Weeks, Michael  

I first want to say that I think Mr. Weeks is a really nice guy and he knows a lot about accounting and the business world. I also think that he enjoys teaching and wants his students to do well. That being said, this was his first quarter teaching at Cal Poly and I think a lot of students were not happy with that. I think Mr. Weeks was also up against the fact that many students think that managerial accounting is a lousy subject...which it is in some respects. Because of that, students were not as enthusiastic about the subject as they should have been. Mr. Weeks does assign homework which is turned in and graded. He also gives several midterms and makes you do group projects. The group projects are supposed to reinforce what you are learning at the time, but Mr. Weeks tended to make them very difficult and confusing to a certain extent. His midterms ranged from being really hard to really easy. I felt that he assumed the class knew more than it really did. He does grade on a big curve, so as long as you "run with the pack" (a phrase he used often) and don't do any worse relative to the rest of the class you should have a good grade. My final verdict on Mr. Weeks is that he has the potential to be a great accounting professor. He just needs more experience teaching accounting students. The best aspects about Mr. Weeks is that he knows a lot about the subject and he doesn't B.S. his students or waste their time. To be honest, I learned a lot in this class and it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I would recommend taking him.

Mr. Weeks was an inexperienced teacher. Perhaps after a few quarters of teaching and testing, he'll figure out a good strategy for testing his students. But until then, I would not recommend this guy at all. He means well and you have to feel bad for him, but it's unfair as a student to have a professor that just doesn't know what he's doing. He has all this real world experience and has the notion we have some of that too. The class had an average of a D for most of the quarter, but as long as you do better than the average person, the curve will help you out. I wouldn't take him because you could get so much more out of the class from another professor I'm sure. Be careful, I think a lot of students are going to rip this guy a new one because they basically failed. It's not THAT bad.

If you need to take managerial accounting Prof. Weeks would be a great choice. He has a lot of real world experience with the subject and he applies this knowledge very well. The class is pretty straight forward, and as long as you go to lecture and read a few pages of the text you're good to go. The only thing i didn't like so much was the fact that about 15% of your grade is comprised of group work and group projects. This could be a good or bad thing, however for me it wasn't so great because my partners weren't the most motivated individuals in class so it hurt my grade a bit.

This class wasn't very hard, you just need to study and stay above the average. His grading is fair, but his tests are not. You can't argue with ANYTHING on it even if the questions are unclear. His lectures don't really teach you anything so use the book, at least that was how it was for me. If you don't print out the lecture notes you are screwed because he goes over it so quickly and EXPECTS you to print out over 20 pages per lecture. Asking questions in class is VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. HE IS ALWAYS RIGHT SO DON'T EVEN TRY! If he doesn't understand your question or you don't ask it clearly enough for him he just says "whatever" and moves on (he really does say that! NO JOKE! He did it at least 10 times in our class!) Your best bet is to get help personally in his office hours, but no matter what he answers back with questions. GOOD LUCK IF YOU TAKE HIM! Do the homework, no matter if they count or not because they are the only way you will learn! His group problems are everything HE DID IN HIS LIFE! So there is no way you can get them right, no matter how many questions you ask him, because the right answer is what he did 15-20 years ago or whatever. Just study all your homework problems for the test and vocabulary and BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING! HIS TESTS ARE FULL OF SUPRISES!

His grading is fair and the class isn't that hard because he normalizes all the grades. He's also really helpful at office hours. The lectures can be comfusing if you don't read, but if you keep up with the readings the lectures are easy to follow. Overall, he's a good choice for 215!

Should of listened to previous comments and taken someone else for this class. Weeks seemed like he was not in control of his class, therefore, if you had a question, you would have been screwed.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS! Mr. Weeks class is unfair, at least for the students that didn't cheat. In this class everyone is assinged to a group that works on a several projects and a portion of every test. Typically every group consisted of four people. However, some people dropped the class becasue they realized what an ass this guy was right off the bat. Therefore some groups ended up with just two people to complete the group projects and group portion of the test. On the first test, there was a group that cheated by using their text books, but Weeks didn't catch them until a student outside of class put him in the know. So Weeks granted this student extra credit and let the cheaters go free. So basicaly he pentalized everyone that didn't cheat or SEE the cheaters. Some of us were too busy taking the f--ing test to scan the room. Seriously, HE didn't see them and he wasn't even taking the test! Not only is this class unfair, you won't learn a thing from him. Every bit of knowledge I obtained was from the text book. His curve is fair, but if this class was based on knowledge of managerial accounting, then half of the class would get an F. People who can't do teach. Mr. Weeks can't do either.

this entry is in response to the one below. I was in that section where those assholes cheated on the first test. I also clearly remember that during the test, Mr. Weeks was grading other exams and listening to his fucking ipod! Even though I was not in the group that cheated, I clearly remember telling my group partners "look at this guy, he's not even watching. We could cheat on this test and he wouldn't even know." I remember when he came to class next time he was all fuckin' bent and everyone suffered instead of those who actually cheated. Then that nerd bitch got a perfect score and fucked up the curve so that it was a little harder to get an "A". The embarrasing part was that he announced her name out loud and everyone clapped like it was the fucking world series or something.

