ECON 2010

Elzinga is an amazing professor! I loved this class and would recommend to anyone, Econ major or not. It changes how you think about pretty much everything. Occasionally, lectures will be boring, but are engaging for the most part and there is not that much work outside of class (~1-2 hours a week of reading). The only challenging part is the curve, only around 11% of students will get an A or higher, so you have to be better than your peers, but if you can do that, then you will do well and gain a better understanding of how the world works.

Honestly the class in itself is useless. I didn't even bother attending lecture once I got my clicker points and I also never read a single chapter of the textbook. Elzinga yapped about soup for about half the lectures I did go to. But i mess with him heavy fr. Hes so old and frail. Like a sleepy bird. But yeah i recommend doing practice problems. If you do the practice problems in the textbook, you'll literally see exactly that on the actual final. I think the class is super light courseload and it's more of a "lock in for two days before the exam and all you're going to do and think about is econ but after the test you don't have to worry about it for like 4 weeks straight" kind of class. No active effort required in between tests, but a lot of effort right before the tests. I would recommend getting a good TA though, because I did actually use my mousy, kind of submissive TA for the first midterm. Also btw first midterm is super easy, second is hardest, final is easiest if you actually do the text book problems.

Such a good teacher with a passion for the topic. Exams are tough and not multiple choice at all, but if you show up youll do well. The discussions were also really helpful and mandatory.

I'd say it's worth it to take this class just to experience having Elzinga as a professor, but I don't love the way this course is structured. The textbook is far more efficient at teaching actual content than the lectures are, and I didn't find my discussion to be that helpful either. Your grade for this class is pretty much entirely based on 2 midterms and a final exam, and while they're not impossible, they're definitely written to trick you. Especially if you're new to economics as a subject, STUDY HARD. The content is super interesting but you definitely need to put the work in to get a good grade.

Lectures are incredibly boring and also quite difficult to follow. Elzinga and Mackay both tend to veer away from the initial topic and spend a lot of time explaining in-depth examples, but don't really show much relevant information on the slides. As a result, if you're not 100% locked in, you're going to end up missing lots of the material. Textbook reading is basically required if you want an A. Also, your TA matters SOOO much in this class, so make sure to switch into a good one early in the semester if you can. The Dutch Knockout is decent, but you have to tryhard the class nonetheless. Take the other Professor if you have the chance!

2x lectures + 1x discussion a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, attendance optional but recommended for clicker questions. Exams are worth 80 points, final 200 points, 15 points max for clicker questions, and 25 points from your discussion section. Dutch Knockout exists where if your final exam grade is higher than the breakdown listed above, your final exam grade becomes your final grade. Try not to allow yourself to get to the point where you'll rely on it.

Professor Elzinga or MacKay will lecture for 55mins (starting five minutes past the listed class start time and finish 15 minutes early) about a general topic. They go over very little substantive content in their presentation, but spend most of their time explaining examples or offering occasionally chuckle-worthy anecdotes to aid your understanding. My TA spent our discussion sections rushing to explain all of the material that was supposedly covered in the week's lectures. What each TA does in their discussion sections is up to them, but be sure to stick with a good one. I fear that watching videos, reading the textbook, and doing example problems are all musts to do well in this course, especially for the exams. Swallow your pride, pretend you're dumb, and study well in advance for the exams. I'm sure you'll end up doing better than me. It is a difficult course and it does suck that it is a prerequisite for many majors/minors so take at your own risk. My non-serious gripe with the professors is that they both read from scripts for the lectures which made their speaking more impersonal than it already was.

This is course was rly interesting for sure. I got taught by both elzinga and mackay. This was my first time in a 500+ lecture hall. One thing is that the tests are super tricky and to not rely on Dutch knock out. Either way you have to do good as it’s either 50% of your grade or 100%. Although the professors are lovely, this class made me tweak out for the entire semester. So much stress and studying that rly didn’t end up being reflected in the tests. To be honest, I could have studied nothing and probably do the same amount of worse. Take this if you want the experience of elzinga but if you want ur GPA first, take the other two profs.

The professor is great and enjoyable to listen to, but the lectures themselves were not very helpful. I found that much of the material covered in class wasn’t particularly relevant. I read the textbook before attending, hoping the lecture would go over the more challenging concepts or at least highlight them, but instead the class often focused on random or very basic topics. Overall, going to lecture wasn’t very beneficial.

I would not recommend taking this class unless required. I took it out of curiosity to see if I might minor in Econ, and it wasn’t worth it.

My TA was also disappointing. Many TAs made review packets with practice questions similar to those on the final, which is very helpful, but my TA did not. About 10 questions on the final were similar to those packets, so I missed out on that extra preparation. I felt this was unfair, though it’s too late to do anything now that grades are posted.

If you’re taking this course to explore the subject, I’d recommend choosing a different professor, especially if you’re new to Economics.