3.1
Quality2.9
Difficulty38%
Would Retake96
Reviews38%
Would Retake
96
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
20
4
30
3
14
2
14
1
18
What Students Say
“He is not at all helpful and come off as condescending”
ECON1100 - 2.0 rating“Professor Solow was not very helpful”
ECON1100 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
50%
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.36 avg changeRatings by Course
6E001
5.0
(1)ECON
5.0
(1)HONORSSEMINAR
5.0
(1)PRINCOFMICRO
5.0
(1)ECON169
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
ECON2
5.0
MICROAAA
5.0
HISB
5.0
06E001ECON
5.0
06E001A02
5.0
Reviews (96)
great teacher, he's clear and to the point....plus he doesn't sit and lecture to you from notes, he makes up his own and does lots of examples
Excellent, clear, motivated, and entertaining lecturer. Unfortunately, doesn't expect much from students, and so material is very watered.
No Comments
Lectures were unrelated to course material. But he was entertaining, so it was not hard to go to.
No Comments
great guy, interesting lectures!
Take his classes
most lectures are totally unrelated to class material, brags about college he graduated from.
Those who think the lectures are unrelated to the material haven't been reading the text or just don't understand what's going on.
Funny guy and doesn't really try to make test "impossible". His lectures aren't word for word from the book. Uses a lot of examples in everyday life to explain key points of the material. Very nice guy. He brags about his nobel prize winning dad
If you read the book at all and attend class you will do well in this class. Tests are solely from his "top ten lists" from every week. On top of that your lowest test and quiz are dropped.
My favorite teacher ever. He has interesting lectures. Made me decide to be a business major.
boring but reliable
Entertaining, gives good examples, funny, very straightforward with his tests, and just a good guy in general.
Blabbers about pointless stuff instead of teaching, and intentionally tircks you on his tests, he needs to get a life, not another sam adams
Really nice bright guy, willing to help outside of class pretty much anytime. Doesn't brag about his dad, actually didn't mention him until we read one of his articles.
Fair class... he's pretty cool. Entertaining... Tests are extremely hard though, in my opinion, and I've read each chapter and done all the Top Ten lists... ouch...
he's alright. you can miss class and still do well. read the book and teach yourself.
His class follows the material, but his lectures are awful and his tests are even worse. Read all the chapters and did ALL Top Ten Lists, and still didn't help. Hated the class and him, decided not to be a business major because of this class.(if you take it make sure you get an english speaking TA)
I hate this class. His lectures are awful and the online assignments don't go over the material very well at all (actually not at all). This class is not recommended to be taken. He sucks! All the TA's can't speak english very well so it makes it pointless to go to discussion. This class sucks!!!!
The guy can't teach. He spends all hour (even goes over) talking about a topic he could explain in five minutes. If you have to take the class, don't go to the pointless lectures just read the book and teach yourself. It's the only way.
Gives good examples in lecture to relate to topic, but aren't worth the time.. teach yourself from the book
Good class. Sometimes talks about something not related to the course for awhile, but makes the course fun. Other than that, hes a great teacher.
Easy class. Go to the lectures for the quizzes, but you can do something else while you are there. Tests are gimmes. Easy class, take it for Gen eds if you need one, that's all I have to say.
No Comments
Boring class, but he made it interesting with his random stories. Funny teacher and down to earth guy.
The class is easy, and his examples, while sometimes silly, are usually good. If you don't understand him or the class material, it's a problem with you, not the class -- he knows what he's talking about, and lectures are clear. The class should be intuitive. Anyone complaining about TA's should realize that has nothing to do with the professor.
Great Teacher!!!!!!!!!!! Loved his class!!
Easiest class ever, Solow is a good prof - The material is so easy you can read it a couple days before the test and you're set. If you can't get an A in this class then you will know what to do...head to the nearest community college and save yourself some money!!!
good teacher- hard class
not hard. easy to study material night before and do fine. according to 12/10's post 85% of the people who take this class ought to head on down to a community college because the class is graded on a curve.
Sports Econ. Awesome Class! Slow at times but you see the business side of sports.
Antitrust- You read a bunch of court decisions based on the Sherman Act and discuss them in class. Tests are fair... he makes up facts and you have to applicably use the Sherman Act. Straightfoward.
