ECON 3010

Genuinely just one of the most thoughtful and dedicated professors I have had yet. She clearly cares about her students, not only about them learning the material but about their learning environment and personal life. She is flexible and organized and is completely willing to work with students if they have any issues so my advice is to reach out if you are struggling/need an extension.

That being said, the class is not EASY. However, it is completely manageable if you stay on top of work and attend class, but be prepared to spend a lot of time outside of class doing homework and studying. Also, any student who has taken microeconomics at the college level (and specifically did well) is significantly better off than other students. Not saying that to scare those that didn't, I am sure you will be fine, but I found that almost 95% of the material was already covered in ECON 2010. Also, everyone makes it seem like there is SO much calculus but the highest level calc you will need is a partial derivative and there is a review of this in the start of the semester.

Parting words are to TAKE THIS WITH PROFESSOR WESTERFIELD IF YOU CAN!!!!

If you prefer graphing instead of numerical calculation problems, Westerfield is probably a good choice for you. She makes you print off long note outlines to fill out for every lecture that are absolutely required. Trust me. If you don't have the note outlines, understanding what is going on will be very tough. She doesn't post her slides or outlines. Her exams consisted of multiple choice, quick math and "math and graph" problems. The multiple choice questions were very difficult and required you to understand the concepts instead of just how to work problems. Other than the group problem sets and exams, she offered several smaller assignments that made up 10% of your final grade. Every class, there was a Question of the Day that was worth 1 pt for participating and 2 pts for the right answer. These were super easy true or false questions and took literally 15 seconds at the end of class. Another 5% of your grade was "On-Call" days. Each student had 4 total, so every class about 12 people were on-call. You prepare for these days by filling out the note outline in advance. Personally, this was why I didn't like the course. I found it very difficult to understand the material during lecture because the majority of class time was students simply reciting their note outline when called on. The pressure of getting called on also added unnecessary stress. This isn't going to be a problem for some people, but I thought I'd mention it just in case anyone is like me and despises getting called on. As for the final grade, I don't think she curves it much and she does NOT round up. I know someone who was 0.7 points away from getting the required C+ grade and she didn't round it up for him. Now he has to retake the class. Overall, if you don't mind the on-call stuff, she's definitely a good professor to take the class with. Averages on her midterms were a bit higher than you would expect.

Take this class with Maria Westerfield if you are an econ major. Do not take if not an econ major, test MC is very difficult but overall class is reasonably.

Had to retake this class bc I didn't do so well the first time I took it with a different professor. Compared to the last prof, Maria makes the material far more digestible and relatable. Her problem sets and tests require far less math and quantitative skills than other classes - which is a big plus if you're not as numerically inclined. She's very big on concepts and her tricky multiple-choice questions on the tests reflect this. A pretty time-consuming class in general and she's made it more difficult to get better grades than before since so many students were taking her just to get an easy A. Make sure to attempt the review problems and ungraded ones - they're there for a reason! And go to office hours as she's extremely helpful and really clarifies any confusion.

Westerfield is probably the best professor to take ECON 3010 for economics majors. She is a very good lecturer and always available for help. Class is difficult and moves at a fast pace. Grading consists of two midterms, one final, several problem sets that you can work on in groups, and a small participation/on-call grade.

Maria is definitely the best professor for this class. I wouldn't recommend taking ECON 301 unless you have to for the major, but if you do, take it with her! She is very organized and makes the material clear and relatable. You can see that she cares a lot about her students and if you're willing to put in the work, you can definitely get an A.

Lectures: She makes you print handouts, it is impossible to keep up otherwise. You are "on call" once a month which means you have to prepare the notes ahead of time. Its a pain but an easy 5% of your grade.

Book: The one she uses is by Perloff, it is great. Appendix has lots of formulas.

Online Homework: only 1 attempt per question, based on the book. Sometimes confusing, but its not too bad.

Group Problem Sets: These are based on the lectures and are due in discussion. It helps to pick a good group to work with. Set aside some time each week to do it.

Discussion: Useless, no point in attending unless you have to hand in a group problem set.

Tests: The main problem with her course. No one could finish the tests! They were as long as the problem sets (aka two hours long) but class was only an hour and a half (fifteen extra minutes for the test). The tests are based on the problem sets. If you can do those, you can do the test. Success is dependent on finishing the entire test, above all else.

Final: more multiple choice compared to the midterms, it was quite difficult, but doable if you prepared.

She could not design a test which can be finished in time if her life depended on it, but her lectures are clear enough. There are plenty of resources to prepare for the final.

If you struggled with 201 I would avoid this course. On the other hand, if you felt you understood the concepts in 201 (even if you did not get a great grade), you will be fine with work. But you have to put in the work.

So Westerfield teaches the material well, and she made course expectations very clear. Overall, she was a good instructor; however, on both Tests 1 and 2, she did not give anyone enough time to fully show what they knew. I, like most people in the class, had entire sections of the tests blank because she had unrealistic expectations about the amount of work we could accomplish in an hour and fifteen minutes. Overall, she's not your worst option for a intermediate micro professor, but make sure you are extremely prepared for tests because she can screw you on tests.