Extremely boring and awful teacher. He might know his stuff but sucks at getting his message across. Unreal how much I can't stand this guy's voice.

Monotone, boring, tests are difficult. Not recommended.

I can honestly say this is the worst teacher I have ever had. If you can get an econ class with a different teacher, do it. Only good thing is there is a very generous curve...I failed the final and still ended up with a B in the class.

Not a good teacher at all. Cannot communicate his ideas into useful thoughts. Sounds like kermit the frog though.

His tests are impossible and just staying awake during class is an accomplishment. He is so monotone when he speaks

Self has a different teaching style than what 99% of the population could ever understand. It is almost impossible to pass this class regardless of how hard you try. If you want to take the chance and take him, good luck because you will regret it.

Probably the worst teacher I've ever had. Tests are near impossible, he words them to make no sense. Class is boring and useless. Practice tests are useless and don't apply to the test, as he doesn't teach the material on the test. Easily the hardest teacher in the department. Don't take economics if you have to take him.

One of the most boring lectures I've ever had. Impossible to pay attention to him. Doesn't relate to the students. Luckily, everything you need to know is in the textbook. I didn't pay attention once in class and ended up getting an A thanks to the book. Don't blow off the readings, they are the only thing that can prepare you for his exams!!

Do not take this class if you want a good grade. He is horrible at explaining things. Every question on the test is a trick question. Lectures just made me more confused.

Extremely hard, trick questions all the time. Extra time commitment with homework that other teachers don't assign. Take tests on Saturday mornings. This teacher will hurt your GPA. His extra credit opportunities actually do very little to help your grade, do not be fooled into thinking he is ok. Very boring teacher who sounds like Kermit the frog.

Worst teacher I have ever had

This professor is terrible. Hardest class that i have ever taken. Homework takes hours upon hours and tests are full of trick questions. Sample exams dont really help and other E201 teachers are much better and easier. kills gpa!!

This is one of the hardest classes I have ever had to take!! Plan on doing tons of homework if you take him. He has a monatone voice and attendance is mandatory. His tests are filled with trick questions and going to his office hours are pointless!! Take any other professor!

Lecture is extremely boring and hard to stay awake. I would recommend any other teacher. Exams are full of "gotcha" questions. I went to office hours a lot and he was very unhelpful. I don't think he's a mean guy, but his personality makes him seem rude.

He sucks hardcore. I would have rather taken an 8 A.M. with any other teacher. His tests are rediculously hard. You can know all the material and more, but your tests won't show it in the least bit.

he sucks at teaching. but he's a good guy.

Worst prof ever

It would be difficult to talk in monotone for as long as he does..would have rather taken another teacher at 8am. lecture is extremely boring and the tests are extremely difficult. stay away

Quite possibly the worst professor currently on the payroll at IU. When you think of college professors being scholars rather than teachers, this man comes to mind. I'd rather take a 6am class with someone else than ANY class with him. HIGHLY recommend taking someone else. Can't teach to save his life and goes on random rants in class.

If you have this teacher, you really need to switch. Unless you like spending 2-5 hours doing homework a night, then this guy is your man! But seriously though, this guy sucks.

this guy is hard to understand. the only way you'll do well is if you put in your own time outside of class to do the readings and practice quizzes online and fully understand the material.

DO NOT TAKE HIM. He is useless. I went to every office hours, read every chapter and it did not help. The quizzes are above graduate level and the test's are jargon. Lowest grade I've received at IU and probably the hardest I worked.

This dude is probably the worst teacher I have ever had. He knows the material he teaches very well but he just does not know how to teach at all. I have only missed 2 classes and attended the Cl classes and still have NO CLUE to what he is teaching. I would go ahead and say never ever take this teacher.

TERRIBLE TEACHER. Worst teacher I have ever had.

Save yourself. I did not learn a thing about economics from Prof Self. But I somehow got by with a C and froze my butt off walking to the exams at 8am on four Saturday mornings. Also, I had absolutely no interaction with him: 400 person lecture hall, Grad Assistant's answered questions & graded exams.

