Reviews for Alka Gandhi
Average Rating:| Anonymous Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A December 9, 2011, 4:27 pm | Gives 10 aplia homeworks, 2 of which are dropped. Two exams and a Final. One of the exams will be dropped and the weight added to your final if your grade on the final is better than that exam. 68% of the grade is tests and 32% is homework. The homework is almost a guaranteed high A, so basically you have to average an 85 on your tests to get A, because there is no curve of any kind. Gandhi is a good teacher, she posts lecture slides online, but you still should go to lecture because she will put some blanks on the online slides that you can only get by seeing them in class. Alternatively, you can just copy from a friend. She also is an enthusiastic lecturer. I'm an engineering major, and I felt that material was very easy, if you don't get an A or B in there you can only blame yourself. Only problem I had was that it usually took two weeks to get test grades. Other than that, I didn't have any issues with the class. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: October 10, 2011, 12:05 pm | too crowded TAs are bad other info is already provided by other peers take it from the community college |
| Anonymous Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: May 25, 2011, 4:27 pm | 10 homeworks, drops the lowest 2. Homework is 40% of your grade. Homework is online and you get multiple chances per question to get it right. Midterm 25%. Cumulative final worth 35%. If you do better on your final, she doesn't count your midterm, so the final can be worth 60%. Not sure if this will change, but she let us make our own cheat sheet for each exam. Class is very doable if you take your time on the homework and do well on it. Gandhi is very nice, extremely approachable, and patient. Most kids seem to understand that the while the material can be difficult to grasp, Gandhi is a good professor. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A May 23, 2011, 12:13 pm | First I just want to say I found economics extremely logical so if you can think logically econ will be easy. It was very important to go to lecture because gandhi(no accent) explained how to answer questions on her tests during lecture (she was very picky about how you draw graphs especially). She also introduces some stuff during lecture that the book doesn't cover very extensively. The book that gandhi uses was fantastic (I believe it was Principals of Microeconomics by Mankiw). [Hint: read book before class to understand concepts and then go to class to learn how to apply the concepts, gandhi complements this book very well] Also she posts her slides from lecture, but most of the important stuff from the slides is missing (the slides are meant to be a layout so you can print them out and use them as a lecture note guide). There are 10 online homework assignments each worth 4% of your grade (2 dropped) and 2 midterms each worth 19% of your grade (One can be dropped if your final exam grade is higher) and a Final exam worth 30%. The homeworks were pretty easy (given through aplia which is like a very nice and forgiving webassign) most of the homework questions allowed you 3 tries to get the answer correct. The midterms were 10 multiple choice and 5 short answer (graphs calculations and sentence answers), 60 points total. This means you have little room for error, but it also makes it easier to get high grades (i got 95% and 100%) because it gives you lots of time to review your answers (Hint: check you answers don't just leave, she is tricky!) Finally you can go to any discussion you want, so it doesn't matter if you have to sign up for a 8am one or anything like that. (also discussion wasn't very helpful, just go to office hours if you have a question, gandhi is very nice in office hours) |
| agaybaby Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: C May 20, 2011, 5:42 am | Lecture didn't really help me, so I stopped going after a few weeks and relied on MyStatLab and past midterms/finals she gave us to study. Grade is based on 40% homeworks (no excuse not to get 95%+ on these every time), 25% midterm, 35% final. If you miss the midterm or mess it up, she will weigh the final as 60%. The average midterm grade for my class was around a 42%. She posts her slides online but I didn't find them very helpful. Exams were fair. Make sure you completely understand single/multiple regression, all 4 short answer questions on our final dealt with it. Midterm format for us was 10 multiple choice questions and 3 short answers. The final was 15 multiple choice and 4 short answers. You have to take it for the major so just slug it out. |
| Michelle Ferrare Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A May 17, 2011, 8:56 pm | Honestly Professor Gandhi is the best professor I have at UMD. I took this course with her spring 10 and never went to lecture and got a D. I had freshman forgiveness and retook it this semester determined to get an A. Going to class is key - she explains everything in class, takes questions and is really pretty fun. Yes, econ can be difficult but Gandhi goes above and beyond to help her students. I don't think she is going to curve my class but that is only because she lets us drop 2 of the 10 hws and a midterm grade if we beat our lowest grade on the final. She always answered my questions within hours and was genuinely a nice person. Having a professor like her makes me want to continue pursuing econ just to be able to take another class with her. Just study hard and don't blow off class - if you put the effort in you will get the grade you want. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: B December 23, 2010, 8:09 am | Boring class, but she is extremely knowledgeable and very chill. Two midterms, one final. 40% of your grade are homeworks and quizzes online, so make sure you get a 100% on those. 1st Midterm very easy, 2nd not so much. Final was fair. She drops your lowest midterm, homework, and quiz and this really helped my grade. Stick with it and work hard. Make sure you find someone to study with over the semester. |
