James, Jonathan  

Fine teacher, but a little dry in the presentation. I wouldnt suggest having her at 8:00 in the morning, might be difficult staying awake.

Read the last sentence if you want a shortened review of this teacher. This teacher is not good. He is scatterbrain and arrogant. He made students feel uncomfortable and embarrassed when randomly called upon in class, and did not address questions but made students feel dumb for not initially understanding it. He moves quickly through the material and expects students to seamlessly understand difficult subjects in a very short period of time. The teacher is not good at explaining concepts to students who are not familiar with economics. There are four possible things that make up your grade: 1 midterm, 1 final, Participation, and Problem Sets. Students can choose ‘Participation’ as part of their grade, but the anxiety of getting called on to answer a ridiculous problem deterred me from selecting it, making my final 55% of my grade. The problem sets were so long and frequent, that I came to resent them and put in very little effort as I was constantly struggling to complete them. I am not done with the class, but I have already signed up for another microeconomics class next quarter because I have given up on this one.

As a freshman coming into Cal Poly I expected a lot more from my teachers than what i received from James. His lectures were chaotic and his slides flew by before you could write anything down. I believe this is the first college class he's ever taught and it shows. He tries incredibly hard to be funny and witty and comes off as a complete asshole. He only posts some of his slides online because he's afraid no one will come to class, and frankly you shouldn't. His nonsensical rambling will just leave you confused. If you have to take this class read the chapter and do the practice problems in the book instead of going to class and you'll be able to pass. If you try to go to class and take notes.... Good luck dealing with his shit

Not a great presenter of the material. His examples aren't always the best, but his lectures are always fun. Good power points. He's very accommodating for students and curved the shit out of the midterm and all quiz's. 5 problem sets, usually around 10 questions. 2 of the problem sets were unlimited attempts on Poly Learn. Super funny too.

Um this teacher made me laugh, not only for his good sense of humor but for his "give no fucks" personality in the way he taught. Personally I enjoyed his class as he curved every test by at least 20%. If you're good at econ you're fine if youre not you are screwed even with the big ol curve.

It�s not even the end of the quarter, but I'm writing my review so I'm not biased as to if I failed or not. James is definitely a teacher to avoid. His lectures are extremely dry and boring. He honestly just points at graphs and expects you to understand the insane information he�s throwing at you. Out of a lecture of almost 230 people, he curved the first midterm almost 30% and 45% of the class STILL FAILED. I think that adequately explains his ability to teach material. I think he enjoys making your life miserable by not clearly explaining any questions you ask him or answering them by almost laughing at you. I�m not one to rip on professors because I�m not doing well in a class, but as a general consensus for this giant lecture, you could say he has major issues with his so called �teaching methods�. To sum up the class, I�ve never seen so many unexplained or unreasonable graphs, heard about so many fish or coconuts, or been so mentally exhausted after every lecture in my entire life. Hands down the worst class I�ve ever taken here at poly.

For starters, James seems like a really cool dude, but he did not do a great job of teaching this quarter. It started off bad, but got better towards the end. He is a funny guy during lecture but has trouble getting material across clearly. I found myself having to learn the information on my own since he tends to ask test questions about things that were not exactly covered during class. So be wary of those kinds of things. To be fair, I do believe it was his first quarter teaching. But honestly, teaching this stuff to myself led to me learning the material better and I have a good understanding of it. If you don't want to go that route, try for another professor.

Jonathan James was a horrible teacher. It was his first time teaching and when he told this to the class on the first day, I knew that this was going to be bad. Each class was a 2 hour lecture that could not get more boring, plus he did not give enough time for the students to write all the lecture notes down. To top it off, he didn't post the lecture notes on polylearn, and he did not follow the book very well. So how are we supposed to learn when all of our options are not helpful. I would suggest to STEER CLEAR of James. Maybe after he gets a couple of years under his belt he will know how to teach, but until then use another teacher!

Jonathan James is the nicest guy ever!! He really wants his students to succeed and is actually a pretty funny guy! It might seem like a bad thing that he's a new teacher, but this means he curves every test 20%, it's great. Easy A.

He's a cool guy, but from a professor standpoint I know I only passed this class due to a 20% curve on tests, which were a majority of the grade. However even with this giant curve, a portion of the class STILL FAILED. That just doesn't add up. I left this 2 hour lecture confused every time without fail. His blank and overly simplified graphs make it beyond difficult for an introductory econ course. He expects that you already know the material and hardly answers valid questions adequately. I wanted to believe that he just wasn't a good professor for intro econ, but after seeing poor ratings for the upper division course, I was wrong. TAKE A DIFFERENT PROFESSOR.

Professor James seemed like the ideal economics teacher at first sight...witty, young, and possesses a certain tone to his voice that complements his dry, but somewhat amusing jokes (usually Breaking Bad related). I had high hope for him. After a few classes however, I began to notice just how mediocre and incompetent he really is. Class lectures are confusingly shown with complicated graphs and are poorly explained. If you do not know any econ whatsoever, be prepared for a struggle and questions on exams that most of the time you will have no idea how to answer.

He has no idea how teach. He also will not answer any questions you ask him or put the answers to his practice problems online.

If you like or think you like Economics, please do not take Professor Jon. He will make you run away from Economics. It is easy to get an A on midterms because he curves them so much, but that doesn't mean you have learned anything. If you are going to take his class and actually want to learn, you will have to treat his class like a 8 unit class. Here is why. You have to read each chapter in the textbook and take thorough and detailed notes. After you have understood what Mankiw(the author of the textbook) says, go to lecture with Professor Jon's powerpoint slides in hand. You will attempt to reconcile what you have learned from the textbook with his lecture. It is a difficult process because he is a terrible lecturer, and he also complicates everything. During the lecture, he will confuse the shit out of you, so after class, you better reread YOUR notes and again try to reconcile your knowledge gained from the textbook with his powerpoints. Another thing that I do not like about him is his sarcastic attitude towards Cal Poly students. He thinks we are all lazy, stupid and don't care about life. He acts like a parent who can't control his kids and eventually just gives up on them. He is not a good professor, so if possible, take another Econ professor instead.

I never write polyrating reviews� This is how bad Jonathan James was as a teacher.

