Mark Owens

School: Ohio State University
Department: Economics
Location: Columbus, OH
Overall Rating
rated by 17 students
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Pros: Topics were very interesting.
Cons: Research Project
The class was very interesting because we got to talk about topics that went against standard economical theory. We also did a lot of in class experiments and we had discussion over our homework (which were journal articles). The only thing I did not really enjoy was our experiment project, I felt like we had less than two weeks to make an experiment, and thus it was hard to complete it. So if I have an advice is to start on it early, Dr. Owens will not start talking about until almost the end of the semester, so don't rely on him to remind you.
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Pros: Teaches very well he knows his stuff and his lectures were very interesting
Cons: His test are a little confusing, it is important that you study the vocabulary and the main principles
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Pros: Mark is a great teacher. Super nice dude with easy projects. Every one has a step-by-step process on how to do it.really enjoyed his class.
Cons: none
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Pros: One of my favorite teachers ever. I took this class with Marilyn Wood and had to drop it because I was doing really bad. I took it with him and he was a much better teacher. Me and my friend gave him a hard time since he's our age and a student teacher and were the class clowns but that made me pay attention. He joked around with us but really helped me out and made sure I passed this time. I actually got an A. Mark Owens rules.
Cons: He doesn't make the tests. Marilyn Wood does.
Take him. He's great.
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Pros: He presents the topics thoroughly, and will always answer questions. He mixes in action and demonstration to illustrate some of the ideas, which is not only informative but entertaining. He always warns you well in advance for a quiz. He makes the notes into an outline format, which he sends to you, so all you have to do is print them off and there is a perfect study guide for the test and VERY EASY note-taking tool. DON'T BUY THE BOOK.
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Cons: Words the quizzes and tests in such a manner that one has to be a graduate level economics major to understand what he is looking for…
Unless you have plenty of free-time, and no job, and are a freaking genius I do NOT recommend taking this professor…
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He's a very nice guy. He really wanted people to learn and did a good job of teaching. The problem with this class is the tests. You could study all day long, but it didn't matter because the tests were made to be as tricky as possible. I pulled a B in the class and that was working very hard. You just have to be on your game big time come exam day because he will intentionally try to trip you up as much as possible. I think this is a problem with some educators in that it's not showing how much you know but instead just trying to bring down grades. Other than that, he's a great teacher.
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If you're an ECON major or a math expert, my advice on this class may be somewhat irrelevant, but as a SOC major I really had to prepare for this class, especially the exams. Owens is an nice & energetic professor who really wants to help you get it and tries to lighten things up when he can tell everyone's brains are too overloaded. If you like sports, he probably watched the game you watched the night before so bring that up to get on his good side.. Not that it matters too much, because he doesn't use any arbitrary tactics when it comes to grading like a judgment call on how much you participated, but I guess it never hurts. The great thing was I virtually had no homework other than to look over my notes before the quizzes, which he told us about ahead of time. After the exam every Thurs, we didn't have anything we even could do before Monday even if I had wanted to, so that made it an AWESOME summer class (stress-free wknds). Weds nights sucked, but if I can make an A, most anyone who really cares could, no matter your math aptitude. I'm already seeing things I learned in that class in my current classes in PS and even SOC, so it's definitely a real-life application class, and Owens is very genuine and cool.
Exams: I'm a fairly good test-taker when I spend a long time studying, but these were pretty difficult. The first one was pretty easy but that's because the material was much simpler at that point, so a few hours of review was enough. On the others, make sure you not only study but do several practice problems before the test so you know what you're doing and how and when to apply the formulas or procedures. I ended up making a low A on every test, but that was after he curved the test scores about 6 or 7 points.
Homework: Just review notes in the event there is a ten point quiz the next class on the day before. These are multiple choice and are set up like 10 multiple choice test questions. Even though he doesn't think of a point or two on a quiz as a big deal, it really is when you calculate your grade and how many points you need to make an A, so try not to miss any day he gives a quiz because you get to drop your lowest quiz grade and that almost brought me down to a B that I didn't get a different low quiz grade dropped instead of the zero on the one that I missed. (Unless you're just trying to pass, then don't stress about the quizzes)
Textbook: I have a Kindle but you can also get the "brief" version in hard copy for MUCH cheaper than the actual textbook (like 30.00 compared to $115). Not everyone bought the book, but I realized I was going to have to get it while studying for the second test b/c it really helps to have that second explanation that you can break down on your own, plus practice problems that will be similar to those on the test. You definitely do not need anything more than the Brief version (Amazon), but you will probably need at least that if you're set on making an A. More than half of the class didn't buy the text, and the ones that I knew made somewhere around a B or a C, at least. I made an A on the first test even without any curve to the grades just from the notes from class, so you can wait until leading up to the second test and then decide what's best for you.
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Being in that class you really had to work to keep your attention, it really seemed like he didn't want to be there any more then us. Also, I started reading the book in the middle of the semester and if I had done that through out the semester I would have gotten an A. The book teaches better.
Exams: The "written" portion of the exams were stuff that we never went over in class, which was VERY frustrating. I do not know how he expected us to do the problems since he never showed us how to do it.
Homework: None really, we had some newspaper articles that we had to turn into him at the end of the semester.