| fallinlovewithstudying Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: December 9, 2010, 3:17 am | Beware: To those ones who are taking this class in the future. Please do not expect this course will be a easy A. Professor Gandhi is an Excellent professor. Her lectures are moderate to attend, you can say it might be boring or interesting. It will all depend on how much effort and time you spend. The two midterms average was approximately(I cant remember exactly) about 53%. Considering this horrifying test result, ones planning to take this course and expect to received an A should be prepared to: A) successfully bond with statistics B) spend moderate to high hours of studying C) pull all-nighters to ace the final There was about 4 people who received an high A. Her curve saved many students to receive a higher grade. Also her drop-lower midterm and add 15% to final exam OR if both midterms not taken, final accounts to 60% of your final grade policy is very beneficial. In my opinion the course was very confusing which made me force to actually understand the topic. The grade you received will have a high relationship between the time you are willing to spend.She is very knowledgable about the course. My last advice is that try enjoying the course or force yourself to enoy the course. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: A August 31, 2010, 11:42 am | You wanna experience of getting a C- after putting all of your time for studying? This is the place you were looking for. I on average studied 12 hours a day just for this class and ended up getting a C-. I believe there is some conspiracy behind the existence of this class. It is probably the president of school came up with an idea that the quality of life of econ students are too good to be true, so he had to do sth. This is the result i guess. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: B June 1, 2010, 10:23 am | Professor Gandhi is a good teacher. I took business stat my sophomore year and got a C so I knew in her class I would have to work hard for a B. homework/quizzes are 40% of your grade and you should try to get the MOST of the percentage points. you should get 100% on hw.. THERE IS NO EXCUSE. **HINT: for quizzes, do the practice problems for the chapter because the questions are similar but just different numbers. My lowest quiz grade was an 83 if you bomb the midterm.. ITS OKAY. she basically expects everyone to fail the midterm and she offers to drop the midterm if you do better on the final. TAKE THE FINAL SERIOUSLY. I studied for hours and the final was a breeze compared to the midterm. She curved 7% points in my class. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: B May 23, 2010, 8:25 pm | Professor Gandhi is a great teacher. I don't like economics, but I really liked her. She was very funny and she stopped in the middle of lessons to answer all questions. She does not post her slides so GO TO LECTURE! She is always available to talk after class or during office hours too. Her grading system is pretty good too. She drops the lowest homework and quiz scores and if you do bad on one of themidterm test,she'll drop it and add the weight of it to your final exam if that'll help your grade. I went from a 74.9 to a 86 in that class once she dropped my lowest quiz and hw and dropped my lowest test to add to my final. The class average was a 78 so she didn't give us a curve, but at least the class average was good enough to be a c+. Great professor and overall pretty good experience. |
| shayman91 Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A May 22, 2010, 7:48 pm | Gandhi was a pretty good professor, she explains stuff well and tries to answer all questions. Sometimes she does move a little too quickly in class, and doesn't post her powerpoints. The online homeworks are easy, but the online quizzes can be tricky sometimes. Her midterm exams are pretty difficult, but her Final was cake. Just study and you'll be fine. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: May 16, 2010, 11:38 am | Gandhi was a pretty good professor. She's kind of funny and seems like a pretty cool lady. Her lectures were pretty boring, but that's only because the material was boring. She did her best to make micro seem interesting, but it just wasn't. Discussion sections are completely useless. I went to the first one and then never went to another one. There were 5 online quizzes and 5 online homeworks, one of each which is dropped. The homeworks were easy because you get as many tries as you want to get the right answer, but the quizzes were pretty tricky. The exams were kind of hard, but she curves them at the end and she has a system where if you do better on your final than one of your exams, then she'll drop the regular exam and add the weight of that to your final. |
| jme Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A- May 12, 2010, 4:04 pm | I don't really like the subject at all, but she explains the subject clearly and addresses individual questions and concerns well. If you go to class and do the hw, it's not too bad |
