Reviews for ECON311

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John Wallis ECON311 Anonymous 05/14/2022	The topics are interesting and you would gain a lot of knowledge from it. There is also a huge curve as people have mentioned. However, the grading this semester was awful. The TA is extremely rude and disrespectful and he grades harshly- even the professor admitted that he grades unfairly. The professor should take grading seriously and not play with students' GPA
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2021	Professor Wallis knows his content like the back of his hand and I really enjoyed going to his lectures. This was an interesting class and as the other reviews below me have mentioned you only need 50 percent to pass, an 80 percent for an A while a B is somewhere in between.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/19/2019	Very interesting class, but its extremely hard to get an A unless you take extensive notes and read every article. He is a little old school and his powerpoints are too cumbersome. The exams are essay-based so just understand the frameworks of each article and you should be fine.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting a B Anonymous 03/27/2019	Super easy class, but only take if you like essays. He doesn't do plus minus grading and there is a huge curve. It's easy to get a B but harder to get an A.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/03/2018	Right off the bat, a 50 is a C in this class and an 80 is an A. That being said, the ONLY grades in this class are 2 online quizzes and 2 in-class essay tests. The tests are super subjective to grading, and you basically lose/gain points pretty randomly. The lectures are little bit boring, as Wallis usually just reads right off the slides.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2016	Professor Wallis is a very knowledgeable individual. The course is an interesting one. It is important you do well on the exams because there is no extra credit and only two online assignments. As most have said, 80% and above gets you an A. However, because the test are mostly essay based, this is not an easy A. Make sure you know the review sheet (you may be asked questions that are not on the review sheet so be prepared). No math involved and you don't need the book to pass.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2016	One of my favorite lecturers at UMD and definitely the most interesting and relevant ECON lecturer I've had. I wish UMD offered more ECON history courses. In this class, there are two online quizzes, two midterms, and the final, so not much work outside of class. He puts the slides online, but I highly recommend coming to class. It isn't necessary to do the readings - usually his explanation makes more sense - but it helps to do the important ones, like Callender and Bailyn. All exams are written or mostly written. An 80 percent is an A.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting an A CamelCase 12/21/2015	One of the best professors I've had. I looked forward to going to his lectures, and they were interesting enough that I was rarely distracted. Like everyone else said, he's really opinionated but that just manifests itself through him relating the concepts of the course to relevant current affairs. When we got to talking about "the pitfalls of democracy" he referenced Trump a lot, things like that. Lectures are super interesting and I'd say mandatory if you want to get a decent grade in the class. I missed a grand total of 2 lectures over the semester and wound up with an A overall. Other than attending lecture and studying for 1-2 days before each exam, there's no other major work you have to do in the class. 90% of your class grade is determined by the midterms and final.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/28/2014	One of my favorite professors at Maryland. Nobody knows more about the economy before the Civil War than he does. Tests are essay and impossible to BS because he is very picky about what he expects you to say. 80 is an A, 50 is a C,and somewhere around 65 is a B. Only thing I don't like is he doesn't use the +/- system so if you get a 63 like me you are shit out of luck
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/09/2014	Very strong minded but pretty cool. The material is interesting but somewhat borderline interesting. I haven't read a single page of the textbook and went to lectures got B on my first exam, A on my second. Just know every single material on the review sheet and you should be golden. But remember to be extra specific.. He grades tough but 80% is an A, 65% is a B and so on.. so Not impossible to get a high grade. I haven't been to his office hours but I heard he's pretty cool to talk to about grades.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting an A alligator3 12/08/2010	Professor Wallis is an excellent professor. He's hugely knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the subject and this translates into very interesting lectures. It's awesome to be talking about economic history and then relate that to plate tectonics. Overall, the class isn't hard as long as you go to class and take notes. If you do this you will get an A. Reading the textbook is pretty optional. He's also got a pretty cool grading scheme where if you get 80% of all possible points in the class you get an A and if you get 50% of all possible points you get a C.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting an A sleepyb9 12/19/2008	The class is not nearly as hard as people would have you believe. To do well all you have to do is read over his notes a few times before you expect to have a quiz or before the midterms/final. Like everyone says an 80 is an A and just by reading his notes you can get 100s on all quizzes and near perfect scores on the exams. As a human being he is definitely a jerk to put it lightly, but he really knows the subject and you do actually learn a lot.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting an A goterps 12/11/2008	Wallis is a great lecturer. If you don't like the math aspects of econ, this class is for you. It's basically a history class and if you can follow the story of what's happening, you will do well. If you want a class that you don't have to go to lecture and can just read the book, then don't take this class. If you GO TO LECTURE and actually bother to LISTEN and TAKE NOTES, the exams and quizzes are fairly easy. The exams are based on the lectures, so reading the book is good really just for reinforcement. Do the review sheets and go through the notes- yours and his slides he posts online, and you'll be good. Make sure to answer each part of the questions he asks for the essays. An 80 is an A, which is nice.
John Wallis ECON311 Anonymous 12/06/2008	Wallis is one of the craziest econ professor here with the biggest ego ever. His unneccessary jokes/comments are what is keeping me awake in lectures. There are popquiz in lectures, do the review sheets and 2 midterms/1 final--all essays and MCs. Its not as easy as it looks, just be sure to answer the questions that he is asking. The fixed curve for this class is 80% is an A.
John Wallis ECON311 Expecting a B Anonymous 03/27/2008	The biggest thing I hate about professors is ther negative attitues and judgemental behavior. He takes it to a whole new level. Every other word that comes out of his mouth is a jon (like in jonning), for people that dont get that word, he is constantly dissing a certain orientation, from Chinese Asians, to African American, to practically everyone except himself. Constantly being a Predujuce bigot. I don't want to even give you examples of what he had said in class. It made me extremely unconfortable and discusted. But probably people would take his course because there is a set curve of B being an A. Which becomes irrelevant because he never gave out A's. But 'he sucked' and was extremely rude.