ECON 3010

This is honestly the most difficult course I have taken UVA as a second-year because of the large amount of material, above-average complexity of content, and need for independent exploration. Troyan is a big fan of making students do their own research and outreach to be able to fully understand and complete assignments. Office Hours for this course are essential to master concepts and ensure that you complete problem sets correctly. Additionally, make sure you find a good group to do problem sets with at the beginning of the semester because it makes life much easier. You will need to study a ton for exams, but if you do, you will see strong results. Despite the difficulty, this class is one of the most interesting I have been in. Troyan can yap a good bit during lectures, but overall they are digestible.

*NOTE: I took ECON3010 with Professor Troyan during the Spring 2023 semester, which isn't listed as an option within Course Forum*
Of the classes I've taken at UVA, this was easily my favorite. I think the other reviews overstate the difficulty of the course - while there is a LOT of content and the weekly problem sets take a long time to complete, the material itself isn't too hard to grasp. It's still a tough class and you'll have some late nights, but nothing unmanageable. Getting an A is definitely achievable if you're willing to put in the time, go to office hours, and ideally find a good study group. I really enjoyed the content itself; this is a much more interesting course than the introductory level because it starts to get into the math/reasoning behind some of the stuff that the intro level covers. Troyan's style of lecture may not be the most engaging, but they contain no fluff and are worth going to. Discussion attendance is not required. Exams are straightforward and fairly graded - you'll get points for putting effort into a problem even if you don't get the right answer. I didn't have problems with running out of time on exams, but some people did which is something to be aware of. You only need to take the final if you miss one of the exams during the semester for a valid reason - I missed Exam 1 and took the final to replace the grade, and it was a bit longer but no more difficult than the other exams. There's a generous curve at the end of the semester. Take this course with Troyan if you're even considering majoring in Econ.

I highly recommend taking this course with Troyan! ECON 3010 is pretty infamous so I'm not going to go into too much detail about the course content, but for Troyan's course you have weekly problem sets (besides during weeks with exams) and three non-cumulative exams. The basis of the course is essentially just optimization problems, so as long as you can take a derivative you should be fine mathematically. The content moved fairly quickly but was always digestible. Definitely take notes during class, but Troyan also posts his notes at the end of the week so that was great. Troyan also doesn't use Pearson MyLab so that was also great because it saved some $$$. Overall, I enjoyed this class. I definitely put a lot of time into the class but it was worth it because I was consistently confident in my ability to get an A. If you're worried about this class and how to prepare for it, literally just do the problem sets. And when I say do them, I mean DO THEM! If you don't do the problem sets and instead free ride off of your group, chances are you're going to know absolutely nothing until the day before the exam when you attempt to cram all the info into your head. This may work for some of you, but I do not see the point. I started each problem set asap and used Piazza to clarify any issues. Some problem sets were fairly time-consuming, and others were pretty easy. I never thought they were impossible, but they all take a few hours at least. If you do the problem sets and understand them, you should find the exams very easy to prepare for. One thing I enjoyed about the problem sets is that they make the class feel very application-focused. There is no need to memorize anything because you're just problem-solving, so while some of the problem sets were annoying, I overall did not find the course that stressful.

One last thing, if Tyler Ludwig is a listed TA for this course, TAKE IT WITH HIM! It'll be the best thing you've ever done. If you can't take it with Tyler I guess you can still benefit from his profound knowledge through Piazza. Tyler was fantastic and very helpful, which made getting through the more difficult problem set questions a lot easier. I'm not gonna name the other TA we had this semester, but he was terrible. Consistently gave out the wrong information and could barely explain some of the topics. I'm sure he was smart but he wasn't the most effective at teaching, so if you can, sign up for Tyler's discussion sections and live happily ever after.

Also, hope for a good problem set group. My group was incredibly useless (no offense to them, but if I drew a spiral and labeled it as the demand curve, they would believe me, and frankly I'm not sure if the other group member knows how to use google). Besides that, there was also the fact that they did not solve a single problem the entire semester, so if you find a group that actually tries you should find this class a lot more doable. You can wait to get assigned one but you can also just work with friends.

All in all, take this class with Troyan! Super fair grader. Great curve. Super helpful and accessible. Tyler is a great TA. Less math-y than other profs like Santugini, which made this class feel more like an economics class with math. Whereas, other profs make this class feel more like a math class with some econ words thrown in. Trust me, there's a difference. If you love math, feel free to take it with another prof, but if you're more interested in economics, take it with Troyan. His class feels a lot more conceptual.

This was a pretty difficult class, but I recommend taking it with Troyan over any of the other professors. Make sure you get a good group for the weekly homeworks because thats a pretty big part of your grade. The exams were very difficult but with the curve it is possible to get an A if you go over a ton of practice problems and do well on the homeworks.

I have never written a course review before, but felt it was my duty as a student to write this: DO NOT take this course with Troyan. This was easily the worst class I have ever taken, and I went to a public high school. Troyan is disorganized and teaches entirely from a pre-written lecture script. His lectures are literally just him rambling on for an hour and a half and you struggle to write down every piece of information because he gives no indication of what is important. There are no overarching concepts, it's all just furiously scribbling down equations that he doesn't explain. The tests are ridiculously difficult, and he curves off of the median instead of the mean. The TAs are awful and literally decrease your understanding of the material. The problem sets take at least two hours to solve, and that's with FOUR other people. Trying to do them by yourself takes upwards of three hours. Save yourself some heartache and take this class with someone else. Troyan is not the move.

