ECON 3020

Disclaimer: I missed the midterm and have yet to take the final which Professor young is allowing me to take for 80% of my grade…

Despite what most of the reviews say, Professor Young’s lectures were probably the most enjoyable lectures I’ve had the opportunity of experiencing in the Econ department at UVA. While he does not post anything from lecture on canvas, does not use slide much, and mostly write on the chalk board, his ability to tell the complex story of the evolution of the macroeconomic economy throughout history, explain and contrast various schools of economic thought, and maintain engagement throughout the full 50 minutes is exceptional. A downside of Professor Young’s are his homework’s, as many have already mentioned. They tend to be of little help to further or deeper understanding of the material and are mostly just “busy work”. Professor Young also makes a point to try and limit access to class information outside of class by posting nothing on canvas and instructing the TAs to do the same. While he claims this is to promote a greater attendance rate which I understand, I think it’s comes at too great of a cost to our learning, especially students who are better learners through reading and hands on activity rather than listening to a lecture. As for the textbooks (there are two), the first one you read is quite outdated and a little hard to read. The other textbook is much better, but Les did the material is derived from those readings. Further, the textbooks in general do not coincide very well with what is taught in lecture. Missing class along with being unable to access anything on canvas or use the book effectively to figure out what was taught in lecture makes success in the class for students with legitimate reasons for missing multiple lectures far fetched. Overall, Professor Young’s teaching style isn’t for everyone, but if you are relatively high in openness and therefore don’t mind lectures going off on tangents and often being disorganized, Professor Young makes for a very great teacher. Furthermore, it is obvious that the man is very smart and knows what he is talking about, so if you can get passed the few gigantic faults his class has, you will very likely get a lot out of this class. I would say that this is a kind of class that teaches you a lot and therefore achieves the most essential goal of a college course, but it is also a course that makes very little effort to help students do well GPA wise. If your smart, you want to learn more than you want to do well, and are a student who rarely misses class, this is the class for you.

I had the unfortunate experience of taking a class taught by Eric Young. His intelligence was evident, but his ability to teach was severely lacking. He had a tendency to be scattered and unfocused, making it difficult to follow his lectures. He also showed a lack of consideration for his students, and often disregarded questions or comments. Despite my best efforts, I barely passed the class. I would not recommend Eric Young as a teacher.

I'll start off by saying that Eric Young Jr. isn't an awful lecturer. It's really the rest of the things he does that make this class unenjoyable. He doesn't post any class slides/notes, and tells the TAs to do the same for discussion, so missing any class is an issue. In addition, the textbooks aren't super helpful, so good luck if you don't get what he's saying in lecture. When studying for exams, he gives you short practice tests that are actually pretty helpful if you can manage to get the answers, which isn't as easy as it should be, as the notes he posts for them on collab are 50/50 whether they give you answers or not. All in all, from what I've heard, Westerfield is a great teacher so take this class with her.

I wish I listened to the reviews and took this with another professor. Material was interesting, but Young was just so so bad. #tCFspring2021

He's still terrible. The TAs will let you know Prof Young told them to be as unhelpful as possible. He also doesn't' allow them to record meetings, post answer keys to hws/ exams. The midterm is pretty similar to the practice questions and what's been done in class (at least it was in Spring 2021) even though he told us it wouldn't be anything like the practice questions repeatedly. However, his hws are the worst. The wording is vague and a lot of times doesn't make sense.

I feel bad for writing this, but it needs to be said. Eric Young should never be allowed to teach an undergraduate course again. First, terrible selection of TAs... Second, his entire philosophy on teaching is inappropriate, ineffective and archaic. This professor thinks you can teach Macro economics to undergraduates using no data, no math, no real world application, no statistics, and nothing that's actually macroeconomics. Professor young, if you are reading this, please stop teaching 3020 like this... take some notes from Westerfield because every one of your students was worked harder, but gained less. I can truly say that I gained nothing from this course. I have never written a course forum review in my three years at UVA. So congrats you are the first! A waste of thousands of dollars and a waste of every single second spent thinking about the ethereal realm of stupidity that we slogged through. If it wasnt for some really good economics professors that I have had, that actually taught the material I signed up for, I would never take another econ class again. Also, a B/B- avg for 3020 is just not fair when Maria's students are curved to a B+/A-. I recommend you spend a year or two listening and taking notes from other econ professors at UVA before you try again. Thank you for almost ruining economics for me! Throw your textbook in the garbage (both of them)! One last note, your hws... you know what I am talking about, which makes the point. See you never!

