2.3
Quality3.1
Difficulty35%
Would Retake124
Reviews35%
Would Retake
124
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
124 total ratings5
21
4
8
3
15
2
17
1
63
What Students Say
“What the heck was that midterm”
ECON326 - 1.0 rating“bad prof but nice guy”
ECON101 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
65%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.19 avg changeRatings by Course
ECON101
2.4
(32)ECON102
2.3
(73)ECON226
2.0
(2)ECON325
1.7
(15)ECON326
1.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
ECON326
5.0
ECON325
3.7
ECON226
3.5
ECON102
3.0
ECON101
3.0
Reviews (123)
The guy goes really in depth with every concept, but it's pretty slow and boring. You could honestly skip his lectures and still do well because his exams are really easy. The only problem that I have is that he doesn't allow laptops.
What the heck was that midterm
He's decent at explaining but he rarely gives real life examples. His midterm was alright but his final was pretty difficult.
This professor has very hard midterms and does not spend class time to efficiently deliver the material.
literally the worst course so far!! he makes it sooo slow and boring and on top of that the midterms are unbelievably difficult and doesnt scale the grades as much. Also, he does not respond to emails quickly. He's not the kind of prof who would make you love the subject.
The worst prof I have ever met. His lectures are not clear and understandable at all, and boring. Very heavy emphasis on the final. This is a summer course so it is pretty fast paced; however, he spent a week teaching one chapter, and then spent two lectures covering three chapters, he wasn't even able to finish the syllabus.
Extremely boring lectures, I simply cannot stay awake. The most horrendous prof I have ever met. Extremely disorganized. He goes super slowly in the beginning and goes to light speed on the last lecture. No point attending the lectures whatsoever since his midterms consisted of problems from the Pearson problem bank.
One of The worst prof Ive had. Dr Mahmoud is patient and willing to listen to advice. However, his lecture is boring, dry, and unfocused. Besides, hes not familiar with web oriented classes which leads to excessive questions within a short Exam time. He promised to reweight the exam score but end up didnt
Mahmoud is different, his lecture style is similar to that of a math professor, using proofs and deduction to reach a conclusion, but without many examples or logical explanation. If you're use to that kind of style, he's a good professor, with simple midterms and a harder final. However if you're not used to this, his lectures are very dry.
Professor Mahmoud speaks a little fast during lectures, but if you listen carefully and pay attention, you'll find that he explains things well. Make sure you read the textbook - it will help with the lecture content. Would recommend, especially for first year econ courses!
Even though it was an online course & it was also his first online course because of COVID, he is a terrible teacher. Does not turn on his webcam during lectures, nobody knows who he is. His exams are absolutely not the same level of difficulty as homework & practice questions. When the class average of a midterm was a fail, the prof is bad.
His lectures are extremely boring. He doesn't try to engage with the class during lectures. He doesn't allow students to type questions into the lecture chat. He doesn't hold any office hours because apparently students can't attend since they're in different time zones. That's the dumbest excuse I've ever heard. Worse class I've ever taken.
Boring class and sometimes late
Terrible professor, does not teach at all. No webcam so no one knows who he is. Teaches one chapter in 1 day 5 days before the exam.
Skipped several classes during the term and putting an extra chapter right before the final, great.
I cannot believe that, in 2020 we have python, R, and even excel to analyse data, but this man test a lot calculation about IQR, SD, Cor, corr and etc in his every exam, CRAZY!
Slides are garbage
OMG Mahmoud is the best Econ prof out there! You guys need to be in his class! 10/10 would recommend!!! P.S. he drippy doe
Terrible lecturer. He is so boring and never engages the class. Always tries to sneak in the most important concept in the last minute of class and constantly goes overtime. Always rambles on topics that aren't important. Class moves way too slow, so we're gonna have to shove 5 chapters into one class. Could talk and nobody would listen
Thinking about which Econ prof to choose from? I can honestly say this guy is the hidden gem. His exams are exponentially easier than the rest yet our section averages were similar. Sit in the front, do the easy weekly hw, and read a bit of the textbook. All the tryhards don't pick him so its easy to get above the curve and an ez A. DHTPHTG
Professor Mahmoud is a solid choice for ECON 101, his tests are actually ok compared to other profs. Lectures are very boring and kind of useless (bad slides) so the textbook plays a big part of your learning, along with online practice questions, weekly homework and tutorials. Good point though: hes engaging with the class and is a nice guy!
I took his econ 325. I miss my homework once and email him twice on the weekend, He replies to both of my emails later in the week. He is very caring and thoughtful for students.
