Good God. I could not stay awake in this class for the LIFE of me. Professor Hellwig isn't too hard to understand, but the way he phrases things is somewhat difficult to comprehend. There is absolutely no need for the book at all. As for the notes, you NEED to go to class to get down the examples that he gives (since he leaves it blank on the online version) because the examples are key to the homework, midterm, and final. His curve is extremely generous, with over 30% As and 40% Bs. However, his class deals mostly with the mathematic aspect of economics.

Also, if you do take the class, try to get an old final. I did what I could and tried to figure out every problem in the old final to study, and it turned out that the final was 90% the same as the old final as before! Study old finals and you'll do extremely well.

tl;dr: Go to class for notes. Don't buy the book. Get old midterms and finals, they help TREMENDOUSLY.

it's obvious that professor hellwig really enjoys teaching and wants his students to do well, as evidenced by his VERY generous curve. his lectures are a little dry, but he tries to make them interesting by adding examples, etc. a lot of the time i was totally lost and confused, but we were never tested on anything that was super complicated. if you want to do well, just do the problem sets and practice tests before the miderm and final... that's what will be on the test. make sure to print out the slides before class and just take notes on that, don't buy the book i didn't open it once, and go to section because there they'll do problems like the homework and tests. what helped me the most was to go to ta office hours, since an hour isn't enough time to go over everything you need to.

Econ itself is a dry subject, but Prof. Hellwig makes it more interesting than it is. His examples in the lecture are very helpful, he conducts his lecture in a rather humorous manor.

His grading scale is very generous, so for somebody who's looking to a higher chance of getting into econ/biz econ/international econ major, this class definitely won't, shouldn't hurt your GPA. I've taken McDevitt before, again, if you want to make your life less miserable, take Hellwig for Econ 11.

No need to purchase textbook, print out all his lecture notes, go to lectures every once a while, but if you want a good grade (A), go to lectures, and master his practice problems. Homework problems (up to 20% of the total grade) are optional, you can still get an A in the class even if you don't do all of them at all.

Econ itself is a dry subject, but Prof. Hellwig makes it more interesting than it is. His examples in the lecture are very helpful, he conducts his lecture in a rather humorous manor.

His grading scale is very generous, so for somebody who's looking to a higher chance of getting into econ/biz econ/international econ major, this class definitely won't, shouldn't hurt your GPA. I've taken McDevitt before, again, if you want to make your life less miserable, take Hellwig for Econ 11.

No need to purchase textbook, print out all his lecture notes, go to lectures every once a while, but if you want a good grade (A), go to lectures, and master his practice problems. Homework problems (up to 20% of the total grade) are optional, you can still get an A in the class even if you don't do all of them at all.

Print out the lecture notes before coming to class. You will have to attend lecture because he does helpful practice problems that aren't included in the slide. His accent isn't too bad, and he seems like he genuinely cares about his students. The most helpful thing about the course is the discussion sections. The TAs are really helpful and enthusiastic, and they do weekly practice problems that are essential to understand in order to do well on the tests.

I personally did not find his test difficult, but the class average was pretty low (mid 50s). His grading scale is VERY generous though: mid to low 70s was considered an A. To do well, go over all his practice problems, do the problem sets (they're graded and good practice), do his practice tests, and attend all your discussion sections.

go to TA section, don't buy the book, and do practice problems and you'll get a decent grade.

however, in terms of the class itself, hellwig is a horrible lecturer and although i went to every single class, i don't feel as if i got anything out if them.

Professor Hellwig is not bad at all. Yes, he is not eloquent during lectures. But if you pay attention, you will actually learn from his class. He goes through the theoretical concepts and his TAs put them into practice by going through the mathematical problems. So, TA sessions are a MUST to attend. That's what his tests are based on.

I learned a lot from his homeworks and practice problems. They prepared me well for Econ 101.

I would recommend taking him for Econ 11. Don't worry if you can't stand his lectures, just do the homework, go to TA sessions, and/or office hours, you can still learn a lot and ace the class.

Although lectures were not the best, too much theory rather than anything actually helpful in guiding us thru doing hw and exams, Hellwig tries hard. Very nice guy, always willing to help you and answer any questions you may have, sets aside lots of extra office hours before exams. Great guy, genuinely cares and fairly generous with curves. Exams were not too bad if you can work thru hw and practice exams

A nice guy...but boring&confusing lecture
it is a wasting of time to go the lecture because you will find yourself sitting there, but doing hw of another class or sleeping..

tho u can skip the class...dont skip the discussion!!TA helps a lot in going thru the class

bare in mind to choose a good TA for Hellwig's class..go to every TA's website and search if they have any notes,
i used to study TA's notes rather than the prof's notes...
Hellwig's notes are somtimes very confusing....
some of my friends just go to all TA sections in the first few weeks and find the best among them ...coz u should have a great TA when u hv a poor prof!!

exams are straight forward from practice midterms and final, just make sure you know and understand how to solve it and u will get A

hw are optional (to compensate the midterm if u did bad on it...), but i highly recommend to do because it really helps u to understand the materials (especially for students like me who seldom go to classes)

overall...an easy A class if u go to TA sections and do hw

Dr. Hellwig is a great professor if you actually care about Economics. If you are barely getting by, or don't care, you will be dead in this class. He is much more into the theory as opposed to empirical studies. If you are good at Math (Calculus), Econ 11 will be super easy. There is little to no memorization. He also has an extremely generous curve. The average grade is an A-/B+. I, personally, loved his class.