| ayousaf Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: B+ May 10, 2010, 7:46 pm | Professor Gandhi is an amazing professor and I would highly recommend her for this course. She does great job in helping the students understand the material and the concepts. Her exams are generally easy and she curves but you should still study really well . When studying for these exams, you should first understand the concepts and then go straight to the problems. She posts homework and quizzes online ( which you should prep for) but are really easy. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A May 4, 2010, 11:48 am | Gandhi is a really good teacher! She explains things well and is willing to spend extra time going over the material in order to make sure that everyone understands. The tests are somewhat difficult, but if you understand the material well it's not too bad. There are 2 exams and the average on each test was around a 63, but she does curve at the semester AND she will drop one test for you if it benefits you at the end of the semester! If you have to take econ200, definitely try to take it with Gandhi!! |
| Phillip Fiore Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: B April 18, 2010, 8:00 am | She's cool and funny but her class put me to sleep. No powerpoints online but she caters to each individual student well if you talk to her. She probably isnt #1 but be happy if you have her |
| Anonymous Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: January 4, 2010, 1:30 pm | Prof. Gandhi is a very good professor and this class wasn't too bad, especially considering that I hadn't taken a business or statistics class before in college (although I do have a strong math and econ background). The great/positive parts of this class are as follows: The homework/quizzes-Combined these two aspects are worth 40% of the grade (20% each), which gives you some comfort if you're not a great exam taker (there are two exams, worth 25% and 35% of the grade respectively). The homeworks/quizzes were all online, and you got unlimited redos for each problem on the homeworks (so you should get 100% every time). Plus the online program we used (Course Compass) provided lots of practice problems. The quizzes do have a time limit, and there is no chance for a redos, but they aren't too difficult-especially if you review some of the practice problems. Plus, just like the homeworks, you have 5 assignments per the semester, and one of them doesn't count. Another positive aspect is that Prof. Gandhi provides review (ie: previous exams) prior to taking your exams, so if you attend class you should be prepared. In addition, even though there are a LOT of formulas, you get a formula sheet for the exams. The only real negative aspect about this class is that Prof. Gandhi does not put the slides online (although the notes are pretty much from the book) and some of the material can be confusing and requires studying in order to completely comprehend. Some last comments are: 1) Go to class and don't be afraid to ask questions 2) If you're comfortable reading a textbook online, then don't keep the hard copy-it's too expensive (but be sure to read through the book online because it's very helpful). 3)Find someone you know in the class and study together-it will probably help. Good luck! |
| primetime Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: B December 22, 2009, 11:31 pm | This class is nothing short of very hard. no other way to put it. unless u have taken stat before expect to spend lots of time trying to figure things out even if u attend class. There is no discussion for help. notes are not online. my stat lab is miserable at times. Youll begin the course thinking its cake but u shall soon see it is anything but. The tests are rediculous and there is a nice curve. The final was the hardest test i have taken in college to this day. I pulled a B doing well on the first test and homeworks. Im so glad im done with this class. Good luck. |
| cninferno Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A May 21, 2009, 3:06 pm | Dr. Gandhi is a GREAT professor. She teaches off of her powerpoint slides (which, unfortunately, she does not post online...but she does post the powerpoint slides for the textbook online, which are useful if you want a quick summary of each chapter if you don't feel like reading it). She makes micro-economics very easy to understand because of her teaching style and her use of numerous examples. You probably don't HAVE to come to class, but if you do, her numerous examples and clear explanations will definitely reinforce your understanding of the concepts. Homework is a pretty big part of your grade, but they're usually easy if you pay attention in class and skim through the textbook chapters. Her exams were unusual. They were out of 78 points; each multiple choice question were worth 3 points, and each short answer questions were worth 6 points. This was probably the only thing that bothered me. If you get a few multiple choice or short answer questions wrong, you won't get an A on the exam. Overall, she's an excellent professor. She acts very cool, is very comfortable lecturing, and her side remarks are funny. Contrary to what people may assume from her name, she does NOT have an accent. None. Nada. Take her classes if at all possible. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: May 18, 2009, 8:32 pm | Good teacher. Must go to lecture because she teaches off of powerpoint slides and DOES NOT POST them online. Homework is a huge part which can cushion you exams if you don't do well, there are 2 of them. A little on the fast side, just practice the problems out of the text after lecture and review the ones she assigns in class and you should do alright. Provides practice exams as well. They are kind of iffy, was not very similar in subjects to the real exam in my case. If you put forth the effort, you should come out doing well. |
