I don't really know how I feel about this class in general...Middleton's lectures were all over the place. There we're some concepts that she actually explained pretty well, but I'm not sure if that was her or the handouts she gave us. The key to doing well in this class is doing all of the practice problems she gives you--review questions, questions of the day, practice exams--just so you're prepared for the exams. The written homework was pointless, I actually preferred the online homework since it was more relevant to the material. The midterms were a lot like the previous ones she gives you but the final was definitely tougher and super long, pretty comprehensive too. Overall though this class is manageable if you use all the resources Middleton gives you, she really does want you to succrdd but she just isn't the best lecturer. Try to do half of what she tells you and you'll be fine.
Grade Distribution
69 Reviews
I am the master of accounting. Best course so easy
This is a tremendously disappointing course to take as a pre-req for the Commerce school. Middleton has lost touch in how to teach this course through the years, and instead she throws 3 unhelpful and disorganized packets at her students every class. The responsibility of learning the material rest completely on the shoulders of the students, as Middleton never actually teaches the material-- instead, she just goes over the homework that students spend hours on the night before. Not to mention, these homeworks are worthless because they are assigned without having learned the material in class. I spent many a frustrating night wrestling over the unmanageable problems. However, there also exist no incentives to work on them because they are graded for competition. None of this adds up to constructively learning the material itself. When it comes time for the test, once again students are utterly unprepared because the skills it takes to answer multiple choice questions are not practiced throughout the course-- the hw problems do not replicate the test at all. If anything, take this course online. You're going to have to teach the material to yourself whether you have Middleton or not. Overall, I am disappointed in the quality of education I received.
Office hours is key. Do all of the practice problems. No seriously. Don't say you will and then cram them in the night before the midterm. They are the key to an A. You will learn, you will learn. Middleton is spunky, but teaches better in a smaller setting. Attendance grades are annoying because you have to self teach yourself most of the material and she spends most of the class showing handouts that she puts on collab anyway. Liked Middleton, disliked accounting.
Contrary to the vast majority of her reviews on here, I positively loved professor Middleton's class. She is extremely kind and intelligent and truly wants to help you succeed in her class. I thought she was effective in her teaching methods and managed to keep topics that can be very boring interesting but explaining how they are relevant in real life. I will give one recommendation however - take this class in the fall!! It could literally be the difference between a class of 20 and a class of 200 - and it is true that professor Middleton teaches better in a smaller, discussion-based environment where people ask questions.
Make sure you know how to do the problems, similar to how you would do Financial. Unfortunately Middleton is a pretty sucky professor so expect a lot of self studying. A friend told me that it's helpful to do the homework problems in her office though. She might do a better job if it's one on one, and you get to finish homework at the same time! For all you precomm peeps, gluck.
Prof. Middleton is by far one of my most favorite professors at UVA. I would do the weekly online homeworks in her office for 2+ hours a week. Really cares about her students and wants them to succeed. Also gives great life lessons that add humor to the class, too. The material itself was challenging and I really had to work hard at it, but asking her for help totally paid off (A- final grade). I would really take time to get to know her -- joy of a lady!
In Terms of caring for her students, Professor Middleton is unmatched. She goes above and beyond to provide ample practice questions for exams and devotes a substantial amount of in-class lecture to answering students' questions - often to a fault. Despite her best efforts, however, she should NOT be teaching this course. I felt that there was no structure throughout the Semester and ended up having to teach myself the material before each exam. Even when she did try to go over examples in class, she would frequently give us the wrong answers or skip over key steps in Solutions - leaving me more confused. Despite being a genuinely Kind individual, Mary Middleton is a horrible representation of the calibre of professors McIntire offers.
Honestly not that bad of a class, Prof Middleton really honestly cares about her students and wants them to enjoy the class. She graded our 2 exams and final a possible 3 different weighted ways to try to give us the best grade possible, which most professors would never do. If you come to class and at least attempt to pay attention you will do fine in the class, there are so many office hours available and resources to help you. Middleton also took a lot of time to print out review notes and practice problems for us which I found incredibly helpful, especially with Process costing. She is a little forgetful which I would say makes the class a little confusing at times, but nothing that completely ruins the class.
I found this class to be actually interesting. Prof. Middleton made an effort to improve her class for the better and I think that it truly helped. She gave us lots of practice problems, which I felt left us well prepared for the midterms. Both midterms were reasonable and the homework is not too bad since it is graded on completeness, not correctness. She gave us an outline for each chapter and other handouts to help explain the concepts. I think what she did to improve the class this semester was great. I did a lot better in this class than I did in Financial.
The one thing that I will say is that the final was absolutely ridiculous. The final was not any where near the same difficulty level as the midterms, and I believe it was incredibly unreasonable..