2.4
Quality3.5
Difficulty22%
Would Retake182
Reviews22%
Would Retake
182
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
15
4
32
3
36
2
37
1
62
What Students Say
“Dennis is awesome; he is an excellent lecturer and has a strange charm though he is serious all the time”
ECON200 - 4.0 rating“Lectures are good if you know the material”
ECON201 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
46%
Textbook Required
24%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
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Declining
-0.86 avg changeRatings by Course
ECON200
4.5
(4)ECON300
4.3
(3)ECON450
2.6
(9)ECON201
2.4
(157)ECON201A
1.4
(9)Difficulty by Course
ECON201A
4.0
ECON450
3.8
ECON201
3.5
ECON300
3.3
ECON200
2.3
Reviews (182)
Very interesting class, enjoyed the topics and lectures were very straightforward, albeit very fast paced. He flips through slides really quickly and it can be annoying if you're a slow writer/typer. Read the book, do the online Aplia assignments, go to class, and attend your quiz section, and this class will be a piece of cake. Good luck!
overall, his class is not bad at all. Very concise and straightforward. Attendance are mandatory for clicker points. Go to his office hours, read the textbook and lecture slides, and you should be fine.
Straightforward guy, knows what he's talking about. The pace is very fast, so I suggest you read the textbook prior the lecture. He's very helpful on his office hours. Exams are moderately easy as long as you read and understand the concepts written in the textbook. Do the HW to do well. And, oh! He's pretty good looking.
1. never smiles 2. poorly written tests full of spelling errors and mistakes 3. very clear in his lectures, follows the book very closely and is very fast paced. 4. 25% exams, 15% hw, 5% attendance, 5% article responses make up your grade.
He's not very approachable and is quite snooty. But other than that he is a good lecturer with concise explanations but he's super fast paced. His powerpoints are annoying because he doesn't know how to use his clicker. Really understand the concepts to do well on the exams because they are really difficult if you don't.
Very clear lectures but really fast paced. Struggled with HW on aplia because you only get one chance to submit and it's hard to get 100% read the books, did HW, all practice problems behind each chapter. Scored around the low 90s in the first 2 exams not sure of finals but ended with a 3.9. Way way better than expected! Recommend!
Initially, he seems cold b/c he doesn't smile, but if you go to office hrs. he's very helpful. Very clear & if you read the book/do the practice exams it's fairly easy to get a good grade. Attendance is mandatory for clickers. He also says funny things like, "if you pay taxes in Greece you're a sucker," & "you can't eat money..."
Professor O'Dea does not seem to like to use the internet/email considering he is a fairly young professor. This means that emails from him and updates on the website may be few and unclear. That being said, I felt his lectures were much harder than his test, so I would suggest you attend lecture just to know what's going on in terms of homework.
Only went to class 10 times. Had a friend click in for me. Got a 3.0 on two midterms without studying, and got a horrible grade on a third one. Came out with a 2.6. Go to class. Read the book everyday and study for at least 15 hours per midterm. Know ALL of the concepts by heart otherwise you're screwed.
MEMORIZE THE OLD TESTS. O'Dea tends to ask really specific questions about a few concepts, and his tests never cover all of the material. Go to class, read the textbook, and pray. Hard class.
Doesn't require you to get the latest edition textbook, so don't listen to the course website! Wait for the 1st week of class first. Though the HW (not mandatory) is from the latest book, there are equivilants in the older editions. Good professor, love how he can crack a joke but have no change in facial expressions.
O'dea was pretty rude, ignored my emails, and had boring lectures. Tests were ok. All in all, the class is definitely doable, but i didnt like the structure, the graded clickers, or O'dea.
Lectures very straight forward and so thus the exams. If you study, you will get somewhat guarnteed good grdes.
easy hw (you get 3 tries, 11% of your grade), easy article response (9% of your grade),clickers(5%),3 exams(25% each) overall good class.
Im currently taking his ECON 201 and i simply love him. Very smart and knows what hes teaching. Easy A class. Take his class if possible!
Buy the textbook and the online homework access will come with it. Must go to class to get clicker grades. Fairly easy homeworks and tests. Recommended.
Easy class with very clear instructions.
Boring and unhelpful teacher. He will never smile during the course of your class (just a warning). I had an awful TA, just make sure you get an english speaking one.
Professor O'dea really knows his economics. His lectures are incredibly clear and informative. He never smiles, but is still a pretty nice guy and very helpful in his office hours. A tough class, but very doable. I recommend using the CLUE economics tutoring to do the homework to make sure that you don't drop any of the easier points.
Class was definitely doable; it was not difficult. However, lack of clarity was an issue; economics needs to be extremely clear for it to work! Sometimes his tests are not clear and quite vague. Tests also have many typos, so beware! Make sure you get a competent TA since he/she grades it and I ran into some disagreements with the grading.
He is a cute guy actually. Super easy 4.0; I didn't go to lecture 4 times and miss 4 clickers. Do the homework and a little bit review before the exam and you are good to go. Much easier compared to physics course and CSE.