This guy is the biggest fucking GDI ever. He constantly wears not cargo shorts, BUT CARGO PANTS!!! He is not funny at all, and can't answer a question for his fucking life. To be successful in this class, read the damn book and don't go to class, because this guy did not even deserve a damn HS diploma. I am baffled at the fact that he worked for the Fed, NO FUCKING WONDER OUR MONETARY POLICY IS SHIT! His fidgeting during lectures in indicative of how extremely uncomfortable he is in lecture, because he doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. Save yourself

Horrible teacher, can't teach for shit...literally hated going to his class. he is probably going to get fired tbh. If you get him as a teacher I suggest dropping his class. The curves on tests are nice but he treats you like your an idiot when you don't understand when its actually him that can't teach/clarify.

This guy CANNOT teach. Less than half of the lecture hall goes to his class as his teaching is a joke. He just shows you complicated graphs and assumes you understand them. Avoid him at all costs!

He's energetic and tries to teach. The only problem is he has no clue what he is doing. He's probably a super smart dude, he's just a total retard when it comes to teaching. His grades are super bipolar, and you will never know whether you're gonna get an F or an A. You will not learn anything in this class, and the possibility of you getting an A or an F are the same.

you read the textbook: everything makes sense. you go to class: nothing makes sense anymore. you study for his midterm: you feel prepared. you take his midterm: you question if you studied at all.

I recently joined the Church so I could pray that you don't take Jonathan. Amen.

I will never have sex with Kate Upton. Jonathan will never be a good teacher.

I didn't fail this class, but I didn't get an A either. But don't be fooled by the "B" I received. This professor isn't about teaching the material, or helping students understand. This professor bases his class on how well you can figure out his tricks. He tricks students, rather than teaches them. There is no way to actually learn the material without being punished for trying. His online homeworks make you LOSE points for wrong answers. (You get an unlimited amount of attempts, but eventually your score will hit 0). How am I supposed to LEARN the material and succeed if I am being punished for trying? The questions are also vague and will either not use all of the options or have very limited "hints." His tests are even more of a joke. The first midterm was 60 points and he curved it at 47. Isn't that saying something about his tests? That they are SO impossible and unfair that he has to curve it down 13 points? Every time I walked out of a midterm I felt actual anger, which is very rare for me. I can't remember the last time I was SO LIVID about something like I am this professor. The only way I did well in this class was because I paid hundreds of dollars (literally over $200) on tutoring (the OCOB hours conflicted with my schedule) and I am good and figuring out tricks. I did not learn econ, I merely memorized how he tricked students so I would pass. I didn't think these kind of professors existed, but low and behold, professor James came into my college career. Do not take this professor. If that means you don't graduate on time, then so be it. The anger and stress levels you get from this class are not worth it. It will hinder your mental health.

I really tried to give Prof. James a chance. I really do mean it when I say that I'm not trying to rip on him just because I didn't get an A in the class. I respect what he's doing by trying to get students to think critically, but he does it in a way that 100% discourages you from studying for the test because, in all honesty, there's nothing you can do to study for the tests. He outwardly says that he puts material on the test that's unlike anything you've ever seen before, so it's really just a matter of hoping to god that your understanding of the basics concepts is enough to apply to whatever problems he throws at you. The issue with that is that you have no way to gauge where you're at because he is very adamant about not providing you with anything that you might see on the test. His goal from that is to make you think critically, but he misses the mark and it ends in students being entirely unable to answer the questions. Bottom line, you're not going to get an A in this class. He says that from day one. If the grade doesn't matter to you, and you like the challenge economics presents, then go ahead and take his class. I don't think James has any sympathy for how much weight students place on grades (for better or for worse). I would not recommend James to anyone I knew, nor would I take him for another class.

I took James during his first-quarter. He's a high-caliber economist from the Fed; it's going to take him a long time to adjust to being in the fish bowl of Cal Poly. James is inconsistent as a professor, going from explaining basic concepts in a counterintuitive way for too much time, and then going into advanced concepts without solving any examples or providing any suggested steps to solve the problems. While James is probably a legit dude outside of academia, it is surprisingly difficult to get straightforward answers from him before and after class. As he becomes frustrated with his inability to teach, he becomes more sadistically sarcastic and even less helpful (if that's possible). If you are left with no other choice or you are masochistic, prepare to buckle down and spend more time watching Khan academy videos than you spend at lecture: maybe after the curve when you have a 67% you'll be lucky like me and get an 84%.

At first James seemed like a good professor, but after the first lecture it soon became clear that this class was going to be a challenge. His lectures were very different from the book, and the homework. When it came time to do the homework there was nothing you could really look at to help you solve the homework, or even study for the quizzes. This lack of preparation, made it so the averages on the tests were low D's and his tests had to be curved a lot. This curve was pretty helpful in saving everyone grades. I would recommend that you steer clear of this class at all costs, and if you do decide to take this class be prepared. You will spend alot of time stressing and studying on your own. James' was occasionally helpful at office hours so that probably be your best bet, or making a good study group.

shit

He's so shitty and if you notice, he always does that stupid fucking hand gesture. If you have questions to ask during lecture, dont expect it to be answered cause he would "answer it later". Some bullshit right there.

I wouldn't wish this class upon my worst enemy. I'm a good student and had to put in at least 20 hours for each test to pull off an A with the curve. After midterm 1, I stopped going to class and during the time, I taught myself the material and ended up doing better on midterm 2 than midterm 1. If you are unlucky and have to take him, read the book and don't bother asking him questions because he won't answer them.

Horrible professor. Be warned, when a guy has a .56 polyrating with almost 30 evaluations, you'd be stupid to try to take this class if you're looking for an intro econ class.

Genuinely the greatest man I have ever met.

Professor James is not a good professor. I would read the book and understand everything (for the most part), but then I would go to lecture and he would make everything much more complicated than it needed to be. Also, his tests are really difficult.

Excellent teacher, great sense of humor. I want to become a teacher when I grow up.. because of Jonathan James.

i just....i can't. i have lost all hope

i would rather watch my parents procreate than take this class

This guy could not teach for shit. If you read before class and feel comfortable with the material before class, his lecture will only confuse you. He has to give 15 point curves because the entire class will fail an entire section of the test. He sends multiple emails telling you what is on the test, and then on test day it is nothing like that.

so i just got back from an appointment with a doctor because i have had trouble sleeping, loss of appetite and headaches. i have been diagnosed with anxiety and prescribed medication. based on my description of classes, showing him tests and assignments, my doctor points 100% of the blame to this class. i have perfect medical history and have never had any complications ever before. I bed James is a great upper division professor, but he is hurting the health to those in the lower division classes.

