George Sacca

THIS IS THE ONLY FINANCE TEACHER THAT UNDERSTANDS ABOUT HIS STUDENTS!!! TRUST ME, I HAVE DROPPED FROM OTHER TEACHERS. SACCA IS BY FAR THE BEST FINANCE TEACHER SFSU HAS TO OFFER. JUST DON'T COUNT ON READING HIS HANDWRITING, IT SUCKS!! JUST GO TO CLASS AND YOU ARE ASSURED AN A!!!

Finance is a hard course, and everyone know's that. But having professor Sacca is like a blessing to people who hate this subject. His tests can be hard, but if you listen to his lectures and do all the homework. As long you are comprehending of his lectures and the homework, you will definitely pass the class. The grading policy was compose of 3 tests and homework. Lots of finance professors don't even collect homework! The thing with Sacca is that during the semester, he gave this extra credit quiz and it was like 100 points. So if you did well, those extra points will go toward your grade. I would RECOMMEND SACCA. He's a guy who's passionate about his teaching and he's always willing to offer help to his students. He's also funny too.

You would learn A LOT about Introduction to Finance by taking Prof. Sacca. The exams are NOT m/c but instead short essays, calculation, and interpretation of the calculation (Analysis). Although you have to turn in your HW every time, that makes you do it. Yes you can copy all answers from the reference room or tutorial center...but try to solve first. Sacca tried to simplify materials in a class, but I had a hard time copying from the board. His handwriting is Bad. I recommend to do practice problems first if you didnt understand materials. That is how I understood Bonds, Stocks, CAPM, and WACC. I personally didnt like the textbook. It did not explain things well and the exercises at the end of chapters were way too easy compared to his exams. What I did was to solve problems on textbooks which other instructor uses. Sacca actually used a few problems from the book on our Midterms and Final. So it is really good to try solving them. Sacca does not provide structured lectures but he is willing to help you anytime. I highly recommend people who actually wants to learn finance. He even held office hour in a different lecture room to help students who needed extra help. Make sure you attend his class. Once a week lectures go pretty fast. I underestimated first exam so I didnt do so well but I did fine by studying hard. Yes it's a challenging class but it is worth it. Good luck.

(Maybe his class is little too much work and time-consuming for Non-finance major students)

Professor Sacca was an excellent teacher. He was very understanding and was there when you needed help. He was so helpful that he would give us his phone number where we can contact him and ask him questions about the homework or his lectures for the day. Very helpful and kind professor.

His lectures followed the chapters that you needed to read before the class. If you did not read the chapters, then it might be a little difficult to follow. But his lectures were excellent and easy to follow and understand. He would write important information on the board so you knew what was important and would stress information that you needed to know on the tests.

Was a very understanding teacher. If you had a problem with homework or a question on the test he would feel your pain and would help you out to the best of his abilities.

He should be put on a peddastool for his teaching and every teacher should follow his ways of how a teacher really should teach. Now a day's teachers just guide an individual along, but Sacca helped and taught the subject very well.

Mr. Sacca is a very hard working person. However, he give a very unfair and hard final exam that I don't think any body can pass. I have been studying so hard for this class, all of my midterms are more than 90, all my homeworks are 100 but he gives me grade C. Do you believe it? I don't trust his grading system at all because he has too many papers to grade and all by hand. Sometimes, he graded your papers incorrectly, so you guys have to watch out for this guy. This is not my major so I don't really care, as long as I understand the subject.

When it comes to teaching, Mr. Sacca gets it! He seemed to give a lot of himself to students: time, consideration, directness, politeness and the benefit of his experience.

I had Mr. Sacca as an instructor in spring 2003 for FIN350. He was fantastic.

Its not often enough that an instructor communicates so very well and effectively as he did. He was always on, upbeat and pleasant. Funny too. His lectures were always really interesting, well thought out, sincere and clear.

Yet despite his stellar teaching style and personality, its definitely a tough class with a lot of topics covered. Others who take his class would do well to heed his counsel, like keeping up with the reading and homework. Not keeping up can be agonizing (you'll see this in others who have fallen behind). About the homework, it might be helpful to make a copy of your homework before turning it in as an exam approaches, so its available to study from while the original may still be being graded. And its so true that homework will take considerable time to work through each week. Oh, and never miss a class. There was just too much important stuff covered each class, and Mr. Sacca often clarified and simplified the hard concepts, making sense of them priceless).

Mr. Sacca collected and graded homework, which helped with the final grade. And there were two mid-term exams along with a final. He was merciful and forgiving with partial credit on homework and exams if it was clear that the work was well on the way to the correct answer, even if the final answer was a little off.

One thing that can be difficult is that he will sometimes write wrong calculations on the board (where the answers or parts of the problem are off a bit), and his writing can be a little hard and frustrating to read sometimes. Personally, I suggest not making a big deal about it because he moves fast, and so long as youre clear on his error, then let it be. It makes little sense to break his momentum with such pettiness (and it was usually simple addition only) in pointing out the obvious. And, youll know what he actually meant with his writing (on the board) if keep up with the reading.

