2.6
Quality3.8
Difficulty26%
Would Retake89
Reviews26%
Would Retake
89
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
13
4
17
3
13
2
22
1
24
What Students Say
“Literally the WORST professor I have ever had”
INTROTOECON - 1.0 rating“Seriously, though I took this online and it was the worst mistake”
ECON1031 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
29%
Textbook Required
70%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.38 avg changeRatings by Course
MICRO045
5.0
(1)MICROECON
4.7
(3)MICRO
4.5
(4)AMERINDUSTECO
4.0
(1)MICRO1
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
INDUSTRIALORG
5.0
DECTEC
5.0
DECISTECH
5.0
DTECH1
5.0
ECON04
5.0
Reviews (89)
Good Prof! Very small class....7 or so....very hard tests! Tests are all problems, no calculators, and no partial credit. Be prepared! I have learned a good deal though
Not very good teacher. Unclear about the material and tests extremely hard. Nice guy, but wouldn't recommend him.
Not very good. He is very hard to follow. No calculators, tests are hard. Even though you can use a note sheet, they don't seem to help. Only one person in class has an A. Just gives definitions, no applications. Not recommended.
Not easy to understand at all!! Test are very difficult with little time to finish in!!
Great guy, a little hard to understand at though. He never refers to the text, but if you want to do good on the tests, I suggest being familiar with it.
Very nice guy, wants his students to succeed but hard to pass the class. His lectures are very unclear, and you never know what to expect on a test.Does n't give enough time on tests. I won't recomend his class to anyone.
Class was tough as hell. Tests were about nothing to do with the calss and he curved it like a 40/100 being a C. Horrible prof with horrible tests
Very nice guy, takes time to know everyones name and such. Class can be very hard if you dont read, but if you read the text before the class it will be an easy B. Only three test and a final, get to use a "cheat sheet" for each test which makes test a lot easier
The class was very fun. he brings a lot of humor to the class and has lots of examples. You MUST go to class to keep up with it. He also curves the tests and you can have a sheet of notes per final. if you do the work you'll be fine. also, in the end he'll drop the grading scale.
really fun class, he makes you want to go, and you need to. he will send you his notes for the semester if you ask for them so that is nice too. tests are hard and you HAVE to study, his study guide also rarely has much thats going to be on the test.you get cheat sheets so that is nice too.
His tests are pretty difficult. He tries to add humor to some of lectures and is kind of funny.
He is a funny guy and very helpful. It is a VERY hard class..but any economics class is. You have to go to class, or you will not do well. Buy the book and try to keep up on the reading. His tests are hard, but you can use a sheet of notes. He uses famous people for examples so everyone can relate to them and he gets to know everyones name!
I really liked this teacher, humorous and knows his subject well. Relates Econ topics to Simpsons episodes, never a bad thing.
he was fun and had good lectures.
Good teacher. Sometimes seemed like the students knew more about what he was trying to teach us then he did. Maybe he was just flustered?
He's a funny guy, but he's not very helpful. He explains things in the most confusing way possible sometimes. His tests are VERY tricky. You get a 1 page cheat sheet but its worthless. Test questions are presented in a different way than he teaches it just to confuse us
He could be a lille more clear on what he's teaching and not so abstract. He could also be a little more understanding to the students' problems.
I agree. This is a very very vague professor. He gives 2 tests, no project work or anything and bases your grade on them. He does give you more questions for extra points (that, now I feel is to make up for his evals.). Tests are very very hard. All in all, I would avoid him at all cost.
Very hard to follow what he is talking about in class. Material pretty much is not in the book. Not helpful at all. The whole class is struggling and he still doesn't offer much extra help. It doesn't help either that the tutors haven't been available for the last 3 tests.
He doesn't explain things very well- he makes it a lot harder than it should be. He is not helpful at all and what he covers is not always in the book.
The guy is a joke. Routinely screws up problems. Does not explain anything, only does examples. I do not recommend.
Worst. Teacher. Ever. He could not be any less helpful. Tests are impossible, he's hard to understand, and you can't teach yourself b/c he just pulls stuff outta his ...
It is very hard to follow what he is saying. He makes countless errors and needs to be corrected by the class. Doesn't seem to know the material and doesn't go from the book so you can't teach yourself. I very strongly recommend taking this class with another teacher.
He's a nice guy, means well, but that's about as far as that goes. You'll sit through class thinking you know your material and then comes the test material presented way different and hard to understand. He's hard to understand to begin with. Take it elsewhere, or seek help with him often. Hawkeye offers it, i'd take it there.
Nice guy... Hard to follow sometimes. Some quizzes were cake while others were off the wall. Don't know if i would reccomend him.
