This class doesn't really test what you learn in class - since you learn nothing in class. It really tests your ability to teach yourself using the book, lecture notes, and past exams. If you are good at figuring things out on your own, the class should be a breeze. If not... take it with a friend who is. Yes, the class is at 7:50 am and Hou talks about irrelevant things all day long... but I'm not going to talk about that since you can read that over and over below. Instead, here is how to get an A in the class:

1) Read the book. The problem is, Hou doesn't put dates for what he will cover on his syllabus. So here it is for you. The first four weeks cover the first four chapters (and some quarters cover chapter 5 too). So you can read a chapter a week. The next four weeks cover chapters 5-8... but here's the kicker... he expects you to read chapters 9-15 in the last two weeks. Since you know this in advance from reading this, here's what you do. Starting after the first midterm, read two chapters a week.

2) Buy the lecture notes. They are helpful sometimes, although they are also range from incomplete to flat out wrong at other times. To counter that, take them to lecture and add whatever you need (it will be very little) and cross out whatever's wrong. Even though they aren't perfect, they still help a lot for the things that Hou covers that are vague in the book.

3) Most importantly, do practice essay exam questions. Before your exam, print out the essay portion of every old exam. Do the essay questions, starting with the most recent exams first. After a while, you will notice he repeats the same questions over and over and over... so even though there are a lot of exams, you'll know the questions really well - trust me, he will use the same questions on your test too.

4) After you've done the essays and the reading, do the multiple choice sections from old tests until you feel comfortable. For me, that meant doing maybe two or three practice exams, although it never hurts to do more.

One last thing. It makes for a really awful quarter, but if you feel like it, take econ 1 and econ 2 simultaneously. Bresnock does a much better job explaining supply and demand than Hou, and I felt the only reason I did so well on the first midterm was because I had heard her lectures and done the reading on supply and demand from both the econ 1 and econ 2 books. Be prepared to be bored though since for the first couple weeks they literally go over the exact same thing in both classses.

The bottom line is if you do all that, and you're not just going through the motions, you should get an A or A+. Why? Because most people are too lazy to teach themselves or don't know how, and this makes for a decent curve. I know a lot of people suffer through this class so I'm trying to help you out. Good luck!

this class is SO HARD!! i kind of knew what i was getting into because i had taken econ 1 (which was equally hard) but basically- everything you've read about this class is true. professor hou is not very friendly, goes off on tangents about how his wife makes all the money and what kind of shoes she buys and stuff like that. lectures are way early, the material is not interesting and pretty hard to grasp, and the tests are extremely hard. i came into ucla as a bus/econ major but econ 1 and 2 made me drop the major entirely! DON'T take this class with hou, it's way too hard and will make you hate econ.

wow...this guy is ridiculous...dont take him if u dont have to. His class is soo early in the morning and he is annoyingly happy. Also, dont go to lecture if u are expecting to learn something about economics. You will only hear about how rich his wife is and how he is a kept man. As for the midterms, he gives u a ton of practice exams which are helpful but for some reason i didnt do as well as i thought in the class. The final was difficult and VERY LONG, expect to take the full 3 hours. Overall, you should just read the book, copy ur friends lecture notes (haha), and do the practice exams. I'm telling you though, this class is not worth it.

Hou spends a lot of his time in his lectures talking about his wife.. and her shoes. It's not worth waking up at 8am, going to class, and listening to him talk about random things because he goes off on tangents A LOT. To do well in his class, you HAVE TO print a bunch of his previous exams (which are online) and DO THEM! Reading the book is important, too. Hou's not much help in lectures, but depending who you're TA is, they go over concepts and problems in discussions.

Online quiz (8%), multiple attempts are allowed. Two midterms (20% and 22%). The final will account for 50%, and is COMPREHENSIVE (the 2 midterms are on new material only). All the exams will be a mix
of multiple choice and essay questions (with the weight of essays increasing with each exam).

One suggestion and only suggestion of doing well in this class is to do ALL the practice exams before the mid-terms. His mid-terms are very long, they are not hard, but just time consuming. Try to finish all the multiple choices in 15-20 mins, otherwise you wont be able to finish the test in time.

I think he is the only Econ 2 teacher in ucla, so good luck.

Econ 2 was such an important class that even if i didnt like the professor so much, i still had to deal with it. The only way to get through this class is to go to every single TA session, review past exams online, read textbook, and sometimes just memorize stuff without even knowing what it exactly means, cuz the prof never teaches anyways! Considering the 1.25hr of lecture time, the lecture really isnt that worth it.. You need to learn how to deal with his constant speech on wife and his personal life that no one even cares about after a week or so cuz waking up around 7:10 and going to class itself is pretty painful enough. Plus I feel so anonymous in class since prof. Hou definitely doesnt seem to be the most concerned about his students.. Don't wanna complain anymore.. Certainly didnt enjoy this class that much.. Oh, at least it taught me how to deal with econ completely by myself, and how gracious TAs can be when the prof. is totally not helping ..

My two biggest pieces of advice for this class:

1) Print out a bunch of practice tests (all are online) and go over them to study for tests.
2) Don't bother going to lectures at 8AM and taking notes. He usually rambles about his wife and although he keeps the class interesting, I found the LectureNotes ($20 for the quarter) sufficed.

Reading the book is also important for understanding the concepts for the class. Overall, just know that you will have to put a decent amount of time for this class to earn the A.

I agree with everything posted on this page. The class is less analysis and more just... simple memorization of weird concepts and terms from previous finals.

I did well in this class only after I realized that his lectures were pointless (didn't attend a single one after the 1st midterm), and that the time devoted to that early class and listening to him ramble about his personal issues could easily be applied to a) sleep and b) valuable, sweet practice tests.

The magic formula on doing well in his class:
1) take the practice tests
2) go to Miguel's TA section
3) read the book and hilight every little detail

Yes, the material could be taught a lot better. Unfortunately, I don't think Hou is going anywhere, so either take Econ 2 at a community college, or fall in love with your textbook. Because to do well in Hou's rendition of macro, you better go to that before you even think about lecture.

Jack Hou is a HORRIBLE teacher. He tries to be interesting in class, but all he ends up doing is wasting time talking about his wife and not covering the material. I appreciate the effort to make the class more interesting, but I expect some teaching in the process. He does not cover all the material on the tests or quizzes, and much of learning must be done outside of class. Students are tired enough in an 8am class without have to listen to his "jokes." He is completely ineffective as a teacher, and his availability outside of class in questionable. Exams are manageable if the student covers everything that Hou missed in class (which is a lot), however some questions are oddly worded and the curved between a B and an A can be large. If given the choice, I would definitely have taken econ 2 and community college over summer rather than with Hou. I might have learned something there.

Prof Hou is by far a very interesting character. He is hillarious and whipped...anyhow, I took econ 2 w/ him and hated it. After the 1st midterm, I learned that his lectures were useless and that the book would be my savior. I managed my greatest comback in my UCLA career and managed an A-. It was hell...I do admit, I liked his stories and they kept me up at 8am...but do we really need to know that his wife takes care of him or that he is a momma's boy?
I heard plenty of stories about what an asshole he was outside of class so I relied a lot on my TA's.
If you are a student that loves to learn straight from the book, then you won't mind Hou...but if you are like me, steer away from this guy...I honestly did not see much effort in his work. Luckily the textbook was great and easy to understand.