Self was terrible! Because I failed his class I can't come back to IUB this fall and there is nothing I can do about it. He's the worst teacher I've ever had. Failed the first exam so I studied harder. Since he only does exams, I thought I would do better so I didn't drop the class(2nd exam was after drop date). Big mistake! Ugh! I hate him!

The worst class I could have imagined. He is incredibly vague in his lectures and it's hard to apply it to the homework, and after every section you have around a 20 question, 1.5 hr online assignment that tells you what you scored on it, but not which individual questions you got wrong, and to get a better score you have to retry it all over again

WORST TEACHER EVER!!!

absolutely the worst economics professor i have had. To give him credit he probably knows his stuff, but is awful at relaying information to his students and expressing what needs to be learned.

Worst teacher ever. Avoid him at all costs.

I've been to two universities and highschoolers, and he is by far the worst teacher I have ever had. All exams are on weekends which completely throws off my studying and provides no down time for a busy student. I dont like him at all

terrible class. Self is a pretty awful teacher and isn't good at explaining the material. ask questions in class, pay attention, do the study plans on myeconlab and you should be good. i heard the other micro teacher is pretty bad as well.

Professor Self's class is impossible to pay attention in, especially since he speaks in monotone the whole time. I've had to resort to teaching myself and show up to class just for the attendance points. Do not take his class. Trust me.

He is a straight up terrible teacher. It is impossible to pay attention and is voice sounds like the professor from Ferris Buhlers day off. Monotone. Don't take this professor ever.

Hardest and most painful class I've ever taken here at IU. Lectures are incredible unclear and I don't understand a thing he teaches. The book is the only thing I have to rely on which isn't enough to convey the mathematical concepts the exams and online homework test.

This instructor is downright terrible. His lectures are confusing and drab. The entire class of >200 is completely unenthusiastic when he asks questions because the environment is so dull. The homework is done online through myeconlab and the lectures do nothing to prepare you for the difficulty of the assignments. Don't take this class!

He is not a good professor

Terrible teacher. Lectures don't help only use is to show up for attendance points. Read the book because that will actually teach you something. Do not take this professor.

James Self is a very confusing teacher to understand if you don't read the book prior to the class meeting. Attendance is the only positive thing you can benefit from lectures. If you don't read you will fail all exams.

He is an awful professor, doesn't give care one bit about his students. He is the most boring/monotone human being that ever existed. His tests are extremely hard and irrelevant to what he teaches. DON'T EVER TAKE HIS CLASS

The most challenging part of his class is not falling asleep.

I really enjoyed econ before taking this class. Now, I hate it. I dread this class more than any other because it never makes sense, and CL sessions don't help much either. Find a different teacher.

Highly discourage anyone from taking this class. The professor is dull and doesn't do a good job of teaching. I studied for the exams learning the chapters inside and out and using the materials he provided. However, his exams were so unbelievably confusing . I did well on the practice tests he provided and then couldn't understand the exam at all.

half way through the semester i entirely gave up on going to lecture. it only confused me further. instead i dedicated this time to further reading of the book, as the book is the only reason i was able to make it through this class... wish i would have been like you and checked his rating before enrolling with this awful professor.

Worst professor I've had. Uses horrible examples and is extremely boring. Tests are a lot harder than they need to be.

HE IS DEATH. so much harder than any other econ teacher at IU. His tests are ridiculous and he doesnt teach how to solve any problems. unreasonably hard.

Don't take his class. Just don't. His tests are nothing like what the material he gives you to study are and he is the only teacher to make you take a sectional final as well as a departmental. And of course I ace the departmental and fail his sectional… Ridiculously hard teacher.

This professor was seriously awful. The lecture is a joke because you will really try to pay attention for the first week and after that everyone gives up. It's so bad you actually get extra credit for going to class. If you read the book you'll be fine, and you shouldn't have to do too much work to get a B.

This guy is seriously useless. The entire class just shows up for the extra credit. Yes you actually get ec for showing up to class, it's that bad. The only good thing about the class is watching basketball off the guys computer in front of you. Literally no one in the class pays attention, so bring a good book or something to do during the class.

Professor Self is not the best professor around. He is extremely hard to follow in lectures and the entire course is based off of four exam scores. The class overall isn't difficult but he makes it much more confusing that it needs to be. I would not recommend taking him for micro.