If you go to class and take good notes you don't really have to do the readings except for supplemental use and additional explanations. As for him, he is useless outside of class and doesn't make an effort to assist you or bother to answer any emails so what you get from class all he has to offer.
I went to all his lectures and barely ever felt the need to read the textbook. He explains things quite well, but is a little bit boring, so staying awake in his classes can sometimes be a huge feat.
O'Dea is a very smart professor, however, his lectures can sometimes be really boring. He passes by very fast, so it is important to pay attention. TA plays the most important role, so make sure to take a good one! I had an awesome TA and got a high grade.
I ran into him in Red Square and said hi and he had no idea who I was (not like I expected him to) but he was really happy I acknowledged him nonetheless and is super nice in person. Really clear lecturer, too.
Tests are much more in depth that criteria taught, Odea is a lecture only teacher and won't respond to anything else. Content and expectations are clear though. Get a good TA, and try and stay awake in his lectures
Mr. O'Dea is awesome.
If you look at practice exams, some questions re-appear on the practice while other ones are very similar. If you show up to class and take notes, you don't need to really read the book, however the book better clarifies why an event happens in economics. Good class in general and makes sense if you take the time to understand it.
Dennis is awesome; he is an excellent lecturer and has a strange charm though he is serious all the time. I admit he is not that helpful so make sure you get a nice TA. The past exams are super important because the real midterm and final usually just copy some of the questions in the past exams.
Take this class with a different professor if you can. His lectures are so dry that you can only absorb information the first hour. Test averages were fairly high which made it harder to get a good grade. You'll learn more from the book than from him
Very informative and knowledgable about the subject. His lectures can get a little long and dry, but if you can past that, he is a very good professor. The midterm and final are very similar to the practice exams he gives. Overall a great class and great teacher.
Dennis teaches Macro strictly through lectures. All he does is talk for 80 minutes. Personally, I love it since he is extremely knowledgable- I learned most of the material through going to lecture. In fact, book reading was not essential if you attended class regularly. He has clickers, so you better go. Explanations are clear. Would recommend.
Dennis is a great lecturer, his lectures are clear and interesting. All his slides goes online, but you have to go to lectures because he uses clickers.
O'dea was pretty run-of-the-mill. His lectures are kind of boring and can seem to drag on, but his examples are clear and the class was very organized. I didn't like the way he graded online homework. The quizzes were kind of difficult but all in all, the testing was fair. Good class.
Lectures are good if you know the material. Otherwise, it's hard to stay tuned in. He really knows his stuff and comes off as an upper-division professor. He's pretty stoic and a bit sarcastic, so going to OH can be a bit intimidatingawkward. But his tests are straightforward and hw is helpful though long (it's worth a midterm, so do it w friends)
Taking his class is awful overall, he has lots of homework but helpless for the course and exam. The midterm looks like disgress from the subject and even don't have any multiple choice questions, so if you want to take econ 201 please be better find another professor or take alternative course.
I took this class as a freshman, and it was such a mistake. He uses clickers, and there are two midterms and a final. It gives me so much stress that was unnecessary this last quarter. None of the TA's speak english very well, which makes the class even more frustrating. Be prepared for weekly homework and actually reading the textbook.
Not informative at all.
the lecture is unclear
Dennis is a nice professor but sometimes the material can be dry. I would suggest reading the chapter before class and get ready for clicker questions. The hw is super easy and the article responses are easy too. There's 2 midterms and a final which are really similar to previous ones.
It's a really hard class if you aren't good at economics to begin with. Homework was multiple choice based, which is completely different from the actual exams. The actual exams require a great understanding of the material and critical thinking. He's okay as a professor but for a 200 level class it's pretty hard.
The homework program was not helpful at all. The exams are also very unclear and I found myself unsure what they wanted. The TAs were very people were saying after the final that one of of TA leaked the final to her section before the date of the final
Odea is such a nerd. He's clearly really into Econ but that doesn't mean that anyone else is. The lectures are a snooze fest but if you start studying early you should do pretty well on the tests. Homework is a joke
Lectures were pretty jumbled and hard to follow. Unless you are on top of your reading or really interested in Econ it was hard to make sense of lectures. Your grade in this class also largely depends on the fate of your TA as they are the ones actually teaching you how to solve problems for tests. Find a friend to study with.
I'm pretty surprised to see so many bad gradings here. Odea is a pretty reasonable professor for intro-level economics. Yes his lecture is kinda long and boring, but he gives really easy tests that are so similar to old tests. Just work through the old exam problems and you will be fine. I would take his class again.
O'Dea is like the Economic Father figure that I never asked for. His lectures can be long, but if you stick to reviewing old exams, you're sure to do very well in this class. The TA that you get can also greatly change your experience in his class, I had an excellent TA and our quiz sections average on tests ended up being really high.
