Aaron Finkle

This professor has taught: BUSO604, ECON306, ECON321, ECON456, ECON488K, ECON641
Information Review
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2023
Finkle is a really straightforward and fair teacher who won't waste your time at all. Just show up to lecture, and every once in a while try to do a problem that he goes through in class, and you should be set (if you are comfortable with calculus and intro econ concepts). You can ignore the textbook to intermediate macro, hop into the homework problems that he assigns on Pearson, and just grind the course out by practicing those. Also, Dr. Finkle makes studying very easy, as he posts past exams along with answer keys which essentially mimic what is on the actual exam. Overall, ECON306 is an extremely well-structured class that makes it easy to understand the entire course as long as you are willing to put in the work.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/19/2023
Professor Finkle was very straightforward in his lectures to teach us how to do the practice problems we would see on the exams. I like econ so I showed up to all of his lectures but you don't have to since he posts supplemental videos and records the lectures. The pearson homework and quizzes were very time consuming and definitely the most annoying part of the class. The exams were exactly what you would expect since he posts practice questions and practice exams for you to study with and they were always almost identical to the exam you would receive. I didn't do as well as I would have liked on the exams because of the amount of open ended questions. I would know how to do the problem but would make one mistake along the way and then receive 0 credit since he doesn't look at your work or give partial credit. You definitely need to put effort into this class to do well on the exams, since the curve was usually only 1-3%.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2023
This is one of the easiest classes I’ve taken - as long as you pay attention in lecture and do the practice exams, you’ll be set. The homework takes about 4 hours a week but it’s pretty helpful when it comes to exams. Professor Finkle explains the concepts very clearly and doesn’t put hard questions on exams.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/13/2023
I think the most difficult part of this class is the course load. You will have an online Homework and Quiz weekly (that sometimes take hours), on top of a Worksheet, completing the readings, and showing up to class. However, I truly believe that if you put in this work you can succeed in the class. Professor Finkle makes his exams very similar to the practice exams you are given. As long as you understand how to do the math, and you understand the concepts that he had gone over, then you should be able to apply them to the exams and do well. I believe the class was graded fairly.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/11/2023
The course is a lot of work considering its required for all business majors. It feels like a lot of busy work because the homework is very long. Also, he does not do partial credit on his exams but they are also very similar to his practice exams. He have a nervous energy when he teaches but seems knowledgeable.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/08/2023
Dude honestly makes the class 100x harder than it needs to be...if you can teach yourself the material, you'll be much better off. On the exam topics and questions document, he often has typos which just confuse students even more. He barely has basic business knowledge to the point where I think he is confusing himself. I honestly felt bad for him at some points in the semester and thought he kept drawing graphs so he could confuse students so he didn't look like he was the idiot.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a B
Anonymous
09/25/2023
Literally so much busy work I would spend 10 hours a week just doing HW, quizzes and worksheets. You have to be tight with the TA's to do well or else you will lose easy points on assignments. The exams are hard. partial credit did not exist and each question was worth so much. He goes so fast in lecture and really uses his ipad, so if you do not have one, good luck! 3 times a week is brutal also.
Aaron Finkle
ECON456

