re: LSUS Online MBA Reviews

Does anyone have a syllabus for Ambrosia Acct 701?

Lsuflyfisher @ gmail.com

Thanks for the info! I am thinking about taking Choi for FIN 701 for Summer AP2, and wondering if I should pair that with ACCT 701 with Yin, Yuan. I have ZERO finance/acct. knowledge and I'm wondering if this is going to be way too challenging to do these two together? Also, were Choi's exam open book?

Choi’s exams are closed book but you get to use a notecard with handwritten formulas.

I have heard good things about MADM with Kungu.

Very good and useful feedback. Thank you.! As I'm in the 4th week, feel the same - But the current assignment feedback is very difficult to catch up, so whatever improvements are done, nothing much useful so far. The weekly exams are a bit tricky, otherwise, they are not straightforward sure.

Thanks Cottonseed. You seem to be fairly answering everyone's questions. Sorry if i am bothering you all I am doing Acct 701 with yin and doing well in it. Taking ECON 705 - Fawaz Fadi, ISDS 702 - Kokhsal Ahmet, ISDS 710 Darrat Mohamad, MADM 701 - Kungu kenneth, MADM 760 - Erin Mclaughlin. Your experiences with any of these profs and helpful hints how to prepare for the class. Thanks and appreciate your help.

Since it's that time again (registration), and I'm in the final half of my final session... I posted reviews of my current two classes. I'm following with a copy of my previous reviews as well to help those currently trying to register or plan. This is probably the last time I'll post every review at once.

Without further ado:

Econ 705 – Shaughnessy

In one phrase – “The Gold Standard of Professors in the program.”

Difficulty (out of 5) - 4

Comments – Literally the best teacher in the program, by far. This does NOT mean the class is easy, it was actually pretty tough. What it DOES mean is that he is absolutely passionate about the subject matter, and noticeably tries to help you to learn it, because he wants you to be passionate about it too (not happening). He has video lectures, supplemental videos, discussion forums, weekly live zoom sessions, and even “comedy interludes” (mostly not very funny, except maybe to economists). He is also highly responsive to email, and you absolute can and should email him or post in the forum if you’re having problems. Essentially, he is highly interactive as a teacher, and probably the closest you will get to a “classroom” setting in an online program. Certainly the closest you will get at LSUS.

“A” Strategy – The textbook really is supplemental for this class. You can get one if you want, but you should be able to get everything you need from his lecture videos and supplemental videos. Note that the supplemental videos are multiple, click the “hamburger” on the first video to see the entire playlist available. You are basically graded along the lines of a few quizzes a week (called different names). Untimed and unproctored. Don’t let that fool you, as the first few aren’t easy and the end of week module assessments is HARD. Take your time with the first video quizzes and self-assessment, which are mostly qualitative. Watch the videos, re-watch the videos again while taking the quiz. Watch a supplemental if you need to, re-watch if you need to. Do YouTube searches on the topic if you still need help and watch a few more videos. Do whatever you need to do until you are 100% sure that your answers are correct. If you want an “A” in the class, you can’t afford to lose any points on these. The extra work you put in will also help a little for the final assessment, which is mostly quantitative. You get a homework “assignment” which you should once again do exhaustively. The assignment is essentially the final module assessment. If you do the assignment correctly, you will have all the answers you need for the assessment (just make sure you label things, so you know what they are for the assessment). That said, there were still a few application type questions that really seemed subjective. If you get through these assessments with a B average, the 100’s from the quizzes will pull you back to an A.

Time commitment - Depending on your math ability (mine is moderate-high), In addition to studying time, I recommend setting aside at least 2-3 hours per quiz and much more for the assignment. At moderate-high math skill with some familiarity with Excel, 15-20 hours per week. Add more for low math and/or low Excel ability.

ISDS 705 – Lin

In one phrase – “Does this person actually exist?”

Difficulty (out of 5) - 1

Comments – If Shaughnessy is the Gold Standard, then Lin is the Sub-Standard. Several of us here at TD are convinced that he doesn’t actually exist. If he does, he’s probably on a beach sipping Mai Tai’s all session, because he sure as hell isn’t interacting with the class. Obviously there is no public forum, zoom sessions, or any interaction whatsoever. You’re given a free textbook written before the invention of the first Phone, that would be perfect for anyone who wanted to enter the IS profession in the 90’s. It’s outdated and boring as are the videos and supplemental readings you will be assigned. Fortunately for you, you don’t actually need to understand anything you’re assigned, and most of it is useless anyway! The tests also use ProctorU, which means someone will be staring at you as you take the test, and possibly accusing you of cheating for using the allowed double sided note sheet.

“A” Strategy – Your grade is based on 3 tests. That’s it. You bomb the tests, and you’re out of luck. I did mention this was a one * class right? That’s because it is easily the easiest (and most useless) course in the program. The material is probably appropriate for the high school level, and the tests are even below that. They are mostly focused on vocabulary/definitions with a smattering of trivia. You’re allowed a single 8.5”x11” double sided note sheet, so make use of it. While you are reading, type out everything you think might be a good vocabulary definition or piece of trivia. Don’t copy and paste, type it out as this should help you remember it better. Once you’re done with all of your typing, set the margins to the absolute minimum, single space, and then set the font to the smallest you can read (you can manually type to select a font smaller than 8). Use a small font like Calibri Light or Arial Narrow. You can edit the notes a little more if you need to make it fit the one page front and back. At this point, you should be able to get at least 70% of the questions correct from memory, another 20% will just be definitions that you hopefully wrote down. The last 10% or so will be trivia, along the lines of a name, date, or acronym. Once again, some of the reading is highly technical and will make zero sense. You don’t need to understand it, just try to find the possible vocabulary words.

