT. It's not an easy class, you'll have to work for it, but the tests are straightforward and you won't have a problem if you learned and used the study materials.
I took Professor Cohen's class in-person before the pandemic. Nevertheless, Professor Cohen is organized and is excellent at simplifying complex economic theories. I cannot stress enough how clear he makes his expectations. He is right when he tells you "the only way to learn economics is to do economics." In other words, practice success.
Prof Cohen is the most organized and thoughtful instructor I've ever had. He provides everything that one can think of to assist you to study, and his lectures are super useful. He puts in a lot of effort in helping his students.
I have never been so disgusted by a professor before. Cohen has no care or understanding for his students and it shows through him giving the most absurd tests and time frames in the world. Eco105 may be easier than the much more math-centric eco101 and eco102, but hes insufferable.
Where to begin.. This professor is great at explaining things, but thats all. He is terrible, and I mean the ABSOLUTE WORST, at short answer questions. He says we have 4 questions to do, but those questions have sub parts, the sub parts of the questions have sub parts. He also gives very little time for tests. If you want a good grade, DO NOT TAKE.
Avi Cohen is a very accomplished professor and has informative lectures. However, he doesn't care about students and does not take time out to help students outside of the bare minimum. The course itself is easy and you'll get a good grade if you listen to lectures and take notes.
He was very organized! But with the pandemic, he made the tests MUCH harder than they should be. The past exams he gave us were so much easier, so if you're taking the class in-person, then you should be good. He was a good prof but I don't think he knew how to make proper tests during the pandemic. His textbooks were really costly too...
So incredibly dry and comes off as uncaring towards his students. In a course where econ is supposed to be simplified, I felt helpless and stupid. Literally made my first year so stressful. Of course he also makes you buy the textbook he wrote! Good luck to anyone stuck with him
Prof. Cohen makes introductory economics easy and attractive by giving amazing lectures that are easy to follow. Everything is given weeks in advance and explained clearly. He also utilizes the school's resources to make learning easier.
Avi Cohen is one of the few professors that can actually teach and get information across without overcomplicating everything. While his tests are difficult, the way he teaches this course makes you appreciate the art of economics and helps you apply your knowledge in the real world. One of the very few classes that are useful.
Avi Cohen is an incredible professor, and by that I mean incredibly horrible. Instead of spending the rest of my character limit explaining every reason he sucks (like his lack of organization, and his unclear explanations). Ill just advise you to not take his course. Seriously, run away like your life depends on it. If I could give a 0, I would.
course content is easy enough, but its like he wants you to do bad. his term tests are unreasonably complicated, you're required to attend tutorials if u wanna do good on the tests, but they could easily be recorded/summarized for ppl who are unable to attend. dont know why he has tests at specific times, when everything else is asynchronous.
This professor makes simple concepts extremely hard to understand
Easy course. Cohen just gives me greedy snake vibes who only cares about making bucks. He made us buy expensive textbooks (which he wrote and ones I ALREADY studied in grade 10!) and is also a prof at YorkU. Most of what he does is just assign his pre-recorded vids (from god knows when) and send passive aggressive emails. Gd at explaining stuff tho
This guy kind of sucks. Overall the format of the class is not annoying it is just the term tests that are unreasonably hard. He also makes you do these little quizzes every 2 weeks that are worth nothing 1% of your final grade but are time consuming. He also loves to send angry emails that is his favorite past time.
I had to drop my dream of going into International Relations because of this professor. Even though his course is well organized, he is cold and aloof to his students. His teaching assistants also marked very hard on every assessment which may be due to his expectations. This course is just unnecessarily hard seriously would not recommend it.
Prof Cohen is an okay lecturer and the course is decently organized. However, he isn't very approachable and I get the impression that he's not invested in his students. He comes off as very patronizing and apathetic. If you want to take econ, you're better off doing ECO101/102.
ECO105 the course itself is not hard at all if you put enough time and effort in this course. The final exams are a bit hard, but the mid-terms are okay. Prof is good at simplifying course content, his slides are concise and his explanation is decent. But he is kinda savage: likes sending angry emails, and doesn't have much empathy or care.
Eco105 is supposed to be easier, but speaking for A LOT of people; you'd be way better off taking eco101/102. If you do plan on taking this course, be prepared for lots of passive aggressive emails and announcements.
Offered the best lectures which were concise and easy to understand. Helped out students when needed during his office hours. You don't need to read the textbook. The course is broken up perfectly and gives you many opportunities to bring up your mark if you mess up on the term tests and exams which he made rather difficult (exams especially.)