Dennis is very knowledgeable and a fair grader. however i feel his grading scale is extremely unfair. Exams are only worth 62% of your grade so even if you do well on these your grade is constituted by 38% busy work. While this is beneficial to some it hurts those that find their strengths in tests such as myself
You should go to class since there are clicker questions. Exams are not that tough. Textbook is just optional. If you read his lecture slide, you'll be totally fine.
His lectures are very clear and organized however, homeworks and tests are really hard. He gives homewroks ahead of his material and collects them before teaching them, so you have to do them on your own. It means that you have to do a lot of self-studying. Also, you will not even use textbook which costs like 200$. Don't buy them!
Overall, a great professor. Really knows what he's talking about and was pretty clear during lectures. However, get ready to study! The (three!) exams are not easy and will require a lot of work if you want an A or B in the class. If you are an econ major or genuinely interested in economic works, you will do fine. Just get ready to work.
This was probably one of the worst lecturers I have ever had! On average he has over 80 slides and goes through all of them in a 80 minute class, hence no notes can be taken since he skips through the slides so quick. He teaches as if everybody knows what he is talking about. He cares very little about student learning and gives us long exams!
I dread going to his lectures. They are very long and he goes through his slides very fast. Taking notes is impossible. Lectures are long and boring because of his monotone voice.
Most boring professor and his tests are decently rigorous
he's actually the worst. He made the class harder cause people were doing well and most of my friends barely passed this quarter since Winter his class has gotten way harder. His TAs are awful and barely speak english. If you go to his office hours he plays video games and pays almost no attention to you.
His grading seemed inconsistent most of the times and unclear as to what he wants to see in the answers. I feel strongly this way, b/c he doesn't post answers to the HW nor practice exams. His logic behind that is that students will only study the answers. True, but how do we know we are studying correctly if we do not have the solution??
His grading seemed inconsistent most of the times and unclear as to what he wants to see in the answers. I feel strongly this way, b/c he doesn't post answers to the HW nor practice exams. His logic behind that is that students will only study the answers. True, but we never know if we are studying in a correct way if we don't know the answers!
Talks too fast to take good notes. Will not give the answers to homework, even though he does not give enough time to go over every homework answer in class. Homework is also graded very strictly, with the mean score being around 65 percent. He doesn't really seem to care about his class as much as other professors do. I recommend avoiding him.
Professor O'Dea never smiled. I went to every lecture, and he never ever smiled. Very straightforward guy, solid class. He understands expenditure policy, problems with it, and can answer any questions you have about it, as well as suggest papers/people if you are interested in something specific.
he's terrible. not posting any answers to homework or practice exams or actual exams makes this class so much harder. there is no "learning from mistakes" for him. you either know how to do the question, or you'll never know.
In the final weeks of the quarter, he rushed through the lectures and didn't even spend a day, or even part of the lecture, reviewing for the final exam. The contents overall, are pretty interesting and he's good at explaining what the issues are but when it comes to actually solving the problems, he barely taught us how. Everything was selftaught
One of the worst professors at UW. Incredibly dry and boring lectures and they all count for points in attendance. You can't keep track of his lectures because he moves INCREDIBLY fast. There's not enough time to even start typing/writing notes. He's not very accessible via email or office hours either.
He doesn't give practice midterms, is a horribly boring lecturer, uses clickers, regurgitates the book, and is such a strict grader. I got a 4.0 in econ 200 and will be lucky to pull a 2.8 in this course because there's no opportunity to learn from mistakes or practice anything.
If you are thinking of taking this class online I would say do not do it. There are no rubrics so you can get points taken away for odd reasons on some pretty big assignment and they are worth almost nothing so its even more difficult to get a good grade. so, no rubrics and lousy description of assignment.
Not the worst, but certainly hold very sleep-inducing lectures. His lectures are the regurgitation of the textbook, which is helpful when you're preparing for exams. Very unaccessible outside of class, never smiles, though very knowledgeable. Clickers are used. HW is graded but not helpful. Overall a slightly mediocre professor, but doable class.
I think for an intro class like econ201, the lecture hall is so big that it really depends on you to figure out what you dont understand. I literally sat in the front everyday and never stopped taking notes. If you can focus in lecture, I 'd say you are good.
Dennis did not seem ver personable and his voice just put me right to sleep. I had a hard time paying attention to him- he just doesn't teach with much enthusiasm. A lot of the times he goes in depth on topics/ graphs that won't be on the test. As long as you go to quiz section and read the chapters you will do fine on the tests.
Lecture slides are insanely redundant, dry, and long. Every once in awhile throws in clicker questions without allowing enough time to discuss answers with others. Usually he would lose the class around the 45 minute mark into lectures. On good days, around the hour mark. Seems to be unaccessible to reach outside of class and office hours.
Incredible professor! Long lessons, but the information was valuable and helpful. His examples were relevant and conveyed concepts really well. Highly recommend, barely any homework and tests are straightforward. Do the reading. Listen to lectures (pay attention in class, rewatch the lecture later and take notes then). Easy 3.7+.
