Don't take him.
Just trust me.
I am a fourth year and I know it.

The econ department has completely changed, so all his old tests don't really cover what you'll have at all. You'll need the book. Just a heads up, "the promised land" is a huge chunk of the final. I honestly believe getting an A in this class isn't hard to do if you put in the effort. I got a B+ in this course because I just couldn't respect my TA, G. Senel, and I just couldn't take this course seriously. In one review session, when asked about one of the most basic concepts that would appear on the final, she said, "I don't know. Look it up yourself." Really? Just try to get a good TA and consider his China tangents a good time to nap.

He was one of the worst professors I have had at UCLA. He spent half of the class talking about himself and China and the other half talking about Econ. The lectures were a waste of time, and I started just reading the book and going to discussion, and that was enough to get an A in the class

First off I did well. I think I got an A-.
That being said, he is by far the worse professor I have had at UCLA. There is not a lecture yet that I walked out thinking "I just wasted my time and money."
I went to every single lecture (unlike 80% of the class) and it just frustrated me. He talks more about China and his wife than he does about econ, infact one class I split the paper in half and took notes on both and China had more notes than econ. And when he gets off topic (which is like 70% of the class) it unlike other professors has no bearing what so ever on Econ.
I didnt think he could be that bad but I would reccomend seeing who teaches it next quarter and if its someone else than just waiting.

Some of these comments are pretty harsh, Hou is not nearly as bad as everyone is making it seem. Yes, he can be very intimidating, but he knows his econ. It was the first econ class I've taken since high school and he makes it very understandable. He posts a lot of old exams online what will significantly help you on the midterms and exams. This class takes time and hard work in order to understand the material...but it is definetly do-able. I put in maybe 3 hours of studying each lecture and ended up 2 points away from a A-. It is important to do well on the multiple choice and short answers of the exam, that is, understanding the concepts as well as the algebra of economics. I did well in short answers, but struggled with some conceptual aspects. If you can do moderately well in both you will do fine.

First off, let me start by saying I got an A in this class. Second, lectures are not all that important to obtain a good grade. I missed a lot of lectures because they were so early, but I always felt more confident by going to lectures. He goes over what you should focus on and gives countless hints about what will be on the midterms and final, sometimes just telling you outright. Other than that, lectures won't get you through this class. The book: it must be read! I read all of the assigned chapters and make sure you ask your TA what chapters are going to be covered on each midterm. I don't recommend the overpriced UCLA custom edition as I was able to get through the class perfectly fine with the old 8th edition (only cost me 6 bucks!). The MC portions of the exams are directly from the textbook pool, so make sure you understand the concepts outlined in the textbook. The practice tests: do them! The practice tests are extremely important in helping you understand the format of the exam and the types of questions on the exam. I suggest you do as many as you can, putting your focus on the multiple choice early in the quarter and shifting your focus to the short answer parts later in the quarter. Lastly, don't miss any sections because they were very helpful. In short, Hou will not walk you through this course. His lectures are important if you wanna be ahead of the curve, only. He KNOWS what he is talking about and he is not a bad lecturer in the long run. He explains important concepts clearly and he is sometimes kind of funny.

Honestly, people who did bad in this class really didn't put the maximum amount of effort into trying to do well.

Economics 1 and 2 are about being able to do well on the multiple choice. The Jack gives this to you by putting a lot of past exams online. In fact, the final's short answer questions were all from previous tests.

I took this class Winter 2009, it was my first econ class I've ever taken. Sure, I sunk a lot of time into drilling past tests, sometimes drilling each practice exam more then once. Going to class helps with big concepts, as the book sucks. However, in order to do well on the multiple choice, you need to read the book, because sometimes small details are tested (due to using a test generator.)

If I remember correctly, everything that came out of The Jack's mouth actually came up in some form on the test. People don't like him because he goes off topic - but hey. You're getting entertained? AND NOT SLEEPING? INCENTIVE TO GO TO CLASS?

Overall, I strongly recommend that you get "THE JACK" hou experience sometime at UCLA. Honestly, if you think this material is tough, you won't survive Econ 11 (especially if you have Zame like I do right now.)

This professor is funny. He won't teach you. i didn't go to class after the first midterm and got an A- in the class. work hard, read the book, and don't bitch.

He is an awful professor. Completely disrespectful, does not TEACH anything- often comes to a concept during lecture and says "oh, read it over in the txtbook".

I don't like that he misses lectures, then makes us show up at 7:45 only to actually start lecturing at 8am. And don't even think about going to office hours, they're at freaking 7am! And if you stay after class to ask him a question, he doesn't even acknoeledge you or make eye contact. He is very rude and condescending.

If you are able to avoid him, please do. In fact, you can take econ 1 and 2 at community college- do that! same time and money and actually learn something!

PS: class is difficult not because of the subject matter, but because how it is taught and can pull your GPA down ALOT.

This is a frustrating but not impossible course. Its true that the lectures aren't that helpful--they're more of a review of all the material you need to learn on your own rather than Prof. Hou teaching you the material. Its the same with discussion. The TA's only have 50 min to go over everything so they tend to rush. My advice would be the following...1. try to read the book chapters before lecture and section 2. Go to extra sections and study sessions for extra practice--this will help you in the midterms and exam 3. You have to move FAST in the midterms and exams so do as many of the practice tests as you can (preferably not the night before) 4. Because the midterms and exam are so fast, try to get enough sleep for a couple nights before the test and then when you get there RELAX. My biggest enemy on the midterms was myself. Because I was in a nervous rush, I either didn't read the multiple choice questions carefully or made simple arithmetic mistakes even though I knew the material. You wont have time to go over your answers at the end to discover these mistakes so make sure you do things right the first time around. Dont waste time being a perfectionist but dont rush through the whole test. I'd say you should first quickly skim over the whole test. Then spend 1/3 of the time on the multiple choice and the remaining 2/3 on the essays. If you have time look things over but just make sure you are keeping track of time as you go. Prof. Hou makes B- the average grade so if you do average or better in comparison with your classmates you will get a B- or better. I think Prof. Hou tried to intimidate students in lecture to weed out the uncommitted but it ends up making everyone feel like crap. This course made me miserable this quarter and I was seriously considering dropping it but I stuck it out, studied hard and ended up with an A. Like I said, this class is SUPER frustrating but not impossible.