Take the night class. You'll be there a lot less. He drags out weekly lecture because he can. Material is the easiest of any business course.
Lecture is primarily useless as he just goes over random graphs and talks about irrelevant subjects from a different textbook than the test is over, believes he is teaching a new style but it sucks.... read your book thourougly or you wont succeed
The guy is a terrible teacher. He just shows up to class and tells stories. I've never skip a class until I took his classes. He doesn't explain anything and the tests sometimes don't make sense.
John is a nice guy, shares relevant stories, knows what he talks about, & cares about students. But, he expects us to do A LOT independently. His loose class structure took getting used to. Take notes, print out the Top Ten lists, AND do LOTS of practice on MyEconLab, because only attending lecture & disc. & studying the text = B-C's on the exams!
Solow teaching style is interesting at best. I personally went to class 3 times the entire semester and got one of the highest grades in the class. His lectures consist of him talking for 50 min about beer and pizza and tying it in to econ at the tail end for one small point Read the book and do the top 10 list u will be fine.
Another Professor at The University of Iowa that is actually interested in teaching kids to think like economists. Most kids want a free ride, but if you actually pay attention to him you will begin to love the subject. His anecdotes aren't gospel, they are anecdotes and you have to be open to actually learning before you will enjoy his class.
Excelent
This guy is a handi at teaching. HORRIBLE teacher!!! Tells random stories that have nothing to do with the class. Waste of time to attend his lectures and doesnt give notes, just talks.
If you think he is just randomly rambling in lecture, I suggest you drop out of college and find a full time job. He may use up to 90 percent of lecture as build up to an example, but instead of just assuming that this is just another of his random stories, try analyze what he has said and you will take something from it that is valuable
Pretty good teacher but since he lectures more abstractly I usually didn't find it neccecary to go to class. The class was pretty clear and straightforward though.
Solow is an amazing professor. His lectures may seem long-winded, but are extremely relevant if students are willing to actually think about it and not slack off. He is passionate about economics and really knows what he's talking about.
He is an awesome and funny guy. He is very helpful if you go to his office hours.
I am in his class right now (as we speak) this guy has been rambling about how to brew beer for like half an hour. this is the most useless class i have ever been a part of. i have leaned nothing about economics but i can totally brew a fresh beer.
Worst teacher I've ever met. Just wastes 300 peoples' time in class. Does not go over class materials, but only provide some examples. Examples are helpful but it is not worth the full class period. But he talks about one example during the whole class. Absolutely wasteful. Frequently makes mistakes in exams and some questions do not make sense.
Agreed, worst lectures of my life. He is boring and irrelevant. He seems like he doesn't care because he talks about how to throw paper airplanes. Our class test averages were about 60%. So clearly, his random lectures are not useful.
John Solow is a professor who challenges you to think like an "economist". His lectures may not go hand and hand with the text but you're given real-life examples. I did fail his class because I hardly studied and I also bought the wrong text. Haha. Do his top ten lists, go to office hours, do the practice problems, read the text, and STUDY SMART!
NOT FUN AT ALL HIS LECTURES ARE POINTLESS
never understand what he is talking about, neither me and my friends, Top 10 list is bull sh*t. but he is a nice man just not fit for teaching in this University
Top Ten List = Golden. Went to 4 lectures all semester, wish i went to 0. he just blabbers all lecture. no notes, no powerpoint. just off the top of his head. and its useless. class is extremely easy tho, all you need to do is treat his top tens for each chapter like a bible and you are golden.
Also, read a newspaper during lecture if you go. he doesnt like it and its pretty funny.
I would never recommend his class. His lecture does not help learning the materials. He talks during lecture, but they should not take the whole period at all.He seems to elaborate what he just said again and again because he did not prepare anything for class.His exams are not quite logical and often erroneous.Do not take his class.Unprofessional!
His lectures are way too long for no reason. Although he doesn't always get to the point, he provides great examples and makes you think and understand how econ works. Nothing that would stop me from taking him again.
One of the best professors I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Extremely helpful; DEFINITELY knows his stuff. Starts out each lecture with (mostly awesome) music and even plays students' music if approved......He has a genius method of lecturing, where he goes off on a seemingly unrelated tangent for 30 minutes and then ties everything together!
