Fall 2026

Fundamentals of Accounting and Finance for Non-business Majors

GENBUS 310 introduces non-business majors to basic accounting, finance, and business law concepts within the market enterprise system.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Mark Laplante3.8/5Evan Ross

Summary

1 / 6

The course is consistently described as difficult, with exams carrying heavy weight and often feeling disconnected from the provided readings. Success requires dedicated study time, as preparation materials are sometimes viewed as easier than the actual assessments.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing or declared in the Business Exchange program

  • Sophomore standing or declared in the Business Exchange program
GENBUS 310 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing or declared in the Business Exchange program

Professors

Fall 2026

Mark Laplante

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.78/5 from 179 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 2.5/5 raw quality · 4.3/5 difficulty · 24 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Mark Laplante is an intelligent but demanding instructor. Reviewers note that course materials are well-organized and provide a solid business overview. While some found exams straightforward with preparation, others reported unclear lectures requiring outside study resources.

Recent reviews describe Laplante as unapproachable and lacking effort, with exams misaligned with materials. Students report high difficulty, minimal grading components, and frustration with his attitude. One reviewer noted the course content has not been updated since 2020.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.10 GPA, 44.3% A/AB (n=235 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.16 GPA, 51.1% A/AB (n=268 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.16 GPA, 49.2% A/AB (n=307 letter grades).

No course-specific feedback yet.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

MARK LAPLANTE is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Online Only343 / 3500

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Mark Laplante teaches a rigorous online business course that demands significant effort. Reviews are polarized, with some praising the organized materials and clear exams, while others report unapproachable teaching, difficult tests, and lack of support.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.10 GPA, 44.3% A/AB (n=235 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.16 GPA, 51.1% A/AB (n=268 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.16 GPA, 49.2% A/AB (n=307 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

The course is consistently described as difficult, with exams carrying heavy weight and often feeling disconnected from the provided readings. Success requires dedicated study time, as preparation materials are sometimes viewed as easier than the actual assessments.

Students report frustration with Laplante's unapproachable demeanor, lack of engagement, and poor communication. While some find the readings helpful, others feel the course lacks practice opportunities and that the professor puts minimal effort into maintaining the class.

Topics

  • Accounting, finance, and business law
  • Market enterprise system

Skills

  • Accounting, finance, and business law fundamentals
  • Analytical methods for the market enterprise system

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.03 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
GENBUS 310 · Fall 2026

Fundamentals of Accounting and Finance for Non-Business Majors

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:231:023377",
    "course_id": "GENBUS 310",
    "course_uid": "course_da7d566104c10e964ae121ce",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "023377",
    "source_subject_id": "231",
    "title": "Fundamentals of Accounting and Finance for Non-Business Majors",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

Download the original dataset
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "5c51aade1826642194c278582b34f57965b25c5465ade138c44882ef04ad3bf6",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}