I highly recommend that if possible, TAKE THE CLASS WITH ANYONE BUT HIM. I absolutely dreaded going to his class and eventually dropped it. He has a monotone voice and I had trouble not falling asleep in this class. His lecture notes are also irrelevant to the exams. If you do take econ with him, make sure you read the textbook often.

I learned everything in that class from the book. His lectures were too confusing and no matter how much I studied I couldn't get the grade I wanted. Don't take his class.

DO NOT TAKE WITH SELF

Going to class actually is pointless aside for the extra credit points each day. I would do other hw in that class bc what he talks about just makes you more confused if anything. READ THE TEXTBOOK if you want to pass. Also if you can afford it, get a tutor, so helpful.

He gives a lot of extra credit. But his tests are much harder than other E201 professors as I realize when studying with my friends. His class is so boring it is next to impossible to stay awake in. You have to read the book religiously or you will fail. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Make sense?

Hardest class I have ever taken. The more you go to lectures the more you will be confused. Not sure how he is still teaching this class.

Avoid this teacher at any cost! Grading is tough, test is tough, and he is so boring! Very not helpful.

He is not helpful at all. The lecture is boring and long. Although his lecture are clear about what he is talking about, but his grading in test are tough and all the grades are based on 4 test grades. Attendance is extra credit. Maybe try to avoid him.

I have never had such a bad experience with a class. I went in for office hours and he basically laughed at me for wanting help. I would say I am a very studious person, but I could not follow what Self wanted for each of his tests. I had never taken econ before this class and I honestly think I know as much now as I did before taking this class.

The fact that he has taught this for years tells me they don't want him doing anything else. he is terrible, awful, a disgrace.

His lectures are very boring and not very clear. The tests are hard and the CL sessions are not much help at all. Other reviewers who say that he is a good prof or that his class is easy are all interested in econ and probably have experience/knowledge in econ. Those who have no prior knowledge, like myself, will most likely struggle in the course.

I fell asleep in almost all of his lectures because he's so monotone and boring and I love economics. Also he purposely words questions on tests so that they confuse you and also he is not very helpful. If someone asked him a question in class he'd often respond in a vague manner or make it seem like it was a stupid question. Try to avoid.

Simply the worst. He's the most boring human alive. Took AP economics in high school and I can almost guarantee I know more than him. He bounces around topics and does not explain them accurately. If I had not previously taken this class, his idiocy would make me fail. You are better off teaching yourself the material and then showing up to test.

This class and this professor was almost the reason I didn't get into Kelley. I felt like his lectures were extremely boring and he uses only Econ terms and talks very monotone. The material is tough and his exams are worded very badly. I would start studying for an exam a week in advance because I felt like I had to teach myself everything.

Well, to begin with, I wasn't a "Law" major but I am now due to how poorly I did in this class. His teaching style mediocre at best. If you can get another teacher, do. He doesn't offer extra help at all. He says the words "make sense" no short of 35 times a lecture. I've counted, and once he said it legitimately 50 times in one lecture. Boring.

I have always been an attentive student. However, I think I dozed off during every class because he is so boring and talks so much that his words lose meaning. I had to teach myself for the tests, which was unfortunate because tests are the only points in the class. I didn't get much out of lectures - I just went for the attendance points.

Idk if I'll get into Kelley bc of this. Taking his class was the worst decision of my life. I took Econ in hs and it was easy for me, not w/ him. He sounds like he is holding his nose when he speaks. Very repetitive with "make sense" and "uhh". He rambles and his notes don't prepare you for the test. The only way to learn is by reading the book.

Prof Self was not the best Professor, seemed like he did not have any interest in helping you be successful in the class. I went to his office hours and he didn't care to learn my name. You have to read the textbook religiously, everything in his lecture is simply detailed and extra info from what you read in the textbook.

Worst professor I have ever had. He's a sweet man but is an incredibly boring lecturer. His tests are worded very difficultly and are much harder than what you learn in class/read from the textbook. Avoid him at all costs. He curves your final grade but I still failed.