Prof Mahmoud is quite knowledgeable in the subject but I find that it's hard to pay attention in his class (you have to really try). His exams are fair and you can do well on them if you understand the textbook content fully. I recommend going to the tutorials because the discussion questions give a good idea of what might be on the exam.
Possibly one of the worst lectures I have ever seen. I die from boredom during the lectures. The discussion sessions which are supposed to be small group discussions (15-20) have more than 100 people. The TA just posts the questions, answers them without even asking the students at least what their thoughts were in the chat. Expected more from UBC.
I cannot even begin to describe what a bad prof this guy is. Do not take his class. Do yourself a favour.
Explained how to calculate things verbally and never showed us on paper how to do it. I got lost in all his words and was not engaging.
This is a SELF TAUGHT class, there is absolutely no benefit in taking this class unless you are ready to teach yourself. I rely entirely on textbooks, past paper questions, Quizlet notes, and classmates. I'm sure he is a GREAT guy, but being great does NOT make you a great teacher. Very lengthy, wordy, boring lectures.
Do not choose this prof. As an INTRO to macro class and he finds a way to overcomplicate and confuse every student with his 'teaching'. Everyone relies completely on the textbook and self teaches the material, and prays that whatever you have studied is on tests. There are over 200 people in my section and 100 people go.
Would give him 0 stars if I could. Terrible prof who cancels class last minute, lectures are extremely unengaging, does not communicate with students. Rarely replies to emails and Piazza posts. Additionally, his lectures are unclear and he does not properly communicate what students need to know on exams. I would not recommend taking his class.
He's just bad at teaching. Goes on one slide and explains useless things for 20 minutes that's not on the exam. Overall just terrible. Midterms and final is worth a majority of the grade (85%). Do not recommend taking ECON with Mahmoud unless you want to suffer for a whole term.
Please do not take this course i beg of you. He doesn’t know how to be a lecturer, you get bored in his classes and end up learning everything by yourself from the book or youtube.
He is definitely not the best lecturer and his slides are irrelevant even tho you have to show up (clicker). However despite what I have heard he is caring and considerate and as long as you reach out he will be listening to your comments and concerns. Unfortunately the midterms are often on things we saw long before but overall grading is fair.
Although Mahmoud is not the best lecturer, he is a caring and funny individual. His tests are straightforward and are mainly multiple choice. If you want to do well I suggest reading the textbook and doing the pearson questions to understand the concepts. Definitely not the best but better than other econ profs.
Had to rely on textbook only and past exams to prepare for midterms/final. His lectures are super boring but he uses iclicker so attendance is necessary. I did pretty bad for the midterms so I'm extremely worried about the final. He seems like a caring person, but I don't recommend taking this prof if you can avoid it
Awful experience. Lectures were just him talking and I can't remember the last time he answered a question on Piazza. He seemed angry and annoyed at having to teach. I pretty much had to teach myself from the textbook. Almost everyone I've talked to had the same experience.
Although I'm sure he is a great guy, he made this course way harder than it needed to be. His lectures weren't engaging and hard to follow. Had to teach myself the whole course with the textbook. Not all the chapters on the syllabus were covered and he would cram an entire chapter into one class. Highly wouldn't recommend him, do yourself a favour
Although he is not a disrespectful professor in any way and is actually kind of nice, he just simply isn't a great lecturer and is not very engaging. His lecture slides are very disorganized and does not teach the material very well. Advice would be to read the textbook instead of attending lectures and rely on the discussion questions for practice
Prof Mahmoud isn't the greatest at lecturing, but it's quite manageable to self-teach the course since all of his exam questions come from the textbook. I wouldn't recommend going to lectures as they're very boring unless you can FORCE yourself to pay attention. I recommend doing the discussion questions - they show up on the exams!
This professor is amazing. Highly recommend! You will not regret it.
Knowledgeable, but unclear in the moment during lectures. If you rewatch them, it becomes more understandable. Lectures were also paced too slowly and the syllabus was not finished.
The course material itself is not quite difficult and can be interesting. His tests are easy enough to get a fine grade. However, sometimes lectures can be quite boring.
Hated this class. It's completely self-taught; don't bother going to lectures because he can't teach at all and will cancel last min. The iClickers are only worth 5% anyways & he stopped doing them halfway through. The exams are alright, do the textbook questions at the end of each chapter as well as the discussion questions and you should be fine.
Pros: Ez to crack exams if you solve discussion/end of chapter/learning-curve questions, TB is enough, Ez 10% on HW (infinite attempts); Cons: Poor teaching quality (covering content/addressing Qs/engagement), (Occasional) disparity in class and TB concepts (impacts exam); For an A: Attend discussion, read TB, solve TB Qs (lectures not useful!).
