Do not take this class. This class made me realize I did not want to be an economics major anymore. The lectures were dry, not helpful, and if anything only confused me more. The midterm and final were pretty hard in my opinion. The course materials were outrageously expensive (probably close to $300). Out of the very few lectures I went to there was hardly anyone there because he posts his slides and in my opinion, doesn't do a great job at explaining the material in simple terms. I will say it was his first time giving a lecture, but I would suggest taking it with a different professor where it's more engaging and the material is better understood.

There's a lot to unpack here. Foley really tried to do his best with this class. It was the first class he's ever taught, so some of his blunders were expected. For starters, Cengage is incredibly overpriced, but Foley did his best to make sure his students could deal with it. A friend of mine who also took the course was able to create multiple 14-day trials in order to turn in their homework assignments, an idea which Foley introduced. Major props to him for that. Additionally, he always responded to CCLE questions and emails in a timely manner (within a couple hours at most). Foley's practice problems were incredibly useful and he also posted his slides, making it easy to follow along with the course. He has a lot of potential, I think in a few years he'll be one of the better Econ professors at UCLA.

Could've got a better grade if I wasn't a dumb shit.

Definitely take this class because it is VERY little work for a high grade. I went to 2 lectures the entire quarter and did great on both midterms and the final.

Honestly, his lecturing is extremely boring and the textbook is a huge waste of money but he posts all his slides on CCLE and gives a lot of practice. I taught myself everything using the slides a few days before the midterms/final and did the practice problems. As long as you study a decent amount for the midterms and final you will do more than fine.

This class really isn't as bad as I've heard people say, as far as the content goes it's quite bearable. The main problem people have complained about is how much math the class uses, and this is a pretty stupid thing to be upset about. First, the math isn't hard, and second, economics as a field of study involves a lot of math. Do not expect to take an economics class and do no mathematics, you will be disappointed. Overall, this is a pretty good class that goes into depth that helps for future econ study.

Other students didn't seem to appreciate Foley, but I'm not entirely sure why. He's a very fair grader (he replaced our lowest midterm with the final if you scored better) and he was very helpful. He would respond to questions on CCLE within the hour and he made exam reviews for us.

The best advice I have is to actually go to lecture. Most people didn't, and I don't know why. I never took notes because he goes too fast, so I just listened and tried to understand his explanations (which were good). This is way easier than reading the slides yourself because he will explain graphs in class and link the material to real world examples that he didn't include in the slides. I never read the textbook a single time, but the homeworks on cengage as well as the tests you can generate are very useful for preparing for the exams.

I had a very difficult time with this class. The lectures consist of 50+ slides during a 75 minute class and he talks so fast to the point where it's hard to follow or understand the concept. In the lecture of about 250+ people, I would estimate an average of like 50 people came to lecture and there were about 3 people at discussion section every week (not mandatory). On top of this, he made us purchase the Cengage access and textbook ($150) and said we would use it for Econ2 but it isn't needed. We pretty much bought that just to submit like 7 homework assignments. On the other hand, Conor did provide us with a review packet consisting of main topics, formulas, and practice problems before each exam which was very helpful and he was very active on the discussion forum if you had a question. Overall, I felt like there was way too much information covered in such a short period of time. Most likely will have to teach yourself.

I feel like the professor tried hard to teach the class, but often ended up on tangents. The information introduced could be useful, but wasnt always on topic. The real problem with the class is the materials. The class not only requires a textbook, but cengage as well. This comes to a total of just under $300, and they are necessary to just econ 1. Neither are used in Econ 2, so the total is blunted during a single quarter. Other than that, the class wasn't too hard, just a heavier emphasis on math than actual economics.