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This was the first time Dr. Owens taught an honors course for microeconomics, and I have to say that he did a very good job teaching the course. He's a younger guy and does try to relate to the students (like using comparisons to beer and such) and show them that microeconomics does have real world applications. He's friendly and easy going, and he lays everything out for you nicely, so much so that you don't need the book. His concern really is to help you learn the material. This was an honors course, so he did challenge us on the tests. You would have to think on the graphing questions, and some of the MC would be tricky. However, he curved the tests fairly each time. There are quizzes as well. We had five quizzes throughout the course and might have had more if we hadn't run out of time at the end. I know some people wanted another quiz at the end that didn't get it since he gives you a drop quiz. The quizzes happen usually every other week or two and aren't a big deal. Your grade consists of two tests that count 25% of your grade, then quizzes and the paragraph summaries together count 15%, and the comprehensive final counts 35%. A really nice option he has in the course is that, if you do better on your final than one of your two tests, he will make the final count 60% of your grade. If you miss a test, then in that case the final would be 60% of your grade as well. I can say it definitely that helped me because I had a B+ in the course before the final, and I received an A. Even though the course was not in my major or anything, I really did feel like I learned a lot in this course, and I do highly recommend Owens for this course.
Exams: The MC could be tricky, and he was challenging on at least one of the short answer/graphical questions, but, if you studied the material well, they usually turned out fine for most people. He would add curve points to our grade when we got them back.
Homework: The only homework was paragraph summaries of 10 current articles you had to final by the end of the semester relating to microeconomics topics from the lectures. It was very easy, and I wish I had done it sooner instead of waiting till March!
Textbook: It seemed good the one time I looked through it. You really don't need it though because his notes that he gives you are very simple and clear, and his tests are from the notes.
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Dr. Owens is an excellent professor. He understands the material, and presents it in a clear manner. I highly recommend taking him for any Economics courses you might need.
Exams: Study your notes, and you will do fine.
Homework: No homework. In class quizzes once a week.
Textbook: Just use your notes.
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I don't know who else teaches this course, but I would recommend taking Owens regardless.
Exams: Study the quizzes (on average, you'll have one of those every other week) and the exam review sheet he'll give you before each exam. The first two exams were regular tests, and the last test was the final exam, which was comprehensive.
Homework: Just to study for the quizzes, if that counts as homework.
Textbook: I made an A in this class with no textbook or study guide. If you copy the notes he puts up on the screen during class, you'll be fine.
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Exams: tests were generally very easy but u had to understand the concepts taught in class.he also curved very generously when the grades were not very good.Definitely take him for economics
Homework: none but there were sevral extra credit opportunities given
Textbook: dont buy the book all u need is his notes which he e-mails to you upon request if u miss class
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He was very nice, and kept my attention. I would love to have him for another class, he knew what he was talking about and explained it very well.
Exams: I thought they were easy if you studied, the quizzes that he gives you are almost the tests. Except the tests are longer, but I thought they were easy..
Homework: No homework, just study if you felt like it. If you missed class, just email him and he would send you notes for the week, which was very helpful when I didn't feel like going to class.
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Prof. Owens is the average teacher fresh from grad school. He's still young and all, so don't take his class that seriously. I wouldn't say that you always have to come to class because if you miss a day, you can still e-mail him for that day's notes. There were only 3 exams and maybe about 7 or so quizzes, but he does drop the lowest grade for each. I do reccommend Prof. Owens for Economics if you want to learn the subject and want a fair grade.
Exams: Dr. Owens' tests were fairly made. He has quizzes every so often that are have the same questions on it that are going to be on the test. Some diagrams are going to be on there also. If you study for about an hour or so, you should be okay.
Homework: None, just study for the quizzes and tests.
Textbook: I bought the textbook for the first few classes, but eventually took it back becuase all of his quiz questions are straight from his lecture.
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Dr. Owens is a great professor! I loved his class. We didn't do anything but take notes everyday, but sometimes he'll go on about a story that comes to his mind that keeps the class listening or makes random funny comments to catch people's attention and get the class a little more enthused about economics. He tries his best to make it fun. He explains everything so well and uses perfect examples for everything so he makes sure we understand the material. He is a young guy but he knows his economics and how college students are and how to get them to understand everything, so he's like having a student for a teacher. He made me change my minor to economics because I like him so much and I wish I could take him for all my ECON classes.. I suggest you take him for economics if you really want to learn something.
Exams: He only gave 2 tests and a final. His tests were really easy if you took the notes and went to class. A lot of the questions came from the quizzes which helped too.
Homework: He never required any homework at all.
Textbook: I never opened the book. He does an excellent job at explaining everything so we can understand it. As college students, he uses examples that we would understand, like beer.
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He is a young professor. This was his first year teaching at mt and i think he did ok. his class is really laid back. it was funny when we had a break or something he was talking about how he was leaving right after class. it was kind of like have a student as a teacher!!!!!!!!
Exams: The test was very tricky!!!! U have to watch cause he will try 2 trick u!!! They weren't easy and they weren't hard... they were in the middle. The easiest of them all was the final!!!!
Homework: Just study what her went over in class!!!!
Textbook: I really didn't use my text back, but I did use the study guide book. That was very helpful. I encourage everyone to buy it cause so of the quiz and test questions come from there.

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