I went to every lecture, took notes, went to CL, and read the book multiple times and still didn't pass. Lectures were pretty useless, I only went for participation. I would definitely not recommend taking this class. Online is a way better option

Awful. Nothing from exams comes from lectures and textbook. Even passing is impossible because he is not helpful at all. I wish I can give him a zero for his rating.

Terrible class. He speaks to students like we all understand econ in the way he does. Very hard to pay attention to. Class is super boring.

Not good at explaining things and then gives you a hard test - good luck

Most boring lectures of all time combined with his annoying nasally voice makes attending class even for extra credit a drag. Most entertaining thing to do in class is to count the number of times he can say "Make Sense?" in one lecture. Just do yourself a favor and don't take his class...

The worst and most monotonous voice I've ever heard. I've never liked econ classes but every single day in his class confused me. Topics that should have been easy felt convoluted and confusing-he's so smart but not good at teaching. The book kind of helped but every time I thought I finally understood a topic I would get confused again.

Very hard tests when compared to homework assignments and lecture slides

Not caring. Gives little constructive feedback. Students do not respect him. Not hilarious. The worst of the worst. Please, fire this man.

I have take Econ in high school and I definitely enjoy the content of this course. However Prof Self can't convey the idea clearly and the content is disjointed. There are way better teachers out there. Don't take his class unless you know econ so well and don't want to do homework. Plus his tests are tricky and really hard.

I definitely would have failed this class had I not taken Economics in highschool. His lectures will put you to sleep, and he lacks the ability to explain anything clearly. I easily gained more teaching myself the material than from his lectures. However, his grading scale is generous, and going to CL gets you extra credit. Avoid this man...

This guy is HORRIBLE! Make sure you don't take any classes with him. He's not helpful at all and doesn't care at all about students. His exams are insane and they do not accurately reflect what was covered in class and homework assignment. As I just said, do not take him. You will regret it.

Worst professor at IU. Try your best to avoid him whenever you have a chance.

Easily the worst prof I have had. Lectures are very boring, he has a very monotone voice that makes it hard to pay attention. Grade is based solely off of tests. Posts tests grades in view em making it hard to know your grade. Attendance isn't mandatory but is taken on TopHat, however i recommend going to class.

This dude is just the woat.

Absolutely deplorable! Went to his office hours to get help and he acted as telling me not to bother him. He does not teach, doesn't post any helpful materials, gives unfair questions on tests, doesn't respond to email, and doesn't care about any of the students! Worst professor ever.

horrible horrible HORRIBLE DO NOT TAKE HIM

I honestly ended up having to teach myself from the textbook in order to understand anything in this class. Prof Self is a nice guy and definitely very smart, but I think sometimes he forgets hes teaching freshman econ - the way he explains things is so complex and technical that it makes you feel like you are taking a grad school level course.

He is the worst professor at IU. Please do not take him, avoid him at all costs. lectures are dry as hell and does not explain concepts very well.

Don't take his class. He is very smart but an awful teacher. He is way too technical about the easiest topics, making them seem much harder to understand than they actually are. Tests are awful; they are nothing like the practice problems provided.

Probably the worst professor I've ever had. Does not seem passionate about teaching at all and lectures were extremely boring. Take any other professor to earn your econ credit. Would NOT recommend

His lectures do absolutely nothing, I had to teacher myself everything, and I asked him why I got something wrong he said, watch my lecture video, too hard to explain on email. This has been the most frustrating class due to the lack of help.

You will be better off with any other Macro/Micro professor.

Teaches directly from the textbook. Typos all over slides sometimes make it difficult to read and understand. Overall, poor class experience. Take micro from someone else if you can.

Professor Self means well and seems very passionate about Economics, however has a hard time making it digestible for the average person. He doesn't use canvas for grades and make you calculate it yourself. As well as gives 10 pop quizzes over the course of the semester. I have never disliked a class as much as this one.

Very boring lectures that feel like forever. There are very few teats therefore pretty hard to get grade up. In addition there no real way to prep for the test as we are not given study guides or ways to study. Regret taking this class with him, if you can get someone else I would definitely do that.