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
06/06/2023
To be quite frank, I attended lectures up until the first exam and found that, although he didn't make it completely boring, not necessary. Most, if not all concepts could be studied from his resources on ELMS and on the Internet. Problem sets were, in my years of being an econ major, extremely reasonable and not too difficult. Exams had minimal multiple choice and mostly free responses of varying lengths. Concepts in the exams were brought up and taught, so nothing was out of the ballpark. Class average on the final was a 57%, curved generously. Everyone got 100% on the presentation project. Study, attend office hours, utilize resources, and do the work. You should be more than fine!
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/19/2023
Overall this class wasn't that bad. Professor Finkle would go through the notes in a way that was generally easy to grasp and the homework, while annoying, matched what was covered in class. The weekly worksheets were also extremely helpful because we got to ask the TA's questions and the questions were worded similarly to the exams. The classes are short (50 mins) so he occasionally had to send supplemental videos which were annoying but it was overall doable. I also appreciated that he recorded the lectures.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a D
Anonymous
05/16/2023
Literally rushes through practice examples in class. TA's are the ones you're mostly gonna be reaching out to for help. You'll spend so much time doing the homework and quizzes. Practice exams are literally nothing like the actual exams. I would attend class, rewatch lectures if I needed to and study 1 week prior to exams and still got horrible test grades. I wouldn't bother if I were you. Should've dropped when I had the chance.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/08/2023
Dr. Finkle is very kind and approachable but his explanations of the material were not all that helpful. I found the homeworks and quizzes to be unnecessarily difficult and not closely related to the exams. The exams were difficult only because they had questions where the numbers built off each other and no opportunities for partial credit. This is certainly a good class to take if you need the upper level econ requirement, but I would not say its enjoyable.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/15/2022
I don't understand why Professor Finkle is receiving such bad ratings, especially this semester. He is a kind and interesting professor, gives ample time to ask questions regarding material, and the homework is nowhere near 10 hours a week, 4 hours at most. The practice exams are fair and give you an idea of what concepts will be on the exams, but like most teachers, it is not enough to simply do the practice exams and expect to do well on exams. 306 is overall not a hard class, go to lectures, do the work on time, and study for exams and you should be more than fine.
Aaron Finkle

Anonymous
12/12/2022
Take someone else for this class. You’ll spend HOURS doing worksheets, homework and quiz each week. I spent 10 hours a week on this class, and didn’t pass. His exams are nothing like the practice he gives, and he’s made it clear he does not care if you don’t pass. I’ve never had a professor who cares less about their students. He’s literally ruined my future and does not care! The amount of stress this class put me through is ridiculous, so save yourself and choose a different professor.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a D-
Anonymous
12/12/2022
So bad I literally had to drop the class
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
12/12/2022
Teaching style is not the best, and the practice exams do not really help in comparison to the real exams. He's a great professor to some, and a not so great professor to others. I happened to fall in the bunch that cannot learn effectively with his teaching style. Homework assignments are weighted equally to the first three exams, and the final exam is optional. You generally do not have to do extremely well on the exams to pass the class, but again, do not go in expecting the exams to be easy just because the practice exams were.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/11/2022
Finkle isn't the best professor in the world, but he's also not the worst. Econ is already a hard subject and he does an okay job of trying to explain concepts. He spends a lot of time drawing graphs and jumping around, but what you really need to pay attention to are the examples he goes over and the weekly worksheets. There is a good amount of hw in this class that is very unnecessary but is normal for an econ class. I would make sure to come to class on Fridays so you can get help/concepts explained to you by the TAs or Finkle himself. My advice is to try and understand concepts before exams so you're not trying to learn everything last minute. His exams are somewhat similar to past exams and worksheets, so make sure you understand them.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
11/02/2022
Terrible teaching style and his practice exams are all so easy, wait til u get the real exam.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/29/2022
Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. With three weeks left in the semester, Finkle realized that our grades were not weighted correctly in ELMS and changed all of them shifting my grade by 7%. I dropped from a 93% to an 86%. Ridiculous and irresponsible. He’s a good professor who knows how to teach but this oversight was so bad and costed me so much.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/13/2021
Economics is a HARD subject. With that in mind, Professor Finkle was probably the best professor I could have gotten to teach it. His exams are very similar to what he covers in class. Attendance and reading the textbook is optional, but it will be very hard to do well without doing both. Grading is also fair and offers curves if necessary. It is very clear that Prof. Finkle understands what he is teaching, and conveys the material well with lots of examples to try and make it easier for those who don't understand.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/15/2021
Only parts of the syllabus were published at a time so the exam schedule was unknown. The class was difficult online but there were a lot of assignments, three midterm exams, and an optional final exam so one grade did not make or break anything. Also, the TAs were unhelpful.
Aaron Finkle
ECON306

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/20/2019
I really suggest Aaron Finkle for anyone who needs an UL Econ class. Econ isn't an easy subject, so I still wouldn't say he's an easy A but he's probably the best shot you have at getting one. You can tell he really knows what he's talking about and he communicates it well. Class does get boring but every huge lecture does (and you don't even need to go to every class). Most topics are manageable to teach yourself, between the Learnsmarts, his posted notes, the text and the homework you have plenty of resources.