ECON 3720

I was nervous to take econometrics, but I think Professor Farmer is the best professor to have taken the course with. His lectures are very digestable and easy to understand. He frequently skips the algebraic proofs and mathematical details and only asks you to understand big concepts. The only time proofs are relevant are in the beginning of the course, when deriving statistical concepts like unbiasedness and consistency. The first midterm is the hardest of the semester. It had a really low mean in the 60s, but the other two midterms are significantly easier. The curve isn't as generous as I had hoped; I was in the A-range for each of the midterms and got 3/3 on each of the problem sets but still ended up with an A-minus. Getting an A-minus or a B-plus is without a doubt achievable, but getting an A might be harder. Regardless of the grade I received, I really enjoyed this course and got a lot out of it. Professor Farmer was super kind and approachable in office hours and was patient with my never-ending questions. You can't go wrong with Professor Farmer! #tCFfall22

Leland Farmer's econometrics course is one of the best Economics courses I have taken at UVA. In terms of grading, the distribution was 25% for homework assignments (which are graded pretty leniently; this portion of the grade is the grade-booster) as well as 25% for each of the three midterms (the third midterm replaces a final and is not cumulative). The midterms are all challenging relative to those administered by other econometrics professors (the averages typically ranged from low 60s to mid 70s). However, Farmer curves the class distribution accordingly, as very few students would have achieved an A without a curve. As long as you study the material well, an A is by no means unachievable.

In terms of the lecture style, Farmer is an engaging lecturer and knows the subject very well; ask him any question in class and he will provide an in-depth and clear explanation. Moreover, the structure of the course emphasizes developing a deeper understanding of important concepts in statistics and econometrics – rather than memorizing Stata outputs or commands. Overall, I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in statistics, probability, or econometrics. Farmer is an amazing professor, and you will learn a lot throughout the semester!

This class seems especially daunting at first, especially when hearing from friends about how difficult/time intensive it is. That being said, I found this class to be relatively easy and ended up doing very well in it despite its reputation. Looking back, doing well in this class is more a product of class management than actually learning the material. I rarely went to class after the first exam, as he posts the slides online. The problems sets are not difficult if you understand basic regression, and for exams, you get a cheat sheet. Farmer was super big on notation, and so putting most of his slides onto the formula sheet was really important for success, especially if you aren't a great memorizer. That being said, he definitely gives you all of the tools you need, its just around exam time, you need to write out your cheat sheet and do a few practice problems. A very generous curve as well.

Terrible. No matter how hard you work in this class, it's set up for you to fail, and you don't really learn econometrics. Everyone did terribly this semester because the final was insane and he barely curved. Just take it with Michener, at least you'll learn something.

Nice guy, ineffective lecturer. Farmer strolls through each lecture giving incredibly difficult math/stat concepts while offering pretty much zero explanation on each slide. Unlike Michener, we do not even get to learn STATA, which would actually be a useful skill to learn. His first test he ended up being so difficult, he had to apologize to the class halfway through it and give us hints on how to solve it. In my opinion, that's a sign of failure of a test and a he should have thrown it out and offered us a new test or a Dutch Knockout. Overall, I can not recommend Farmer to anyone taking econometrics and would actually say you should definitely take Michener instead.