1.9
Quality3.5
Difficulty13%
Would Retake93
Reviews13%
Would Retake
93
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
10
4
3
3
12
2
14
1
54
What Students Say
“Irresponsible, Disrespectful, and Underqualified”
ACTSC371 - 1.0 rating“irresponsible and unprofessional”
ACTSC371 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
33%
Textbook Required
82%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.16 avg changeRatings by Course
ACTSC221
2.7
(10)COMM421
2.3
(16)ACTSC371
1.9
(55)ACTSCI371
1.5
(2)ACTS371
1.1
(10)Difficulty by Course
ACTSCI371
4.0
ACTSC371
3.7
ACTS371
3.6
ACTSC221
3.1
COMM421
3.0
Reviews (93)
nice guy, helpful...he's the master when it comes to CFA stuff
I think he is a very helpful prof.If you meet him in person he's pretty reasonable.I took this course in winter 08.His lectures and written examples are effective though his hand writing is terrible.Basically if you do most of the examples at the end of each chapter in the textbook, and attend all the lectures, you can easily get a 90.
AMAZING. As long as you go to lectures and study for the term tests, the final's a breeze. He's extremely reasonable and adjusts the weighting if you do well on the final. Also, he's really helpful if you go see him during office hours and he sees that you're making an effort.
Brent is amazing. His explanations are clear, his examples are relevant and sometimes the exact same questions show up on the quizzes and final. The more textbook problems you do, the better. I went in to the final with a 97. The first day of class he said it's disgusting to see people fail this course...he's right, cause it's so easy to get 90's
He's a chill prof who's very laid back and easy going, which makes attending lectures alright. But he is lazy as hell. Has provided absolutely no marks for us before the final so we have no idea how we're doing in the course. Also, he references examples from the textbook, but his edition is ancient, one that you can't find.
He knows the material he's teaching, but that doesn't necessarily make him a good teacher. He does almost no examples in class, no written notes, he comes to class and talks. If you miss anything he says as you're making notes and ask him later to clarify, he helps begrudgingly, constantly reminding you that he mentioned it in class.
Very horrible prof. I was so excited about this course and the final was SOOO hard! i studied all term and did not miss a lecture. He cannot explain the material to properly and everything is so vague. Do not take him if you do not have to!
Very smart/nice guy, but unfortunately doesn't teach very well. Final was much harder than the midterms, so be sure to ace those and the assignments.
Brent is a nice guy but he should improve his lecture style. A financial analysis class shouldn't be taught like a math course. This course is more subjective and should be taught like a business course (i.e. WLU ones) Students won't absorb the material if it is taught in a mundane way. Tests are fair but lots of material are covered
Takes awhile to upload things onto D2L and he is only teaching one course... (he reads his ratemyprof comments btw)
The material was not difficult, but he did not cover it well in class. Students are responsible for knowing the material, so be very responsible in this course.
Begrudgingly helps students when asked outside of class, always says that he mentioned it in class. Rambles in class and goes off-track and doesn't teach the material well at all. Avoid if possible.
I was a bit surprised when picking up my midterm. I got 90%+ on it, but saw several horrible grades like 5/37... I think it was really straight forward and there were absolutely no tricks on the midterm. Haven't had the final yet but I know it will be a lot harder, however the midterms were just easy marks..hard material was rushed at the end.
The material was not difficult to grasp, but always read the textbook and do not rely on his explanations. He repeatedly said he was a good professor, but good teaching does not require an explanation.
I was disappointed that he thought labeling his midterms as 'fair' could compensate for his poor teaching. High marks in this class (like the student below) were not attributed to his explanations.
The final exam was fair, if you read the text and do the practice problems at the end of each chapter, then you will be fine. The time for final is tight, as well as midterms, make sure you don't spend too much time on a single problem and practice before exams. I personally think the prof is nice. He improved a lot compare to the last term.
This is an introductory course to corporate finance, attendance to the lecture is important. Study before the lecture and you will know what the prof is talking about. This wouldn't be a hard course if you want to make effort to it. The prof responses the email and answers the problem in detail and patient. P.s. He smiles sweet!
very nice prof but unfortunately doesn't teach very well. Brent should put more effort on the board. The finals and midterms are fair.
Had very long midterms but the final was fair.He marked fairly, but was a terrible lecturer. Loved to talk about his jobs, much to the boredom of the students. Wasn't very helpful. Threatened to press charges of harassment against a guy in my class who went to his office for help repeatedly.
Absolutely phenomenal prof!He is ALWAYS available for students,responding to emails within minutes from his Blackberry.Lectures are interesting and clear.He discusses life experiences to provide students with knowledge of the industry,not to the boredom of students as someone mentioned.Study your material and you will be fine!Tests are always fair.
Definitely one of my favourite professors since attending UW! He prepares his students very well for the midterm and makes class interesting. If he teaches any other courses I will be sure to take them! :)
Fair tests, but not half as engaging as he claims it is. I would actually be more interested if he spent more time explaining basic concepts instead of talking about random things.