Time commitment – Maximum 8 hours per test for 3 tests. 24 hours max for the class (probably less). The tests took me less than 10 minutes to finish each time.

MKT 705 – Kim

In one phrase – “Tries hard.”

Difficulty (out of 5) - 2

Comments – Essentially MADM 760, but a little bit better due to more interaction/feedback. There are some short lecture videos as well as external supplemental videos, some of which are really interesting. The powerpoints are useful for review, but watch the lecture videos. She isn’t just reading off the PPT. Like most marketing or management classes, there’s a good deal of writing in the class. No public forums, one quiz and one paper weeks 1-6, alternating between a case analysis and application assignment. One quiz and final exam for week 7. Lots of reading from multiple sources can be a bit confusing, and some of the reading was pretty tedious. Also, pay attention to the specific pages you’re supposed to read. You’re not required to read full chapters of many of the sources (but the actual pages aren’t “cut out” for you). The teacher seems really bright, perky, and all around pleasant. Seems like a relatively new teacher that is trying hard to have a good class. Adding a public forum and zoom would be great.

“A” Strategy – Pretty much the same as for MADM 760, with the only exception that there is a final exam. Balanced course work with slightly more writing each week and the need to have a few external sources makes it a slightly heavier research load, but this is balanced by no discussion forum posts. RUBRIC, RUBRIC, RUBRIC. By now this should be a common theme, but you’re writing for a rubric so make sure you’re following what it wants because the two paper requirements are NOT exactly the same. Requirements from different professors also vary. You also get a pretty generous extra credit for creating a very simple video introducing yourself in the first week. Since you’re reading the “A” strategy, this is a no brainer. DO IT.

Time Commitment – 12-18 hours/week. More extensive external source material requirements makes it a little more time consuming than MADM 760 due to time spent on research.

ISDS 702 – Koksal

In one phrase – “Compact”

Difficulty (out of 5) – 2 (if you don’t try to understand everything) 3.5 (if you do)

Comments – If you’re in the Data Analytics concentration, I highly recommend taking this class first. This is also a good class to take prior to ECON 705 as it eases you into some of the skills and knowledge you will need for ECON. Supposedly some FIN classes can also benefit from this class, so don’t leave it off till later! The class itself can seem daunting at times but this is actually due more from the way it’s explained (or not explained). You don’t actually get a lot of information and the information that you do get isn’t always explained well. As another student put it, “It’s like he knows what he is talking about but can’t convey it properly” (pineveillj, 2019). This is an extremely accurate assessment. He either drones on and over-explains simple topics or completely skips important explanations. You’re often left doing something that doesn’t make sense because you don’t understand WHY you need to do it in such a backwards fashion. Once you stop trying to actually understand it, it’s actually pretty easy and I will detail it out in the “A” strategy. The information can be pretty good and statistical skills (as well as general analytical skills) are becoming increasingly important for career potential. If you can just “roll with it”, it’s a very good class with highly condensed knowledge and you WILL actually start to understand it better as you do it. Don’t waste your time beating yourself up about it and follow the “A” strategy.

“A” Strategy – The most important part of the “A” strategy is to not overthink it. Just try to filter out the important information from what he’s saying and DO it. Focus on memorizing instead of understanding. There are two key components to the “A” strategy. The first part is getting the Excel portion. Do the initial discussion post exercise (you don’t have to actually post it to the board though) and then compare your results with his. If you got it wrong, you need to figure out how to get it right. I re-watch the videos while doing the discussions. You need to understand how to do the Excel portion in order to complete the assignment, so you can just review the Excel portions of the videos. Excel is straightforward as long as you understand which formula to use and when to use it. The assignment quiz is “open book” and taken directly from the Excel assignment. Just have the assignment open and you should be able to get an easy 100% (You get a second chance with the assignment, your score is best out of two). The second component is memorization. Before taking the quiz, go over the lecture videos again and memorize facts, definitions, charts, etc. The quiz is proctored and not open book, but it is also purely theoretical, there is NO math and NO Excel knowledge involved. Memorizing the facts is sufficient. You also don’t need to actually understand “why” something is the way it is, just accept that it is and memorize it.

Time Commitment – 5-10 hours MAX depending on your inherent Excel skills.

MADM 701 – McLaughlin

In one phrase – “Almost great!”

Difficulty (out of 5) - 3

Comments – Since I’ve gone over McLaughlin’s MADM 760 already, I won’t re-hash it all here as the class is VERY similar. I’ve updated the strategy tips in the section below for the minor changes. Another difference is that current event paper topics are a bit more difficult to find, so you might spend more time on research.

“A” Strategy – The discussion post is not due until Thursday, which makes the timeline a bit better compared to the Tuesday deadline of her 760 class. The discussions are taken directly from one of the mini case studies at the back of one of the chapters. They require more topic integration than the MADM 760 ones, but are also more targeted questions. As a result, they’re a comparatively lighter writing load to complete. The quizzes suffer the same issue from MADM 760 and are frankly the reason for the 3 star difficulty ratings for both classes. You’re always going to have a few trick questions on the test that are supposed to “make you think” but are often just semantics. MADM 701 might actually be a little worse due to a significantly larger number of actual course topics and the amount of detail the book goes into. This means there’s a ton of information that you will need to remember for the test. Once again, I recommend using any questions at the back of the chapter. The 701 PowerPoints also include discussion topics at the beginning of each PPT. I also recommend reviewing and answering these as part of your test prep.

Time Commitment – 15 - 25 hours/week. It feels like 701 has a lot more reading than 760 did, hence the higher time commitment to read and also study. However, it does have slightly less writing, although a bit more potential research time.

@marssmi0827 and @signa7 how was your class with Kugnu MADM701? I am considering Kugnu and Heller. Can't decide. I am not a good writer. Thx