Lectures seem really long because he presents the material in such a dry way. Staying awake and not losing focus can be huge wins. Goes through lecture notes way too fast. People with laptops struggle to copy things down. Find a group to do HW with. 2 midterms and a final. Participation with clickers. Go to class, take notes, study hard for exams.
Driest and most boring lectures. Doesn't seem to have any regard for whether students understand the material or not in lectures, and often it shows on the test averages.
BEST professor I have ever had! His lectures can be long and dry, but they are so full of information and his explanations/examples are incredible. His midterms were easy, final was a little harder, but different TAs prepare you differently. If you care about econ as a subject, you will succeed! Otherwise, it might be tough to find him interesting
I really have mixed feeling about his lecture. On one hand, they are very dry and long, but if you can stay awake and follow his lecture you will do well in the class. He covers everything in his lecture and I barely even read the textbook. He sometimes says some funny stuffs, but he never smiles. The class materials are actually very interesting.
Professor O'Dea talks a lot in class and is honestly pretty boring. He is really smart and definitely knows a lot about economics, but is not very relatable to students. Go to quiz sections they are often super helpful. Also become friends with people in frats or sororities that have old tests because he uses the same questions every quarter.
Great Professor, definitely helped me understand Econ, my hard work paid off and the curve was in my favor!
lectures are pretty boring, but he really makes concepts easily to be understand.
Lectures are pretty dry but they are online so you can see them again and take notes after class. Tests are all short answer, 15 short answer questions in 8 pages in 80 minutes, just way too much questions in a short time. The test questions are also very hard and you need to memorize a LOT. Also very picky about giving partial credit in exams
he's tests are pretty hard mainly because he did not provide answers to the practice exam and doesn't do examples in class. There are lots of material covered in class, if you don't go to class, be ready to fail.
This is by far the worst lecture class I have ever had to sit through. I cannot stress enough how badly I wish I was in another section. His PowerPoint slides are fine to study with and they alone would be enough for the tests, but he GRADES ON CORRECTNESS in his in-class poll questions. Would never take again. Class? More like nap time...
Tests were pretty easy (based off lectures), and there is little hw. There is a 10 page paper due at the end of the quarter, but it was actually very manageable and he gives lots of feedback on the rough draft. The material can be hard to grasp but it was a solid class overall. Loved his lectures, and he's always ready to help.
Professor O'dea offers students a great chance to fall asleep in his course if they did not get enough the night before. Although the lectures are organized, tests are strictly free response and majority of the lectures do not relate to the exams. He throws random things on the exams, but just study how to use graphs and you'll do fine.
He makes easy concepts hard because of his confusing lecturing style so be attentive during lecture and try to piece together what he's saying. Sometimes he'll post the powerpoint before lecture so pull that up to see the poll questions ahead of time. Tests are identical to the practice ones given, so study those a lot!
Odea is really boring. The class is conceptually simple, but made difficult by never really providing a straight up explanation of a topic. Much of his lectures are extraneous and vague. Spent the majority of my studying trying to figure out what was true in the first place, leaving little time to actually apply the concepts to problems. Just meh.
Lectures are extremely dry, however you have to go to them because he still uses those outdated clickers. Definitely go over the practice tests he provides online because the real test is fairly similar.
Here's the thing; he's a really nice guy but his lectures are repetitive and dry. Although to be fair, I can't really imagine anyone making macroeconomics super exciting, so just be aware. Having to get an old $30 clicker for participation was a little annoying. But for lectures he provides lots of examples in class and is very knowledgable. Eh.
Dennis is a guy who is super tough on grading-he only cares about percentage not the average conditions. He never realized that the average score should be adjusted. Get ready to receive a lower expected gpa when you are taking this course. Super super bad.
His lectures are extremely boring, it just drags on, hopefully you will have a good TA which is unlikely. His exams are pretty similar to the practice exams but his lecture style is a great playlist to fall asleep to. Clicker questions are annoying and expensive, but hey he is the better option compared to taking a TA taught lecture
Dennis's lectures are relatively boring, and the clicker questions were expensive and frustrating. However, his slides have good information, and I found Sapling (both the textbook and the online homework) very helpful. His worksheets and old exams are virtually the same as exams, so if you study those and do the reading, you should do fine.
There are lots of mixed feelings about Dennis. He clearly knows his stuff, but the way he lectures sounds kind of boring if you sit anywhere besides the front. His tests are easy since half the questions are straight from old exams, but he can be picky about things like labels. If you're willing to listen, he is great. Beats taking it with the TA.
Prof. O'Dea has an incredible gift - he can make even the most interesting concepts mind-numbingly boring. Problem is, you have to show up because he uses clickers (yes, the old-fashioned kind!). His lectures are pretty much straight from the book, so read it, show up, and you should do fine. He is flaky with his OH - use your TA's OH instead.
Econ 201 is basically material you can sort of learn in like 3 days of just intensive studying but somehow O'dea makes it feel like the hardest thing in the world. 2/3 of his lectures are all unnecessary graphs and he skips through the important slides making it impossible to take notes. Review the worksheets and exams to actually learn.