I wouldn't recommend taking ECON 221 with James if given the option. His lectures drag on and he does a very poor job explaining the slides to the class so everyone understands. Furthermore, when anyone asks a question in class, he slides around it, responding with some other unrelated nonsense(same thing in office hours). His tests are unbelievably tricky but where curved a huge amount which was helpful, and frankly the only positive thing I can think of. I would only recommend this class if you have a desire to hear an overly-enthusiastic man talk about Breaking Bad, coffee, and confusing economics for 2 hours straight.

My butt hurts....

Avoid him at all costs! He is the kind of asshole that will give you a 89.99% and not bump up your grade. Not to mention I learned absolutely nothing from taking his class. He cannot answer even the simplest question and has only been teaching for a total of two quarters. I re-read the entire micro economics book twice and felt like I knew the concepts like the back of my hand. (still didn't get an A)James gets off to his students not doing well. He also likes to make own his graphs for tests and they confuse the shit out of you. They don't look like anything he ever teaches in lecture. You'll also notice he cannot stop doing this weird hand gesture. What a tool...

I took James and saw he had no PolyRatings for Winter Quarter, so I gave it a shot. Boy do I regret it. I barely passed the class (70.79%) and that's simply because of the nearly 20 point curves on every test. He's a bad teacher, with confusing powerpoints, and I stopped showing up after the 2nd week. He's a chill guy, but seriously, one of the worst teachers I've had at Cal Poly so far. AVOID AT ALL COSTS

James is a horrible professor. Every bit of knowledge that I have about Economics I attribute to reading the entire textbook. Normally if you have the discipline to read the book and teach yourself you can manage to do alright in a class with a shitty teacher, however James has a different style of testing your knowledge. Knowing the material isn't enough, you have to be able to think abstractly about every question in order to get to the conclusion that he wants. I would urge anyone who is considering taking him to either take ANY OTHER professor. If there isn't another one teaching the class, wait a quarter. IT WILL BE WORTH IT.

I regret taking this class. I never got a F in my life thanks to this guy.

He may curve the tests but at the end of the day, he's still a horrible teacher. The many polyratings here seem to unanimously agree that he is the worst econ 221 professor you could take. Avoid avoid avoid.

One time in lecture, a girl behind me raised her hand and asked James if she had answered one of his posted practice problems correctly, to which he responded: "Maybe". He then proceeded to argue why he shouldn't provide correct answers for these practice problems. This basically sums up Jonathan James. After the first few weeks, about half of the 200 student class stopped showing up because they realized listening to him is pointless. He has to significantly curve every test because nobody has any clue what is going on. I don't care what sins you've committed in your past, NOBODY deserves to go through his class.

By far, the worst professor I've had in my life. This man simply does not know how to teach. His tests are ridiculously hard, vague, and confusing; therefore, he needs to curve them by 20-30%. Without the curve, this class would have been ridiculously difficult. But after the curve, this class was the easiest class I've taken at Cal Poly so far.

"I curve tests, I don't curve test and round." Good luck with this class, you really need it. Memorize the graphs, know all the key terms by heart and practice applying Econ all the time. There is no other way around it with this professor. Btw, you cannot reschedule your final so take it when it is scheduled or you Fail. Clearly, lecture and office hours are a joke so don't waste your time. There are two midterms each worth 25%, do well on them because his final basically incorporates concepts from both. Oh yea and his final is COMPREHENSIVE, worth 40%. Homework (10%) is thankfully offered online through sapling which makes sure you do as many attempts as possible if there are no deduction. My only advice is set yourself apart from everyone else, hit the ground running by studying on your own once you have your book and the syllubus, get ahead and make sure you know the material.

I think that he genuinely tries to be a good professor, but he simply isn't. He is terribly at explaining concepts, his lectures are not cohesive, and he can not answer student questions. At least he curves his tests by about 20%. As long as you do the online homework diligently, are good at taking test, and have already taken Econ in high school, you will probably get an A or a B. You just will not learn anything at all about microeconomics.

Worst teacher I have ever had. I had hope the first day when he was very excited and seemed eager to teach. It just went downhill from there. I stopped showing up to class which was actually a good move. He just confused me even more. His online homework is hard and takes up time and his two midterms and final make up 90% of your grade. The final is cumulative, but if you did better on the final than one of your midterms he will use the better grade on the final to help you. That is probably the one and only thing I liked about his class, but it did not end up helping me. Avoid at all cost. If you can take it at a community college do that.

By far the worst teacher I have ever had, period. I am not someone to complain about professors because I can almost always learn to work with their teaching styles and end up succeeding in the class, but not with James! I did everything from diligently reading every chapter of the book, attending every lecture (even though 40% of the 240 people in the class gave up coming halfway through), and even going to office hours (he never bothered to learn my name even though I was the only one who bothered to show up sometimes). He zoomed through his lectures like it was a graduate course and everybody knew Micro Econ already. People stopped asking questions because his explanations (of otherwise simple concepts with a competent professor) would confuse the whole class. The book was useless in his class, even though it was interesting and made so much more sense than he did, because his lectures were based off of his own confusing graphs with 10 different lines plotted on them. He did not even post his powerpoints on polylearn so that we could understand "said graphs" because he would go through each slide in less than 15 seconds. Overall, the guy seems nice but he should definitely not be teaching.

Avoid this guy at all costs. Such a bad teacher. I would email him asking for help, he never replied. I would go up to him after class and ask him questions, he replied with condescending remarks that made me learn to hate his guts. And he is impossible to follow during his lectures. I hate this guy.

By far the worst professor I have ever had. He is very cocky and doesn't answer anyone's questions. If you ask him a question he just relays it back to you with another question and leaves them open ended and not answered. AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Honestly Jonathan James is the worst professor I have had at Cal Poly. Ya he was funny at times but he never answered questions clearly. At the end of the quarter he curved the class so weirdly that it ended up bringing my grade down by almost 9%. He didn't correspond to the book we were required to get. If you can avoid him or be stressed the whole quarter.

Every positive review of Econ 221 with Jonathan James is probably from Jonathan James himself...

Jonathan James was the worst professor I could have imagined. His lectures are awful, he goes on tangents, and his curves make little to no sense. No idea how he was hired at Orfalea. He was even rude at office hours when I wanted help with the homework. On top of that he made us use a nonsensical online program for homework which constantly crashed. I finished the class with an 89.85 and he refused to round it up, even though I came into his office hours at 7 am! For God's sake, avoid him.

Do not be fooled by his good looks!

If you know how to read a graph you'll get an A. Do the practice problems until you understand them and you'll be fine. The curve he puts on tests are huge it's just not so exciting to sit through.