For this class basically being self-taught, it was very easy to manage due to the fact that we moved through topics very slowly each week. I was hesitant to take the class because of the reviews but I'm so happy I did. Do all the end-of-chapter textbook/TA questions and you'll ace the exams. If you have gateman for 101 you'll find it much easier.
boring PPT, boring teaching, boring everything in his class..
He does not know how to teach, going to class is a waste of time and his tests are way harder than what he teaches in class. He does not know how to explain basic economic concepts and overcomplicates everything and makes topics extremely hard to understand. This course is essentially a self study and he does not give any material to practice.
Professor Mahmoud is a very nice guy and he is very interested in what he teaches, however, his lectures are really what made this course draining. I found that in a lot of his lectures, it was tough to get any information out of any of them. I found myself relying on the textbook to teach me concepts way more often than I should have.
Tests and exams are very very extremely easy if you do all the practice problems/test bank/book problems. Lecture are extremely boring and dry so study by book/YouTube but go to lectures for iClicker (easy marks). He is caring and knowledgable just doesn't communicate well. TA helped with understanding most concepts so that's that.
Did great on all the midterms, somehow got a fifty on the final even though I studied... Teacher set us up to fail the final because he wanted to curve the class down...
Absolutely horrible experience. Ridiculously hard final with too little time to answer too many questions... He does this because he is terrible at designing standard tests which will be aligned with the section average policies. There is barely any "teaching" and example-solving. Just reads off of his slides and writes down useless information.
Finals are worth 60 percent.....
This class has an amazing finals as it is worth 60% of your whole grade. This means that you could fail this course last second. Thus, not recommended for your credit, GPA, and for your own learning. In summary, try to avoid this prof at all cost if you want to maintain your GPA.
Nope! Don't take it!
How is it possible to talk in monotone for 90 minutes straight
didnt really find his lectures useful at all. self studied the txtbk entirely. no recordings also
It's the beginning of the semester and he has barely taught anything. This guy is the worst professor I have had so far and no one in his class cares about learning because he is so bad. AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS or just learn everything by yourself through textbooks.
Professor Mahmoud is an icon. Sure he can't teach well and his lectures are boring but if you study the textbook and go to you tutorials (especially focus on the questions given in tutorials), it's easy to get an high grade in his class. Some Iclickers are tough tho.
I had Professor Mahmoud for both 101 and 102 so I'm a credible source. Sure he can't teach well and his lectures are boring but if you study the textbook and go to you tutorials (especially focus on the questions given in tutorials), it's easy to get a high grade in his class. Some Iclickers are tough tho.
Extremely boring and disorganized lectures
He is awsome.
extremely boring
The class and prof were alright, but his teaching method kind of sucks. He speaks in a monotonous voice, which made lectures a snooze fest. Stuff covered in the lectures was useless since it was formula derivations, while the exams were based off of problems from the textbook, tutorials, and a bit from the slides / iclickers.
He is a caring professor who is very intelligent. His lectures are pretty bland, but if you talk to him one on one, he can help you out a lot. Overall, as a professor he is not the greatest, but as an individual and teacher he is great.
Dry, dry, lectures.
Not the most interesting lecturer and disorganized at times but not the hardest class to get a good grade as long as you study the textbook. Attendance is mandatory bc of iclicker but the tests aren't to bad as long as you're willing to put in the work to review textbook material and do the practice questions. seems like a nice guy
Lectures are extremely boring and it is almost certain some days you will have no idea what was talked about. You are better off skipping class and reading the textbook, it's where all the exam questions are from anyway. I'm sure he is a lovely person, but he just can't teach.
Although the lectures weren't necessary to do well on the exams at all, if you had a passion for economics you would enjoy them. I read the reviews on here and was definitely afraid prior to starting classes but I can tell you first-hand that he is definitely very underrated as a prof. I wasn't too happy about the weightage given to clickers,etc.
Although Mahmoud may not be the most entertaining lecturer, he's genuinely a really nice guy and wants his students to do well. Exams were all reasonable and similar to content provided in tutorials. After reading his original reviews I was skeptical at first, but glad I ended up taking him. If you had Gateman for 101 this is much easier.
Mahmoud is a nice guy... don't get me wrong, he is just not good at teaching. His lecturing is boring and disorganized (he spent 30 min explaining y = mx +b while skipping complicated concepts in 3 lines). His tests are not only imprecise but also sometimes unrelated to what was taught. But if you read a lot of txtbk you can get really good grades.
