3.1
Quality3.5
Difficulty57%
Would Retake96
Reviews57%
Would Retake
96
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
27
4
18
3
16
2
13
1
22
What Students Say
“The most disorganized professor I have ever encountered”
BUSACC0040 - 1.0 rating“She seems like a nice person, but unfortunately is a terrible prof”
ACC0040 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
24%
Textbook Required
24%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.14 avg changeRatings by Course
MANACCT
5.0
(1)BACC2558
5.0
(1)ACCTSCM
4.0
(1)BUSSA1221
4.0
(1)BUSACC0040
3.5
(49)Difficulty by Course
MANAGACC
5.0
BUSACMGRL
5.0
FINACCOUNTING
5.0
BACC2401
4.3
MGRLACCT
4.0
Reviews (96)
she was really mean when people went to office hours for help. also very unclear about what is initially expected of students. overall a bad experience.
I went to office hours before each test and she was very nice and helpful. Tests were a bit hard, but I learned a lot.
She Is an evil lady, that doesnt explain a damn thing
She has a weird teaching style and waste time in class talking about the cases for way too long. But her class average is usually a B in cost accounting. Just make sure you do ur homework, have a good group and study for the exams. Gives partial credit for everything.
I don't understand the other reviews. Dr. Shastri's tests were not that difficult (avg. 80%) and she was very pleasant and helpful. She is perhaps the most qualified prof I have had yet at CBA. I personally think she's funny. Believe me, you will learn a lot.
Dr. Shastri was awful. She was horrible at explaining new concepts. She wasted half of the class going over the homework problems because she got the answers online and didn't know how to do them herself. Her tests were pretty straightforward though...
nice person...very helpful teaching one-on-one. classes are very boring and consist of her reading powerpoint slides. go to recitation!
No Comments
She's pretty hard and she sucks at teaching. Make sure you understand financial first. Read the book and do the homework problems offline first because if you just fill in the blanks, you will fail the class.
This is clearly the worst class in the EMBA program. Dr Shastri has done nothing but embarrass herself the entire quarter. She is unable to do basic cost accounting problems in class. I have recommended to my employer not to send additional colleagues through this program. This is the straw that broke the camels back.
Compared to other teachers for Managerial, she is easy. I got a B instead of a B+ after messing up on the final. She gives 3 Test and 3 quizzes that are just multiple choice. Issue with that is that you wont get partial credit. You have to make sure you know the material. She could go off topic sometimes but its not serious. She takes attendance.
Had her for two classes now, and she is a real nice and helpful lady. Lectures may be boring at times but her tests were fairly easy and she graded stuff easy too. Def suggest taking her if you can. Participate so that she knows your name. She gave me and A- in the class even though my numerical grade was a low 80.
She is fair but, the projects are annoying and take a lot of time to complete.
the worst teacher I've had. Gave **** points off on the first quiz without explaining anything. Doesn't know the material herself, uses the Publisher for EVERYTHING. Tests, PPts, Software, Questions, Notes, Answers all come from the publisher. She is absolutely useless. Hey, Karen... hope you read this, I could teach the class better than you.
I thought Karen was very good. Her class is not one where you can just show up to lecture and get by without doing any work. I would go through the book & problems before she taught it, and use the actual class time to complement what I had already learned or clarify what I was unsure of. She was extremely helpful and a very nice lady. Attractive.
I think she's a lot better than the average rating here. Liked her more at the beginning of the semester, she was often irate toward the end but mostly cause kids in class were annoying. Tests were pretty fair and I would even say easy, book was almost useless but has practice problems, online homeworks were tedious. Go to every class and listen.
I liked her at the beginning of the semester, but by the end she seemed to not care about the students as much. The online homeworks are helpful to the class. The exams are moderately difficult, and I thought the final was very difficult (again, relating to the fact that her teaching ability declined throughout the semester.)
I think she was fair and consitent throughout the semester. The class employes simple logic and math skills +some prior fin. acct and/or econ concepts. So don't expect her to teach you those. If you understand the concept behind the problem practice you should be fine.