Let me start off by saying I was one of the lucky few freshmen in his first class ever at cal poly, and let me tell you, everyone hated him. The only reason his jokes are funny are because they are soo bad. He has no idea how to teach at all and I can honestly say he was the worst professor I've had at cal poly up to this day. Don't be fooled by all these A's and B's that you see on here, because the only reason people got these grades were from his ridiculous 30% curves. In all honestly only 4 people in the class were getting C's on his tests while the rest of the class were getting D's and F's.

Jonathan James is by FAR the worst teacher I have ever had. He is unable to present course material clearly. He says "ok" about 150 times a class period.. yes I counted. He often can not even answer questions students ask in class. I leave the classroom more confused than when I entered.

J.James is probably the worst teacher in the history of teachers. The guy means well and is a very cute (in like a puppy kind of way) family man who only means well. However, he absolutely sucks at teaching. Everything you learn in class is always scattered and he rarely completes his point. In addition, the practice tests he gives you are nothing like whats on the actual test. I spent hours the past few weeks studying what he gave us and the practice problems in the book, I even went to study times when he went over "important" problems and 90% of what was on the mid term wasnt emphasized at ALL. AVOID IF POSSIBLE. I promise you, this will save you tears and years of your life. The quarter isnt over yet but unless I do well on the make up exams, I'll probably end up with a C in this class if I'm lucky. If you do get him, be aware he says "Okay" every other word-in average 300 times per 2 hours and use Kahn Academy for Economics. It saves grades.

WORST TEACHER EVER DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS. HE IS A COCKY ASSHOLE AND IT NO HELP AT ALL.

Jonathan James is by far the worst teacher/professor I've had in my entire life. Although it's evident that he knows a lot about Economics, it's also blatantly obvious that he knows nothing about teaching. He assigns reading before every lecture that you'll find in the syllabus (that he will change at his own discretion whenever it suits him, so pay attention) at the beginning of the quarter. If you do the reading, there is no point in going to the lectures because he's simply reading to you from a projector screen what you read before going to class. He will then draw all over a graph that makes no sense to anyone and call it a day. ALL of his exams are graph-based, so if you don't understand his graphs in the lecture, good luck scoring higher than a C on any exam. There are three exams that make up the class; you don't have to take any of them, because the optional final at the end of the quarter can replace any and all that you elect not to take. Also, going to his office hours is less than beneficial. I went once, waited an hour to get ONE question answered, and he literally told me "I'm not answering that." I will never take a class with this wannabe economist ever again.

I recommend taking Econ 222 before this class. The two classes are practically identical, so with what I learned from Econ 222, this class was super easy for me. I will admit though, he can't teach for crap. He's super nice, I think, but he just can't seem to explain the material well. Tbh though, all you need is the textbook and to do the practice tests that he posts online. I went to MAYBE 5 lectures overall and got a 94% in the class. It was one of my easiest classes. Just do a lot of practice problems and EVERY extra credit opportunity he offers.

Everybody gives J. James crap for his teaching but, honestly, it is very hard to teach a class of over 250. That being said, he could definitely slow down his pace and be more clear, especially with his graphs. But, if you go to his study sessions those help immensely and are the reason why I got an A. Also, do the extra credit! It's not that hard of class most people just don't show up and that's why they get such bad grades. If you put in the effort like most other classes it will pay off.

Terrible teacher, terrible person, not sure how he got hired. Tests were impossible and he was no help in office hours. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

First class at Cal Poly and worst class.

DO NOT TAKE unless you are fine with a pointless class you don't have to go to half the time, tangents about Disneyland when you do show up, and overall learning nothing in class and teaching yourself everything. Only reason I got an A was a lot of the material was the same from macroeconomics and I read parts of the book. He does put up practice tests with answers. Learn the practice test and you're fine. The only time you get a clear answer is if you ask him a specific question one on one. Otherwise don't expect to learn much. Horrible professor.

I went to most classes first midterm got a C, went to about hour of each class up to the next midterm and got a B, then went to almost no class and read the book up to the third midterm and got an A. This guy loves Disneyland, a lot, probably more than he loves his own mother. The first or second day he used an example with splash mountain and i thought it was a joke. NOPE. He continuously mentioned disneyland. Yeah i dont really have a problem with it but i think he was trying too hard to make the information relatable and wasnt presenting it as effective as it could have been. So if you dont want to go to class and want to read the book you will probably do alright in this class. however IF YOU CANT TEACH YOURSELF THE MATERIAL DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.

Honestly if I got an A in his class I would be writing the same feedback. JJames has been the worst teacher at Cal Poly that I have encountered. Unless you're a superstar at econ don't take his class. Anyone that did well in the class had previously taken econ and multiple people told me the reason they did well is because of that and nothing he has taught helped them on the midterms...If anything it confused them more. I was blocked into this class and it's the first exposure to econ i've ever had. He doesn't explain the simple building blocks of econ, just says "this is how it is" and proceeds to attempt to teach. To sum this all up if you're good at econ, and can overlook someones lecture who says "okay" every other word then go for it(taking this class) xx goodluck...You'll need it

Avoid him at all costs. He does not lecture well at all. His notes are pointless because he starts drawing random graphs and doesn't label. If you want a good grade read the book really well and do tutoring outside of his class.

Yes I'm a senior in a two-hundred level econ class because I found out I need it as a pre-req for one of my last major classes. I considering myself to be fairly studious, as a bout an A-/B+ student here at Cal Poly. I went to this class five times, including the two class periods dedicated to the tests. I have never met a professor like this one. Thank god he grades on a curve otherwise I know I would've failed this class. Take This class if you have the dedication to teach the material to yourself via the book and other tutoring opportunities offered. i put in so much effort to this class and in the end, my understanding of his questions and what sort of answers he wanted on his tests is what got to me. I spent more time trying to figure out his questions than actually working on the problem at hand when it came to his exams. I believe that the grades people are receiving when they feel like they've learned nothing from this professor is a true reflection of how well this guy teaches. He's got good intentions but he does not have the ability to recognize/clarify student difficulties with this course material at all. The only reason I rated him as below-average as opposed to a Fail, is because of his generous curves. Good luck if you must take this class with him, you'll need it.

Absolutely terrible. Avoid him at all costs. He doesnt give a shit about his students or their success. Teaching is merely a paycheck for the guy. If you want to learn about disnleyland and random facts about nothing, this guy may be for you. Otherwise, if youre looking for an econ class to learn something useful, hes useless. Trash professor.

