ECON 2559

This class was fairly interesting. The professor was passionate about the class, but it contained a fair amount of concepts for an introductory class. You do not really need to pay full attention in lecture, as the slides contain all of the information. There is lots of excess however in the slides, so sometimes it can be difficult to sort through and see what you actually need to use/know. The problem sets took a while, however you could generally use the slides to figure it out. The problem sets were only about once every other week. The midterm and final exam were easier than the problem sets and you generally knew what you had to know because you are given a review presentation.

Material is pretty interesting, however do not take this class in hopes of it being a relatively easier one. Miller is very enthusiastic in her teaching, but the foundation of the class itself was disappointing. Assignments, exams, and lectures contained errors, there was little explanation on how to tackle certain problems, and I did not feel the grading was fair. Point reduction differed based on the grader and there was no curve at the end even though we were promised. Grade distribution was never disclosed to the class in the end. Got completely robbed as my final grade was raw. Definitely do not recommend if you haven’t taken many other Econ courses as a lot of concepts are used.

I took this class thinking that it would be an easy elective, but I was quickly proven wrong. The class was broken down into 6 problem sets (50%), one mid-term (20%), and the final (30%). The problem sets were extremely difficult to get done using just the notes from the lectures and powerpoints since the slides were missing half of the information needed. I went to almost every single TA discussion/OH and would spend at least three hours on each assignment (not including the discussions/OH). Luckily, the lowest grade gets dropped but still. The mid-term was not nearly as difficult as the problem sets, which I guess I should consider lucky, but they were graded pretty harshly. The final is still tentative, but I'll update once I take it and get the grade back. As an econ major, I thought the content was pretty advanced for an intro-level class. There were many concepts that I had not seen before, and I found myself often getting lost during lectures. I honestly felt really bad for the students who took it with no econ background at all. Professor Miller also did not tell us what the grade distribution was going to be. Any time it was mentioned in class, she would not give us a definitive answer. I'm assuming the cutoff score for an A will be a 93 but who knows at this point. Overall, I've taken easier electives and would not recommend this class unless you are truly interested in the content. #tCFF23