I agree with the statements below. She stopped caring about the class and, in my opinion, made the final much more difficult in spite of us. She allowed graphing calculators up until the final, and she surprised us all with handing out simple function ones at the final. Don't go to class; it is worthless. Not a very good speaker or communicator.
Shastri is a very kind woman and cares about her students. I know she has been going through some difficult times personally, so that could explain for her seeming "disinterest" in the course. However, she is a good professor and does care about her students. Easy class and if you talk to her one on one she will help you.
Professor Shastri is quirky for sure. She quizzes you every week so you are forced to learn the material before the exam. Exams are multiple choice and online homework is simple. Read the book and you should be fine. She is not that clear in her lectures.
She was good initially and became so bad, couldn't stand her. She made the class attendance mandatory as most of the students stopped showing up in her class.
The materia that she covered is not diffucalt. BUT SHE CONFUSES YOU ALL THE TIME. She is nice but really not a good teacher. Don't know how to teach and she can't recognize her own writing.
She is super confusing and unorganized. She doesn't know how to teach. She gets numbers wrong on examples all the time. Almost every test/quiz has an error somewhere. She's nice but soo unclear and annoying. Its incredibly hard to follow. Would not recommend.
Most unclear and disorganized professor I have ever had. Messes up problems and doesn't even understand what she's doing or her own handwriting. Do not recommend.
She is a very sweet lady who cares about her students & wants them to do well. That's about the end of the positive aspects. By far most unorganized prof I've ever had. Extremely confusing, horrific handwriting, every quiz/exam threw curveballs that were never taught in class. Final was literally one of the worst finals I've ever taken. Have fun!
Unorganized. Very long-winded, boring lectures. You're fighting an uphill battle if you don't have a business background. Loves throwing out curveball questions that aren't covered in the booklecture. Extremely intelligent and knowledgeable, however avoid her if possible.
Just pay attention and do the work she assigns, which isn't much. Easy B, tough A
Karen is honestly such a nice teacher. She's not as organized as some of the other accounting professors, but as long as you do the practice problems and read the chapters you'll be fine. She responds very quickly to emails and is willing to help you with literally anything. As long as you put in the effort you can get an A
Karen Shastri is too good to pass up. She is the most intelligent lecturer I have ever had. The common denominator among people who dislike her is that they don't read the book. Newsflash: her class has a textbook, ignoring it is a sure way to have a miserable time.
Just had this class last fall. It's a case of not particularly enjoying a class but being glad I took it. Government and non-profit is about as much fun as pensions in IFR2. But it made FAR way easier. Shastri was fine. This class is similar to IFR1&2. Just follow along in the lectures and do some practice problems and you'll get at least a B+.
Had Shastri for managerial. It was a straightforward class and her lectures were not very boring. This is about all I expect from an intro class. As long as I don't fall asleep during the lectures and can make an A or A-, I'm happy.
Shastri radiates excellence like the sun emits gamma radiation. You're gonna need some SPF 50 academic sunscreen for the learning that's going to hit you in the face if you're not careful. Whoa, do yourself a favor and take a class with Karen Shastri.
The most disorganized professor I have ever encountered
Do NOT take Shastri for anything. She's terribly unorganized, gives boring lectures, and just downright has no clue. I wish I would have never taken Managerial with her. I'm writing this before the semester even ends because she's THAT bad. Can't say enough bad things about her, honestly. Just stay away. Please.
She is a very nice woman, but incredibly disorganized. Her grading is unclear, she frequently messed up problems during lecture. She is a painfully boring lecturer and forces a lot of participation from the class. Her final is cumulative unlike all the other teachers making it far more challenging. Avoid her if you can.
Sure she's not the best at teaching, which is why I rarely went to lecture, but I was still able to do well in the class just by running through the notes she posts on courseweb. Honestly, as long as you put some time into this class, it shouldn't be a struggle to do well in it. Also, an 85% or higher is considered an A, which is very beneficial.
Karen is a tough lady. She grades strictly by her system laid out in the syllabus. Granted there is a curve built in- if you dig yourself into a hole there's no way of getting out. Do well on every exam from the get-go otherwise there's no turning back. Don't even try to ask for a bump in your grade at the end of the semester.