DONT take his class! awful prof. he maybe smart, but he is not a prof. He talks about everything but never gives a reasonable explanation. Very boring.
He claimed to want students to succeed but was very unfriendly when answering emails. He needs to go through more examples of questions on the board instead of having them already solved on slides. His midterms are fairly predictable however he did not give sufficent time for students to complete midterm 1. Wouldnt take another class with him.
He is an easy professor relative to the hard course. I barely picked up anything from class. The exams were tough.
Never take his class
we did 6 assignments and only got 2 back before the FINAL EXAM. He usually posted assignment solutions really late so we cannot use them to study for midterms. Not helpful at all.
hes not very nice
would not take his class again. He shouldn't be a prof
Great prof! Cares about the students who actually show up to class and want to learn. If you plan to skip classes however, I recommend taking this course with a different prof.
The prof is very rude and not helpful most of the time. He likes to be off topic and very unclear on what he is trying to teach
really bad prof, one of badest prof I have seen, test is hard this term, and not helpful, not kind, To sum up, bad bad bad bad prof
He responds to most emails in a very aggressive and rude manner. I wish he understood what being a teacher is really about. He assumes the worst of all students and has negative preconceptions in his mind. Furthermore, he is very disorganized and has not marked any assignments and gave details for a major project after the term was halfway through.
Very bad prof. His lectures felt like it was all over the place and he rarely ever wrote things on the board to solve example questions, only went through pre-made slides.
This prof/Advisor is not helpful at all. He is sooo rude and aggressive while replying students' emails. He doesn't care about students' feeling at all.
I am not sure why people hate on this guy, but in my opinion he is an awesome prof. He responds emails fast and provides clear answers. He is VERY helpful outside of class, and his lectures are not boring as well. He could be snobby at times, but not frequent. Always attend his class or you will be screwed on tests. However, TAs mark very hard!
worst professor ever
A bit slow to mark assignments and rude in emails, but in class/in person he is very approachable and fairly polite. His exams have no tricks and are straight from the lecture slides/textbooks.
This guy just taught random things in class. I think he doesn't want his students to learn anything from him, instead he just wants to show off how smart he is.Maybe he is a prof, but he is not a instructor. Avoid him please.
One piece of very useful advice for students that are going to take his course: drop it now!!!
Worst prof I've ever seen! I don't think he really knows what he want to teach, he just taught a lot random things in class. And he always waste time on mentioning his "great" experience on some random things which is really not helpful for students. He is lazy to finish marking assignments. You probably won't see your assignments marks forever.
very rude advisor , not helpfull, very rude at e-mails as well. AVOID.
Arrogant and rude, explanations only confuse people
The class was not interesting and he didn't help the situation. He expects you to have finance knowledge coming into the course. The package of past assignments and midterms he provided us were super helpful though.
His lectures are totally useless. I have totally no clue what he was talking about all the time. I survived by studying the materials from other profs who had taught this course in UW.
Worst professor ever! Don't send email to him. His lecture is really boring and helpless.
Excellent prof with tons of knowledge and great speech.He makes the course interesting and helpful with his experience.He is doing a GREAT JOB!
The WORST penmanship ever. He puts up solutions to past assignments and midterms, but what's the point if you can't make out the writing? His excel examples in class are also sometimes hard to follow.
I took both actsc371 & comm421 with him. His lecture is sooooo useless. I got not bad grades for both courses in the end, but literally I learned nothing. He's obviously weak on technical stuff that's why he always tells irrelevant stories. Avoid his lecture as much as possible!!
Approachable person but horrible prof. Extremely unclear lectures, goes off tangent and talks about random topics that have nothing to do with course material, and disorganized. Had weekly "pop quizzes" that started in September, not a single one was returned or mark posted for the rest of the course even though he claimed he marked them.
Worst prof ever.
Worst Prof ever! Spend all lecture time on useless "interesting" stories. If you want to take his ACTSC371, please be sure you can pass CFA test to pass this course. All thing you need to study must be from textbook but he will never test on that. Bad performance in office hour. Never actually answer the questions. Avoid his class as you can.
Irresponsible, Disrespectful, and Underqualified. He never hands back tests or assignments, does a botch job with marking and thinks he is smarter than he really is. Its a shame that he was given an office in M3... an insult to every other prof working there. Shame.
Lectures are irrelevant and unhelpful to the point that I had to learn the whole course from the textbook and Google. Office hours? Even more unhelpful and meaningless. Bottom line: if you have a class with this prof, it's wise to take it with a different prof.
Hey i wonder if anyone from the university's admin office would come here and read the ratingscomments from fellow students. If so, you see all the bad reviews we gave to Brent. Maybe he knows tons of knowledge related to the financial industry but he's not meant to be in school and teach. I have never seen such an irresponsible professor.
irresponsible and unprofessional
I think this guy figures we can just use Investopedia so he doesn't teach the important stuff and tells us stories about his daughter in class instead. wtf
the course is there for you if you want the following: 1. do not know whats coveredwhats not. 2. prof does not reply to emailreply rudely. 3. get up at 5, like me on the exam day, to cover up the things he claimed to be testable, but never taught in class. 4. listen to stories of his wife, daughter. 5. you name it.