Online lectures are straight forward and clear. No need to do the readings if you understand the lectures. Hard to get a grasp of the prof in an asynchronous course but he seems no-nonsense, but not rude. Honestly the worst part about this course are the TAs. I took it in 2021/2022. Some a really tough graders or suck at explaining things.
online lectures were very clear. you don't need to buy the textbook because its the same content thats covered in the lectures. if you do buy the textbook its useful for the end of chapter practice quizzes because he uses some of them In his actual quizzes/ tests. do your lectures on time and do lots of practice questions and you'll do well.
Cohen was organized and no-nonsense. Not sure why people are so bitter--he clearly outlines his expectations, you just have to do the work to get there. I had to consistently put in a lot(!!) of effort to get the grades I wanted, but what else are you expecting? His syllabus is a roadmap to a 4.0, so don't stress about these reviews :)
I'm not one for track and field but when I say run away from this course... I mean turn around and RUN. There is absolutely no support given from the prof, the work is unnecessarily time consuming, and he only ever explains things in one way, so if you have questions, don't expect to find a deeper explanation/answers from the prof.
Avi is very good at economics I would say because he has PHD from Stanford but that does not mean he is good at teaching nor planning course materials. An access code cost 112.5 without e-text? Seriously expensive! The test he gave will just make you feel that you are not studying enough. The amount of time is just not enough. 35 mins for 2 Long Q
Professor Cohen's lectures are very clear, but there is A LOT of homework. Each week requires reading, a lecture module, practice questions, study plan questions, and a quiz every 2 weeks. The class isn't bad, but it is time-consuming. Professor Cohen clearly knows what he's talking about and the recorded lectures aren't too boring.
Does not care about his students, he makes his quizzes super easy and then ups the difficulty to an extreme on exams/term tests. Overcomplicates and makes concepts harder to understand in his lecture videos.
his parents definitely hated him as a child and now we all have to suffer. free us
This guy made us pay almost $200 for a module and hands us some old lecture videos and expected us to know advanced economics on the day of the midterms and finals. His tests are insane & lot harder than the material taught. In my opinion, you would be better off taking eco101/102 instead of eco105, which is supposed to be easier.
*heavy* workload! But the professor is very good at what he does. No nonsense. My advice: put his lectures on 2x speed, captions on. Take notes, in ur own words. Don't bother reading the textbook unless there's a specific point you're still confused about after the lecture. For exams, do EVERY single past test/exam he provides. Attend tutorials.
Not worth it to get into IR, too difficult. Prepare to deal with someone whos vindictive prideful, and way too self-satisfied
I REGRET taking this class. The quizzes, readings, and tutorials are understandable, but this is deceiving. They don't prepare you for the exams which are shockingly difficult. If you want to ask questions during the lectures, you'll have to deal with Cohen's spiteful and condescending attitude. He seems to view many questions as a personal attack.
This class is so not worth taking. There were too many things to do, and it was extremely difficult to get a high grade. BTW, you'll be forced to pay $200 for an e-textbook. I spent more time completing the assignments in this class than in my major courses. The content of the class had nothing to do with the exam content.
I don't recommend ECO105, simply because of Avi Cohen and his teaching style. Every week there is an online module due and weekly office hours. However, the online modules are outdated by 7yrs and he shames students for questions during office hours. If you send him an email, don't be surprised if you receive a super petty response. He is a grouch.
Overall the class was super stressful. Online quizzes that had nothing to do with the lectures. Lecture context and data that is way out dated to even be considered in a lecture setting. I asked a question it his 9 am lived and he laughed at me and said the answer is quite obvious. They textbook and is 200 dollars. I would not re take this course!
this class is hard. if u want to be an IR major suck it up and take 101, you will not regret it, nor will you get an 80 in this class. I am sad, i want to drop out because of this class. Me and my homies hate eco105.
This course felt like getting hit in the face with a bag of rocks. The absolute disconnect between Avi Cohen and his TA's, and the lecture material and the exams should be studied in a lab. I have never felt more depressed than I have taking this "bird" course, save your mental health (and $200 for the textbook) and take ECO101/102 TBH.
massive disconnect between the weekly quizzes and the major tests. however, the prof provides old test materials and there are so many assessments that you can mess up and still recover. prof can be condescending. it's all economic theory with NO math. you just need to know the theory, unlike eco101-102. if you're willing to put in the work, take
I took this course for trying to meet requirements for IR after hearing bad experiences from 101/102, but you're so much better off in 101/102 if you're trying to meet cut offs. There's a huge disconnect between quizzes, exams, and course content. The exams are so much more difficult compared to course content and not at all like the quizzes.
The most horrible professor ever. Did not care about students. Impossible to have a meeting with him or his TA. For some reason, his TA names are top secret. Required students to pay for the tests and exams. Only tiny fraction of the class have grade above 80. If such amount of students fails the subject, it is the professor's fault.