Easy class and helpful professor. Some people got really mad at Shastri over managerial accounting because they're surprised that cramming the night before the test doesn't work. Seriously, do some practice problems from the book and you'll be fine.
Shastri is a nice prof but her managerial class was very difficult for me. All the managerial and financial classes at CBA use the same tests and powerpoints with only very minor variations. With that in mind, you're better off picking these intro classes based on how much you like the professor. I'm a big fan of Shastri but not managerial.
The people who do not do well in managerial, also do not put any effort into the class. Be an adult, read the text, do practice problems. The learnsmarts really help with the MC portions of the exams. The more you practice and familiarize yourself with the terminology, the easier it gets. I scored low on two of the exams and still got an A.
She was super nice and personable but her material is extremely unorganized. It was very hard for me to pay attention sometimes or make sense of what she was saying. Some of the exams were hard and didn't relate to her lectures. I felt unprepared for some of them (based on her lectures). Her recordings help to study for exams. Read the textbook.
She is a terrible lecturer. Good luck trying to read her handwriting on the slides. Her tests are incredibly difficult and she does not say what types of problems there will be. Do not take her class if you do not have to. You may feel good about the test going in but once it is in front of you, you feel very violated and deceived.
I think she's an alright professor. A bit old school for sure but she can be quirky during lectures which helps because the class is extremely lecture heavy and very boring. The material is fairly difficult and I read the text book for sure. We also had the "cookie project" this semester which you may see. It is a pain in the behind.
terrible prof, terrible person ineffective during lectures (notes are messy), not helpful during office hours, and has an uncaring attitude towards her students.
Shastri's lectures are all over the place, and here lecture slides are incoherent. Also, she added a "cookie case project", which is extremely pointless and difficult for no reason. She seems like a nice person, but unfortunately is a terrible prof. She does little to nothing to prepare students for exams, which are unfairly difficult. Avoid her!
Shastri is a nice lady, not the greatest teacher. Overall, very average. The class is pretty difficult as the exams can sneak up on you. 87+ gets you an A. I nearly failed the first and still managed to get an A, so it can be done. The Cookie project sucks, but she does give extra credit. To study: re-do homework, re-watch lectures and you'll be OK
Professor Shastri is tough, but fair. Really makes you work for your grade.
Shastri makes you hate whatever class you are taking with her. Although she is a nice woman, she is a poor teacher. She records her lectures so do not bother going, just watch them and study the textbook. Best of luck!
Probably one of the worst teachers I've ever had. She wastes basically the whole class period going over kindergarten worthy examples compared to the actual test. I felt unprepared for every exam , be careful with this one.
If you can avoid her, definitely do! Her grading system is whack, and she makes concepts way more difficult to understand than necessary. The cookie project is a real pain, but her exams are a nightmare.
Very nice woman, but she is not a very good teacher. The material we learn in class doesn't relate to the homework or tests. Quizzes are difficult for no reason. The TA was awesome though. Lectures are pointless, but go for participation. Do homework and attend recitation and you'll be fine.
Awful, truly. She was disorganized during every single lecture, practice test did not match final, scattered lecturing (hard to follow her train of thought). Go to the recitations and watch the vidoes posted by the other professors
Everyone complaining that the lecture and tests don't align is wrong. If you go to lecture, take notes, and spend time memorizing the formulas she uses, you will get an A. Tests are weighted very low which is nice. She is a very nice, caring lady who wants to help you if you'll talk to her. Really an above average class.
Karen is a lovely woman, but a less than great professor. She's very disorganized and it makes lectures hectic and hard to follow. I just furiously scribbled down notes without having any idea what they meant or what she was saying. Pretty even grading distribution with exams, quizzes, and homeworks. I can't say I'd recommend her...
Dr. Shastri has 2 tests with a final. They are about half multiple choice and half short answer. 6 quizzes throughout the semester as well as homework about once every 2 weeks. Her assessments are very fair, not too hard but not a joke. She cares about her students. Curves some of the quizzes as well. Also provides 3 extra credit assignments.
Prof Shastri is a sweet woman who wants all of her students to accel in her class. She makes herself available for questions and teaches the material well. I recommend going to class because even though she posts the notes online they can be hard to read. Her tests are very fair and you are allowed cheat sheets on most exams/quizzes.
