[W4415] Game Theory

My understanding is that this is Professor Kapan’s first time teaching, and I feel he did ok overall. However, two areas need signifigant improvement. The first is his lecturing skills. He often goes too fast, and assumes levels of knowledge on the part of the students that may or may not exist (for example, infinite series in calculus). And he doesn’t take questions well during lectures, he seems to get tense when students ask him to repeat or clarify things, which is intimidating and makes people less likely to ask questions again.
But the second, more important aspect are his exams. Simply put, they were insane. The midterm was challenging but perhaps not off the map. But the final was nonsense; it was by far the most difficult exam I’ve taken here, and I don’t think another week of prep time would have left me better prepared. And he grades very, VERY harshly, unlike the TA who graded our homework with a check, check plus, and check minus system. So the homework did not prepare us well for the exams, nor did it give us any idea of how harshly we would be graded. If possible, I'd recommend against taking this course with him, especially if you want to learn game theory (unless you are a math major). Course is HIGHLY theoretical.

Professor Dutta uses his own book and he follows it to the word literally. This is actually wonderful for a class that could get confusing at times. His class is very organized and tests are fairly easy if you read the book, especially sections in the book that do not work out full solutions.