Prof. Cohen provides all the information needed to succeed on the Quercus page. If you use all the information and materials provided, you will have little to no issues with this course. Tests/exams are more difficult than other course materials, but Cohen makes past tests available and easily accessible, making studying straightforward.
Amazing teacher amazing class makes me love Econ SO GOOD AT EXPLAINING he sets you up for success as long as you read the syllabus. TO succeed in this course read the textbook watch the lecture then re read the text book and DO THE REFRESH QUESTIONS then do the MEL questions they are exactly like the quizzes and for exams DO PROBLEM SETS so amazing
He wrote his own textbook that he reads off of. Doesn't care about his students at all, kind of a fend for yourself situation. He seemed full of himself and didn't explain the concepts well, left me more confused than before. Turned me off from economics. I still don't understand what opportunity cost is (that was module 1).
I just did the first term test of eco105 today morning, and it was way harder than the 2022 past test! Eco105 with this prof has been much more difficult in recent years, so I would highly recommend taking eco101 for people who wants to get into irhr major :(
He is very good at explaining economic concepts and relating them to daily life. Great experience in this course so far! Just stay on top of the material and do the past tests and you will do well.
Honestly, I do not think he is as bad as some people make him to be. If you complete all the homework and readings each week, the content is understandable. He does a decent job explaining the content but his exams are definitely a lot harder than the quizzes. But since the op-eds are a good way to boost our mark, I won't complain too much.
People who rate Prof. Cohen poorly have not been paying attention in class or not putting sufficient effort into the course. A significant time investment is req'd in this class, with weekly assignments. Yet, everything is provided for the student to succeed (office hrs, book, quizzes) and the onus is on the student to succeed and be self-motivated
UofT is a school filled with students who complain more than they study. Professor Cohen is a wonderful teacher who is passionate about economics and sets all his students up for sucess it just depends on if you actually listen. I mean when you look at york's reviews they are so high vs uoft it goes to show maybe the students are the problem..
The lecture modules are clear, concise, and interesting. Prof. Cohen really sets you up for success in the course if you take advantage of all the material given
Keeps last minute changing deadlines when on reading week (holiday). This would not be a problem if the deadline moved back, but he decides to move it forward, making me lose GPA. Just annoying, and is not needed at all. Why would you even decide to move it forward??
Great prof and course. I learned a lot.
Sucks........
Love! Great introduction to econ. if you follow the course instructions, watch all the lectures, and do all the assignments, you'll do well. I found the content super interesting.
Honestly I think he did a very good job explaining concepts - he always held optional review sessions before tests and gave lots of practice exams. His tests are true to the practice exams, as long as you keep up with the material, get the easy marks from quizzes and tutorials and do the practice tests you can definitely succeed in this class.
Man, I really wish that he had more respect and empathy for students (especially first years) instead of just seeing us as numbers. He is hilarious for sure, but, idk, I feel like I didn't get my money's worth for this course based on his lectures & stuff I learned. I hope that he is better next year for others who needs this class
psychological warfare
As someone who had no high-school background in economics, ECO105Y1 was structured in a way that was easy for me to understand with the help of thorough lecture modules, textbooks, and tutorials. Prof. Cohen is a great resource to help you do well in (and enjoy) the course if you put in the effort to ask for help and clarification.
I don't understand these negative reviews… this class is absolutely a “you get in what you get out.” I did quite poorly on one exam, but I knew that it was MY lack of preparedness not Prof. Cohen's. I definitely didn't go over practice exams/questions enough. Good guy, who has no interest in making you fail at all. Lots of chances to be prepared!
I took this Fall 2022 but I forgot to give my negative review. This class made me not take International Relations and made me lose interest in Economics. Online courses suck in general, but he did a very bad job at explaining concepts and being accommodating. The assignments and content were so harsh for a first year course
Definitely a tough course, prof cohen is very knowledgeable, but his teaching was not for me.
Not as bad as many others have said. Very test heavy with 4 tests basically making up 3/4 of your grade. Really helps if you've taken AP, A-Level, or IB eco before as some topics may not be so easy to grasp immediately. (Pro-tip: do the practice questions for term tests, a good 2/3 of the questions are just copy and pasted)
Lectures are recorded for ECO105. The timeslot given on Acorn is basically just an office hours style overview of the week's material, its completely optional.
Low-effort course with prerecorded lecture videos from years ago. They're are not poorly made, but are certainly calibres below Khan Academy videos available for free online. It was required to purchase his book which costed over $160! There were over 1000 students...took the class for a full year and never met him. He sure is good at making money.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
23%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.91 avg changeRatings by Course
ECON1000
5.0
(1)ECO105
3.6
(40)ECO105Y1
2.4
(62)Difficulty by Course
ECO105Y1
3.5
ECO105
3.0
ECON1000
2.0