I found Pete to be a fun lecturer even if the material was very dry. I wish I could have taken this class in person to see what he is like, because he seemed like a good guy even if his class was pretty hard. It's definitely doable to get an A if you spend a lot of your time on this class, but you'll have to put a large chunk of your schedule in to do that. Learn how to solve the problems like he does it and you'll be good to go, as the class has a pretty big curve. Solving discussion problems outside of class is also pretty useful, as they are very similar to exam questions and groupwork questions.
Advice for the class: A lot of time will be spent on groupwork, so prepping for that beforehand will sometimes make it go faster. Also, read the textbook before lectures even though it isn't mandatory, that will help you understand the more confusing topics better.

He focuses a lot on conceptual micro rather than math based micro. Really strict grader and doesn't care if you do well/understand the material.

I personally found this class to be very difficult but a B+ and above is certainly achievable if you work for it. Definitely do the offline homework and make sure you understand it. If you do, the exams shouldn’t be much harder. Luckily, at least this semester, there’s a generous curve in the course. Troyan is a great professor and I’m glad I had him.

My one recommendation for this class is that you visit office hours. Professor Troyan is a great lecturer and definitely willing to help out. This past semester the TA's were also very helpful. The problem sets can definitely be a challenge at times, but working in groups and getting help from the TA's makes them a lot more manageable. While COVID has altered the normal semester, the exams are definitely challenging. Overall this class relies on the amount of work you put into it outside of the lecture, so be prepared to get help and work hard if you want to do well in this class.

Obviously I haven't taken intermediate micro with any other professor who teaches it, but from taking it with Troyan alone I would suggest he's your best bet! The course is obviously going to be challenging for some folks, but I found his teaching to be very levelled and his grading very fair.

Professor Troyan is sweet and awkward and grades fairly. There are 3 exams, no "final" during finals week, and homework due most weeks. This is a good professor to take this class with.

The course is difficult, specifically the material before the first exam, but Troyan is helpful in office hours and the problem sets help to prepare you for the exams. Your grade comes from 3, non-cumulative exams (each worth 30%) and the other 10% comes from problem sets and the online HW. There are office hours almost every day and that was the most helpful for me. You need to keep up with the work in order to succeed and really make sure you understand the concepts and why a problem is solved a certain way. Troyan is really heavy on the conceptual side. Again, the TAs and Troyan are great resources, so definitely use them. Make sure you look back over the lectures and understand everything from them. His lectures are dense and anything can show up on the exam.

Happy with Troyan as my professor

Good professor. The problem sets are helpful in preparing you for the exams. Only one poorly worded question all year, and I got credit for answering it technically correct even though it was not the answer he intended to be correct. Helpful in office hours.

While intermediate micro has a reputation as a hard class no matter who you take it with, I would strongly recommend taking it with Troyan if he is an option. Although his lectures were non-stop with essential information, and sometimes it was hard to see how everything connected, I don't think there would be a better way of taking the class. He gives you all you need to know through lecture notes, problem sets, and practice tests making the tests very doable as there is no excuse to be underprepared. Yes, the tests have a time crunch component, and with any econ course it is easy to make silly mistakes, but Troyan's tests are extremely fair, and at the end of the day, not only can you do well in the class, but you can know the material very well. Take good notes while paying attention in lecture, know the problem sets really well, and review his slides online, and you can do very well in this class.

Overall I thought this class was really interesting and am glad I took it. Pete does a good job explaining stuff although he is a little awkward. You don't need the textbook as everything you need if from class/slides he puts up on collab. The tests are difficult because they are a time crunch but overall they are pretty fair if you have been doing the problem sets and not just free riding in your group. Important class for Econ majors obviously because you need it to be in the major but I would recommend it to others as well if you have interest beyond 2010/2020. I can't speak to if other teachers are better but I thought Troyan was good so would recommend him.

This is a notorious weed-out class in the econ department and is noticeably more difficult and math-heavy than intro to micro. I thought Troyan did a pretty good job teaching the class. I didn't look at the textbook all semester -- lecture and discussion give you all the info you'll need. Troyan looks like he's fresh out of grad school, which I think helped out. 3010 is not as interesting as the intro courses or more advanced courses, but is necessary to go further in econ, and I'm glad I took it with him.

Worst Professor

This class is going to be hard regardless of who you take it with, so know that. However, I believe that Professor Troyan offers a young energy and excitement to the course that may make it a better experience. He truly cares about the subject and seems to care about our understanding of it. He also has an incredible knowledge of it and his slides are pretty good at explaining the topics.

His homework is good at applying the concepts and a great practice for exams. You can also work in groups on it and I highly recommend that. Overall, Pete is a good guy for the job. (Also, Bill Johnson is a dope TA.)

Peter Troyan is a great teacher for this difficult course. His problem sets are difficult, but they do help you understand the material. The book is not as helpful as it should be, but if you do not understand it then it is a good resource. His slides do help and are the most important resource. This is a class that you have to go because he gives helpful tips in class.