| egreen15 Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A- May 18, 2009, 9:26 am | The teacher had great explanations, going to class was better than reading. Usually about half of the class of 300 show up for the lectures. She drops either two homeworks or quizzes, which is nice, but sometimes her multiple choice is really tricky. I didn't study for the first test, but went to all the lectures and I got an 86 on it. She also drops an exam and counts the final as more if it helps your grade. The only thing I didn't like about her tests was each question was worth at least 3 points (and it wasn't out of 100) so missing two was the most you could miss on multiple choice to still get an A. She was interesting as a teacher, I would take her again. |
| joepenn1 Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A May 1, 2009, 4:18 am | #1 choice for ECON200. Excellent teacher. She knows her material and explains it all in enough detail for you to fully understand the concept and she is very responsive to questions if you still aren't getting it. If you simply attend all the lectures you will have no problem getting close to a 95% in the class. Minimal HW and very doable tests. |
| mayabcd Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: April 30, 2009, 11:38 am | Dr. Gandhi is a great professor. She knows her material backwards and forwards and answers any and every question in lecture. There were only 2 exams and 3 quizzes during the entire semester, and a homework set every other week. She's brilliant and makes ECON200 interesting. As long as you go to class, you will learn and understand all the material (and if you don't, she's more than willing to answer every question). I recommend this class, even if it's just for a CORE. |
| Cootie Queen Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: A April 5, 2008, 2:09 pm | She's a very good professor, considering there's no discussion and she has to teach everything during two 75 min classes a week. She goes a little fast, but it's not too hard. Plus, each problem set is worth 10% of your grade, so if you bomb the tests, it'll soften the blow. |
| Miss. Ma Course: ECON321 Grade Expected: A March 27, 2008, 6:16 pm | I cannot say that she was as great of a 321 prosfessor than a 200 professor, because she was alright. What really disappointed me was her grading of our homeworks, which totaled up to 40% of our final grade. She graded too harshly and disorganized that two people with the same homework got different grades. Her exams were curved, thats the only way you can get an A in any econ course. She was really straight foward and her notes were good, the problem was , if you couldn't write it down on time, you were out of luck. But when you went for help, she was there to help you, so props for that. |
| ahsiema Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: December 20, 2007, 3:33 pm | Professor Ghandi is a GREAT professor!! I HIGHLY recommend taking her class. For econ200 she explained the material in detail and answered any questions if anyone was unclear about anything. It was a discussion based class so it was very easy to ask questions and have them answered. There was NO APLIA, instead she gave weekly quizzes that were only on material that she reviewed in class and you she also reviewed the material right before the quizzes. She posted on blackboard practice quizzes, worksheets, and exams that were VERY helpful. And she was always available outside of class if you need extra help. In addition, she is very patient and does not get frustrated when asked a lot of questions from students. Overall, she is a GREAT professor that makes the subject VERY interesting even for those who are not econ majors. I LOVED THIS class! If possible try to get her as your econ200 professor, you WILL NOT regret it. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A November 29, 2007, 11:04 am | Professor Gandhi's class was fantastic. She is very knowledgeable, clear, easy to follow, and always willing to help if anyone has questions. She makes the subject lively and relevant to real life. I always thought economics would be a dry course, but she made it fantastic. She gives weekly quizzes which are very straight forward. Exams are very clear, too. She offers practice assignments, quizzes, and exams online that are all helpful. She is very reasonable about grading. If you attend lecture, most everything will make sense and if it doesn't, she'll clarify in a moment. I definitely recommend Professor Gandhi. Her class was great. |
| Anonymous Course: ECON200 Grade Expected: A November 5, 2007, 6:11 am | Gandhi is so great. Even if the section that she is teaching is at a time that you don't really want, it's worth it to take the class with her. She knows what she's talking about, she's funny and very approachable. She's the type of professor that will go over something as many times as anyone wants and not get frustrated. Before quizzes she'll ask -- as she has them in-hand -- if there are more questions.. and people ask! and she clarifies! And she'll keep going until people don't raise their hands anymore. She explains things a bunch of different ways so that if you don't get it the first time you might get it the second. If you go to class and take notes you will get it.. there's no memorization, you will just get it. For ECON200 (although she's not teaching it in Spring '08) I didn't need the book, just notes. And I have heard from all people who have taken ECON200 that you don't go to class, just read the book. Well, she is so good that our ~50 person class was full all the time. |