The lectures were monotonous and boring. He is a nice guy, but not preferred as a professor. Midterms and Final exams were hard and different from expected, except for a few identical questions from ACHIEVE. Definitely be ready to self-study for all exams. Would NEVER take his class again though.
He seems nice enough but his lectures are awfully boring and quite useless, which sucks because he had a 7% iClicker component. The textbook is going to be your best friend. The material itself is not hard, but the questions in the exams are phrased in a complicated manner which makes them tougher than necessary.
excruciatingly boring professor, only reason I rate this course hard is because I have to self teach myself this course
Best prof at UBC!! 10/10.
Professor Mahmoud is nice enough, but he cannot teach. You have to teach yourself pretty much all of the material as he reads off slides in his lectures and does not explain questions very well. Make sure to go to class because iClicker is worth 7% of our grade. His exams come from material in the textbook, barely anything that is covered in class.
He had slides he never used & terribly explained. Tests were heavily based on the textbook, which make the slides even more useless. He goes on tangents on information he's presenting that sound useful, then goes: "ignore what I said." His course was 83% test (50% final), and you'll be teaching yourself all the content! TLDR: just don't.
If you want to save your sanity, dont take this class. I had to take it for CAP and hated every moment of it. Only reason why I passed the class was because he had to scale a midterm 22% (!) to pass half the class. Very monotone lectures. Unless you have the slightest bit of interest in econ/math, don't take bcs you will fall asleep.
Most boring and ill-organized lectures I have experienced. Must attend for i-clicker marks. Tutorials are the most valuable part of the course (my TA was better than the prof). Prof ran out of time so recorded a week's worth of lectures for us to watch on our own time 2 weeks before the final. Left the course with less interest than before.
His course and canvas organization were the most disorganized and sloppily prepared I have ever encountered. It's frustrating and disheartening to have to spend all your time scouring the course website for materials, with many sections empty or not functional. His lectures feel equally messy and confusing. Just feels like he doesn't care at all :(
his exams were really easy.
I LOVE DOING I CLICKER PLEASE DO MORE.
bad prof but nice guy
i love mahmoud
I love mahmoud he was the only enjoyable part of my first year and i would take this class 8 times a semester if i could. :)))))
mahmoud cured my depression
I thought he would be a bad prof from the other rate my prof reviews but mahmoud really turned my life around.
mahmoud is my favorite person to ever exist
Mr. Mahmoud has an exceptional talent for making complex economic theories accessible to all students. His lectures on international trade were particularly enlightening and have greatly influenced my perspective on global economics.
Taking an economics course with Mr. Mahmoud was a transformative experience. His passion for economic history and policy is evident in his teaching, making every class both educational and genuinely enjoyable
Boring, monotone, uninspiring lectures. This man has 0 passion for economics and 0 passion for teaching. Just stay home and you'll do better than going to his lectures because he will just say the same thing the textbook said without expanding on it. The 5-star ratings are just him making bot accounts to praise himself. What a sad sad little man.
He's definitely not as bad as previous reviews say. There is, however, a lack of passion and he's not good at neither maintaining order and quiet in the classroom, nor making sure that the students are actually following. Once you listen though, he is good at explaining the concepts covered in class.
Chowdhury really made my experience taking Economics at UBC exceptional. I wish Chowdhury was my professor for all my classes :))))))
He is so boring. Man makes no effort to make his class interesting. Speaks monotonically. Super boring classes too. The final was not hard but only if you knew the textbook by heart. Be ready to read all the lessons if you want a good grade. The iclickers were a pain. Would not recommend.
not a bad prof, just a bit boring lectures. took it in 2022 jan but his class is def not that hard if u attend classes and do practice questions. the average was low because there were a lot of people not taking the course seriously. Trust me, not that hard compared to other profs.
I would NOT take Dr. Mahmoud's class again. In this course, your only chance at success is to teach yourself. His lectures are pointless, but attendance is mandatory as iclicker is worth 10% of your overall grade. The class basically turned into an online course near the final which was unhelpful. He is a nice person, but an awful professor.
His lectures aren't amazing; he takes far too long explaining concepts that aren't particularly complicated, but he explains the concepts quite well.
Professor Chowdhury is awesome. He's very straightforward and wants his students to succeed. The final exam and midterm are mostly questions from the textbook practice or iClicker questions.