In my opinion, all the criticism this guy gets is unjustified. He gives you all the tools you need to succeed and get an A. DO AND UNDERSTAND ALL the practice tests problems and you'll do fine. Definitely go to his study sessions before the tests because he clarifies any questions and goes over the practice tests. His lectures are admittedly pretty boring sometimes, but they are helpful in preparing for the tests (which is why I don't understand why only 50% of the class shows up to them). JJ isn't a great professor, but he doesn't deserve nearly as much hate as he gets.

Honestly if people don't get decent grades in this class, it's their fault. J.James gives practice tests before each midterm that are extremely similar to the midterms. He also gives a really fair curve and offers 2 different formulas to calculate your final grade and then gives you the highest out of the two. This quarter I got 5% (yes percent) of extra credit from doing the consortiums each week!! There is no excuse to not get at least a B in this class if you read the book and do the practice tests. He even counts 89.5% as a A- but people still complain when he won't round up .2 percent.. Sorry he's already offered huge opportunities to bump up your grade. Although I won't lie, I think because it was such a large class he didn't teach a well as he could have. In the smaller review sessions he was much better at explaining topics to us.

Some of life's great mysteries are how J James ever graduated college, got a job a Cal Poly, or hasn't been attacked by a distressed Micro student. Good luck to you unfortunate souls who are stuck in this class. I have one piece of advice for you. Go to a total of three classes: the two midterms and the final.

I found myself doing better when I did not attend his lectures. I went the first two weeks and kept stumbling on the concepts, but when I stopped going and tried to learn the material on my own, I actual did better. He goes on tangents that often have nothing to do with the lecture every class. The only positive about this class is his grading system, where he gives students the benefit of having more weight on the midterm or final (Which ever benefits the student). It brought me from a C- to a B. He also gives practice midterms to study off of, and extra credit opportunities (they are a lot of work). i would not recommend taking this class for a GE, but if you're a business student like myself, I wish you luck.

Okay so this is my third year at Poly and I finally got around to taking ECON 221 cause I absolutely hate Econ. However, I can tell you that this is the easiest class that I have ever taken in college. Jonathan James gets a bad rap cause he teaches the most boring subject on the planet. It isn't the guy's fault that his subject is boring. Students bitch about getting bad grades but they only show up to class if there is a midterm. Here is a college tip, go to class and guess what you might just learn something. The man offers up to 5% of your grade extra credit, which no other professor in a 300 or 400 level course will ever offer. He also gives you three practice exams that cover very similar concepts to the exam. If you read the textbook, another unheard of concept, and attend his review sessions, then this class will be cake for you. Anyone can succeed in this class with some effort.

I have NEVER had a worst teacher in my life. I should have trusted the other poly ratings and avoided taking him. Half the class stops showing up halfway thru the quarter because he's such a crappy teacher and going to class becomes a waste of time. Don't take him!

The subject matter isn't truly hard (at the end of the day, it's still a lower-division introductory class) but he presents it in a very unclear way, using example problems that are needlessly complicated and convoluted. He probably thinks this gives people a deeper understanding of economics. It doesn't. To do well in James's class, you will probably need to carefully study the textbook, and you will definitely need to do every practice test that he posts online (he posts several practice tests for every midterm, which is the only thing he does that was helpful to me). He is very accommodating in scheduling extra office hours and review sessions, but I never went because I would rather read the textbook than listen to him try to clarify things. And during lecture, he tries to be funny but comes off as arrogant. The class is not impossible, it's just that he makes it more painful than it needs to be. If you have trouble with econ, avoid this professor.

Lol

Jonathan James is for sure a character, but if you take the time to get to know him you will realize the comments below aren't all true. I went to his office hours and he would help me through every problem. His curve is usually a 1-2 letter grade increase so don't freak out if you get a D on an exam. Ask questions in his class, he is willing to answer them, but students most of the time don't ask any. He might not be the best teacher, but in regards to being a PERSON he is a really great one.

Jonathan James is a great teacher despite what other students may say. People complain about him because they don't get the simplest material I have ever learned. He is super entertaining and makes the 2 hours go by fast, if he doesn't end class early. The tests are more curved than HWY 101, so a B or above is pretty much given.

The class consists of 3 exams and a bunch of quizzes. Most of the quizzes are take him so it's not hard to find the answers. Most of the time he goes over the quizzes before we turn them in. There are very helpful videos for each lecture which I mainly used because he isn't great at explaining things well. He is a funny guy, somethimes and likes to make jokes. I feel like he made his lectures more confusing then they had to be. There's a tutor for the class which was pretty helpful. He curves the tests a little. If there are better teachers, then I would suggest taking those but he isn't too bad.

Jon James is a great guy. He can't teach to save his life, but he's a nice energetic guy. I had to teach myself the class. Thankfully, he curves the tests a lot so the class isnt all that hard.

He curves tests and offers some extra credit, but I feel as though I did not learn anything about econ. I learned more reading the textbook than I did attending his lectures. I would take another econ teacher because i definitely did not learn anything.

This was a rough class. He is a weird guy but office hours help. The way he changed his lectures really helped and he curves tests and offers extra credit. Didnt learn anything in the class but i passed so oh well. Would skip if you dont have to take this class. All econ 221 teachers are bad.

He was awful at lecturing, smart man though so office hours are helpful. He offered tons of outside resources so if you put in the work he gives you the ability to self learn the material. Overall though his teaching is pretty bad for a lecture environment.

Jon James is a legend. Probably for the worse, but a legend regardless. He always has a smile on his face, and I know he's a great person, but he really just isn't the best teacher. That being said, he offers up 5% in extra credit and the book is very helpful, so this class isn't that hard. I was interested in learning about it, but it just wasn't presented in a way that was extremely easy to understand. I'm not looking to be spoon-fed, but it was more complicated than necessary. On top of the 5% extra credit, he bumped up my final grade from a 78% to a B- so that was awesome. Not a great professor, not terrible. Nice guy.

Yeah he is not very good at lecturing if you didn't get that from all of the other reviews. But the book is really easy to follow and the tutor for the class was EXTREMELY helpful. I went to every single session he offered. He has several quizzes, at least once a lecture but the majority are take home or really easy. Ace the quizzes by getting help from the tutor and reading the book. The mid terms aren't so bad, they're challenging but doable and he curves them a ton, I got 100% on every single one. He also offers up to 5% extra credit. People complain about getting a bad grade because they don't show up to class or read the textbook, so spare me we're in college people. He uses examples in class that can be confusing because he tries to tailor his class to our generation to make it entertaining, normally this will just end up confusing you so I would read the chapter he was lecturing on before class and if he used a confusing example that would mess me up I would purposefully tune him out. He's a nice guy, if you don't get an A, that's your own fault.