Brent has ALOT of external commitments, so he won't have time to have office hours, tutorials, or even lectures. The textbook for this course is his biography because all he talks about is his life stories in class. Hes extremely qualified to be everything but an actsc professor, so before you click enroll make sure your prof isnt BJM.
Worst Prof ever! DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS! he has no respect for students, he's lecturers are so boring. He goes on and on about his family and skip the important part of the lecture. He gets mad at you for making him repeat the important points, he calls you names, and he is the worst advisor too. He also has no respect for his fellow advisors!
BM rarely teaches. Lectures include BM getting upset at students, reading off slides and telling to stories of his past co-ops, job positions and his daughter. With regards to marking, assignments will never be on time and in some cases - lost. If you've taken ECON 101, consider ACTSC 371 with BM a harder equivalent - just read the text and slides.
1010 best story telling class ever. We learned so much about his daughter and how bankers were not at fault for the crash of 2008. His stolen lecture slides were kind of meh but he made up for it in personality. Youll sure to be more confused than a jamaican guy in china town after attending his lectures. Hes not BM hes GM (good manners)
I heard stories about this guy and for real he needs to grow up
Worst prof ever! Never answers students question and not clear on what material is covered and what is not.
His ability to teach makes me want to cry. This guy makes me worried about this world as a whole. What a detriment to UW....
By far the worst professor in UW. Whenever i went to brents
worst proff ever - very rude in his email and not a knowledgeable guy.
Just a very rude person. And, only give out important administrative information in lectures so students would have to go to his classes listening to him bragging about his past experiences.
90 in this class Read textbook/investopedia/LISTEN as he will test on verbally communicated info. Tests are copied STRAIGHT FROM EXCELS. his style of teaching is NOT COPY NOTES, READ NOTES, DO WELL. he goes off on tangents and he's trying to share a perspective on REAL issues he is always willing to help during office hours
Prepare for the teaching experience beyond your imagination. No help, no care of for student, mark exams for 2 months, sometimes skip tutorial he himself held up. Only good side is that he makes easy exam since he doesnt care.
Terrible.
Does not care about students, merely replies email Class materials are irrelevant, Do not take his class. Highly not recommended.
Seldom replies to posts on Piazza, does not help students to learn, TERRIBLE.
Consider not taking his class if you have alternatives.
Horrible...
Tests materials does not reflect textbook contents and lecture slides, irresponsible.
His lecture is a joke.....
- Comm 421's group project was the best thing that i did in UW. - Brent voluntarily shares invaluable real life experiences that you would appreciate if the course content is not your only concern. - Brent is a good prof in the wrong school - much suited in Laurier or any B-School. - He is the only CFA charter holder in UW.
Please avoid at all cost, very rude and careless prof. You should be better off by just reading the textbook and doing textbook examples
Worst GUY ever
Actually the reason I chose this course is I want to improve my GPA. However, Brent made me feel disappointed on actual science. He never post on learn the exam info. No assignments solution post on learn. Our 3rd midterm failed almost half class. He never curve. He should also find some reasons on himself compare to 231 Prof this term.
- Great prof, very accommodating to the class in terms of quiz and project scheduling - Easy quizzes as long as you go to class and listen
worst prof in ACTSC
Literally Worst
Brent likes to give life examples to illustrate, but I got lost in his examples sometimes and cannot get back to lecture.
Literally the worst...
Just bad....
absolutely horrible avoid at all cost
Prof Matheson is engaging; I don't think he's that bad of a prof. The issue is, you MUST attend lectures in order to keep up with the content, because he doesn't upload many examples to the course site (mainly just practice questions). He's nicer in person; he seems blunt and not understanding online. He's nicer when you ask questions irl.
Tests are extremely random and are off the slides. All important points are delivered ONLY orally in class and CANNOT be found on slides so if you got sick or drifted off for a few seconds then good luck because there is absolutely no place to catch up. Slides are not helpful and not related to tests so could still get 0 even if memorized them all.
He is so rude when I asked for support and guidance during quizzes and exam. I feel so dismissed and unsupported!
All the things that were tested were delivered orally in class, and the slides that he provided were actually useless. However, an interesting thing is that his lecture is actually horrible. Instead of clearly interpreting the concepts, he likes to talk about his personal stories. So you will always get lost during the lecture time.
Brent's COMM421 class is a mixed bag - the lectures can be disjointed, but his real-world examples make it worthwhile. The tests are tough if you miss class. unstuck ai and the free textbook help fill the gaps.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
33%
Textbook Required
82%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.16 avg changeRatings by Course
ACTSC221
2.7
(10)COMM421
2.3
(16)ACTSC371
1.9
(55)ACTSCI371
1.5
(2)ACTS371
1.1
(10)Difficulty by Course
ACTSCI371
4.0
ACTSC371
3.7
ACTS371
3.6
ACTSC221
3.1
COMM421
3.0