Very smart guy, horrible professor. He belongs at an accounting firm, not in our Business department. Take someone else if you can.

Do not take him. Tests suck and are really hard and tricky. He doesn't curve the tests and is very stubborn. There are 2 tests and 1 long team project. The final is cumulative and will represent 40% of your grade. Try to take someone else if you can.

good teacher, made dry material interesting by applying his own experiences that everyone will go through some day, not one some book sets up as examples

I'm a little confused reading all the reviews of people who took him for 429 because for 412, I didn't think he was that bad really. He was nice and, even though he taught through straight-up PowerPoint presentations, at least he tried to make it somewhat interesting and applicable to the real world. True that when we asked a question, sometimes he would be so general that he didn't actually answer the question at all, but he wasn't ever rude to us. For the final project, when we asked him questions over e-mail he would help us and do his best to answer the question so maybe he's nicer over e-mail? By the way, the final project for this class is a winery financial analysis and it takes lots and lots of hours with your group. Hugely time intensive project that he's super nit-picky with when he grades. But overall I thought he was fine. But maybe he treats his 412 class different than 429?

Mike Weeks is an excellent accounting teacher. Those who have posted before are simply complaining. His teaching style is one that enables you to get hands on experience (learn by doing). Professor Weeks designs realistic projects that help you actually apply the material that he has taught. The winery project is a prime example of this, it locks in the material so that you come away from the class with more than just some memorization. I also had him for 429 and thought the class was easy, he gives you most of the class to work on the assignments so simply stay and do them when time is given and you will never have homework.

This is by far the worst class I have taken in the accounting department at poly. Be prepared to spend hours working through literally hundreds of pages of workbook exercises, with minimal instruction from Mr Weeks. The tests are a combination of tricky multiple choice, fill ins and short answer. The term paper is a huge pain in the ass due around week 8. This class is terrible, take someone else if you can.

Weeks knows a ton about accounting and how to run a business. What he doesn't know is people have other things in their life besides his class. Guranteed you will have 3-4 hours of homework before every class. All of the tests he will purposively try to trick you. Class is on a business curve as he may call it. I received a 91% in the class and got a B...avoid if you can.

This guy needs to realize that we students are taking more than just his class (and believe it or not we have social lives too). Be prepared for a rediculous workload. Life is short, so don't take this guy for 429.

Weeks is a really great guy, but this class really isn't great. Lots of busy work, LOTS, and it all amounts to a very small part of your grade, where as some arbitrary memorization questions on exams amount to massive amounts of your grade, only one quarter left of this class, hopefully they will overhaul it and make it better.

Here is a brief summary of the class: great guy with loads of experience, but lots of busy work for the students

Weeks will challenge you but he will not teach you anything. First time I have ever posted anything on Polyratings, everyone needs a warning to not take this teacher, he will drive you insane.

weeks fails to recognize his students difficulties and to assist effectively. he wastes class time talking to one student at a time for 30 minutes each while everyone else is sitting at their computer with the SAME question. when someone tries to get his attention, he ignores them and continues to talk to one student for an excessive amount of time, and he is absolutely unhelpful. awful class. worst accounting class ever. didn't learn anything. waste of time. completely incompetent as a teacher.

This teacher is absolutely horrible. Half the class is a powerpoint lecture, the last hour of class is usually working on some problem on the computer. These computer problems are incredibly confusing and make no sense...Weeks makes them up himself. Since the lectures don't coincide with the computer work and he gives essentially no instructions on what to do, the students are all lost in class. When you ask him for help on what to do, he will not give you an answer, he will just talk about different possible ways to do it, then expect you to choose the right way. He expects you know everything he does about real world work and computer software, though you have never used the computer programs in your life. He asks you to turn in the problems and then grades you on it, so you obviously do very bad since you are lost the entire class period. This class is a mess and a waste of time, didn't learn a thing, getting the worst grades I've ever had in a college class, and must sit through 2 hours of being confused without help twice a week.

This is the very first time I have posted because I feel compelled to say this teacher is by far the worst teacher I have ever had in every way. He doesn't teach the material in a way that the students can successful do the assignments on their own. You constantly feel confused and when you ask him a question he'll answer it with a question, sometimes in a really annoyed, very rude, and definitely in an extremely unprofessional way. I can't believe he is allowed to teach at Cal Poly because he doesn't really teach. I believe he can be nice at times and will spend time explaining things. But it depends on his mood and he's unpreditable so I stopped asking him questions for fear his condescending way of speaking. Unfortunately, he has been the only one teaching this class.

Like others, I have never posted anything on PolyRatings but felt compelled to because of this guy. By far THE WORST teacher I have ever had. Class is confusing, the man gives no guidance or helpful advice, he is very rude to students and does not even try to help if you are confused. The class material could actually be very useful and interesting if taught by a teacher who was at least somewhat competent.