Michael Needham

He cannot teach at all. Why? Because he too is a student so he does not know how to be a teacher to his students. when you go in for help, he tries but doesn't help much. I did all his problems, studied all his slides, studied really hard and that didn't do much because when it comes down to the exams, they are all completely different than what you studied. Why? because he says he does not make up his exams, but he does. He tries to make them as dfficult as possible making you sit there thinking about how it was nothing like you studied and as you sit there you think about how confused you are because this guy tries hard to confuse his students even though he says he doesn't. Also he tells you that everything on the tests are what he tells you. They aren't. He tells you one thing and then when it comes to the tests it's another which sucks because you studied so hard for what he told you to study. Also: You have to memorize every single thing. NO NOTES OR SHEET(S) OF NOTES EVERYTHING IS MEMORIZED!!! Which for Finance is tough. 2 exams, majority quizzes, no HW. But we asked him if we can have at least 1 page or half a page because it is tough to memorize everything. He said: No you guys are in college. I want you to memorize everything! How Lame! So his tests were tough, no notes, and he can't teach worth anything because everytime he does problems, he stops, and messes up the problem and erases the whole thing because he made a mistake in the problem. Really not good at all.... Cause it's like how can you learn anything when the teacher constantly messes up the entire problem. Seriously... NOT RECOMMENDED AND DO NOT TAKE HIM!!! You'll definitely regret it! I am speaking from honest experience and I would not lie to you especially about a difficult class like this....

I feel very greatful to have taken Fin 350 with Michael Needham. He made a difficult subject relatively easy to comprehend. He is easy going and very patient. He teaches us real world finance that will be pertinent to those of us who plan to work in the financial world. He teaches part time, while maintaining a job as a financial consultant. I like the fact that he is academic as well as dynamic and in touch with the real world. Unfortunately, it looks as though he will not be teaching next semester due to his not getting enough hours with the school. This is a great loss to the Finance Dept. 3 exams each 33% no homework

COMMENTS ON THE GRADING:

Exams: Even if you read the book, homework, or prayed, the exams were very hard. He even admitted in class that some of the questions on the exam were impossible to finish given the time limit. Fortunately, the exams are curve because without a curve, I don't think many students will pass his class. Handwriting: I had trouble taking good notes because he writes pretty fast and his writing is not at its best. He also used slides, but switches from slides to slides quickly. Homework: The homework were not graded, but I wish it was because there was no incentive for me to finish the homework on time. Lectures: Finance is a very dry topic, but with Needham's rush rush approach just adds more fuel to the fire. Personality: Great sense of humor and he really tried to help students out in class by asking the students if they had any questions.

Prof. Needham is the kind of instructor you want to have for a hard class such as finance 350. He seems to enjoy helping his students, and on top of that, he has a great sense of humor. For the Fall 2001 semester, his class consisted of 3 exams, all equally weighted at 33% each. He does not collect homework, but if you want to do good in his class, you must solve them since the tests are based mostly on the homework problems that he assigns. The best part is that he understands that finance is a hard subject, so he does curve at the end of the semester!

he really cares about his students. throughout the semester, he gives us hints on what 's going to be in the exams. just take him. it's alot of hard work but needham teaches in a way that'll make you understand.

For all the students that HAVE TO TAKE finance 350 because it is a requirement, this is the teacher for you. His doesn't lecture, all he does is go over problems in the book. There are weekly quizzes but they are from the problems he did in class the week before. And for the major exams, they come straight from the weekly quizzes. If you could make it to class every day and take notes on the problems he does, the class is too easy. Needham is easy to understand too. He explains formulas and concepts to a point where a fourth grader can understand. He may crack a korny joke here and there, but you'll get used to them. He really helps students during office hours. He is usually there, and he'll give real world examples so you can understand the material better. I would recommend Needham to anyone that needs to take Fin 350.

Here a little funny story I must share. Initially, I choose Ghadessi as my FIN 350 teacher, but she left my class after the 3rd week (for whatever reason), then some guy name Michael Needham walks into our class and said he will teach our class for the rest of the semester. At first I was kinda of scared not knowing if this teacher was any good. Well thankfully, I've choosen possibly the BEST finance teacher in the department!!

I can't express how grateful I am to have Needham as my first Finance teacher. Because of his ability to teach a supposely difficult beginning Financal course, I decided to stick with my major as Finance. While most people (non-finance majors) think Finance is a boring concept, Needham does a great job explaining the materials (with real world situation) and simply going over homework problems and adding a little humor to his lecture.

All lectures, mostly all the homework problems he does in-class will appear on the weekly quizzes, midterm, and final. Weekly quizzes may seem intimidating at first, but these quizzes keep you on track so you don't fall behind AND these quizzes appear exactly in the same concept in the midterm and final !! Ain't that cool?

33.33% on quizzes (choosing the best 10 quizzes) 33.33% on the midterm, and 33.33% on the final. He also grade on a curve.

All quizzes and exams are exactly what he lectures in-class. No tricks. So you have to be a total idiot to fail his class.

For serious finance major (who can't decide whether to stick with Finance), you should choose Needham. Not only will you get an easy "A", but you actually learn a lot and apply these knowledge to advance Finance courses. I wish Needham teaches higher Financial courses. He may have very well help me stick with my career as Finance.