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it's impossible to stay awake in this class, becasue 1. his monotone voice 2. lack of any info in his lectures. waste of time

Interesting guy, definitely liberal, but objective enough to hold discussions. Class lectures were a waste of time. Learned very little during whole semester. Take intermediate micro again and read an article or two on "law and econ" insted o

awful professor, worst class.. the time drags by. he talks really fast and shows up stupid articles you have no idea whats about

Nice guy, horrible professor. AVOID THIS CLASS!!!

He is a horrible professor. He is never prepared and gabs on and on about bush and how bad he does with the economy instead of actually teaching his students the material, avoid this professor

he should go back to practicing law...gave me an A though, so thanks

he is pretty unaccomodating to things, you will do well in this class if you read the book yourself and ask the TA's questions in discussions. He is not a good teacher in my opinion.

supposed to be an easy class, yet he's confused about his material. didn't learn a thing. the TAs didn't know what they were talking about either. sucked.

Lectures are extremely boring. Uses overhead with unclear graphs and writes terrible notes on another projector. Messes up explaining graphs then fumbles and attempts to redeem himself. Tests are incredibly hard as are OWLS and the stupid in-class quizzes. TA's also aren't very helpful. DO NOT take this class.

Janis is the worst professor in the department. I don't think the man has any clue what is going on. Worst professor I ever had.

Janus is ok. He is boring and his notes unrecognizable. However, his grading scale is very fair. Just do ok on the the tests and great on the owls and your sure to land a B. I got a 65.5/70 on the first exam, 55/120 on the second and good on the final, along with a perfect score on HW and Owl, and I got a B for the class.

Very easy class. Tests are mad easy. Go to class at least once before each test and your looking at least a B. He doesn't really know how to teach though so if you are the type of kid who needs to be walked trough school, well he isn't the right one for you. Overall really easy gen ed and also easy admissions to ISOM

He is extremely scatter-brained but you can tell that he cares that we actually understand the material. He tries sometimes to make the material seem more relevant which can be cool. He's a little wacky though and often not very clear. And he's not even funny. but the grading on the tests is pretty fair.

Do not take any classes with Janis. He's one of the worst professors that I've ever had. He spends all of the class time on useless information and he doesn't teach any material that is on the test.

I went to maybe 5 classes out of the whole semester. I got a 98 in the class tho because I read the book and went to my discussion. If you have Jen Cohen as a TA you are going to do very well. She was awesome. Russel justs confuses people.

Worst teacher ever. Not clear at all during class. The graphs he drew were disorganized and didn't make sense. Most of the discussion classes are helpful so go to those if you want to pass the class.

By far WORST class i have taken at UMASS. Rus doesn't teach but just incoherently rants on in lecture, making it useless to go. Tests are extreemly hard, and worded funny. He has a strange grading system meaning you won't know how your doing untill your final grade come out. Review session are equally useless

i think his a very good professor just gotta followup on ur work and his relatively understanding but does rant occasionally

Honestly, this was one of the worst classes that I've taken so far at College. I enjoy Economics, but Janis made the class very boring and hard to follow. The Homework assignments were not pertinent at all to what he went over in class. Take this class with him if you must, but he is very unclear in his teaching of the course.

Most of the time he's trying to explain things to himself before he's able to explain it to the class during lecture. Diaster. Posts class notes on SPARK, but they're illegible. Don't go to class, DO read the textbook and go to office hrs w/TAs and make sure you understand conceptually. HW is easy, but don't help with concepts on test. Many quizzes

I had Janis for Economics 103 and 104. He's ok, lectures are dull and the textbook is really not that important. He likes to go on random tangents during class. His exams aren't hard nor easy but his homeworks are a breeze.

Worst teacher I've had so far in my college career. You're better off not going to class and teaching yourself everything from the book. The online homework is so difficult, and he makes you do it before we even go over it in lecture. The tests were too confusing. I enjoy economics but I would've definitely taken this class with a different teacher

Janis has stated in the beginning that this course is clearly introductory and we don't need to be a genius to understand econ. However, I have gone to every lecture, done every assignment (online and written), I go to discussion, and I am hardly passing. I have never struggled with a course as much as this one. He really is not a good professor.

2/3 of the class barely showed up. if you do the hw and attend discussion, it will help you. his lectures are honestly bull. have to read and learn from book. easy tests. he scales them most the time

If your taking econ 103 with him...Good luck. Unless you have taken econ before then your probably screwed. The discussions are the only way to learn.

Does not teach the class at all. His class is the most boring class I have ever taken but I still managed to get a B which was the worst grade I have received so far.

Worst lectures I've ever had to sit through- 75% of students dont go after the first week. A really friendly guy (& helpful in office hours), but his lectures are useless. Learn from book. The tests aren't easy either because they're mostly open response but letter grading is fair. Just keep reading the book & doing Econportal and you will survive

Lectures are awful. He does not explain things well and then misguides you on exams. I would not recommend him.

Definitely not a professor I would recommend. He used to just read from his slides, and very often he would get into tangents that just ended up confusing us all. He clearly knows his stuff, but he's way too dry for my liking. Managed to get a B- just because I was familiar with the text. Try for a decent TA, might help with this course.

I know people go here to give negative reviews, that is the point of this page. You have to understand why I am giving him a bad review, its because he is terrible at teaching. Almost every class I spend with him he gets distracted and talks about his own ideas and subjects. He never teaches to the text and classes are a struggle. Avoid if possible

This professor just reads off his slides. The tests are worth the most and the material on those are just from the book. If you do need help you're supposed to magically know the answers to your questions, which defeats the point of asking for help. He is also very condescending and not above making you feel stupid.

Goes on way too many tangents during lecture. Doesn't talk about anything relevant. You could skip half of the lectures and still get an A

He basically reads off the power points and then posts them online, going to discussions is mandatory, depending on the ta you wont learn much there either. Your better off just reading the text book and teaching yourself. However he tell you the answers to the extra credit questions during class. so if you want extra credit on the test go to class

Janis talks forever about pointless thing that are hard to relate to the notes. He puts notes up online which is helpful. Don't take it after 3pm you will not go!

Avoid this professor. I took his class for my junior year writing requirement and I wish I had taken it with a different professor. His lectures are confusing and unorganized. He wastes more than half of the class with material that is irrelevant. His grading is unclear, and if you go to office hours he will only confuse you more.

My biggest regret about this class was buying the book for almost $200 (don't buy the book!) To get a B+ in this class, all I did was attend the weekly discussion, complete the homeworks (googled everything), did well on the 2 papers given all semester, and go to the practice exam review sessions. TAs were extremely unhelpful.... avoid this class

Accessible office hours but belittling professor when you ask him questions on points of confusion. Was really disappointing to come to him with questions and be treated poorly. His intent doesn't seem to help students learn rather chastise those who don't understand the material he rattles off in class.

I showed up to one lecture all year. The class is a huge joke, just make sure you goto the review sessions and you should get an easy A or B.

Horrible teacher, even says how he makes his tests hard. If possible, take with another teacher

Gave tons of homework. Lots of reading. Midterm and final were ok but the time given was pretty short.

Professor Janis is a really nice and caring guy, but his teaching style isnt the best. He rambles during his lectures leaving me very confused and not understanding whats going on. Since this is an entry level course, I feel like it should've been easier and material should've been explain a lot better. Try to take the class with someone else.

Prof was the hardest grader for no reason. The material in the exams were barley glossed over in class.