SFSU is so very lucky to have him as an instructor, & I was lucky to have been a student of his. Either Mr. Sacca obviously puts a lot of effort into being a great instructor, or he just naturally fits into the role perfectly.

Oh my god, he's the coolest professor ever and I am so glad that taking a 5 weeks course, 2 days a week, 4 hours a day at Redwood City paid off. I've heard a lot of scary stories about FIN 350, "the hardest business core class," "hard teacher," "have to retake over," from my friends. But my experience in his class changes my whole perception about FIN 350. Although I'm not a Finance major, I am really interested in the subject and found that the professor is really knowledgable in the subject matter. He's really nice and motivates everyone to learn and to try hard. His class is comprised of 25%-homework, 35%-midterm, and 40%-final. Basically his midterm and final questions are from the homework and class examples. He only changes the number so if you DO the homework which is not bad at all because the solution set is provided in the reserve room, you will get a good grade. But that doesn't mean copying from the solution and that's it...you have to understand the problem also and how you derive the answers! Also, he allows one page "equation" not notes for the midterm and final. The BEST thing is during midterm and final, if you ask him for help, you will definitely be HELPED because he'll show you and sometimes he'll look at your answers and said that it's wrong. I didn't expect him to be that generous but he is and also he gave us extra credit. I am so HAPPY to take him because he's the coolest and I'm glad to walk out of that class with an A-.

This professor is one of the best teachers in Finance at San Francisco State. Everyone told me that FIN 350 is a really hard class, so I went by reviews on this site. I went with Sacca. He is a great teacher with a great personality. As long as he knows that you are trying, he will try his best to cater to the class. He wants the class to be able to understand the material. He doesnt want to be a teacher that just goes by the class outline and no one understands the formulas. Just do the homework and you will be fine (the answers are in the RESERVE room). Do the problems by yourself and just check it with the answers from the TEACHERS book. I am not the smartest person (I usually get B's), but he teaches in a way that makes me fully understand. THIS GUY IS THE BEST. I RECOMMEND TO ALL.

He is amazing teacher. He is always available outside the class. He has his office hours, and if you can't make it during his office hours, you can always call him at home. In fact, he gave his home phone number to all students and said we can call him anytime if we need anything. There were a couple of times when I spent hours talking to him on the phone, and he was explaining me homework over the phone. He like when student do that. He wants you to call him. If you leave a message for him, he will get back to you within 15 minutes and that' what I call fast for the teacher. Even though, sometimes his lectures can be boring,he knows his staff. He explains everything very good. The only thing that I didn't like s that his handwriting is not one of the best, and he has an accent, so sometimes he would repeat the same thing over again using different words. There are total of 3 exams. ( not comprehensive). He collects every homework that he assings. ( 20% of your grade is your homework)IF you don't know how to do the homework, you will never pass the class. He is very easy grader and very good teacher. I strongly recommend him. He is the best finance techer.

I heard Finance 350 is a tough course. I'm currently taking this class with Prof. Sacca, and it is not bad at all. He tries to simplify the material by solving problems in class, and he assign home work and collect the home work which force me to be on top of the class.

Grading is based on mostly the tests. Just make sure you do the homework and understand how to do them. The test is somewhat similiar to the homework, but he'll put in some hard problems in the exam once in a while,so i advice you to go to his office hour and ask question. If you understand how to do the homework, you probably do well in exam. I got a B+ on the first midterm, and hoping to get an A for the final.

You did not have to memorize all of the formulars; you can bring one page of formulars which makes more sense.He wanted you to learn the material and he is available after class and during his office hours. He even gave us his home telephone number in case we had any questions. I never had such prof who cares about students!!!!

Sacca has a thick Italian accent so he's hard to understand sometimes. He'll sometimes mispronounce words and you'll need to be really attentive during class to catch those mistakes.

Finance 350 is a tough course. But Sacca tries to simplify the material by not introducing too many difficult concepts. He could be one of the easier Finance teachers but I can't compare since I have not taken any other Finance classes.

Grading is based on mostly the tests. Just make sure you do the homework and understand how to do them. The test is somewhat similiar to the homework, but he'll put in some hard problems in the exam once in a while. I often left the classroom after an exam thinking I did really poorly to find that I did alright. Just stick with it and make sure you understand how to do the homework.

His lectures aren't very helpful at all due to his unability to communicate his ideas very well. Study from the book and do the homework problems he assigns.

Mr. Sacca seems new to teaching and has a full-time job in the real world of business, but made a class I feared much easier. There were 3 tests, a final, and a lot of homework. You did not have to memorize all of the formulars, either you brought them or he provided them for you. He wanted you to learn the material and was available after class and during his office hours. He even gave us his home telephone number in case we had any questions!

I'm taking Sacca now and for the most part he's pretty cool. His lectures tend to be confusing, (partialy because of his thick accent) but he makes himself totally available outside of class via office hours or home phone. Sometimes he tends to embarrass students for poor performances on exams and homework, but it's not personal. I would highly reccommend him if you want to take a challenging class, with a lenient professor. His aim is for students to learn rather than fail. 2 exams 15%, 1 exam 25% final 30% homework 15%