Untraditional lecture style teaching because he didn't write very many notes, but I really enjoyed it. He gave very good examples to relate to the ones in the book. The tests were harder than the online quizzes but not ridiculous
I got a C in this class last year. If you're a traditional student who likes notes and lectures do not take him. Many students enjoyed the lectures I did not. He was a nice guy gave me an extention on a quiz I missed and very helpful. I just did not like his teaching style
He is a nice person... If you want to take his course, then you better read your textbook... His lecture is sooooo creative.. Great....... I learned a lot about making nice beer..... in the very beginning.... Be careful with short essay one.... Plz, understand properly about textbook..............
Absolutely pointless to go to lecture, I didn't go to once since the work week of school and got a B. Tests are relatively easy and very similar to online quizzes. Just look at top ten lists and do activities on myeconlab.
He did not present information well and got off topic a lot. There was one lecture in particular that I was not happy with and it happened to be an experiment. It had to do with patients and some of them had to die while we, the students, had to choose which ones would live. Just the way he presented it was very rude. I stopped going after that.
Solow brings a lot of interesting experiences and incorporates bits of law and real world examples.
Professor Solow's class seems way too easy until you get the tests. The first one is easy, so make sure not to blow it. You get to drop one exam score, so that's helpful but it's a drag to go to class. You might think it doesn't help, but you should definitely go. Also the top ten lists are a must. Study those, and you're fine.
I really liked his lectures but they often had long tangents that had nothing to with the class and he would often go over the time limit. However, he is very knowledgable and I learned a lot in his lectures. he gives lists of what's on the exam each week. Know the top 10's and you'll get an A
I only went to lecture the first and last week (because apparently participation in one of the in-class activities is mandatory...but I question if it actually counts on your grade). Not an informative lecturer but a very entertaining guy. It's really not necessary to go to lecture at all, just do MyEconLab and read over Top 10 lists.
Professor John Solow is the most boring professor I have ever had in my life. He is not helpful and refuses to let a student be right. He is very defensive and rude. He will teach you NOTHING in class but everything about his dog, family and beer interest. He should not be a professor. This is a beginner class he expects everyone to know everything
Professor John Solow is the most boring professor I have ever had in my life.
The most aweful TEACHER I have ever met. He is smart and has a great background in Economics but isn't a great teacher. I haven't gone to his lectures for the past 3 months now because his lectures are seriously, USELESS. He only talks about his friends, dog, and what he did with his wife in California when he was younger.
Professor Solow is pretty boring, but if you pay attention, relates many of the things learning in class to real world economics. He expects you to learn the stuff yourself by reading the book instead of him just giving you all of the information. Multiple choice questions are a little tricky, but this is only because the content itself so easy.
I took this class last fall and must say that John is one of my all time favorite professors. You can teach yourself micro with some time and a textbook, so having a professor with his depth of knowledge to help along the way is just a bonus. His lectures are filled with insight and real-world applications of the material. Class I will remember.
Intelligent professor and is passionate about economics. He went over graphs and key concepts, but he also gives you a list of things you need to know from each chapter. I learned most from the book but lecture and discussion explained the more confusing concepts. The multiple choice portion of the tests were fairly easy, short answers a struggle.
Prof. Solow is nice, and he has a great background in economics (BBA in Yale, Master and PHD in Stanford), I think this course is just too easy for him, so he just highlights the important parts and expect us to read the book to know everything. Seems boring but later on I find it helpful. Plus the exams aren't too hard.
Good professor but gets off topic a lot. His intelligence goes far beyond what he teaches so I think this class is just easy for him to teach. He was always helpful in office hours and thorough when going over graphs
John Solow is an average teacher. I would recommend taking the course online, I heard it is much easier. The tests are pretty hard, and there is a lot of homework that has little to no effect on your grade.
If you want learn something, don't take this class. He didn't talk about useful knowledge in the class. But his class is easy to pass. Because he offered 3 mid-term test and 1 final test, and you can drop one of them. The homework is online and not too hard even for self-study and you can check answer with your friends.
I learned a lot from Professor Solow's class, and despite what others might think he actually does give helpful information in lectures, but I had some issues with him not being very professional. I wouldn't advise against him though, I did learn a lot and the class wasn't too hard. Just study and try your best, and ignore his arrogance.
