COMM 2010

Backof is definitely the professor to take this course with. She's really nice and knows the material well. Go to her lecture and you'll be more than fine. The homeworks take a little longer than expected, but there's not too many of them. And the exams are more than fair - just multiple choice! Homeworks, two midterms, a final, and a really easy end of the year group project. Financial isn't the most exciting topic, but definitely take it with her if you have to.

Backof was great with trying to make accounting as interesting as you can, and she gives you good resources for studying for the exams (homework, practice problems from notes, and practice exams). Overall if you do what you're supposed to do for this class, it won't be too difficult - sometimes tricky, but with practice, it gets a lot easier.

Financial accounting takes no prisoners, but Professor Backof is BYFAR the best professor for this course. She's one of the nicest professors at UVA and truly cares about your progression as a student. She turns an inherently difficult course into one that's bearable. 90% of the people in the class are first-year Comm School hopefuls since she teaches in the spring, but the others are engineers doing the business minor, economics majors doing the financial concentration, or students aspiring to do the M.S. in Commerce (COMM 2010 is required to apply to the M.S.). Professor Backof's tests are not easy, getting a solid B or higher on them is pretty good, especially when each question counts for so much. As evidenced by her grade distribution (2.96), she's not about to go easy on you. However, if you study hard you'll find yourself in a good spot. If you're a first-year, take it in the spring with Backof. If you're a second year and you can't wait that long, I'm very sorry.

This course is easier than the distribution makes it seem if you approach the class the right way. The most important thing you can do to prepare for this class is to study in groups! Some of my first year hallmates took the class with me (we're all pre-comm) and every week when there was homework due, we did it together until we all understood how we got to each answer. Additionally, group studying for the midterms and final is imperative! All of us ended up getting As and A-s, so it worked well. Don't bother reading the textbook, it's too confusing and Backof already does a great job synthesizing the information in her lecture/notes. Make sure you pay attention in lecture and do all the homework problems and you'll be fine, plus it doesn't take many hours to do the homework outside of class, so this class isn't a huge commitment. Good luck!

TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ACCOUNTING. This class requires some effort to get a B and more effort to get an A, but you learn so much about accounting that if you're interested in the field and aren't doing comm I would recommend it regardless.
TAKE IT WITH BACKOF. She is super nice, a much easier grader than previous professors (for group project), and is extremely well versed in the material.
DO 100% OF THE HOMEWORK. This is your best chance to implement what you have learned even though only 80% is required for an 100% HW grade. You can also talk about it with classmates
DON'T STUDY THE HOMEWORK FOR EXAMS. The homework, while great for learning the material, really does nothing when it comes to the exams. Study the practice exam because the tests are super similar to that and if you can get your hands on previous practice exams I heard that helps immensely.
READ THE TEXTBOOK IF YOU NEED HELP. It is very well written and I found the explanations very helpful in doing homework, studying concepts for exams, etc.
ATTEND CLASS. You can get away without reading the textbook if you attend class because she goes over everything that will be on the exam. However if you don't pay attention/aren't a good note taker I would consider reading the textbook because that is what helped me get an A in the course since I took pretty bad notes. Plus its only an extra $30 since you have to buy the online code anyways.

Honestly, accounting isn't the most engaging topic. HOWEVER, Prof. Backof is really amazing in the she somehow never ceases to be enthusiastic in her lectures. You can tell that she genuinely cares that you learn the material and that you have fun while doing it. The homework grade is basically a free buffer, and she grades easy on the final project. Midterms can definitely be intimidating as they're 25 questions for 25% each, so each multiple choice question is 1% of your final grade. However, if you study the practice exams, then they shouldn't be too bad. Definitely don't underestimate the final though. The final definitely felt harder than either of the midterms (which had low to high B averages) and there is no practice final to study off of. I know a few people who had relatively high As lowered to A-s because of the final.

Backof is probably one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. She really wants you to learn, and will help you if you reach out (she is a bit slow to respond to emails though). Study hard for the midterms. Do the practice test, and study with a group of people. She does a decent job teaching the topics, but sometimes she does an example on the board while she has a slide with notes. Make sure you follow the examples in class. She's probably the best you're going to get for this class, so if you HAVE TO take it then take it with her.

Ann Backof is one of the best professors at UVa. She has so many office hours, between her own and her abundance of TAs, so you are always welcome to get individual help if you so desire. This class doesn't really get that difficult until the end, so it's possible to have good cushion from the two tests before the final. However, I felt a false sense of security because the homework isn't that hard and there's not that much of it. Definitely review your notes often and print out the ones that she posts on Collab, because that will make things much more clear.