Chances are, you will run out of time when answering the last few questions on his test. You will rush and it will hurt your grade. ODea also stands right in front of his lectures, so if you sit in the front, good luck. He also skips through important slides, making it hard to take notes. You gotta study like 50-90 slides each lecture. Avoid.
The lectures are dull to the extent that no one can pay attention for longer than 40 minutes of the hour and a half lecture. His practice tests are so similar to his actual tests that everyone will do well. When you're in a class that is graded on a curve you can get a quality grade and still get screwed. Enjoy the online shopping in class.
The lectures in this class are so boring and most of it is just graphs. He tends to skip back and forth through slides which makes it hard to take notes. However, the lectures are pretty much the same information as what's in the textbook so if you read and take notes from the textbook there's really no need to pay attention in class.
Lecture was always very boring and couldn't focus. All of the material is directly from the book. Tests always felt like too many questions and not enough time. However, the material isn't bad, just do practice problems. Can't necessarily blame O'Dea for the curve but it's ridiculous. A good grade in the class may not translate the same as GPA.
I just decided to sacrifice the 5% of my grade rather than spend $50 on a clicker (has he never heard of PollAnywhere app? I have kids and I'm a STUDENT- so $50 is not worth it to buy a stupid thing. Even the guy in the bookstore said that there are only 3-4 professors on campus who even use those stupid outdated things.
Can't miss lecture because he uses in class clickers, but lecture is a waste of time because he take an hour and a half to go over three vocab words.
I know a lot of people don't like Dennis, but I thought he was solid. He's very well-spoken and he always ties all of the concepts of real-world examples, especially historical ones. Those applications kept me engaged and made it easier to understand the more abstract conceptual stuff.
His presentation style leaves a lot to be desired. Hell spend a lot of time on graphs that dont matter and then a few seconds on the actually important slides. Avoid. How to succeed: take notes on the textbook chapters beforehand, try to pay attention to what hes saying in lecture, show up to lectures so you can do the clicker questions.
He zooms past important info that could be on the test and spends way too long on stuff that doesn't matter. Read the book if you want to actually learn anything. I bombed the midterm so my grade is doomed since we're only graded on a few things. Learned more in a couple hours from peers in another lecture than I did the entire rest of the quarter.
unclear, moves way too quickly and crams way too much into his slides and won't stay on them long enough to copy down information and listen at the same time. Wont finish the material on slide in class period and then will not talk about it next class. doesn't post lecture slides on time
posts different slides online than the ones used in lecture if he posts them at all. gives old midterms but no answer keys. uses textbook for background info but different formulas than textbook. purposefully puts trick questions on tests and brags about having a low average/class passing rate. honestly take this class from a TA instead.
O'Dea is a very good professor. For his "article response" assignments, he gives advice on content to do your report on, and even suggests what chapters are easiest to pull content from. His tests are fairly straightforward, and if you do the practice exams you will most likely pass. Read the textbook, as it makes the lectures much more clear.
Class focuses on lectures which are boring and monotonous
This class is actually pretty interesting, and wouldn't be too hard if his lectures weren't dull and unclear. He never does any practice problems, skips over a lot of what's on the test in lecture, and doesn't release answer keys. TA's go over some sample problems, but not nearly enough to help you succeed. The textbook is your only hope!
Lectures are really unclear and dull. No practice problems for concepts taught and the slides are formatted weirdly. Goes really fast through slides, TAs are meh (hopefully you get a good one.) I'm sure Macro is super interesting, but not when he bases it heavily on lectures. Would not take again.
All these comments make him sound like a monster lol. He's literally fine. Explains the concepts pretty well. Just doesn't give out answer keys to practice tests. But if you study and keep up with the minimal work you're chillin.
This man is literally showing no mercy on his students during this global pandemic. What kind of professor encourages his TAs to assign so much last minute work towards finals? He also has a cumulative final planned out on top of the 4 midterms we already have just 5 days after the last midterm. Overall, this was an uneccessarily stressful class.
I will never take his class again. His lecture is not enriched, and clear enough. And he is not flexible. If you guys have substitution, don't hesitate.
Guess what, i can't imagine someone who's worse than this Let us watch last quarter's recording. No useful information during lecture, just read the ppt to save time. Grading is diaster, answer keys do not match what we're taught. etc...
Professor O'Dea isn't that much of an amazing professor, initially having 5 midterms this quarter, I was freaking out but all of them are pretty easy, the problems relate to a lot of the worksheets. He doesn't give answer keys but my TA was very good. His lectures are dull and I skipped all of them and still did well in the class. Just practice
I don't understand the other reviews for this quarter. Professor O'dea was really flexible and nice. His lectures are clear + includes all info from the textbook. We had 1 hw assignment a week (easy but not too helpful for exams), 3 written assignments, and 5 midterms (non-cumulative + one is dropped). Overall interesting and relatively easy class
The quintessential example of a person who is given the littlest bit of power and gains a superiority complex. Draconian policies and is rigid for no reason, even throughout a pandemic which directly affected us. Dull. Tests are unnecessarily irrelevant to coursework. Should have known when students and staff suggested not to take Econ this quarter
He has five midterms and no final. I received very low grades for 2 tests without knowing what I have answered wrong. He deducts points without reasons and says things that would not appear in tests during lectures. Tests are exactly the same type of questions with the worksheets. You get one questions wrong, you are away from 4.0. Don't take.
