Craven, Barrie  

Craven is a new young British professor. He has absolutely no idea what he is doing. He presents the material straight from the text and i often wondered why i even bothered to show up to class. The only good thing about Craven was that he gave sample questions (which he got from the text book authors) before his exams. I would not recommend taking this class even if you were paid to do so.

Dr. Craven is a really approachable guy who's willing to work with you to help you understand. I really admire him as a person. Unfortuanately, his lectures are lacking. They dont cover the material at the same depth that the tests do. He's not the worst professor, but he's not the best. If you're in this class, read the Textbook!! it prepares you for the tests which come from the textbook testbank. his lectures really arent necessary to attend.

Dr. Craven is an alright professor. He gives you a lot of information during the 2 hour lectures which are really boring. He shows slide after slide on the overhead, all of which are online - which was nice. This class is quite lame unless you like economics. What was helpful about the class is Dr. Craven gives you practice questions for the midterms and the final. Overall, Dr. Craven is a nice man who is helpful to those who actually stay the whole time.

Professor Craven is the man! He is from Newcastle, England (ya the place where they brew that fine brown ale). He has a unique style because he is from Europe but he is very straight foward. He takes his lectures straight from the book so if you want to do well DO THE READING, preferrably before class. He will give you "specimens" to practice for the test, do those! they really help and he told us that he is going to use those more for the test next quarter. All together, he is a good guy and good teacher, don't listen to the other people who evaluated him before. P.S. If you want to get on his good side tell him your favorite drink is Gin and Tonic.

Boring! You don't have to go to this class b/c he lectures from slides straight from the book! I feel sorry for this guy b/c he's really smart and tries really hard but it's just not interesting! He definitely gives you the benifit of the doubt though. He curved the whole classes grade at the end. 2 midterms and 1 final. Just read the book to do well on the finals.

this class really wasn't as bad as some people want to make it out to be. Yeah the lectures were pretty boring and he presented the material right from the book, but if you read the book you'll be good to go. Not many people went to class b/c he puts all the notes on his website, but I guess one of the good things about going to class is he goes over the answers to the specimen questions. The specimen questions helped out; on the final he took about 1/2 the questions for the final right off the specimen questions worksheets. He ended up curving the whole class b/c he's new and realized he may not have presented the material clearly enough. He's a nice guy and really wants his students to do well.

really nice guy, but does not know how to teach. From UK teaching US econ..?? Tests are hard.

I thought that this guy was AWEFUL! I took him in Fall 2002 which was his first quarter. He made econ, which I find to be one of the most boring subjects, about as painful as getting teeth pulled. I found it difficult to understand his lecture because of his thick accent and timid, soft-spoken mannerisms. I studied for his tests but they all seemed to come out of left field; the way he poses his questions is totally confusing. He seemed like a really nice person but that does not make up for his lack of skill as a professor. I finally ended up just not going to class and not taking the final; thus I got a no credit. My father has a masters in Economics and I faxed him one of Cravens specimens. Even he did shitty. Please, if you have the opportunity to take someone else... Do it!!!!

I have not come across a worse teacher than Dr. Craven. His lectures are basically him putting slides on an overhead projector, and reading them in his boring monotone voice. His ideas are poorly organized, and his examples(if any) don't correlate with the material. He understands about 10% of the questions he is asked, and his answers are spaced out and irrelevant. If you get this guy, don't count on getting anything out of the lectures, just stay at home and read your book (the tests are based entirely on the book). To better illustrate my point, in his classes, during the first hour, 25% of the class walks out while he is talking, and at break, another 50% never comes back, so at the end of the class, 25% is left (if that). I heard that he stopped having breaks for this reason. My advise: do whatever you can to change courses, and if you can't, don't worry about class, just read.

Craven is a nice gentlemanly professor. True, his lectures are boring and the a thrid of the class either doesnt show up or walks out but he knows his material. The lectures are boring though and do consist of slides but he tries to add humor and is quite approachable. He knows a lot of his students ditch class so he has specimen packets that he goes through at the end of class. These packets are the best! They are exactly what you need for the test if you do not do anything else. However if you truly and honestly want to know the material, read the book. His 2 midterms and final arent impossible and he tries very hard to teach you. I wouldnt say he's a wonderful professor, but he is better than some other ones that I've had.

Dr. Craven is a nice enough instructor, but I found myself asking multiple times whether or not he actually understood the material. I would ask questions about a topic we were discussing and he would usually give and answer that had nothing to do with the topic and question asked. I am usually an A student in economics, but found myself struggling in this class due to the professors teaching/testing strategy. Often there were questions on test that either had multiple right answers, but only 1 answer was given credit, or he would ask questions and answers that contradicted the material presented in class. How are we supposed to know when he is giving false information? And how does he expect us to have the right information on the tests, when he doens't even know what the right information is?!?!?! DON'T TAKE HIM

Ummmm .... yeah, I am most definately one of those people who left half way through class and didn't show up once in awhile to go to lunch with a friend. I found all those times I missed his class, worth it. Just find someone in class who does go and switch off with them for the specimen question answers. Specimen means sample questions. The lecture is very dry except for his occasional crack at something. But you can only catch the crack if your paying attention. I got a B on the first test and then didn't study at all and got a D on the second. I guess I pulled off a C for the final. If you just study the questions and the book, you don't havr to go to every class. Simple as that. One more note, when you are in class, it is extremely tiring on the hand to try to write down all the overhead slides he presents.

Dr Craven is the worst teacher ever! His lectures consisted of a bunch of mumbling and overheads that make absolutely no sense. Ya I will admit though he seems like a nice enough guy and tried to curve the grades because everyone failed the second midterm. If you are stuck in this class don't waste your time going to the lecture. Study the "specimen" questions, they are almost exactly the same on the test. If you have a chance to get out do it now!

Yes, Professor Craven's lectures are boring, but its ECONOMICS!!! I can't believe that ANYONE would get below a B in this class because he give you 90% of the questions and answers before the test. If you failed this class, I'd really question how you got into Cal Poly. Not only does he give you the answers prior to the test, but he is extremely approachable if you have any questions or just want to ask him about England. If you are a business major, than you have to take ECON 222 and Professor Craven isn't that bad of a choice!

I learned that if I were to take up hunting, I should shoot deer, not bears, because a bear will hunt me back if I successfully wound it. Fascinating! I didnt know that the key to production and operations management was so brutally simple!