Average Professor for an average class, the tests are pretty tough but a good amount of studying should make it pretty easy to handle. Isn't the most effective lecturer and comes off as rude. You can teach yourself with the book but he does manage to help in class every now and again.
His lectures are purely optional in my opinion. I thought he was interesting to listen to but he rarely covered course material. Everything I learned from this class was from the book and a weekly online assignment. I was perfectly fine with this style but I pretty much taught myself. Got a B+
Solow doesn't make it through more than a couple concepts per lecture. Lectures are mostly anecdotes that he tries to make economic concepts applicable to. You cannot rely on his lectures to succeed in the class. I stopped going to lecture after a couple weeks. Rely instead on the textbook and online homework guidance.
Rambles on about nonsense. Bring a newspaper or something to read before class because he spends the first 10 mins talking about irrelevant stuff that puts half the lecture to sleep. Not only that, his rate of speech is so slow. So if you are paying attention it drags on.
Quizzes every lecture but you could work with anyone so there is no reason to not get close to 100% on each quiz. Quizzes were 42% of total grade so its easier to get an A than you would think.
Going to class is a necessity because there are quizzes for every lecture. Have yet to learn anything from him from going to a lecture. He is not at all helpful and come off as condescending. He relies way too much on technology for someone that does not understand how to use it. Overall, not difficult, but you must teach yourself everything.
He wasn't too bad, just make sure you show up every day for the clicker questions. he likes to rant about things that are redundant to the class, other then that, do the readings and homework and you'll be alright.
Easy course, recommended as gen-ends
Lectures consist of him rambling for the first 10 min and about 20 min of clicker quizzes. Half the class left after clickers. After that he'll explain stuff and go through practice problems, which can be very helpful depending on how hard the material is. The tests were sometimes hard and but he curves everything.
Professor Solow was not very helpful. He gives in-class quizzes that are not graded consistently. When he does lecture it is very boring. The class itself is very easy, but Professor Solow was not helpful.
Have quiz at the beginning of each class and did't teach much after quiz
You have to show up to every lecture to get quiz points, but if a lot of people miss a question he'll do a re-poll. If you do a little reading and watch the videos you'll do great. Don't be one of those idiots that walks out right after the quiz, he actually has a lot of good info even though he gets off topic a lot. Really lax teaching style.
The only reason to go to lecture is because he has in class graded questions. Doesn't teach anything in lecture so you have to learn everything on your own. The overall grade only relies on your tests so if you do poorly on one you're in trouble for an overall grade. 0/10 would not recommend
He does not lecture. All you do in lecture is answer questions based on the readings., so if you don't go to lecture you will not pass. He makes you go to the TA before you can come to him in his office hours. The exams make up over 80% of the grade.
It is a flipped course so you learn everything online and then you answer questions through response ware in lecture. The tests are super hard even if you know what you're talking about. There are 3 major tests and that's what your grade is basically based off of. The questions during lecture have a little bit to do with your grade.
He is an awful professor, rambles about nothing and doesn't teach you anything. Only reason I went to lecture was because of stupid pointless clicker questions. You have to teach yourself everything in this class and the exam are nonsense - avoid if possible.
If you don't go to class, you'll lose out on 12% of your grade
I absolutely HATED this class. It's a flipped course; which means you watch khan academy/youtube videos and go into class for clickers. ONLY clickers. He doesn't teach us how to graph; nor is the test geared towards the textbook at all. It's so abstract. And the fun part? Your grade ARE your exams. If you do bad on one; you're screwed.
Professor Solow rants for the first 20 minutes of class and the rest of the class is doing clicker questions, which suck. He does not teach you anything and you must rely on learning from the online videos and reading the textbooks. The class is curved based on who your TA is and some of the TA's are awful.
Really different teaching style where he rambles on during lecture about nothing, but he assigns kahn academy videos which basically covers EXACTLY what will be on the test. Lecture is boring because you learn very little, but answering the clicker questions is vital or else you'll miss out on an easy 12% of your grade
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
50%
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.36 avg changeRatings by Course
6E001
5.0
(1)ECON
5.0
(1)HONORSSEMINAR
5.0
(1)PRINCOFMICRO
5.0
(1)ECON169
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
ECON2
5.0
MICROAAA
5.0
HISB
5.0
06E001ECON
5.0
06E001A02
5.0