Seth Gershenson

School: American University
Department: Political Science
Location: Washington, DC
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Rating Comment
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: -Attendence isn't require
Cons: -I had it for an 830 class so actually going to class was very difficult for me
-Easy class with even easier exams. I did not go to class ONCE and managed a 3.5 in the class with teaching myself all the material. Gives pop quizzes in class that count as 2% of extra credit towards your final grade.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: come to class and breathe you will do fine.. gives practice exams that are exactly like the actual exams.. offers extra credit quizzes worth actual points of your grade
Cons: no recitation so no one on one help.. you won't learn much..he said he was going to give a lot of opp for extra credit and only gave 3.. gave us a practice final that was 100 questions our actual final was 80
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Seems like a nice guy
Not a social squirrel like most professors
Pretty good at relating materials to other topics
Cons: Class was way too early
He's a good instructor, no bad comments really. The two midterms were extremely easy but then again this course was just slighly more challenging than a high school economics class. Honestly, if you don't pass this course with at least a 2.0 then you're either a dumbass or you purposely did this to yourself because you hate college.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Smart, very cut and dry
Cons: boring
Seth is your classic ass teacher in a funny way, he has an attitude of "I expect you to be able to do this and understand what's going on already, but if you don't... okay, I'll teach it." He does his best to make sure that everybody understands the materials. The biggest downside is how boring all of this is. The majority of the points are based on the two mid-terms and the final which at least for this class were almost the exact same tests as the sample mid-terms/exam that he sent us to study. Overall it's a good class.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: All the quizzes are extra credit
Exam is easy as long as you study
Explains everything very well
Cons: Explains everything too well that it's hard to pay attention
Class is very straightforward and easy. He wants everyone to succeed so he will change the grading scale and give extra credit points just for people to pass. He's leaving this year though, so it's unfortunate no one else can experience an easy ec201 teacher
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
If you don't get Ballard or if he isn't available Gershenson is the next best thing. He was interesting sometimes and explains things easily and simply. His exams are not too hard considering I 3.0 his class and barely went. The final is harder but not too bad. He did give homework due at almost every class due by the 1st 5 mins and also gave pop quizzes but they were for extra credit which was awesome. I'm not sure if the hw thing if for all classes as I had his once a week from 6-850 pm. All in all great prof especially for an econ class. Take him if you can
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
He's tough to place. His lectures were somewhat interesting, considering he had to teach economics, which isn't always particularly interesting. Kind of funny. The grading scale was fair, and i had an easy 3.5 going into the final, with a solid chance for a 4.0. I ended up just barely getting a 3.5, because of the 10 point curve. His final exam was without a doubt the hardest test I've ever taken, and nothing like the previous exams/quizzes. However, I took this during the fall of 2008, and I heard he made it slightly easier, so overall not a bad class.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Bottom line, seth is a grad student so he looks good if you look good. He is more than willing to negotiate your grade with you- plus he gives a TON of extra credit points which make a HUGE difference since the class is only 100 pts. Also he gave a 6 pt curve on our final… which was a 6%+ in our overall grade. SUH WEET! Long class though…. That REALLY REALLY REALLY sucks.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
I'm not really sure how other econ professors are but i highly doubt they give 17% extra credit!! Yea this class was extremely boring but i had the 3 hour lecture....any class you have 3 hours is going to be terrible. I would suggest reading before class so you can make sure to get all the extra credit quizes. Exams are tough but as stated earlier there is tons of extra credit. A 92% is a 4.0 so realistically you only need to average an 80%. Overall Seth was a cool guy and i thought he conveyed the information very well and tried to keep the class interested
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Decent professor, his lectures are extremely boring though and your entire grade is pretty much based on the 2 tests and final, with the exception of 5 or 10 extra credit quizzes. The quizzes seem really cool the way he makes them sound, you can use your notes and talk to people to get the answers, but even so the questions are extremely hard, especially when everyone has been zoned out all of class because the lectures are so boooring. Tests are nothing like the practice questions he provides you, but ten times harder. And the final...holy shit. Extremely difficult. I suggest taking the class with Ballard instead, he is waaaay easier, and the Aplia assignments help your grade a shit ton. Plus his tests are exactly like his review questions I hear. Overall a decent prof though.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Seth's class is great. The material is challenging, as is the 100 point grading scale, but he definitely gives you a chance to succeed with extra credit. The lecture can get a bit long and boring but he tries and often succeeds at making it more interesting, and he's a pretty funny guy. However, my advice is to ask him in person about things instead of emailing, I got the impression he didn't really like being emailed haha but I guess that's typical. Anyways, take his class if you have the chance!
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Seth's a pimp. He knows the material, and presents it in a way that makes it interesting and really easy to understand. He's a pretty funny guy too. You can almost always count on him to get the class laughing hysterically at least once or twice a lecture. Plus he's pretty easy on the eyes for all you ladies out there.
The class is a cakewalk, if you can't get a decent grade you should probably just give up on life. The grading scale is two exams worth 30% each, and a final worth 40%. All of it's multiple choice. The two exams are pretty easy, but the final is a bit harder. You really don't even need to pay attention during class, he puts all his powerpoint slides on Angel. If you take 3-4 hours to study the slides and take the practice exams before a test you should ace it. Also, GO TO CLASS! He gives tons of extra credit through random EC quizzes. You're pretty much guaranteed to increase your grade AT LEAST 10-15% if you're there to take all of them. So definitely try to get Seth if you're taking this class, it was my easiest 4.0 ever.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Probably the easiest economics class I've taken. Gershenson trys to make economics interestings. If you go to class, look over the lectures and study the study guides, you'll do good in the class. You don't really need to read the book if you go to class because the lectures are right out of the book. Plus he gives you pop quizzes but they can only help your grade not hurt it.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
amazing teacher. i had to take econ, and although the material was super boring he makes it easy to understand. class can be a little boring, but he gives extra credit quizzes once in a while (and everyone talks to figure out the answer). if you have to take econ def take it with him, and agreed with the other post hes super hot hehe
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Seth was the man. You can show up to class and just completely zone out but I would suggest showing up because of the 10% extra credit you can get. Either read the book and don't pay attention in class or pay attention and don't read the book. Pretty easy 4.0
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Great professor. he wants everyone to do well. probably one of the easiest professors for econ at MSU. he is a cool guy, i enjoyed listening to his lectures. he gives a lot of bonus which really helps your grade. TAKE THIS CLASS!
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
He was a fantastic teacher. He was very clear and made everything easy to understand. He was even funny! If you go to class, there are several extra credit quizzes that will probably give you 10-15% worth of the grade.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
I was pretty nervous about taking Econ because I know people who had a horrible time and almost did not pass this course, but Seth was GREAT. He understands that Econ isn't very fun to the average person, is really funny, and makes the class very manageable. If you go to lecture, do the homework, and do the practice exams that he gives, you should be fine. It turned out to be one of my favorite classes since coming to MSU. Plus, he's really hot.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Easy, to understand, goes over the homework, recommend him, you can pretty much facebook in class and still understand everything he says, oh, he puts all of his power points on angel so they are there, In addition, there are some opportunity to boost your grade, as far as attendance, it is not mandatory but if you want to do will, I would advise you to go to class, he explains all the homework
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Really great teacher. Explains everything so an average person can understand it and gives EC quizzes that are equal to test questions. If you put effort into this class, you should be satisfied with the grade you get!

Refine Your Search

Professor Ratings Search
Search by Department Search by Last Name
Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format