5 midterms. They are exactly like the past midterms and worksheets he posts. Study those and you should get a good grade. Like the quiz sections are more important as the TA goes over the worksheets and past exams.
Taking online because of the pandemic. He is not lenient at all even with a global pandemic affecting many families. Lectures are terrible. He mainly focuses on graphs and when there is text on slides, it is most likely going to be skipped within 15 seconds to further explain another graph. Wouldn't take this professor.
arrogant, stuck up, and unaccomadating . AND the hw is due before we learn topics in class, get ready to teach urself
This is my 3rd year of college and by far he is the worst professor Ive ever had. The lectures are rushed and most of the material covered in the lecture is not going to be on a quiz or midterm. You are expected to learn everything from the homework and the textbook and if you have questions its expected to go to CLUE (the on campus tutoring).
Heavy lectures. He also covered too much things in each lecture. What I dont like most is that we take quizzes quite often. But generally his lectures are easy to understand and relevant to quizzes and homework.
I found I did the right thing in choosing him. He actually encourages students to ask any questions during his office hours. Some might say, he often includes unnecessary topics in class. But personally, I think what he provides for us gives us a broad view of what macro would be like and whether it's your type if you choose to major in Econ.
Lectures are the worst I've had (I've taken calc and chem series, this lecture is worse), is dry, very fast over significant formulas, spends most of time on insignificant/ hard to understand graphs. Examsstraightforward, as long as u do the practice worksheets. Did most of learning through TA and textbook. Posts recorded lectures VERY late
Wasted first two weeks of class bc he refused to switch from panopto to zoom (eventhough panopto was glitching). no practice problems in class, talks at u the whole time. seems knowledgeable but not very good at explaining things: during class it seems like he is talking to himself, not teaching
I wish I could give him a good review because he does seem very knowledgeable, but I just can't. His lectures are very dry and he doesn't really go over any example questions. You're better off focusing on the quiz sections because the TAs are more helpful with the actual course content. He seems like a nice guy, just not a good teacher.
His lectures are SO bad & NOT helpful. TAs in quiz section have more coherent lessons than he does. He doesn't post any practice or real quiz/exam solutions so you can't check your work and practice. Assignments are useless busywork. He also doesn't accommodate any personal/technical problems that you may have during this pandemic! He's the worst.
He is the worst professor I've ever taken up to date. The lectures are so dry and bad I stop going after the 2nd week of class. His exams are like the worksheets he gives out but it's more tricky. Like what other people said, the TAs are better at explaining/teaching. Overall, just don't take this guy if you want a good grade.
Graphs and handwriting in lectures are almost unreadable, so I'd rather listen to my TA teaching, I guess that would be much more efficient. Tough grader, No extra credit at all, does not tolerate or drop any of the mistakes in homework. Easy quizzes every two weeks and homework once a week. Explanations are unclear so prepare to teach yourself.
His lectures are not that interesting, and the contents are hardly focused on things that should get emphasized for this class. Showing up on his lectures or not does not make any senses to oneself. His TAs are pretty nice and helpful. Professor is used to procrastinate materials and email-back to students. His attitude truly makes me disappointed.
Disorganized and unapologetic about it. Wont answer questions over email or Canvas. No office hours. Lectures are fairly useless, all info is in quiz sections so review those slides. Got grades out a week late. No clarity or ability to project grades. All tests and quizzes are similar to worksheets. You will end up teaching yourself. Stay away.
If youre an independent learner, having odea as a professor is not the worst thing in the world. If you read the textbook and go to discussion sections, youll be fine. Lectures are definitely boring and hard to focus especially over zoom. Just make sure to do the homework and the worksheets that your TAs give to you.
Would not take his class again. He doesn't reply to emails and questioned students when they needed help.
O'Dea is fine at best. He is probably one of the better Economics teachers at UW. The class itself is just hard in itself, so be prepared to put in a lot of time and effort. The homework is pretty easy, but the quizzes and exams can be difficult if you aren't on top of it. The TA also really matters, as they each have their own grading criteria.
I do not understand these negative reviews. I have O'Dea right now and I love the material we're learning in class. O'Dea makes sure to answer majority of questions in chat and will record lectures. He also provided a decent amount of practice quizzes and exams. Overall very solid professor and deserves a better rating than the overall
Lectures given by O'Dea are not very useful in terms of tests. As long as you read your textbooks and get a good TA you'll probably be fine. But, the tests are very unfair as in you are expected provide things that weren't asked for and some tests require outside knowledge that weren't taught in class. Also, O'Dea does not respond to most emails.
