COMM 2020

Worst final exam I've ever taken. Absolutely ridiculous. Otherwise, very mediocre teacher, somewhat annoying and inclined to go off on random political rants. Too many assignments as well.

Definitely have mixed feelings over this class. Personally I thought the material was incredibly useless, but I could tell Middleton did really want everyone to succeed and like accounting (which I never will but at least she tried). The class really wasn't that hard which is why getting a B+ kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth but i also don't think I deserved a better one. My main issue with the class was the homework because sometimes they would take so long and make us do the most unnecessary crap. I also don't think i learned a single thing from any of those homework assignments and they were more just tedious. I don't think anyone takes this class who isn't applying to Comm so obviously you need to take it and make sure you study for a long time for tests! Last chance to show the comm school what you got so work hard and you will be fine.

Some thoughts from this class and how to succeed in it:

1. Everyone who takes this class is a 2nd year pre-comm student, so most people are very motivated to do well in this class.

2. The tests follow the format of Financial Accounting - 25 MC questions for the midterms, 60 for the final.

3. Middleton is a terrible teacher, but seems to be a pretty cool person. I probably paid attention in 10% of the lectures, other 90% I sat in the back on my laptop doing work for other classes. Reason for this is she goes off on useless tangents usually for 50%+ of the class. Also most of the other times she just goes over the homework, which is useless (more on this later)

4. Homeworks are useless and will not help you for the tests. Remember tests are MC problems; homeworks are all short answer or building like an income statement or something. I didn't complete a single homework - they're checked on completion so you can just write some bullshit and get full credit. I wrote an excerpt from the textbook to fill up part of a page on my homework and got full credit on all of them. Don't waste too much time on the homeworks from the textbook.

5. ConnectPlus is a little more useful than homeworks; they're due every Friday or so. She posts the solutions online so you can finish these in <1 hour; the numbers are the only things that change.

6. Prepping for tests is straightforward; just requires some time. The weekend before a test go through all of the chapter outlines and try to glean some of the vocab and overall concepts of each chapter. Then do all of the practice problems you can - QOTD, review problems, practice exams she posts. These are all similar to what material will show up on the actual test.

7. Averages on tests are high lol. I think like 8% of students got 100% on both the first and second midterm because they're really that easy. Again you do not have to pay attention at all in class to do well.

the only slightly difficult concept in this class is Process costing. That's one of the only topics worth paying attention to in class; everything else is very straight forward; basically elementary school level concepts. Some people found Present Value and capital budgeting hard; if you've joined an investment club at UVA or know anything about discounted cash flows, this stuff is incredibly basic.

Good class better professor

Hey guys, I'll be frank, some of these reviews stank. Mine and the one below are all you need to know. You don't need to pay attention in class, just study for the tests and you'll pass. okay enough rhyming, this class was a walk in the park. don't listen to what people say, if you try your hardest you might just get an A+ like me and my elite study group.

I didn't attend a single lecture between the first and second midterm and still got an above average grade on the second test, if that tells you anything about Mary Middleton as a lecturer. The class is extremely easy work-wise, just be ready to try and untangle yourself from the incomprehensible mess that is her lectures and her review resources which often contain multiple errors and wrong answers. I have no interest in accounting and took it solely for the COMM prereq and it's probably one of if not THE worst classes I've ever taken at UVA. You've been warned.

This class was miserable. I have not disliked a class more at UVA. Attendance is part of your grade so you are required to sit through an hour and 15 minutes of misery every tuesday and thursday. Worst comm school prereq.

Let's be honest here, if you don't love accounting, the material is always going to be dry and boring. Although Middleton is a nice person and wants her students to succeed, her teaching style is straight up ineffective. Take reading seriously and actually do the homework. Exams were hard but if you study enough, you'll do fine. Pretty sure she also curves final grades, even though she says she doesn't - with exam averages around 80, it would make no sense that the class average is a B/B+.

She's objectively the worst person in the world. Not even teacher, just as a human being. Yeah her class his hard and she makes her way harder than it ever needs to be, but it's more than that. In a class of around 100 kids (maybe a little less) she will literally stop everything, and shout from the front of the lecture hall if she even thinks she hears kids in the back whispering. It happens like 1-2 a class. One time nobody was even talking, it was actually pretty funny. I don't know if she's still teaching, but every day in class with her feels like stabbing two dull forks in your eyes. Stay far far away.