He is a very good teacher and definitely knows his stuff. He is helpful and goes over the material that will be on the tests several times to clear things up. The tests are not hard at all if you go to class and pay attention and then make a note sheet to use on the test. I would recommend him to anyone who wants a good prof. who actually teaches.
Very good teacher. I you attend class, you will earn an A easily. Lectures revolve around working though examples. Has a very helpful course packet. He's more than willing to help out side of class. Very Good teacher and person !
Very helpful professor. He knows what he's talking about and usually tries explaining things in different ways if some people don't understand it. He repeats the same material multiple times before tests in hopes of making the information stick in your mind. He's one of the better professors that I have had.
Nice teacher. Goes over a ton of examples to make sure we understand the problems. Reviews for all the tests and is willing to help outside of the class.
Very nice, sometimes funny, guy. Teachers the material very well if your attend class. If he feels the class is doing to well he will vamp his tests up a little towards the end of the semester. Do not buy book. He sells a packet that will walk you through the class. Would def. recommend.
DO NOT BUY THE BOOK. You will never use it. Class is like statistics as long as you understand the material you will do well.
Does not use textbook. Teaches using examples. Tests are twice as hard as the review and practice problems. Would not recommend.
whoever posted on the 26th must have had a bad Christmas ... tries to make it somewhat interesting and the practice problems are basically the same on the test, he does NOT surprise ... The class is what it is and he tries his best to make it easy ... very nice and cares about his students
he really didn't follow the layout of the book. The stuff taught in the class wasn't always on the exams. Practice problems were harder than needed to be. He was not very clear in his lectures and was confusing.
He was a really nice teacher, but I and most of the class had trouble on the exams. Basically, the tests are out of 150 points. the means were around the 100 mark, which is a 66%. One exam had a mean of 58%. But he curves at the end, so its not that bad.
Purchasing the text book was a waste of money. He tries his best to connect with students and help them.
surdam is comedy. i blow at math so the class was tough. theres a massive curve though
Really nice/funny guy. I feel he's a great teacher, I understood what we were doing while in the class and doing the review problems, but the tests were impossible to me, for some reason. Even the note sheets didn't help, regardless of how much information I put on them.
Class is very disorganized. Midterm and a final with a cheat sheet. Doesn't realize students care about grades, no partial credit on tests. Group paper and simulation game also make up your grade. Simulation game is ridiculous, you are basically graded on playing war, but its only 20% of your grade so not necessarily a big deal...
The worst professor I have had at UNI. Tries to be funny and talks so fast you can't understand him with his strong accent. The exams are also very hard and the final is impossible even with the note sheets. Do not take DECTECH with him!!
Note sheets were totally useless. Take this with anyone else if you can. I love math and found this course difficult to follow because every day offered a totally new topic. AWFUL.
Good professor as long as you listen & take notes. This class isn't for everyone, but pay attention & the material will make sense. We didn't use the textbook at all. Sometimes he tells corny jokes. If you don't have the typical college student attitude that you need to be spoon-fed the material, than you will be fine! DO THE PRACTICE PROBLEMS!
Good professor. Hard class, but pay attention, take notes, DO THE PRACTICE PROBLEMS! and make the notesheets for the tests and you'll be fine. There are no surprises on the test.... what he writes on the board is what is on the test.
do not take decision techniques with him. nothing he teaches in class is even similar to what he puts on the quizzes and tests. No matter how much you put on your note sheet the questions are still almost impossible. doesn't email back...and doesn't help explain your questions. very nice guy...just doesn't know how to teach
Very helpful guy, and an okay professor but Dec Tech is very difficult with him. I would take elsewhere.
You get take make a note sheet for 3 midterms and 4 for the final. Do the practice problems he provides and you should be fine. He gives out practice tests that are almost identical to the test. He loves to tell corny jokes. I would recommend
Nice guy. Bad teacher. Quizzes aren't too bad but tests i found to be extremely hard. Always harder than in class examples. I would take dec tech with a different prof
I have never had a professor that's so uncaring about his students. TERRIBLE TEACHER! Literally the WORST professor I have ever had. The material is presented in long lectures that are not interesting or helpful. When you ask for help, he makes you feel stupid. He will tell your grade to the whole class and make fun of you for not understanding.
I didn't learn anything I didn't know from high school Econ. yeah, he gives you a packet of notes if you go buy it and he lets you bring notes for the tests.. but I emailed him and explained why I missed ONE class and the next day he was talking to me and said loudly for the class to hear, "Maybe you shouldn't skip class if you're doing so poorly!"