Honestly surprised by her low rating. She's not exciting but class is a good time tbh. Can't say that about every acctg prof at pitt. You really do need to put in the work for this class. Homework and doing practice problems are 100% necessary. Recitations are so helpful and should be mandatory. Put in the work and you'll do great.
Her power point slides are sometimes hard to follow and she is quite unorganized, but she makes Accounting as interesting as it can get.
She teaches the course entirely through powerpoints in which she draws the notes onto instead of typing them. You can almost never read her notes and are always confused. One time I couldn't read the notes and emailed her to clarify them and she told me to just read the notes again. Exams are pretty easy if you study but the quizzes are very tough.
Not sure why her score is so low. Professor Shastri is a very nice woman who genuinely cares about her students. Her quizzes are difficult, so make sure you study but her exams are very fair. I highly recommend reading the textbook, it'll help everything come together. Take Shastri, the class is very manageable if you put the work in
i love karen!! if you go to class, actively participate, make your engagement known, she will love you back! managerial accounting isn't the easiest A but it's not too challenging. stay organized to make sure youre getting assignments done, preparing good cheat sheets for the quizzes, etc and you'll do well
She does absolutely nothing. The TA teaches recitations, holds review sessions, and communicates with the students. To be quite honest, I'm not sure what purpose professor Shastri served in this class other than putting us into breakout rooms.
Karen is a really nice lady and is always there to help. People who rated her poorly just simply did not put in work. If you stay on top of notes and homework's you will be fine. Study and make sure you understand the material and if you don't go in for help.
As long as you attend Shastri's synchronous classes, watch the asynchronous lectures, and attend recitations as needed, you will do well (each session reinforces materials learned from another session and then builds on it). There are also a few mini Excel group projects, but those should be a breeze. Shastri also gives extra credit opportunities.
Nice lady but she goes way too fast through the slides, and her handwriting is unreadable. dont take her.
Karen seems nice enough but she doesn't do much besides present powerpoints, assign breakout rooms, and mess up basic math. The textbook and recitations are way more helpful than lectures. The group projects use excel, which may be difficult if you don't have prior experience with excel.
Prof Shastri is a very nice lady, but the online class format was not helpful. 80% of synchronous sessions are spent in breakout rooms with group members essentially teaching each other before the content is fully grasped. I would have rather done the examples with her going through them first. The exams are fair.
I think if I took this course in an in-person environment, it would have been much better than it was. We were randomly assigned to groups at the beginning of the semester and spent most of our time in breakout rooms on the second lecture period of the week. It didn't help that my group members were never on the class. Exams were fair.
i'm basically just gonna agree with the recent rates. she is very nice and available to talk outside of class, but the breakout rooms didn't help and the lectures were very confusing. there are only 3 exams, which i thought were hard and then quizzes and homework with each chapter. definitely go to recitations because that's what helped me the most
Karen truly cares about her students and is very willing to help if they are struggling. I highly recommend her.
Enjoyed taking this class. Shastri is a very caring and understanding professor. Her lectures are easy to follow and helpful for understanding the info.
Dr. Shastri is a caring professor that doesn't demand a lot from you. Reading the textbook chapter before lecture was effective for my learning, but it doesn't work for everyone. Dr. Shastri makes it very clear on what subjects will be on the exams, work the practice problems and exam study guides and you will do great.
Professor Shastri is an amazing professor. She is the kindest professor youll ever meet. Shell do anything to make sure her students succeed (even biked to campus on sunday to help me). The class is challenging but if you put in the work and see her outside of class, youll do good. Reviewing all the assignments helped me prepare for the exams.
If you put effort you get a C very nice lady and awesome during office hours highly recommend
Really struggled in this class but it was a great learning experience. Shastri really cares about her students and is one of the most understanding professors here at pitt.
Professor Shastri is really a nice professor. It's true that managerial accounting is difficult but she tried her best to explain things clearly. She gave us a few extra credits throughout the semester and allowed us to bring a cheat sheet. Try to get 100% on all the quizzes and homework. Group projects were easy, and exams were fair
Hard class but PHENOMENAL WOMAN.