Its weird but I feel bad for Prof James. Yes, he is the worst teacher ever but people made way too much fun of the guy to his face. He tries hard to help students but really just can't. Definitely don't recommend him but quit messing with him so much

Jonathan James was a cool guy, and I think gets much more flack than he deserves. He brings a lot of energy to the lecture, making them bearable. That being said, he really isn't good at presenting the material clearly and I had to teach myself out of the book for the most part. He also will include stuff on his tests that he hasn't gone over and that is frustrating. He will also give quizzes atleast weekly so you will have to go to lecture. But he does care about what he is teaching and it really wasn't a very hard course.

Jonathan James is a great person and really tries to keep the class entertained. The only problem is that he is not a great teacher, but it is not entirely his fault--microeconomics is not meant to be taught to a class of over 150 students! This class was super easy and I finished with a B and barely showed up to class. If you watch the videos he posts online and read the book the night before the test, I think most students will do just fine.

I honestly don't even know how I ended up with a B considering I only got a C for the first midterm and failed the rest. Not a good teacher, but he tries I suppose. I wouldn't recommend this class if you actually want to get something out of it.

This guy is a total shit show. Doesn't know what he is doing. Doesn't care about his students. And really has no clue how to teach. I literally slept through his class every day and watched the supplemental videos that he gives and I did fine. Don't take this loser if you're trying to learn about economics thoroughly.

Professor James is super knowledgeable in his field, but isn't the best at explaining topics to others. I also didn't really like his humor, so pardon the bias I have against him. I love economics, but his class was a dread to get through. All in all, if you put in the time and do all of the homework problems (be prepared to set aside a significant amount of time for this class) you will succeed in the class. I also liked that there were so many tutoring sessions offered. Super helpful!!

This guy sucks. DO NOT TAKE HIM. No one in the class can follow along in his lecture and the midterm/final are extremely hard. Don't take him

THIS GUY SUCKS!!!

This man will teach you nothing be ready to lube up before every day of class

Avoid Jonathan James at all cost. Workload isn't the worst, but the lectures will make you question your purpose of living. The man does not know how to teach, and will spend all two hours scribbling random shit onto the chalkboard, with little to no explanation. Furthermore, he is the only professor that I know of who assigns seating in the silo. I am convinced this man is a sociopath.

Horrible presenter of information, no reference to book he suggests buying. Uses chalk board can't see any examples from behind the fourth row and uses and assigned seating system so up to chance if you'll be able to read the board on a given day. Overall a nice guy but poor teacher never has a clear train of though and never quite clear what is actually being covered that day.

James loves Econ, which is super cool. The problem I had was that he taught the class as if we all picked up information automatically. He would start out with something simple and then by the end of the lecture you're super confused but he seems to think it is super easy. Also, James shouldn't be teaching to such a big class. He gets lost in his own teaching often and is impossible to follow and having the class in the silo doesn't help.

If you aren't an econ major and are just trying to get this class out of the way, I do not suggest you take John James. I actually really enjoyed this class. I feel the teacher is very good if you are very interested in econ (like i am) and have a previous understanding of this subject. His teaching style is very different from other teachers, in which he takes the inputs of all the other students. The students in turn, i feel, are a bit disrespectful or focus when he messes something up. You dont have to prove that you are better than the teacher, cut him some slack and just try and learn/ participate. They dont understand by giving them a choice and voice, he is practicing and underlying principle of economics by letting the students (ie the market) make decisions the class as a whole. If you do enjoy economics and want to have a teacher that really increases your thinking about it, id say take him. He is very knowledgable. He is a bit unorthodox, but it made it a more interesting class.

Run for the hills. If that doesn't help then go to tutoring hours and commit lots of time to problem sets. The exam and problem sets match up very well.

If you have a chance to take another professor I highly recommend doing so. Jon James is the most unorganized professor I have had yet. He doesn't use slides and moves along quickly. Usually the way he presents his material is disorderly and hard to follow because he goes off on unnecessary tangents. He never really specifies what you should know and what is just interesting to him. The homework is alright, but I had to go to the tutors 1-2 times a week. I learned more from the tutors than I did from him. Good luck if you have him.

You don't need to buy or read the textbook, just come to class and do the problem sets. Professor James isn't as bad as this site makes him out to be! He is very energetic and can even be a funny dude. The course is graded fairly and he even curves the exams. If you are the kind of student who scrolls through Instagram during lecture and has trouble paying attention, you're not going to enjoy this class.

I've never quite experienced the ramblings of a mad man before taking Mr. Jonathon Dickweed James' class. If it weren't for the fact that I'm an ECON major and had an extensive amount of knowledge regarding Economics concepts and principles, I would have been fucked. Seriously, the guy is all over the place. He made simple economics concepts that I already understood, seem confusing. He's also a complete tool and thinks he's hilarious. The class and the concepts however, really aren't that difficult. So if you get blocked into it like I did, all is not lost. Just don't attend class and teach it to yourself. You'll be better off.

As an Econ major, I didn't think the class was too difficult. It's true that at times the professor would unwittingly confuse the class, as I think that he presumed that we knew more about economics than we actually did. To do well in the class, I would highly recommend choosing to do the homework along with attendance. If you do both, you get an easy 30% of your total grade, leaving 70% to the midterm and final. In addition, definitely read the assigned chapter of the textbook before each lecture. The textbook does a great job of explaining the concepts, and help clarify the lectures. Also, definitely do the homework and study the solutions before the tests, as the final and midterm feature similar questions. If you want, you can also go to tutoring if you're struggling in the class, as I've heard the tutors are pretty helpful.

This man will teach you little to nothing. He is a very nice man and is very passionate about economics but if you dont teach yourself with Khan Academy or another outside source you will not do well. The tests are curved however many people still fail or get very low grades. Only take this class if you have taken previous Econ classes.

Rely on the other poly ratings to judge this teacher because most are true. DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR IF YOU DON'T WANT TO STRUGGLE ALL QUARTER AND WORRY ABOUT PASSING. He is terrible at presenting his notes and his grading system is up to you to set up, but then will penalize you for picking the wrong set up. James made me hate economics.

WOAT

I'm not sure why everyone hates this professor. He's a bit scattered in lecture but usually the essential info is there and he links some really helpful videos of people who explain exactly what he wants us to know. If you take like an hour or two to watch those before the exam you'll be fine. The exams weren't that hard and pretty curved, so honestly with minimal effort it's not hard to do well.

