Randall Reback

Professor Reback is not the most engaging lecturer, but the content is straight forward and he brings in relevant examples. It was often hard to stay focused in lecture, but it was helpful to go to class because, although he uploads the slides to canvas, they often lack the substantive knowledge needed for exams and full understanding. I felt that even if I zoned out, I would get the main content by being in the lecture.

Professor Reback is kind and enthusiastic about teaching. He explains topics well (though there were a few things he didn't explain clearly). As the previous reviewer said, he makes class interactive by stimulating class participation and giving in-class group exercises numerous times throughout the semester. His quizzes and final exam were fair. There were only a few questions I thought were on the harder side, but everything else was straightforward if you understand the concepts taught in class.

At first, I thought this prof is pretty easy-going and lazy; however, after three weeks, his class went too fast to keep up with. The only good thing is he doesn't care about attendance; but without regular attendance, you will be likely to miss important parts which would be on exams. This class is never easy to get an A.

When I looked into taking this class, I was surprised to find no reviews. Now, I see why. The class is boring and you won't want to be there, but it is a requirement. The lectures are dull, but it's Econometrics. The professor isn't bad, but he is not great either. He just comes to class and teaches. It's a shame because he could make the material more interesting and further analyze the practical application of the concepts. Like others have said, he does complicate simple things and doesn't explain things well. It seems like he tries to, but he just can't. The TA is a good resource if you have questions. As for the coursework, we spent most of the semester working on group projects. Members were assigned. The midterm is not too bad and the problem sets are good preparation. The final is relatively harder, much harder.

Randall is a great professor. He is far superior to Colacelli, who almost killed my desire to learn economics. But Randall tried really hard every single class to try and make us love economics, and see how it was in every part of our lives. He would bring in short articles about current events having to do with econ--some in our backyard of harlem! He got better as the course went on I think, and he tried to crack jokes a couple times a class. As long as you can accept the fact that he is a huge econ-nerd (which is okay, because he makes it so adorable) then you will enjoy this class. The workload is far from demanding, and the two midterms weren't so bad (the second one was much harder, but his curves are pretty good so you can still do well in the class if you don't do so well on the midterms). My advice: do all of the problem sets, and do the extra credit he offers. I was able to get a 100.1% homework average, and that really helped my grade. I never skipped his class, and since most of the micro topics he does after the 2nd midterm aren't in the book, I recommend you go to those especially. Also, he is really helpful: if you like a certain micro topic he will let you know what class to take to pursue that. Even if you aren't planning to major in econ, take this course because it's not demanding, not too challenging (as long as you have some grasp of economics), and overal…

pretty easy and laid back class he literally makes attendance for non-debate days optional, though i highly suggest going because he spills most of the info that is relevant on the midterm/final in class. the readings aren't super heavy (i did half a semesters worth the night before the exam) the policy brief is somewhat daunting but i managed to get an A- despite putting in little effort. great for fulfilling the upper level econ elective requirement at brand during a semester when you have heavy obligations in other areas (like my lovely econometrics class). reback is pretty chill and very approachable. you probably won't leave this class with a deep understanding of the american public school system, but you will learn a decent amount of background

Professor Rebeck seems very passionate about statistic and enthusiastic in teaching. He tries to make the class interactive by asking questions and every week, we would break off into smaller assigned groups to work on questions together. Despite this, I realized towards the end that his teaching method is a bit confusing. He didn’t really go in depth into differentiating between different types of statistical methods. By this I mean that he taught each topic in singularity but didn’t quite explain how they all connected to each other. So, when we had to try to understand concepts that are very similar to each other, it became increasing difficult and confusing. When you ask him. questions during office hours, he doesn't really make much sense and was not the most helpful.

Hands down the worst class I have ever taken at this university. Yes- Reback does manage to spend lectures making the simplest concepts confusing and skimming over things that could use some real explanation. You wont learn much from his lectures except that he really loves using M&Ms and snicker bars as examples. The problem sets are from the book and offline, so they in no way reflect what he thinks is important in the class- which of course means that you are not prepared for his exams. This class definitely killed my interest in economics. With so many great econ professors in this university theres no reason to waste time with Reback.

Engaging lecturer. Very available, objective and helpful during office hours. This course is really what one makes of it and Prof. Reback provides the resources and flexibility to enable pretty much any student to take something away from the experience. It's great for PDFing, he even allows students to waive the massive project for an automatic C. That being said, it seems possible to get an A although his grading is a tad tough. t was especially beneficial to have reasonable quantities of reading, such that this was the only class that I actually read every assignment for... The material was extremely interesting, we were given enough freedom on the large assignments to focus where we wanted, and any resources/guidance necessary were fully available. I'd take it again and do an entirely different project (spending way too much time on it and being thoroughly glad that I did, again) if I could!

Jesus Christ, this class caused me so much more anxiety than it needed to. This was probably the most confusing class I had ever had to take. Professor Reback is so lovely and so nice so it feels really terrible saying this but by god is he a terrible lecturer. He makes the easiest concepts confusing as hell and his examples are usually incoherent. It seems like he's used to a much higher level of teaching that dumbing down or even explaining these concepts that are so clear in his mind is a challenge. The textbook is very clear and Vera the TA was a goddess. Thank goodness for her office hours (8-10pm on Tuesdays) where she would essentially walk us through the weekly problem sets completely and explain things that you didn't understand. After the first mid-term I decided to stop going to his classes (they're mostly optional) and lo and behold my grades improved dramatically. I also stopped being so anxious as everything was much clearer now thanks to the textbook and Vera. This class was manageable by all means. The material isn't hard, and Professor Reback is a very lenient grader and is readily available and gives out extra credit. Just be prepared to be confused and honestly, stop going to class and go to the TA/Textbook.