ECON 2010

Absolutely lives up to the hype- this class is why I'm majoring in econ. Elzinga is a wonderful teacher who takes the Jessica Steinfeld approach and feeds you economic theory through stories and current events, making the course much more engaging. I will say that understanding the content is really up to you and your TA, as you might not get a thorough answer to your question through lecture, but if you read the textbook you should be fine. Only have to attend lecture until you get 15 clickers right, but I would say just go to them. They're pretty enjoyable and his tests are 90% from lecture. Grading scale at the end of the course was generous

I won't say it is an easy A class. This class seems really easy at the beginning, but the final is tricky. I went through the study guide and practice questions but still found that there were questions from the final that had not been covered in the discussions or the lectures. And don't rely on the dutch knockout. A lot of people thought they could use the dutch knockout, but the final was more difficult than they imagined so it turned out they still had to use the 400 scale. Got an A-. Definitely a GPA killer for me. Don't really recommend this class unless you have to take it. Prof. Elzinga is a really nice person though.

Let me preface this by saying Elzinga is a really nice and interesting guy in a smaller setting. However, in 201 with such a large lecture it is hard to see that, so the class is pretty boring. The class isn't that hard if you read the textbook and attend discussion (many are optional unless there is a quiz so people skip) which are the main important tools for learning the concepts. I didn't get much out of the actual lecture itself and it was hard to pay attention. Overall I got an A and would recommend because econ as a subject is incredibly interesting

It's definitely a useful class regarding its material, no matter you gonna be an econ major or not. Elzinga is a nice and dedicated professor though it might be too much to call him "legendary" or "Uva's best professor". He pays a lot attention to teaching and has long office hours which is rare in a research university. It's not hard to get an A if you pay attention in the class and really understand the material. You can't get through just by memorizing theories, always make sure you understand. Colander is a good book and reading it helps. There will be two midterms and a final with dutch knockout.
The downside of his class is the big class size. All the noises can make you hard to focus, especially with Elzinga's not so clear and loud voice. He uses lecture sheets not ppt and they won't be posted online, so make sure you take good notes or take pictures of those sheets.

Elzinga is a good lecturer, it's nice to go to lecture and pay attention. Grading on exams is picky, but they're not really hard, per sé.

I don't really have a problem with Elzinga. A lot of my friends liked him but I really just didn't click with him. If you are taking Econ 2010 for anything other than comm school, take it with someone else. From what I heard it is much harder to get a good grade with him, and if you are not already interested in the material he doesn't do much to make you interested. I was completely unmotivated to pay attention in class, which only made his already tricky exams even worse. The grading on exams is somewhat flimsy too. While studying for the final, my friend and I found out we got marked wrong on the same question on the first test. The answer my TA said was correct was the one he got marked wrong for putting down, and the answer his TA said was correct was the one I got marked wrong for putting down. Like I said, only take this class with Elzinga if you plan on majoring in Econ or going into the comm school. Take it with a grad student otherwise.

Econ 2010 was my favorite course I took last semester and I would recommend it to anyone that has any interest in economics or that is simply looking for a class that isn't a huge time-sink. I liked Elzinga's style of lecturing, he made dry material as interesting as it could be and most lectures he had at least one line that would get a laugh out of the big lecture hall. My biggest piece of advice for those taking this course is to not slack off/ rely on the Dutch knockout because the final was (in my opinion) harder than a lot of people made it out to be. I personally did much better on the midterms than the final and I would've gotten an A- rather than an A, had I relied on "Dutching it." Overall it's a solid class with one of the university's best professors, little homework outside of reading and a decent curve.

I really enjoyed this class. The tests aren't too terrible but they aren't super easy either. Professor Elzinga is an awesome lecturer and a great person to talk to in general.

If looking for an easier A, don't take it with Elzinga. Every single point I missed on the midterms were due to wording even though I got the concepts correct! So I ended up with an A- rather than A, which I probably would've gotten with a different professor, but I'm still glad I took this with Elzinga. He's a cool dude, and lectures are interesting. Just take good notes because he doesn't post anything on Collab. Looking back, I learned a lot from this class!

There's nothing I can say about Prof. Elzinga that hasn't already been said. Take this class, even if you're not an econ major!