3.2
Quality3.3
Difficulty36%
Would Retake98
Reviews36%
Would Retake
98
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
34
4
21
3
7
2
8
1
28
What Students Say
“I can read slides too”
EC120 - 1.0 rating“the only reason i gave this mans a 2 was cause he makes 220K for legit reading slides”
EC120 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
34%
Textbook Required
21%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.96 avg changeRatings by Course
EC78253
5.0
(1)ECON130
5.0
(1)EC304370
5.0
(1)EC130
5.0
(1)ECB
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
EC
5.0
EC78253
5.0
MICROECON
5.0
ECA
5.0
EC304
4.3
Reviews (98)
No Comments
Not a terribly interesting course, but I never had to read my textbook.
not that great a prof. but better than others. words matched the note provided
decent guy, explains stuff well, does his best with the subject and the crappy economics dept notes, the comfy seats in p1027 basically ask you to fall asleep
good prof...lots of diagrams and notes added to the course notes...easy going guy
Good prof, but SOOOOOO boring! (i know economics is boring anyway, but he makes it worse)
Pretty good teacher. The class is kind of boring but what economics class isn't?
Don't make the mistake as treating he lectures as lectures - treat them as tutorials!! Constantly applying text info and uses lots of graph, which is good; but unfortunately useless if you don't know where the lines and numbers are coming from.
No Comments
what's with the green cords and the hair?
nice hair Ziss!
No Comments
Fantastic! Made economics come alive!!! By the way, his name is Steffen, not Stephen
From what I've heard of other profs, Ziss is probably one of the best.
he's a beauty...don't have to read the text with this guy...datta grow a beard buddy!
No Comments
No Comments
Great at explaining things and really good notes. Always entertaining to see his mohawk, clothes and beard. I fell asleep a lot but the best Eco prof. Ppl go to his lectures even if they're not in his class
Quite entertaining, well-spoken and helpful. Plus he let us leave early a bunch.
goes too fast , ive fallen behind!
The best prof I ever had. Prepares you for Grad school. He is a demanding prof in that you have to work hard, but you will be rewarded with an excellent mark. The problem if you don't, you will not do very well.
Classes are scattered and fast paced. Expect the tests to be much much harder than anything that you look at in class. Overall though he is one of the best economics profs.
No Comments
still the best teacher. theres a reason this guy pulls in over $100 G's a year. teaches you what you need to know and nothing more. knows what he's saying 100% of the time and explaisn it well. great prof.
Third year micro is structure much different that the previous micro courses. Very analytic & Ziss does a good job teaching it. Most of the course is problem-based. He gives potential exam problems, from which the midterm & final exam questions are chosen, so if you do them, you can ace the class.
Very good and clear prof who also posts excellent notes. Economics can be difficult to sit through especially if you aren't interested in it, but he gets a dry subject across well. Pay attention and you'll do great.
A good prof, he has great notes.
Goes too fast. Very hard. Ziss made me love economics.
Outstanding! Solid notes and if you know how to do everything on the notes and the previous years tests you should easily get an A.
This man is wonderful. He is handsome and makes economics more endurable. He also has amazing voice and there are lots of resources out there, if you do your problem sets you'll do well.
great teacher overall, couldnt ask for more.. His review sessions are bar none the best in the world... no jokes.. his reviews are AMAZING
he's so charming especially when he neglects his shaving duties.. makes micro a bit more bearable ahh yeah so i'm vain what's it to you - i mean, he was a good teacher yes ok
Very good prof, goes a little too fast and questions for quizzes and midterms are impossible. Working hard results in good mark though.
i loved him.... i actually had a crush on him he was soo funny and such a good prof... his review sessions were by far the best
No Comments
He's a great teacher, and very cute too!
i love him!
S. Johnson made me realize how awesome Ziss was when I had him. I like his swaggar too.
welll great prof. overall pretty funny, but who is he really looking at in class? u never know! i sware i had my hand up once fro 20 min. and he still didnt see it!
Extremely smart prof. Material is very challenging, I think that half our class failed, but half the class did not go to class. Textbook is not necessary, going to class and taking his notes is the best option.
He teaches the material better than any prof in the school but his tests are really hard, so its kinda give and take. Hes definately got some style and all the girls like him. His test reviews are THE BEST ive ever come across in my educational history. GO TO THE REVIEWS!!!!
Very clear. Confident. I love when he goes on his rants about american protectionism and free trade. Its entertaining. His tests are tough, but doable if you study. He's by far the best prof who was teaching ec 120 this semester.
