ECON 3010

You're better off teaching yourself ECON 3010 then taking this professor. Horrible professor to say the very least. Teaches at a very fast pace and goes at the pace of the smartest kids in class. Expects you to know everything and belittles you if you ask a question. Teaches difficult material that is found no where in the textbook or power-points. Gives examples of the most simple concepts and problems in class, but gives problems sets as homework that is very complex . The TA doesn't even understand the homework either and is as confused as the students are. Says he offers help and office hours for students, but really disregards them and says he's busy. Extremely lazy in all aspects of teaching. Especially when it comes to giving out solution to problem sets for the homework and exam. Doesn't give a step by step way to actually solve the problems but only the solution itself. Gives practice problems to help for the exams only to find out it's full of mistakes and a waste of time. Honestly felt like a graduate course with the complex homework and exams. Do not take this professor if you want to declare the major for economics.

I want to make amends with Gaurab on the topic of grades since the grades just came out this morning. Gaurab had essentially told us in an email that we needed to be about average in the class in order to obtain a C+, which econ majors know as the ultimate dividing line in ECON 3010. Putting the average or even median as a C+ is pretty harsh in most classes, particuarly one that matters so much for the most popular major in the College (for good reason). I went into the final basically at a C, seemingly digging myself out of a hole and at best hoping for a C+, but I ended up getting a B+. I think Gaurab truly wanted us to strive to do our best by thinking we weren't going to get a major curve when in reality his plan all along was to bell curve the class at the end with the average being around a low B/high B-. That being said, this class put a lot of stress and agony on people. I put dozens upon dozens of hours into his problem sets and studying for his tests. Looking back, it was probably good for us to experience this since the grades were appropriately curved. But, at the time, it was literal hell.

I'll let the other reviews speak for themselves about the quality of our dear professor because in many cases they are 100% true. Very unclear in lecture, very unhelpful outside lecture. Our TA did the best he could, but he could never seem to pick up on Gaurab's nonsense half the time. No one in the class ever knew where their grade actually stood after tests. Dozens of hours of studying were essentially deemed worthless, although looking back the material wasn't overly difficult. Cournot/Stackelberg Duopolies, Hicksian Demand, double marginalization, and labor supply are deemed graduate level topics in some cases by other universities (like Ohio State), but the basics are not hard once you've studied them long enough and seen the process enough times online or in practice problems. What makes this class difficult is not the material, it's the professor and his teaching methods. I would not, by any means, ever recommend taking ECON 3010 with Gaurab Aryal unless you absolutely have to. And if you do, you better find yourself a solid study group early on. Figure out all the processes to the problems, write them down on notecards, and do practice problems for days. Do them until you can literally do the process in your head without looking at a problem. Maybe then will you be able to avoid the over-the-top stress, indignation, and anger that we felt towards the class and towards the professor. For those that find themselves working their way back up after the first test, don't get discouraged. There will be a curve after the final and as long as you are hanging at a C- or above going into the final and study hard and crush it you'll be 100% ok.

If you're really good at algebra and calc (like I was/am), this is probably one of the easiest classes you'll take at UVa if you take it with Aryal. If not, then you'd be best off with taking it with someone different.

Unless you plan on being an econ major, you probably shouldn't take this class. That being said, I did feel I learned a lot from the class. The class focuses more on algebra and low level calculus than conceptual information. His lecturers weren't the greatest, but they were good enough that I could go off my notes for homework and exams. The homework was very difficult, in my opinion. The questions were challenging and it seemed that he didn't try to do them himself before giving it to us. I found the tests to be significantly easier than the homeworks. As long as you know how to do each kind of problem, you can easily get an A on the test. We basically had 3 midterms (each 25%) and 5 homeworks (each 5%). The class was curved overall.

Gaurab is really an interesting guy. I loved his personality and his enthusiasm about the coursework. I can absolutely understand why students struggled, especially because SOME of the homework problems were difficult. He requires your time and attention. You do not to read a book to do well. In truth, we covered a decent amount of material but were tested on a very limited amount of it. I received an A without a textbook, but I spent hours working on the homeworks and reviewing for his exams. If you'd like a semi-tough class with an interesting guy and a contained range of material, take this class with Gaurab.

Easy course, he explains questions well. As long as you do all the practice exams, you will do super well. His class is way easier than other professors, and the TA is also really helpful. Make sure you go to TA discussions.