His lectures are engaging and he uses a lot of real world examples. You definitely need the textbook, but you really only need to skim the chapters and they all have summaries at the end. His tests are also exactly like the past examples so you know what you're getting into. All around solid guy, would absolutely take another class from him
I don't really know why Odea has such bad reviews on here. I think he is a really good lecturer, with good world examples that make the concepts easier to understand. The workload is reasonable and it is a pretty straightforward class. The only downside I think is that the grading standards for tests are really hard, but other than that good class!
Actually really informative, and obviously a huge econ geek. His virtual lecture style is dry and hard to stay engaged. Another thing; his hand writing is so bad that students had to repeatedly ask what he was writing in the lecture notes. But, he definitely helped me learn about macro
Dennis's lectures were fine. They weren't super engaging or interesting, but they weren't bad. I always had just enough time on the tests. Overall, it was an average class; not bad, but not amazing either.
Odea is not bad if you are smart about how you study. His lectures are long and unhelpful, but TA sessions and worksheets are very important. The tests look exactly like the worksheets and practice. If you focus on that, you will get an A. I CANNOT STRESS THAT ENOUGH. This class is not horrible if you did ECON 200.
Does not really teach. You need to rely on your TA. TA is the guide to a good grade
Lectures were pretty useless, I just read the textbook and went to TA sections and I was fine. Way too much unnecessary information in the lectures that don't help. Also doesn't respond to emails very quickly, if at all. Take this teacher if you can learn on your own and are willing to read a lot.
Lecture content was presented in a disorganized manner, hard to pay attention and take away info. Your experience depends entirely on your TA as the textbook wasn't great either. I would watch the recordings of other sections because each taught differently info. None of the worksheets related to content on the exams. this was a tough class.
He'd never finish the content planned for the lecture. And he wouldn't continue from where he left off last time - he'd start from the new chapter, and leave the rest for TAs to cover. Interesting guy, but if you may found his class confusing without a good TA.
Went into this class scared because of his low ratings but now genuinely dont understand why hes rated so low. Some of the concepts in the class are hard to understand but he explains them really well and uses real world examples to explain it even further. But quiz sections helped the most with preparing for test questions so hope for a good TA
Dennis is bombastic; he won't give keys for practice exams, as he says that there are multiple correct answers, but when you argue your perspective on the midterm, he refuses to accept any answer other than his own, even when I legit found economic academic journals that supported what I said. Got an A, but the avg. grade for my class was a fail.
Class was not sufficient to teach the material and they refused to give keys for the practice exams so there wasn't really any way to effectively learn the material. Lectures extremely dry and unhelpful. TA absolutely useless, just read off slides.
Dude, this class is kicking my ASS. I have never been in a harder class and I have not understood one concept. Tests were hard and quiz section made me even more confused. Our whole grade is based off of 2 tests (70% of your grade) and the rest is HW and article responses.
No hate, but this man's handwriting is illegible, I literally could never read anything he was writing on the lecture slides NOR the practice exam solutions which sucked. This class is definitely relied on teaching yourself. Probably the worst class I have ever taken and performed in.
Never reply to emails, bad handwriting notes, and exam keys. No class slides, seems like everything he is doing is keeping you away from getting higher scores.
No a good professor for me
Dr. O'Dea is one of the best professor at uw, idk why so many people are hating on him. He always make class material clear as possible, I could understand everything he talked about during class. However, gradings are kinda strict, and his pace of lecture is extremely fast, if you missed one class, its hard to recover from that. Very heavy test.
Perhaps because it was online, but everything about this class was a mess. The lectures were extremely dry and disconnected from class content and the TAs were useless. Avoid if possible.
The worst professor I have had at UW. Ineligible handwriting, tough grading, and super dry lectures. Makes you question why you're paying for your education. Avoid. Take with a different prof instead.
O'Dea has pretty fast-paced lectures, but he made sure that people understood the content by answering questions that came up with relatable examples. I agree that his handwriting was difficult to read, but taking basic notes can help a lot when it comes to reviewing. You have to put in quite a bit of effort to do well in this class.
O'Dea's lectures are pretty fast-paced, but he takes the time to make sure that the content is clear during lectures like answering questions and using relatable examples. I agree that his handwriting is a bit messy, but taking basic notes for lectures can help with that and for review. Be prepared to put in a little extra effort to do well.
Literally he is no help in the class at all. Rambles about theories instead of actually teaching the content on the midterms.
His lectures are so pointless and hard to follow. he doesn't prepare you well for exams because what he explains in lecture is not similar to what is on the tests. ive had to teach myself all the content this whole quarter and he doesn't offer much support outside of class. take this class at a CC if possible.
His lectures do not help at all when it comes to the exams. He does not help students out when necessary. He is condescending and undermines his students when they do ask questions. His role is to be a professor so that means he should be open and available to his students whenever they need assistance, and he does a terrible job.
