ECON 1
Principles of Economics
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Not open to students with credit for former course 100. Introduction to principles of economic analysis, economic institutions, and issues of economic policy. Emphasis on allocation of resources and distribution of income through price system. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
5 of 7
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - This class gave me my first ever B at UCLA. In every class, I go above and beyond when it comes to working hard for the class, especially with stem courses because math doesn’t come naturally to me. I thought I would be fine with this class since econ one doesn’t use any calculus, but I was wrong. My TA consistently gave us the wrong answers for the weekly section quizzes, and on one of the most important questions, the answer key was incorrect and the professor never sent an email to the class making a correction. It wasn’t until I discovered this mistake and emailed both my TA and professor that the professor emailed out the correct answer on THE DAY OF THE FINAL. The final was worth 50% of the final grade, so even though I got a 98% on the midterm, my hard work in the class didn’t matter unless I did really well on the final. Even after giving myself ample time to study, the final was so hard for me, and clearly it was difficult for the rest of the class because the average was a 74%. If this wasn’t an intro course, I’d understand that average, but I felt the final was much too difficult for a class that’s supposed to be “easy”. Overall, I thought I would enjoy this class much more than I did and it’s disappointing because the professor seemed like a really nice lady.
Fall 2019 - This class gave me my first ever B at UCLA. In every class, I go above and beyond when it comes to working hard for the class, especially with stem courses because math doesn’t come naturally to me. I thought I would be fine with this class since econ one doesn’t use any calculus, but I was wrong. My TA consistently gave us the wrong answers for the weekly section quizzes, and on one of the most important questions, the answer key was incorrect and the professor never sent an email to the class making a correction. It wasn’t until I discovered this mistake and emailed both my TA and professor that the professor emailed out the correct answer on THE DAY OF THE FINAL. The final was worth 50% of the final grade, so even though I got a 98% on the midterm, my hard work in the class didn’t matter unless I did really well on the final. Even after giving myself ample time to study, the final was so hard for me, and clearly it was difficult for the rest of the class because the average was a 74%. If this wasn’t an intro course, I’d understand that average, but I felt the final was much too difficult for a class that’s supposed to be “easy”. Overall, I thought I would enjoy this class much more than I did and it’s disappointing because the professor seemed like a really nice lady.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Like a couple of other posts mentioned, you can definitely feel the disconnect between students and staff in this class. Took this class a pre-req for my major (not an econ major), and I got an A, but I didn't necessarily end the class happily. The grade structure is midterm, midterm, final, and then the weekly homework was 15% I think. I stopped going to lecture after Week 4 because reading the online materials and watching Youtube was much more helpful. I think by the last class, only 20-30 students were still attending lectures. If you have no prior familiarity with Econ, prepare to self-study a lot. Most people don't find his lectures helpful. One of the reviews compared this to a kindergarten class, I do not think it is THAT easy, but you'll probably do well if you've taken econ in high school. I've never seen my TAs face. He sent us videos of him doing a few problems every week, and then he went MIA after week 3. Radio silence when the people in my discussion tried to reach out to him. I was genuinely worried for him for a while. He didn't come back until the end of the quarter. The online final exam crashed when we were taking it. The TAs host a zoom call for students to join while they take the exam in case there are technical issues. When the website crashed some people in my discussion started panicking, and he just sent us all into the waiting room and emailed us the new directions to take the test. Didn't open the Zoom again. The website wasn't working for a good 30minutes, and we only received an additional 15 minutes to submit the exam. That included transferring your answers from the online exam (which was segmented into a different page for every question, so you had to view every question and response independently) to a document or piece of paper and then transferring THOSE answers to an email to send the TA. I know someone who had to cancel a therapy appointment they had already paid for and another classmate who was super late to work because of this. So the lack of understanding was :/ This was one of the first classes I've taken at UCLA--I'm a first-year--and I still feel so sad that I'm paying top dollar for these kinds of classes. Don't know if it's a common feeling since it is only my second quarter now, but I felt like I wasn't perceived as a person who wanted to learn. It is obvious that the TA and the professor wanted to be as impersonal as possible. I guess I get it if the class is 400 students big, but the lack of understanding, empathy, and sincerity still made me really disappointed, especially from the #1 public university in the US.