I know some of the other reviews for Professor Young can be bad, but I think he must have totally changed the way the class is taught. ECON 3020 is a required class for the major, and I would highly recommend Professor Young to any Econ major. The lectures and textbook readings can be dry, but Young makes the sometimes complicated and confusing macro theory easy to understand and intuitive. If you go to lecture and do the assigned readings, you will be more than fine on the exams. He also posts practice questions online, and the exams are almost identical to these practice questions. For the homeworks, these are more complicated, but are worth less so you don't have to do stellar. Discussion sections are very useful - definitely go. Overall, from what I've heard from other Econ majors who've taken 3020 with different professors, I would say Professor Young is the way to go.

DO NOT TAKE MACRO WITH ERIC YOUNG. he is the worst teacher I've ever had in any Econ class, and only got stuck with him because of a bad enrollment time. His homeworks are ridiculously hard and time consuming and barely help with understanding the material, they just stress you out and hurt your grade because the TA's take off so many points. I agree with the other comment below that he is condescending. I spent a lot of time in Office hours hoping I could get help but often times I felt really embarrassed and had my self-esteem lowered a little bit each time I went because of how he answered my questions. I tried not to dislike him so much and thought maybe it was just me judging him unfairly, but even with an open mind and chatting with him a few times I must say he is a bad professor and not that caring of a person. This class wouldn't be so hard if there was a better book with it but the textbooks he assigned were the absolute worst and unhelpful. The lectures were dry but the notes you took in class were really the only thing that could help you study for exams. I'm leaving this class with a much lower grade than I think I could've gotten with a different professor. Seriously if you need to take this class wait for a semester with another professor. I repeat, stay away from Eric young.

Do not take 3020 with Eric Young! Homeworks are nothing like what we learn in lecture, and tests are nothing like homeworks. Both tests and homeworks are ridiculously hard because they are both free response and the TAs are instructed to take off points for any tiny error. Also, the professor and the TA are not helpful with homework or content questions. If you do take the class, you cannot miss a single lecture and if you didn't take good notes for the day, you're screwed. The readings don't help with the lecture notes, and I don't know why he bothers to give them. Young is also very condescending. I went to an office hours once where a girl asked a question and he asked her how she could possibly not know that. In my opinion, a professor should be willing to answer a question without making the student feel like an idiot.

Young teaches macro as if it's micro, just with different material. He approaches macroeconomics with a lot of the microeconomics models, so I wouldn't suggest taking his course if you don't know micro well. You have to go to lecture. The readings only kinda help - he even says that the readings are supposed to be harder and more expansive than his lectures. His exams are a little harder than usual, but he offers solid practice examples in preparation. The homeworks are really difficult, but there aren't too many of them. All in all, I wouldn't suggest taking his class if you're not an econ major or if you want to just learn about modern economic statistics, because he doesn't really bother with discussions on modern-day GDP or inflation. But for an econ major, it's really good foundational analysis.

Professor Young is a great professor. I really enjoyed his lectures! Everything about his class, I enjoyed. The material is not particularly easy, but he explains each topic clearly and develops logical models with much precision. The good stuff ends here... His TA couldn't speak english. His TA didn't understand simple english sentances. His TA was the most unreasonable grader I have ever met. If you really want to learn from Professor Young and can figure out how to convince Jiao Hu that your answer deserves more than 2/20 points when your answer is unequivocally 3/4 correct, then you will probable leave this class with a great understanding of macro. My last end of rant thought is that I believe Professor Young is not the director of graduate studies so he no longer teaches lowly undergrads, but if you see Jiao as your TA, RUN!!!

Great class!

First off, I wish I took this class with a different professor. That said, the course wasn't the best. The lectures were fairly easy to follow; however, the homeworks were almost impossible, and the TAs grading the homework did not give any breaks at all. The tests weren't too bad, yet you never knew what your actual grade for the course was until you found out on SIS after finals, which is ridiculous. Professor Young mentioned that he wouldn't be teaching the course for three years.

I agree about regretting taking this section of 3020. Homeworks are impossible and very nitpicking in the grading. Tests are not easy by any means. Luckily for the rest of you he's not teaching anymore.

Young is pretty so-so. He structures the class poorly, then tries to teach a lot of weird stuff. He's pretty bad about HW too, which is just god-awful. I'd stay away but I think he's done with teaching Econ 302 forever.