Don't take him. You will regret it! Worst prof. I have ever had. High failure rate for an intro class
I took this class expecting it to be an easy intro class-WRONG. He is terrible at answering questions and makes you feel dumb for asking them. There are 3 tests and a cumulative final which you have to do good on. His lectures are long and boring with pointless examples. I would not recommend him, worst teacher I've had at UNI.
This was an intro economics class that was so difficult that I actually cried. Seriously, though I took this online and it was the worst mistake. I studied for literally a week straight, and made the "cheat sheet" he allowed us for the test and I still failed. I definitely would not recommend him at all!!
Great professor. Very knowledgeable. Struggled with this class for awhile. GO IN AND TALK TO HIM it does wonders. Heck of a good guy. This class really pushed me to keep my nose on the grindstone and actually work for my grade.
I would never ever take another class with him. He has the worst wording, and can't explain things to make you understand anything. It was my first ever econ class, and he was awful. Do not take this class with him, although he is nice, no matter how good you are at economics, you will get confused because of his awful wording with everything
The guy really cares but cannot teach. It doesnt make sense to work and take quizzes for no credit. Only tests are graded. Everyone is confused in our class, and he doesnt even write the reviews or the course packet, only the tests, so the tests are confusing. You get all of the points on each test question or none. No leeway on test questions.
He is the worst at trying to explain anything and if you ask him a question he will make you feel dumb. The tests are extremely difficult and hardly anything like we did in class. I went in for help several times and went to the tutor. When I went in for help he was not understanding and never called me by the right name.
I would not take a class with Surdam again. His lectures are hard to follow, and gives almost no lee-way on exams/quizzes-- they are also a lot different from what we actually learn in lecture. I had to drop. Overall, not a good professor, you will be happy going with someone else!!
Wouldn't recommend to anybody. Does examples in class but doesn't explain anything at all. The exams are some what like the examples and you get a notes sheet, but there is usually 15/100 points that are questions we have never covered and the other questions seem harder then the examples. Nice guy though.
I got a 0 on a quiz because I wrote the number of the answer instead of the letter assigned to it. His lectures are AWFUL. He is a caring guy, but if you ask a question he looks at you like you're an idiot. Also he makes sure to tell the whole class when someone passes, so there's no mystery to who failed the exam. 0/10 would never take his class.
Took this class for Decision Analytics, worst professor I have every had a lass with. He will not explain it in class, he will give you the answers to the question and say "figure it out". If you ask him a question during class he will make you look like you are very slow in the head. Very rude. I would take this class with a different professor.
With COVID-19, Professor Surdam tried to speed the class along in case we went online which made for a lot of information at the beginning. As the class continued, the work got less heavy and it was pretty easy to stay ahead.
In class Surdam would not work out problems, instead, he would lecture from notes from last year and went through them too fast. Most of your grade is based on 3 exams that are worth 125 points. Quizzes don't count towards grade unless you have a C- or below at the end of the semester. Calls you out in front of class if you did bad on an exam.
Surdam is a quirky professor who lectures in his own way. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with what he is talking about, but on the other hand, his exams for Microeconomics were copies of what we talked about in class. Overall, if you already have the basic knowledge, this class should be easy.
Professor Surdam is a great professor, you just really have to pay attention to understand the course material. No text book required.
Surdam is an average professor. He mainly lectured the entire class and would sometimes become unclear on a few things. Make sure to study for the midterms and take advantage of the extra credit through the quizzes. I would recommend going to the plus sessions. They really helped me with my understanding of the course content.
He is such a sweet person but the the greatest teacher. The class was difficult but as long as you go to review sessions with your TA/peer mentor, you'll do fine. I thought it was going to a lot harder than it was, but as long as you put in effort to try to understand the material you'll do fine.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dr. Surdam. He does a great job explaining the content in the course, allows an equation sheet on exams so you don't have to rack your brain to remember the equations, and will go out of his way to explain material if you don't understand it. Overall, he's great at what he does.
Surdam is the sweetest professor ever, but his lectures can be long and hard to pay attention to. I would definitely recommend going to the TA review sessions. It is easy to get a good grade if you study. The textbook is not needed, I don't think I ever used mine. He lets you use notes and formulas for your exams and quizzes, so it is easy to pass.
Surdam knows what he is talking about but not how to teach. His lectures are boring and never help learning, its almost required to go to the review sessions and Learning Center if you want to pass. He grades very strictly too, with no remorse even if you showed work. But he is a very kind and caring person and willing to help a struggling student.
Class is almost solely based off exam scores. My current classes GPA was 2.6 for the course, which he congratulated us for... He curves the grading scale due to the difficulty of the class. Although the class is very hard, it is almost impossible not to pass with all the extra points he provides you.