He definitely knows his stuff!! His lectures are well planned and concise. Overall, if you pay attention & study, u will get econ. The prof is not hard...its the material that is!
He is a really nice guy and knows what he is doin...he explains everything very well...his tests arent that hard i got a 90 on the first and an 85 on the second...havent done the final yet, but study and pay attention to online quiz material and the stuff in his reviews. The textbook is pointless...dont think i have even opened it...oh and doecon l
Amazing prof for micro. In comparison to other profs that term he was definitely the best! Lectures are understandable, he knows what he's talking about! Definitely get this prof if you can!
Great prof! was interesting enough to keep me up during econ. teaches VERY well. taught so many short cuts no other prof taught. very clear. the class is tough but he def makes it a little easier
H never engages the class!. I feel like listening to a tape recorder playing for 3 hours or watching an online lecture for 3 hours. He definilty knows his staff but he can do more to engage the class and make the lecture an interactive learning experience.
He does not teach, just repeats some material without making you think about it. Sometimes just reads from his own course notes! Discourages questions, sometimes intimidates the students too!!
The quality of this Professor is lacking, especially considering the pedagogical approach he employs. Be prepared to self-teach yourself! He provides assignments to you that are due prior to the material being taught in class. Clearly not used to teaching graduate level programs - Stick with the undergraduates!
Terrible Terrible Terrible
the only reason i gave this mans a 2 was cause he makes 220K for legit reading slides. thats the life.
I can read slides too
Love this guy. Literally can't say enough good things about this absolute beauty of a man. All around great guy and he's unreal at economics.
Extremely dry slides and lecture, extremely difficult exam!!!!!
didn't learn a thing from his lectures and makes economics complicated and hard. mans is overpaid too. Not that I can teach better because I know I can't, but the midterm average of 56% really shows his non-existent teaching abilities. He's also the only Econ teacher for 1st year so you're pretty much screwed if you get him
Made me hate economics when I loved it in high school! Test questions are so unclear and everyone failed !!!!! Don't take it.
Teaches lectures expecting you to already understand the subject and moves at a very fast pace. A lot of students have no idea what he is talking about after 20 minutes of teaching, you are basically wasting your time if you haven't done the readings and I would suggest learning on your own rather than going to lectures
Teaches classes like we already know the material. doesnt explain the material and just reads of the slides. He doesnt know how to explain content
Hes okay, lectures are quite confusing however
Steffen Ziss by no means is a bad person, he's just a really bad lecturer he really just reads slides and makes everything confusing for the 400+ people in the room. my advice is to dedicate you time to the textbook and homework and visit he office where he's actually helpful.
His lectures are so unclear and so dry. He flies through the material and offers poor explanations. The main thing I've learned in this course is how to self-teach.
The least helpful professor. Lectures do not make sense, and exams are 10 times worse. Attended every class and went home to teach myself every lesson and still failed the midterm. Exams make no sense. Terrible. Would never take again. 12/10 would not reccomend.
His lectures are very boring and he is horrible at explaining the course topics. If you ask him a question he will repeat exactly what he stated before, not clarifying anything. If you want to pass you will have to attend lectures and do a-lot of homework. Midterms are HARD.
Ziss is actually a good professor. His lectures are clear and concise. He is good at explaining things & is willing to help if you need extra help. The many people getting butthurt because they don't have a good grade are just not used to university. Very easy to get a 12.0 if you just read the textbook and do the mock midterms. A+ going into exam.
Good professor. Knowledgeable & can have a sense of humour sometimes! Make sure you read the textbook to consolidate on the stuff you learned in class. His mock midterms are so similar to the actual ones. If you do them and understand them you will get 80+ for sure.
Ziss' 1st year economics course was okay. People who did not take economics previously in high school found Ziss to be a poor teacher. Those who did, found Ziss to be okay, since Ziss often did not start from the ground up, but jumped right into content. Lectures should have holistically been better explained and approached in a different way.
Ziss is very confusing and unclear during lectures. I only passed this class because of AC/DC Econ, so basically get ready to invest in that. Ziss has an attitude when answering questions but rarely knows what hes doing himself. Switch profs if you can or watch Jacob Clifford.
Incredibly smart but terrible at teaching and his exams are worded so oddly that TA's have trouble as well.
Any success i get is all because of my great professor AC/AD Michael Cilfford. Ziss should watch those videos to learn how to teach properly
Professor Ziss knows his stuff, that's not the problem. His lectures are just filled with assumptions that students have already taken economics. He does not teach from the ground up whatsover. His lectures involve information overload that is impossible to digest. He belongs in a fourth year class, NOT a first year.