Nothing personal against the man, but DO NOT - I repeat DO NOT - take this class unless you need to. My mom made me take it and I have never had a worse time in class. He rambles on during lectures, saying so much but so little, ultimately setting you up for failure during the midterms. I had to attempt to teach myself everything using the textbook
Hard to understand and tough marker
Did for CAP, prof cares, happy to help you, felt beneficial for poli/ir, but class skipped units like externalities due to timing sadly. My advice: focus on MyLab (>=reading)---the modules/refreshers more than prepare you. Staying one unit ahead here helps with iClicker too. Econ dept policy on curving down at the end can be brutal so aim high :)
bud, speak less and speak up.
he's a fine person but definitely a yapper when he lectures. focus on the textbook and the clicker questions to get a good idea of the midterm and final because they are worth the most.
dont understand a thing this man says. worst lectures ever but required. If the dean of economics attended one of his lectures they would sleep. PLS throw some examples and make your lectures more interesting
Overall, he's not bad, he kinda just yaps in lectures but you do need to go in case of Iclickers which are worth a good chunk of your grade. 25% midterm and 50% final make this class really just depend on them and you don't particularly have to pay attention in class if you read the textbook. He also doesn't reply to emails or TA's so good luck.
He's a yapper, but a nice guy. Compared to other profs in econ, he's probably the least difficult exam wise. You probably won't understand a thing he says or you might even fall asleep. Just save yourself and read the textbook and do practice problems. On exams, you'll see familiar questions taken from the tutorial, clickers, homework.
Disgrace to the university.
Just trust me. It's for the best!
Dr. Mahmoud is a kind and caring professor. His lectures can be boring and the topics can be difficult, but if you email him he will happily meet with you outside of class and help you go over topics. He is genuinely passionate about economics and his students.
He's ok, can be very boring, but the exams were easy enough. You'll likely get a higher grade with him than the other 102 profs, but you'll understand less. Bring a book for class, and just do the iclickers.
He's a yapper. Lectures are boring but iclickers are worth 10% so you kind of have to go for those. Get a friend group to send the iclickers so that you won't have to go to every single class.
Greatest prof ever!!! Love his accent so much
Take this class if you hate yourself. If you don't need econ for your major just don't bother with this. The final is worth 50%
Insanely easy if you just attend the tutorials and do every practice exam (he will reuse questions). Only downside is that his question wordings are extremely unclear and classes and definitely a snoozefest
IClickers were used in class, so attendance is heavily recommended. As long as the Pearson Study Guide is used, you will ace the midterm and final. He makes questions of his own, but most are used from tutorials and past exams. His questions are fair, but some have really bad wording, which makes it hard to understand. His slides are very efficient
Mahmoud is really sweet, but lectures are boring and disengaging so it's not worth going to class. If you read the online textbook and review his slides on your own time you'll be fine. Tests are all multiple choice, the homework is fairly easy, and work with friends to find the answers to iclickers. Definitely a GPA booster!
Dr. Mahmoud is a nice guy. Though, I felt lost throughout most of this course. As others have noted, lectures can be boring or unclear. Canvas is disorganized. Class is overly disruptive and loud. However, some positives were that he provides sample midterms/finals to study from, which sometimes have questions resembling the real thing.
The worst professor I've ever had. Lectures are boring and hard to follow. Terrible at explaining things. Avoid him at all costs.
Unfortunately his lectures are not engaging. You will have to teach yourself in this course. He is not very approachable when it comes to needing help for clarifications. Exams are far off from what he teaches in class.
Lectures are insanely unhelpful
Lectures can be dry, but Mahmoud is approachable. The coursework is manageable with the textbook and tools like unstuck AI. Exams are fair, and going to office hours helps. Overall, a solid GPA booster.
I agree that Dr Mahmoud's lectures can seem boring if you are not paying attention in class but if you are willing to learn, take a cup of coffee with you to class, and carefully listen, he teaches well! He is also very approachable outside of class. He tries his best to help!
Seems like a nice guy, his lectures just had a way of putting me to sleep though. Found it so difficult to pay attention and follow the content. I also think he could've engaged with the students more in lectures.
All tests were multiple choice only, so absolutely no partial credit available. Also he wrote a triple negative in one question on the final, and the final was printed on neon orange paper. He seemed sweet and I liked his bright yellow hat, but econ was soooo rough.
worst prof in my 3 yrs at uni. if u pressed down on a single key of a piano for 1.5 hrs, it would start to sound like his lectures. his mcqs were unnecessarily tricky, he messed up half the concepts he taught, i purely took his class cause it was the only 102 being offered that sem, biggest mistake. made me change majors. sweet guy tho.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
65%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.19 avg changeRatings by Course
ECON101
2.4
(32)ECON102
2.3
(73)ECON226
2.0
(2)ECON325
1.7
(15)ECON326
1.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
ECON326
5.0
ECON325
3.7
ECON226
3.5
ECON102
3.0
ECON101
3.0