Fall 2020 - Like a couple of other posts mentioned, you can definitely feel the disconnect between students and staff in this class. Took this class a pre-req for my major (not an econ major), and I got an A, but I didn't necessarily end the class happily. The grade structure is midterm, midterm, final, and then the weekly homework was 15% I think. I stopped going to lecture after Week 4 because reading the online materials and watching Youtube was much more helpful. I think by the last class, only 20-30 students were still attending lectures. If you have no prior familiarity with Econ, prepare to self-study a lot. Most people don't find his lectures helpful. One of the reviews compared this to a kindergarten class, I do not think it is THAT easy, but you'll probably do well if you've taken econ in high school. I've never seen my TAs face. He sent us videos of him doing a few problems every week, and then he went MIA after week 3. Radio silence when the people in my discussion tried to reach out to him. I was genuinely worried for him for a while. He didn't come back until the end of the quarter. The online final exam crashed when we were taking it. The TAs host a zoom call for students to join while they take the exam in case there are technical issues. When the website crashed some people in my discussion started panicking, and he just sent us all into the waiting room and emailed us the new directions to take the test. Didn't open the Zoom again. The website wasn't working for a good 30minutes, and we only received an additional 15 minutes to submit the exam. That included transferring your answers from the online exam (which was segmented into a different page for every question, so you had to view every question and response independently) to a document or piece of paper and then transferring THOSE answers to an email to send the TA. I know someone who had to cancel a therapy appointment they had already paid for and another classmate who was super late to work because of this. So the lack of understanding was :/ This was one of the first classes I've taken at UCLA--I'm a first-year--and I still feel so sad that I'm paying top dollar for these kinds of classes. Don't know if it's a common feeling since it is only my second quarter now, but I felt like I wasn't perceived as a person who wanted to learn. It is obvious that the TA and the professor wanted to be as impersonal as possible. I guess I get it if the class is 400 students big, but the lack of understanding, empathy, and sincerity still made me really disappointed, especially from the #1 public university in the US.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - Professor Elham S as a person is great and deserves all the appreciation but as a Professor, not. I had taken Economics Classes in High School but the credit didn't transfer and therefore for me, whether she completed one chapter of all the six chapters, didn't matter. She couldn't go through 6 Chapters or 300 Slides in 10 Weeks! All the students who will take Econ 11 after taking her Class will be unprepared and screwed. This Class has permanently hit my views on UCLA as a University and the incompetent Econ Department. Midterm 1 was extremely simple. (20 MCQs in 75 Minutes). However, thank God they screwed the printing of Midterm 2 or nobody in this Class would have scored even an A-. I don't know what happened to her and she changed track and made this incomprehensible, complex and difficult Midterm 2 that would make even a Ph.D. Student doubt his or her knowledge. The Final was of medium level difficulty and doable. The Mindtap Homework ($100 for no value) was graded for completion and there was a Blog that you had to write for which she sent hundreds of emails which no one even read. For an Econ 1 Class a Writing Assignment was a stretch maybe but I found it a refreshing and interesting exercise. Discussion Sections were compulsory and my TA Alex Coblins was great. Do not take this Class with her if you can, but if you have to, it's fine.
Winter 2020 - Professor Elham S as a person is great and deserves all the appreciation but as a Professor, not. I had taken Economics Classes in High School but the credit didn't transfer and therefore for me, whether she completed one chapter of all the six chapters, didn't matter. She couldn't go through 6 Chapters or 300 Slides in 10 Weeks! All the students who will take Econ 11 after taking her Class will be unprepared and screwed. This Class has permanently hit my views on UCLA as a University and the incompetent Econ Department. Midterm 1 was extremely simple. (20 MCQs in 75 Minutes). However, thank God they screwed the printing of Midterm 2 or nobody in this Class would have scored even an A-. I don't know what happened to her and she changed track and made this incomprehensible, complex and difficult Midterm 2 that would make even a Ph.D. Student doubt his or her knowledge. The Final was of medium level difficulty and doable. The Mindtap Homework ($100 for no value) was graded for completion and there was a Blog that you had to write for which she sent hundreds of emails which no one even read. For an Econ 1 Class a Writing Assignment was a stretch maybe but I found it a refreshing and interesting exercise. Discussion Sections were compulsory and my TA Alex Coblins was great. Do not take this Class with her if you can, but if you have to, it's fine.
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