Professor Self is a very respectable professor. However, he is the worst professor I have ever had. Do not take this class with him unless you want to listen to him read off his powerpoint slides. If you don't go to class you'll fail. He also does graded questions in some lectures so you can't skip. Each exam is 25% of your grade.

Professor Self is a very kind person, however his lectures are very difficult to track with because he moves very quickly. If you do not have a broad understanding of economics before this class, good luck. This class was mandatory for my major requirements and was very difficult.

Professor Self is a good guy and you can tell he has good intentions. However, he does a poor job of explaining material thoroughly and all he does is read off of a powerpoint, making it hard to retain any information. He gives random in-class questions to take attendance, and he gets frustrated when students do not immediately understand things.

in class rn idk whats going on, hate t his guy. droppin out .

I don't like to rate a professor this low but if you want to dive in to macroeconomics or take credits don't have his class

No extra exercise, a lot of things especially basic one are confused, he eliminate a lot of important contents in Macroeconomics and lack of practice, don't take this

Never had a professor this bad. Has no idea how to explain anything and doesn't use canvas grades, so you never know what you have in the class. His assignments are "up for interpretation" but he needs specific answers. Take this class if you want to be confused by every assignment and have a clueless professor.

STAY FAR AWAY. He seems like a solid guy but is an absolute horrendous professor. His lack of tech abilities make doing assignments challenging to find and cannot lecture to save his life. He always puts wrong stuff on his slides on a daily basis and has to correct it during class and still misses wrong information. Also has random pop quizzes.

DO NOT EVER TAKE THIS PROFESSOR. There is a reason why he has over 100 awful reviews. His voice is so annoying, first of all. His assignments are all "up for interpretation" but he needs exact answers or else you will get it wrong. He expects you to read his mind. He gets mad at students asking questions in class, and he is extremely disrespectful.

Clearly Professor Self knows what he's talking about, but he really cannot translate that into something that is accessible and engaging for someone with no prior economics experience. His lectures are incredibly boring and it takes a lot of outside time to get concepts down. He curves tests hugely but this should be a red flag.

Here is a list of reasons why you shouldn't take this class: he disrespects students, doesn't care about student learning or grades, creates terrible exams, and grades very strictly. He isn't able to convey the material he is teaching and doesn't maintain professionalism as a professor and has yelled at students.

Professor Self is awful. He doesn't care about his students and doesn't seem to have a full grasp on how to help students grow. He is an extremely hard grader and doesn't and doesn't grade fairly. His lectures are extremely boring and are not beneficial whatsoever. I do not recommend this teacher and recommend finding a different professor

Do not taking E370 with Professor Self. I would've rather had a professor that barely spoke english. He had no empathy for his students and was bad at explaining complicated concepts. His lectures are pointless, but you have to go because he gives pop quizzes that are one of the few other grades you receive in the class besides the exams.

Guy is a robot. Lectures for hours and never stops to look around and realize no one has any clue what he is talking about. I would love to measure the statistical significance of having 125+ one star reviews, but he was never able to teach me how to

Seems like a nice guy from what I've talked to him about in his office hours but man he cannot convey this type of info to students who have never taken stats. Nobody really knows what's going on at all and you can tell by the other reviews they have some things to say about him. Ive never had to retake a icore preq and really hope I don't have to.

Throughout this semester, there were many times where things were not graded correctly or went missing and I find that to be unacceptable. On the final exam, there were three different instances where the test had to be changed due to errors in the questions with key number statistics. Professor Self is one of the worst professors I have ever had.

Dr. Self has some very impressive credentials. However, I did not have a good experience in his E370 class. Lectures were unclear. He expects specific answers and content for his projects, despite his instructions being ambiguous. Exams were a disaster for many, despite the relatively simple course content. Avoid this professor at all costs.

Overall awful teacher who does nothing but lectures the students. Homework is helpful, but you won't learn anything in the actual lectures.

Lectures are awful, TA support basically does not exist, only one short office hours every week at a bad time, I'm not sure if the TA's have actually been trained for this class or not it feels like they are clueless. Pretty much no support for the material outside of class, canvas page is also a mess, and the homework takes hours every time.

