Reviews of professor Jianren Xu

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 1.0/5
If you are blessed enough to be able to get into his class, jump right in. It's honestly rare to find professors who are extremely kind, understanding of circumstances, and hope the best for their students and he is one of them. Clear grading criteria, super fast responder, and well-organized. I'd take him 100 more times.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
This can be a tough class since it is online and mostly self taught, but as long as you do all the assignments you will be fine. There is 1 homework and 1 quiz due most weeks. The exam comes from the homework and quiz questions. I didn't do very well on the exams, but I did manage to make an A overall. Keep up with the due dates and you'll be fine

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Over explains a lot of things on the power points but gives hints about questions that might be on the exam. Material is dry but he adds a lot to it with many real life examples. Tests are curved and quizzes are online. Group project with vague criteria. Teaches until the last minute so don't expect to leave early. Calls on people during class.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Let's face it, finance is hard! Especially online, it is very much teach yourself. However, professor Xu gave extra credit opportunities and was caring for his students. Please don't wait until the last second to study for the final exam, which is cumulative. The topics are tough and I was so stressed for the final exam, but still pulled off an A.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Online exams use lockdown browser and webcam.  Didn't have much communication with him, but the class layout was pretty clear.  Exams are weighted heavily.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
i wanted to like this professor. he seems like a nice dude. that being said, his lectures are awful. i never knew what information was important or not and he rambled a lot over real life scenarios about finance (which didn't help on exam). his test reviews were just the powerpoint lectures. final made me go from an A to a B. go with someone else.