This class is just hard, there's no way around it. Karen did a great job of simplifying things the best she could. Really caring when it comes to your wellbeing. Easy homework, quizzes, and group projects. Exams are challenging but still pretty fair.
Managerial accounting is hard but Karen is amazing and literally my mom
really really nice professor!! she will do her best to help you learn but tests are pretty hard and sometimes it feels like lectures don't prepare you for them. definitely do the hws, quizzes, and recitations sheets for practice. the UTA was great!
Karen is precious. She cares so much for her students and will do anything to help them succeed. I emailed her about a personal difficulty I was experiencing and she responded immediately granting an accommodation and kindly told me to breathe. Content and exams were tough, but would recommend Karen to anyone! The textbook helped a lot too.
Dr. Shastri is really nice but she doesn't explain concepts very well. Exams are difficult and much harder than any class examples or review.
Karen is really nice but her teaching style is fast paced. Her exams are definitely more difficult than the in class content but she puts so many assignments in that if you put effort into this class, you will get at least a C. You also do group projects, which were a little random. She does her best to be engaging but the topic is boring.
You'll be good if you read the textbook and then do the practice problems. UTA's review session is very helpful to prepare for the exam. Dr. Shastri is a kind grader.
TAKE TEETER INSTEAD. If you want a good grade, do not take her, her exams were insane compared to in-class content and recitation preparation.. intentionally trying to trick you and they are worth a total of 60% of your grade. I wish someone would have told me not to take it because Karen as a person is difficult to work with and learn from too.
All-around a great teacher. However, when it comes to tests, they are ridiculously harder than the study guides given .She includes extensions of problems and some details that were only discussed for a fraction of the class. Even though I prepared and studied, some questions were way off base. I never felt fully confident to do well on a test.
Professor Shastri was so nice and helpful even if you're not an accounting major.
Teaching is ineffective for most of the class, average midterm exam score was 57%. Ran class beyond 3 hours almost every time. It costs $5,000 to take a class and you can't get a good grade despite effort. The lecture material covered goes into too much detail that leaves students feeling lost and confused, not enough repetition of actual problems.
The exams in this class are way harder than any of the actual content given in class and contain many niche problems that aren't even close to what we discussed. Studied but received poor grades regardless and generally is not good at relaying information. I would take another professor if you want a good grade. TA's are accessible though.
Seems like a nice lady but her exams are SO HARD. acts like every student is an accounting major . escape while you can promise the other prof is way better.
Cares a lot about her students, posts all the lectures notes and practice problems. Her projects are easy and lets you submit them multiple times until the due date so you can get an 100%, her tests are all multiple choice and she sets you up for them, extra credit opportunities, and the homework and quizzes are very fair. You just have to try.
Anyone who says she's a bad prof just doesn't try and utilize the resources she gives. She's amazing and cares a lot about her students.
She is exceptionally caring and genuinely fun to talk to. She is understanding of if you ask questions are request any accommodation/extension. The homework and quizzes are long but extremely easy so that is a guaranteed 100% to boost your grade. The tests are very hard, but with the hw, quizzes, and extra credit it isn't hard to get a good grade.
Thank god she is retiring. She seems like a nice lady but you will hate when the time comes to study for her exams ; notes are so unhelpful and she doesn't even put the effort to make it eligible ; made a lot of mistakes in lecture; doesn't explain the topics well at all; You can sit through every class and still learn more from the book and TA's
A literal icon. I adore this woman with my whole heart. Would go out of her way to get to know students and meet with them - also stuck her neck out for students struggling. In terms of the course, she definitely tended to fly thrpough slides and examples, meaning a lot of self-learning was involved. But interesting class and amazing prof
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
24%
Textbook Required
24%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.14 avg changeRatings by Course
MANACCT
5.0
(1)BACC2558
5.0
(1)ACCTSCM
4.0
(1)BUSSA1221
4.0
(1)BUSACC0040
3.5
(49)Difficulty by Course
MANAGACC
5.0
BUSACMGRL
5.0
FINACCOUNTING
5.0
BACC2401
4.3
MGRLACCT
4.0