His midterms and the final are based off of his lecture content only and his lectures do not make any sense. He teaches as if we have taken this course already, and all you can do is hope for that bell curve.
its pretty hard
Great semester. Ziss goes above and beyond with office hours and his "MAMMOTH" review session which detailed everything on the exam. If Ziss can stand for 10 hours on his day off without a bathroom break then you can put a couple hours of studying in and go over the mock midterm. No reason to not be successful in the course. Ziss deserves a raise.
Really cares about his students. He has tons of office hours and he is willing to talk to students one on one if they have any questions. Midterms were hard but are being compensated by a 2 GPA increase.
Not gonna lie I used to hate Ziss after the 2 midterms that had failing averages, but he has redeemed himself by bumping everyone 2 GPAs
An amazing and sweet guy always there to help.
Zissy read off slides and could not explain concepts. I cannot believe how much I'm paying to NOT teach me economics. I tried learning from the textbook but he tests in odd ways-watch out! He loves multiple choice and students tears.
Steffen Ziss has made microeconomics extremely difficult. Our class is failing and he has to bump everyones mark to compensate for this. He only reads off of the slide deck and when he does draw a diagram or write something it isn't legible. Good luck!
Best prof at Laurier hands down. Easy 11/12 if you study his mock tests. Hilarious guy
Super sweet guy, tries his best to teach everyone the material. He really cares about his students and wants to see them succeed.
nice guy... tries hard to get along with students... hard class... hard content... not like high school economics... nice ell curve tho...
half of the students failed all the exams
Ziss is a decent prof if you put the time into the class. He is available for many hours outside of class and seems to care about the students. EC120 is a hard course to teach, and if you study his lessons and understand the content you will be fine for the evaluations (thats what I did). Seems like a intelligent prof but should teach higher years
Easy class, literally just supply and demand. Great prof.
Worst prof Ive ever had. Im an A grade student and I found this class extremely challenging. After approaching Ziss about my mark he was not kind at all. I would NEVER take his class again. I also wouldnt recommend him to anyone.
Was a good prof, with very good lecture notes. Class content was somewhat difficult to understand but his notes were clear, textbook was available and he was often available for help in Laz outside of class. Quite a few online pearson homeworks to do but they were helpful easy marks, Exams (final + 2 midterms weighted very highly (80% total).
Terrible lectures, slides are horrible and just filled with text. Made the course so much worse than it should've been although the DSM's and pearson homework were semi-helpful.
Fantastic prof. Does everything well. Anyone who disagrees is a spoiled, spoon-fed incel with unrealistic expectations. Doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves. A++
Ziss is an animal. He is great at reading lecture slides. Always ripping lessons out in the atrium. Gave us a massive boost at the end.
Ziss notes and book are useless. His classes are based on the slides. For the assignments you need to think a lot since the notes are not good and the book has nothing. For the exams the marks were very bad midterm but made the final easier. His office hours are excellent and he knows what he is teaching. He just needs to improve material.
Great professor and down to earth guy. He is willing to help as much as he can and cares for his students. The assignments throughout the term are freebies so make sure to do well because the final requires a lot of preparation and can be quite challenging. Lectures can be improved, his notes aren't the best and he isn't as engaging as you'd hope.
This course and his method of teaching is insanity. He provides little to no insight for his notes, his solutions are in a different notation, and the variables for every equation are different than the textbook. Marking on only 3 exams with the amount of stuff he expects you to have memorized is unreal, let alone expecting you to understand it.
Very kind professor, and great lectures!
lectures are quite confusing but other than that he understands his material to an effective degree.
I can not imagine a 3 level course requires no skills but just memories. Picking 3 questions out of 10 and each question is more than 2 pages to answer. The final will pick another 2 out of 10 and 2 from the past midterms which is 20 more questions, so basically you are required to memorize 30 questions and he's picking 4 out of them. Avoid him!!
RRRUUUUUNNNNNNN
He is a great teacher and person, I will definitely take course with him if I can.
Professor Ziss is a terrific prof, incredibly friendly and down to earth. And will Help you with material if you just ask, participation is mandatory, but easy if you just do the readings and have some of your own ideas. Would definitely his class Again!
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
34%
Textbook Required
21%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.96 avg changeRatings by Course
EC78253
5.0
(1)ECON130
5.0
(1)EC304370
5.0
(1)EC130
5.0
(1)ECB
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
EC
5.0
EC78253
5.0
MICROECON
5.0
ECA
5.0
EC304
4.3