I haven't finished the class yet but I'm struggling.. Jon James is a cool guy and he's really funny but Ive cried during several of his lectures and every class makes me more and more confused. His problem sets are nothing like the tests and Ive never understood a single concept. I don't know a single person who isn't struggling in this class. If you don't want to be constantly stressed please please avoid this class and listen to the other ratings (I didn't). Im not usually one to write these but this guy doesn't make it reasonable to succeed in this class..

Came into this class terrified because of his awful class ratings but honestly they kind of exaggerate. He is super cool. Young, energetic and refreshing. Pros: you get to choose how you want to be graded (you can only take the final.. or add in attendance, quizzes or problem sets, etc). He is also pretty good at teaching. He does everything on the chalkboard and gives relevant examples to Econ to the real world. His multiple choice questions are very fair. Cons: He can be quite disorganized sometimes, and when he tries to explain difficult concepts like "Proofs," he has a hard time "dumbing it down" or explaining it in a way that is understood. His free response questions can be challenging. He also doesn't like to make things easy, he likes to make sure it is a challenge. Overall, I feel like I did learn about Econ, and the workload was fair.

If you do not have to take this class, do not take it. You will walk out more confused than how you walked in. To successfully understand the course material before exams, I would watch the videos he provided on the syllabus and review Khan Academy. There is no point in going to the tutoring sessions he sets up either as the tutors have no clue what James tries to convey. If you have questions during lecture, just google it. If you're lost in a concept and want further assistance, he'll just end up making you sound like an idiot, which makes him look arrogant at the same time.

Jonathan James is the worst professor I've ever had, at Cal poly, high school, middle school, and elementary school. We just had our first midterm, which you have to get 36/40 to pass, because his tests are pass/fail. Only 25% of the class passed. 25%. How does that happen? He is a nice guy, but he is an awful professor who doesn't know how to teach in the slightest. AVOID THIS PROFESSOR AT ALL COSTS

I don’t normally write reviews for professors- that is how horrible Jon James is. He had implemented a horrible pass fail testing system that is ultimately impossible for students to succeed in. He thinks it’s normal for 25% of students to pass his tests. Also, repeatedly his completely irrelevant test questions are pulled from a large test bank have absolutely zero relevance to what is trying to be emphasized in the book or in class. But he skims over hard concepts in class and when we tell him we don’t understand he keeps going anyway, so really what are we trying to learn in class? Not to mention that sometimes the answers that he pulls from the test bank aren’t even accurate and students have had to correct him multiple times— how are we supposed to even trust that our tests are being graded accurately? If you want to read all of the chapters, go to class everyday and take notes, yet still fail his tests repeatedly, take Jon James class. His façade he puts on in lecture of being a nice and chill guy the first weeks of class are not at all accurate to how horrible and lazy a professor he is and also how rude and dismissive he is if you try to go to him for extra help. He’s a lazy piece of shit in conclusion, and you will not see a return on investment if you work hard in his class because he doesn’t know how to teach. It might seem harsh but coming from a student who has taken one test more than 3 times, you would understand the frustration.

He is a terrible lecture teacher. During lecture he would ask general questions and in a class of 250 no one could answer because he could not present the material AT ALL!!!! On his test he does a pass fail for the multiple choice section, you need to get an 87.5% to pass. Only 25% of the class passed the first midterm. I emailed him multiple times to make an appointment for office hours because his was held during times I had class and he was never able to accommodate me. If you can avoid him!!

This class is literally about if you are good at multiple choice. I seriously stopped paying attention a long time ago. He does a pass fail system. You get 45 questions and you only need to answer 40. Out of those if you only get 5 wrong or less, you get 100 percent on his midterms. But if you get more than 5 wrong, you get a 0. You can retake it as much as you want, kinda. I found this class to be the easiest class I've ever experienced. He posts multiple choice practice and short answer that I review a couple days before and memorize. Never payed attention in class. Also, he hosts midterm review sessions days before the midterm. He literally tells you the answers for the short answer on the spot... Take this class if you are good at tests and can procrastinate.

At first you are going to be scared by how he grades because you get an 87% or higher on your multiple choice you get 100% and if you don't you get a 0, but you can retake the test as many times as you like and the practice tests he gives you are very similar to the real test. Basically if you care about your grade it's pretty easy to get an A in the class. Homework is pretty straight forward and there isn't much. Reading the textbook is really helpful for this class! He is a good guy and although it's really boring material he is passionate about what he is lecturing about and he cares about the students.

The actual worst teacher I have ever had in my life. NEVER TAKE A CLASS WITH THIS PROFESSOR. Not only are the lectures unbearable and filled with fluff, but he evident treats students as simply a number and couldn’t care less about them. I have heard of multiple student who have signed up for one of his “retakes” (since approx 20% of class passes midterms the first time) only to show up and the guy didn’t print out a sufficient amount of test, so you are just screwed and not able to retake. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DO NOT TAKE A CLASS WITH A SO CALLED “PROFESSOR” THAT CAN’T DO BASIC ADDITION AND PRINT OUT THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF TEST. Absolutely ridiculous. I sincerely hope that the administration takes a real look at this guy because he should not be considered an educator.

take anyone but him!! such a hard class! quizzes are pass/fail and almost impossible to pass if you are taking other difficult classes such as stats. arrogant and cocky and overall not easy information to understand. hardest class i’ve ever taken.

I got an A in this class while having no time to do anything so I'm not here to rip on professor James in any shape or form. Professor James is a fine teacher in terms of delivering course material. However, his grading system was simply horrific. As far as i understand, he changes his grading system every now and then and I just got unlucky to be the class he decided to try out his new method of "mastery" when most people in the class were taking it as a GE. Basically he made his midterms half MC and half SA and the passing grade for the MC portion is 87.7% and if you fail the MC your SA essentially just doesn't count towards your grade. You get unlimited tries on the MC but for someone as busy as I was, scheduling those exams just became a hassle. The fact that he changed the grading system more than 5 times throughout the quarter also supports the claim that we were his experiment and I don't think any faculty should use their students as "experiments". I liked how he had online short assignments that we could learn from and if his grading changes back to normal I am quite positive that this can actually be a good class to take.

After taking ECON 221 and being royally confused and wanting to switch out of being and ECON major but then sticking with it and taking other classes (that were great), I took James' upperdiv class and I realized my 221 struggles had a lot to do with the fact that James IS very smart and therefore doesn't want to spoon-feed his students. In a huge freshman lecture, this is a problem because people (including myself!) come feeling really entitled to someone holding your hand the entire quarter. I was challenged to learn the material for myself. And to be honest, James is a good explainer and keeps everyone laughing the whole time!