Very hard professor as he does not know how to teach the material. He knows it but does not do the best to help people learn it. Pretty much only exams and quizes
I had this professor for Microeconomics and going into I was pretty confident as I had gotten a B+ in Macro but this professor feels like he teaches you nothing during the lectures and only grades you based on 3 exams and a final worth 2 exams. The class average was a D and for most exams the class average was 66-68%. Would not recommend.
The only things graded were 4 exams. If your grade was below passing, he also graded 4 quizzes. However, the reviews were the exact same thing as the tests. Lectures were boring and hard to follow, but if you do the reviews you'll pass. He is a caring and personable professor, the class was just difficult to understand at times.
One of the worst professors I have ever had in my entire life. If you take the class you will have to teach yourself everything being discussed. You will not pass if you don't attend the review sessions and TA hours. He knows what he is talking about, but everything out of his mouth is genuinely just gibberish and makes no sense at all.
Slurs his speech, can barely hear what he's saying, he mumbles even though there are 10 rows of students, he skips around and makes no sense
Took ECON1001 (economics of social issues), his first time teaching the course. it was very obvious. He seemed to know what he was talking about when it came to general economics but struggled to connect the social issues part of the class. The entire class is graded on 4 exams. Does not post grades online until the very end of the semester.
Actually awful. This is my first time ever giving a professor a rating but this isn't a rating, this is a warning. This professor can be funny and seems like a genuinely nice guy, but the tests and his lectures are extremely difficult to follow along with. Lots of things on tests don't usually match up with what he's teaching sometimes.
Stats for Business Analytics is a tough course but David tries his best to make it easy by giving you many practice problems. Do well on the tests because this class is very test heavy. Make sure you take advantage of the TA and go to the review sessions, that was truly the only reason I passed. They tell you basically whats going to be on the test
Graded by few tests, concept heavy.
Professor Surdam has a very monotone voice and it is the most boring class I have ever taken. I had to drop it because my first two exams did not score well and he only grades exam scores. This is a UNIFI course at UNI that is too difficult to be a GenED. TAKE ANY OTHER CLASS FROM ANY OTHER PROFESSOR. DAVID SURDAM IS A TERRIBLE PROFESSOR.
Mr. Surdam is genuinely a nice guy, but not a good teacher. His lectures consist of reading off the slides or reading practice problems he's already prepared. Unless you have a lot of stats background, you will have to rely on the TA to teach you the course. He writes the exam questions with the intent to trick you, and there is no partial credit.
Surdam is a nice guy, but his class was very unorganized. On blackboard, he puts everything in a single document. His lectures mean he's going to read off of a poorly-constructed slideshow for the entire class. But what I absolutely cannot stand is that he doesn't put grades in the grade book. It seems like he doesn't trust technology.
A lot of the content in the class for exams did not really make sense. Feels like stuff he went over reviews had nothing to do with the exam questions.
He is very knowledgeable about economics and enjoys what he is talking about. But that isn't equally shared by the students and his lectures can be very boring at times. If you aren't a good test taker, do not take this class because all the points in the class are exams, besides one extra credit writing assignment. No outside of class work.
David is a great guy, but his class is tough. I think econ in general is a hard topic, and trying to teach it is even harder, so I gave him some slack. He is very knowledgeable, and is very understanding of his students. You are graded on 4 exams. If you take this class, go to the review sessions and do the review questions, they are worth it!
Surdam is a nice guy, genuinely cares about his students. However, he rambles for good portions of lectures, hard to understand, and forgets that his students don't know as much as he does. Textbook chapter assignments are bad and lots of midterm tests. The key is to go to review sessions, as the review questions are the same he uses for the test.
I'm a 4.0 student, and this class destroyed my GPA. The tests are nothing like the reviews, and they are intended to trick you. You get graded on three exams and a final, with no homework points. The lectures are boring, and we are given no way to apply our learning.
The classes only consist of long boring lectures with slideshows full of paragraphs that aren't easy to quickly take notes on. He only grades on three tests + the final. The tests are all multiple choice but the questions are worded in very confusing ways as if he is trying to trick you. He also doesn't post any grades online until after the final.
I liked Dave as a person, but his lectures were SO boring. He was quite disorganized online and during class. There are only 3 tests, a final, and 1 optional paper. The tests were actually VERY similar to the review guides. He's hard to understand. There's no discussion and barely any application of the content. I was disappointed by taking this.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
29%
Textbook Required
70%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.38 avg changeRatings by Course
MICRO045
5.0
(1)MICROECON
4.7
(3)MICRO
4.5
(4)AMERINDUSTECO
4.0
(1)MICRO1
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
INDUSTRIALORG
5.0
DECTEC
5.0
DECISTECH
5.0
DTECH1
5.0
ECON04
5.0