The professor cannot instruct the material required to pass the class. Everything you learn for this class is from the online textbook. The only reason to go to class is to do the pop quizzes and those are for a good portion of your grade. Don't recommend this professor for E251 under any circumstance.

Awful teacher. He is a close-minded individual who's teaching style complements his worldview: shallow and tunnel-visioned. There were numerous typos per test, reflecting how much he cares about the education of his students. If you want easy credits, by all means take this class, but if you are looking for quality education, steer away from Self.

The teacher tends to not teach and when questions are asked he hits you with some sarcastic reply assuming you should know the correct answer.

Teaches in a format different from the book he is teaching out of. Spend many hours on homework each week. His tests differ from the way he teaches, encourages graphs and such but gives zero room to do so on exams. Makes it difficult to differentiate the 30+ different lines you HAVE to know to put on a graph. Abbreviates everything.

if you can, take any other prof for econ. dr self is not only annoying to listen to, but he doesn't teach anything tbh he is awful. if you have to take him, good luck

Professor Self made me feel bad for asking questions in class. He gave almost no explanation of the information on his slides, rather, he just described what was present on the screen. The course did not reflect a beginning-level micro course. Get used to Pearson, it's why I passed, but he expects about 7 hours a week on there plus weekly quizzes.

gives SO much busy work it's actually insane. by far had the most homework in this class than any of my others. belittles students whenever you ask a question. gives a lot of pop quizzes and tests are extremely hard. TAs are of absolutely no help.

I had him for Econ, and it was the worst class of my life. His lectures are painfully long and he just talks and talks. It was so hard to listen and pay attention to. He gives you online readings that will take a while to complete, but are the only things that teach you since he doesn't. There are pop quizzes, but they don't heavily impact grade.

This is genuinely the worst class I have ever taken. The weeks leading up to the exam are hellish, as I work for hours to cram everything he's ever said in class, written in a presentation, or assigned in the textbook into my head only for none of that to even be on the exams. Dude legit has a fetish for watching people fail.

I would not recommend Dr. Self. To name a few issues: long, boring lectures; poor communication skills; condescending attitude; and lackluster teaching. His teaching style was not well-suited for introductory microeconomics. He also gave pop quizzes on content covered that day—unacceptable, IMO. Luckily, he gave generous curves on exams.

Terrible professor, what is taught in class does not line up with what is on exams. I had over 97 pages of notes and reviewed and studied them then when test came I failed. Not to mention other friends in the class used the notes and failed aswell. Use the text book.

Homework is doable—about 2 hours with a week to finish—but quizzes and the final don't have anything that goes with the study guides he gives (my experience). Lectures are pretty boring, and attendance is tracked through random in-class assignments. Grades aren't updated on Canvas, and the class feels too exam-heavy for non-econ majors.

The rest of these reviews are not wrong. When taking this class I care most about my grade. My final grade was the most important to me. The class is for sure do able, however Professor Self is one of the worst professors I have ever had. His lack of motivation and effort towards students is unbearable. I hope the economics sector of IU fires him.

He is just not good at explaining things. Most of the knowledge you get comes from the textbook and online homework. The lecture is required, but most don't get much from it, as it feels like someone who obviously knows what they're talking about is just talking and talking, but you and everyone else have no idea what they are talking about.

Terrible class with even worse professor. going to the class can be very similar to losing your parents in a car accident. This class has ruined my life.

Some people keep flagging legit criticism over this teacher because he is “nice”. That should tell you enough about this class where students defend him just because of his personality rather than his teaching which you are paying him to do. Also tests are nothing like the study guides or graded class problems so have fun.

Everybody praises paying attention to his lectures- he talks in circles and goes off on long tangents that dont apply to class material. If you manage to tune out the fluff of the lectures, the fluff of the class powerpoint, and the fluff in the textbook, THEN you can piece together what will actually be asked on exams

Prof self puts the least amount of effort in teaching, there are constant errors in the practice questions and information in the lectures does not apply to the test. However, if you want an A in this class you can definitely do it. Just focus on the information on Pearson (textbook) and actually read and take notes on them. Just keep ur head up.

Avoid this professor at all costs, he is not very engaging and exams are weighted heavily. There is also little to no prep for exams. If you take econ with this professor just know your cooked.