Most of these reviews are written by entitled freshmen who took his micro econ class. He is not going to spoon feed students like they are perhaps used to. Having said that, his ECON 339 class was great. I really enjoyed the fact that he taught ho to use R, a very useful programming language. He posted a lot of useful information online, and his lectures were always entertaining.

If you rate Jon James low, or call him a bad professor, you are blaming him for your short comings as a student, because he is an excellent professor who really cares about his students. His lectures were hard, because econometrics is hard. However, I looked forward to coming to his class because he told great stories, is a cool ass dude, and throws extra credit at you like candy. He also estimated Biggie Smalls' life earnings for Lil Kim after he was murder, so that alone makes him the best professor at poly. 10/10 recommend him.

Econ 339 with Dr. James was a ton of work, but well worth it. At times lectures could get very complicated and people would zone out (me included) but he made sure to clarify ideas that people had questions with. Getting to learn how to program analysis in R was nice, you'll definitely have time to get comfortable. His homework is a lot, but he gave us six late assignments out of 14 problem sets which makes them more manageable. He curved the quizzes and final a good amount. If you're looking for an easy econ elective I would not recommend this course. If you want to get a taste of data analysis with a funny professor I would recommend Dr. James fully.

For ECON 339, Dr. James is fantastic. Ignore the overall rating, its all from 221 freshmen. There was a lot of homework, but none of the concepts were too difficult overall. Class is graded 20% Problem Sets, 30% Midterm, 50% Final. This is a very useful class for starting to learn R and data analysis, would recommend. Will note that this is much more of a STATS class than a ECON class.

Professor James is a dope dude in general. His ratings are fucked for some reason because he's definitely not a 1.14 rating kind of professor. Not goanna lie, he's not a 4 but he's good. I feel like he's a little too smart to teach students but overall I enjoyed his class mostly because he's actually hilarious. It's a lot of work because you'll have to learn the material on your own but I feel like if you really put in the work, an A isn't out of the picture. I just always fell behind so it was tough.

Honestly, I am surprised to see all of the bad reviews on here. Jon James is the only professor so far who made me question my intelligence, which I don't know about you but it is what I am going to college for. He is teaching a subject that may be hard to many but he tries his best. He also makes abundantly clear at the start of the quarter that his course will require a lot of work and commitment, so no surprises there. He is also quite generous with turning in homework late and his exams are fair to a bit challenging, but again, I'm here to be educated not handed a good grade. He takes his job quite seriously offering plenty of support through weekly office hours, review sessions and extra review sessions even on the weekends. He also tries his best to make the lectures entertaining (despite the topic) and involves students. If you are looking for an easy A this is not for you, if you are looking to learn and be better I 100% recommend!

Let me just first say, that as a person, Jonathan James is a slick dude! Such a nice guy who I appreciated taking the class from. HOWEVER. DAMN HE DID NOT KNOW HOW TO TEACH! HOLY GEEZUS the lectures were so sporadic, he just assumed you knew the math/calculus. You know, this class might not have been that bad if he actually gave a decent amount of practice problems, but no, he couldn't even do that! I am so disappointed with this class, it's just the students suffering again from the Poor state system! GET BETTER ECON PROFESSORS CAL POLY!

I really enjoyed James. He was a cool, down to earth guy who definitely knew what he was talking about. He always double and triple checked that we understood things. He also was a very very generous grader. I honestly don't think he failed anyone. I would recommend this class as an upper division econ elective to anyone.

He told us a story about how he broke his leg in high school. 10/10, would take this class again.

I don't understand the massive amount of backlash for Jonathan James. He is a good professor, he's not a great professor but he's young and has plenty of time to improve. I think the most overly negative thing about him is his exams. They are often difficult and not overall indicative of what a student knows. Jonathan needs to do more work in focusing the average of his exams towards the C+,B- range. For example I took one exam of his where the average was something around 8 out of 24 with the maximum score being 16, understand he curves the exams but this process often makes him seem out of control. Jonathan James often changes his teaching method a little too much. In addition to this he is an utter goofball, which personally I think is a good thing, but it makes it so there's always at least one student that's belittling his teaching and being sarcastic during his lectures. Jonathan needs to be more stern with his students, they need to know that he's doing them a service and he needs to punish them for not being open to learning.

I was very excited for this class. It was a major letdown. The first eight weeks were all 311 followed by two weeks of the, as he called it, "sparknotes version" of labor econ. He showed up at least five minutes late and let us out half an hour early every day. Needless to say, the entire class was frustrated with him. We had four quizzes which each counted for about 15% of our final grade. We took the first two in the first seven weeks and the last two within one week of each other (Wednesday of week 9 and then Monday of week 10). He gave us one lecture's notice about that week 9 quiz despite him saying that he would always give us a week's notice, and then he cancelled office hours that Tuesday, so we were really screwed. He also was very slow to grade the quizzes, so we never really knew how we were doing, but the quizzes were only three questions each so how does that take you four weeks (note: he had his TA grade everything for his other classes so he really had nothing else to do)?! Basically this class was terrible. Even though I got an A, if he hadn't curved everything I would have had a C, so I was freaking out the whole quarter because I was getting 50% on the quizzes and he didn't give us our last two quiz grades until the day of the final! I would not recommend taking this class with James unless you hate yourself. He is much lazier than when he teaches 339, so just because you liked him in that, it does not mean you'll like him for 413. Okay, rant over. Take anything else, I beg of you.

Jon James is awesome. He's not going to spoonfeed you but if you try hard you will get a lot out of it.

DoubleJ is fantastic! I understand it's really hard to teach Econometrics, but the way he did it really covered the essence. Just like a really thick sci-fi novel, it might appear hard at the beginning at first, and yes, Jon would probably accidentally put some twists (and jokes) in it, but after you worked hard through every part of it, at the end you'll realize that it's been a wonderful journey. Thanks Jon, I've learned a lot.

He genuinely doesn't care if his students understand the material. He curved the midterm by 64% (so you could only write your name on the exam and still not get an F) and the final by 36% (I think). Don't get me wrong, the curve is a lifesaver...but the department actually thinks we are learning stuff and that we understand the material when they see everybody getting A's and B's but in reality we barely learned anything. So, don't worry about your grade but don't expect to learn much. Also, he says he grades the homework for accuracy, but he really just checks them for completion.