I so regret to take this class. HW are SO hard and even a little errors would cost you the most points. Everything said above is true and I regret so much not listen to the comments above. No my gpa sufferes!!

the tests are extremely similar to the practice problems. the homeworks are graded unnecessarily hard.

It can be a tough class, but if you can follow his lectures he actually does a good job teaching the material.

Homeworks are SUPER hard and graded harshly... you're allowed to work in groups but a lot of times that's not that helpful. The TAs aren't allowed to help much either, which kind of sucks because they count for a decent chunk of the overall grade.

That said, tests are more reasonable. Nothing like the homeworks.

Homeworks seem tough but are right out of lecture and the book--spend time on them and it will pay off in the end! Tests are hard but he curves heavily.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HIM

Great teacher, no point in buying text books as everything he tests on comes from class notes

Prof. Young is in fact quite a good professor. He explains the concepts pretty well, therefore going to the classes are very important in understanding the subject. This is especially the case when the textbook is not very useful. There are altogether 5 problem sets, 2 midterms and 1 final. The midterms and finals are mainly based on what he taught during the lectures. Don't bother worrying about not knowing how to do the problem sets, since he won't test the stuff which he made us do in the problem sets.

I really enjoyed this class. Against what everyone seems to think, Young does a great job teaching macroeconomics. Textbooks are hard and homeworks completely irrelevant to tests and final (and arguably to life). With everything I learned, I feel compelled to recommend this class.

I enjoyed this class. Young is a really good lecturer. He is very concise and he knows his stuff. After taking the class, I feel like I have a good background knowledge of macro theory. The course is, however, challenging and requires a significant amount of studying to be successful.

Young is a good guy, but not a very good professor. The course is heavily theory-based but the homework and the tests expect you to apply this theory based on little-to-know practice or examples. The two textbooks are unhelpful. It is absolutely necessary to go to class because the problem sets and midterms are basically based off of lecture. The TAs vary in usefulness, but they grade your papers so asking them for help is a good idea. Hard class, you'll have to work hard.

Young was a decent lecturer, but the exam questions were very unlike homework questions and other practice problems. Homework was also difficult. Discussion sections were generally unhelpful, but that may have just been the TA.

The book assigned was really terrible. Going to lectures is a really good idea, the notes will help. Homeworks are always super hard and don't relate to the tests at all. He posts a practice test for both midterms and the exam, study that a lot.

A terrible professor he is probably knowledgable about his material but doesn't know what he is talking about. He only teaches what he want to teach so many appropriate material for ECON302 have not been teach. He spends entire semester just talking about Solow Growth Model for example.

Grade distrubution is harsh, don't take it unless you need to

The homework is hard but you will be fine if you stick with the TA. Blackboard notes are basically what you need for your homework and tests but it is always inadequate to get an A. Take another class if you want to get an easy A.

Don't take this class unless you absolutely have to.

Eric Young is awful. The homework has nothing to do with the lectures or tests. It is incredibly difficult and the books are of no value at all.

Not the worst teacher, but the guy is an asshole.

I found the class to be pretty good, consisted on working on econ models. Exams are predictable assuming you first take a look at older midterms (available from prof). The course is rigorous and not so difficult assuming a reasonable math backgorund (Calc II helps). I suggest to take it right after 301.

boring, unstructured lectures; Young is enthusiastic but not especially good at his job; homeworks often branch on tangents from class to torture us; must go to discussion to do well because TA's cover brand new material there that will be on hw's and tests

This class was not easy. The homeworks take HOURS, literally, and each one is 5% of your grade. The tests are only three questions so if you don't know one of the topics you're screwed. Young is energetic and enthusiastic, but absolutely flies through the material and has no real order to things. I've heard that other professors are worse though, so he might be the lesser of evils.

This course sucks and Eric Young is a terrible professor. He is a horrible teacher - he only takes things straight fromt he book, doesn't explain things well, and doesn't really use other examples. He also gives tests cannot be completed in the given time and enjoys giving bad grades on midterms and homeworks. While this course is a requirement for the Economics Major, do NOT take it with Eric Young if you can possibly help it. Also, make to go to section the week a homework is due because they basically tell you how to do it. The rest of the time, section is worthless.

The homeworks are difficult, but managable. You will be pressed for time on the midterms, so be prepared

Homeworks are insanely hard, but the tests are much more reasonable.