Dennis was very unfocused in his lectures, often rambling about hypothetical topics unrelated to the direct course material. When asked questions after class, he would respond impatiently as though we were a bother to him and try to escape as soon as possible. His overall attitude was very much not conducive to a positive learning environment.
It feels like O'Dea wants his students to not succeed in the course. Your grade in the course is mainly determined by 2 midterms, both worth 40%. However, attending his lectures (consisting of FRED graphs), and practicing the few midterms that he posts (no answer key released) is not enough to succeed in the course. He never reviews for exams too.
Um not my favorite, lectures can be hard to follow. Final is hard, but midterm is fine. Not a ton of work but I feel like you learn more in the TA sections than lecture. Also doesn't really lecture while following slides. Also doesn't release answers to practice tests.
Doesn't seem malicious, however, he's disorganized, flip-flops around the slides during lectures and goes on tangents. The two midterms and the final are the majority of your grade. Not a lot of work involved. The content isn't challenging but doesn't provide many resources for studying - doesn't return tests so can't see what you're doing wrong.
Terrible. Doesn't provide a single resource for you to succeed. Does not release answers to practice worksheets/exams so you don't know if you're even doing anything correctly. Rambles. Lectures are pointless. Quiz section is your only friend if any.
His practice tests are nothing like his exams. He requires to read the textbook, when the content does not match with his exams. WHAT IS GOING ON?
should have stayed at his other university
Probably the worst professor I've ever had. Lectures are horribly unengaging; he rambles the entire time and doesn't even reference his massive lecture slides, he just scribbles off to the side. Provides pretty much zero resources for test prep and is overall an extremely bad professor, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.
Dennis was a great dude, but didn't teach the class well. Every lecture was spent laughing at him yapping about some random econ thing. Don't take a class with Dennis if you want to enjoy your classes
Not sure why Prof. O'Dea has these ratings. His lectures can be long but have plenty of real-world examples and are as good as the book. TAs were helpful, reviewing course content and walking us through Macro problems. Worksheet and homework content difficulty is similar to the exams, so pay attention when doing those. Overall, a good professor.
Horrendous. Don't take if you can.
Often goes off on these very long seemingly irrelevant tangents during lectures and had a lot of confusing material/annotations on his slides. TA sections were more helpful than lectures. Besides weekly reading quizzes that are nothing like tests, there is no hw and limited resources to practice for exams, making it very difficult to study.
Boring class boing homeworks boring lessons. Exams are hard.
O'Dea was a pretty average professor, he is definitely not as bad as most say. 80% of your grade is based on exams so you need to study hard for those. His tests are 100% based on lectures I got a 4.0 and all I did was rewatch the lectures, you do not need to read the textbook. He does give practice exams and when I took the course he gave keys.
The course lectures are irrelevant from the course materials and the level of support provided by him is insufficient for student success in this course.
The course lectures are irrelevant from the course materials and the level of support provided by him is insufficient for student success in this course. He even posted keys to the practice exams after we took the exam.
Dennis is not a great teacher. He goes on irrelevant tangents during class, not paying attention to what is actually on the slides he's presenting. He skips through them, scribbling off to the side in his horrible handwriting. The most helpful thing about this class are the quiz sections.
Dennis Odea is not as bad as most people said. His lecture is lowkey useful to understanding the concepts or theory in the topic we learned, though it can be boring. However, to be success in this course, TA is the most useful resource because they will review the past exams as this course is test heavy (80%).
My condolences to any future students who have to take this class. Dennis might just take the crown for the worst teacher I've ever had, and it seems I'm not the only one to think so. He teaches by going along the bare minimum so he won't get fired, with lectures full of ramblings and tangents, making sure to hit a few key points here and there.
I'm actually taking his online Econ400 this summer 2024. Honestly, Dennis is the worst professor I've ever met at UW. I can see how professional he is in academics, but he's just too bad as an instructor. His lecture notes are just scratching paper for calculations; he always put wrong deadlines on canvas; he gives wrong data in HW and exams...
The lectures can be dry and unfocused, but the TA sessions are very helpful for exam prep. Utilizing resources like unstuck ai alongside the textbook and practice exams is key to success in this course.
Grades highly based on curve.
The professor's lectures were a bit all over the place and sometimes didn't relate to the actual exam content. I learned more through the TA quiz sections and would highly recommend attending their office hours for answers to practice exams and for more practice problems.
Use the office hours and use your TA!! Mine was super helpful, especially because O'Dea's lectures were often not clear. He is very passionate, but the tests were pretty hard. He wasn't very easy to talk to either.
The lectures are dry and hard to focus on, especially once you've zoned out for the nth time. You have to read about 20–30 pages for each class, but the TA sections are pretty helpful. The practice quizzes are only somewhat similar to the actual tests. Overall, the class is still manageable and not as difficult as some others at UW.
Just an overall boring class. Not very hard, and not too much homework, but class materials were very uninteresting and the lectures were not very helpful for tests or class assignments, and very unengaging with random examples. But again, study a good amount and the tests aren't bad.
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Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
46%
Textbook Required
24%
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