I LOVED Olivia and this class! She uses a free online textbook which was incredibly helpful, and it also cost you nothing. Her lectures were interesting and she made a point not to read directly off the slides to engage more, but if you had to miss lecture it wasn't hard to catch up with her slides and the textbook. Her exams were straightforward if you studied, and if you went to her during office hours she made a point to know your name and help you out. I would 100% take her class again.

I took Econ 1 the previous quarter with Rojas and did poorly, I got a C+. So I was pretty nervous to take Econ 2. However, I found it easier to understand this prof and thought she did a good job of explaining graphs over and over to make sure we understood. The one assignment we had was only a 2 page paper and I did it the day before and got a 100% (worth 15% of our grade). The midterm and final were okay as long as you study for them! I studied about 4 or 5 hours for the final and got a 90% (worth 50% of our grade). You also get an easy 10% from section attendance. My TA was Anthony and he was really good! I went to a couple TAs review sessions and his was by far the best.

Professor Osei is such a great teacher. She makes your time coming to class worthwhile because she doesn't really just read off of the slides. She provides various examples when going through the concepts and also draws the graphs on the board so we can follow along and understand thoroughly. She is also very helpful during her office hours and tries to answer any questions to clarify. Overall, I loved her class and the way she teaches!

The material isn’t that bad, if I had done better on the assignment I would’ve gotten a better grade. The midterm and final are fair in their easiness - not too easy, not too difficult, and the professor is nice enough (especially for Econ).

This was Professor's first time teaching this course so I am cutting her some slack. However, you get the same knowledge by reading her slides directly and the free textbook she uses. The textbook is your best friend in this course as lecture is nearly pointless. The midterm and final were fairly rough. It consisted of vocab and lots of short answer questions. Our midterm average was roughly 82% and the final average was 74% - uncurved. On each exam, there were topics that were not discussed in either lecture or your quiz/discussion section.

It was nearly impossible to estimate what would be on the short answer as there are so many possibilities, so you have to know the material in and out if you would like to get a decent grade on her exams.

Overall, professor Osei-Twumasi is a very nice and smart professor. She makes the lectures less dry by adding humor, but to score well on her exams, going above and beyond is a must.

As someone who has never taken an economics class before, I was terrified of this class at first. However, it became my favorite class of the quarter.
Firstly, you don’t buy the textbook. It’s free and online! Usually I’d be suspicious of the quality, but it’s actually a fantastic textbook. You learn everything through examples, there are many questions you answer, and the organization is great. I think this textbook is a high quality textbook that teaches you exactly what you need to know.
Secondly, the professor is really thoughtful. Her slides correspond to the book, and it really helps if you’ve read before coming into her lectures. She goes through interactive examples and does the graphs with you every time. She is always open to questions and explains them until you understand. She is super nice and has funny stories, which is a plus because it was a morning class and she livened us up.
Thirdly, if you haven’t taken econ in high school, don’t worry! The material isn’t that bad, and you’ll do fine if you read, do the problems, and go to the lectures. I learned a lot through my TA and the professor, so don’t hesitate to ask questions. I found that for me, reading the book before going to class worked pretty well.
Lastly, DO NOT DO YOUR PROJECT THE NIGHT BEFORE. It takes a ton of research and you will have questions about it, so please, no matter how much you want to, do not procrastinate. The midterm and final weren’t as bad as they could have been, so just make sure you learn the vocab and the math, and you’ll be fine. I found that I was rushed during the midterm but had way more than enough time during the final. If you put in the work, you’ll do fine.

If you can take this professor, do it! She really wants her students to do well and she makes sure students understand what they're learning, otherwise she'll go back and review confusing topics. Your grade is based on attendance of section (but you can go to any section, and there are chances to makeup a section that you missed, such as with review sessions), an industry case study that seems big, but isn't very hard to complete, a midterm, and a final. Her tests are very straightforward and resemble the practice problems we receive each week (optional, but I recommend doing them). If you understand the material, you'll be set. She was an engaging professor, and would definitely take her again. And to top it off, she uses a free online textbook that is easy to understand.

[spring 2020 covid online quarter] Absolutely take this class for GE or diversity or whatever. I needed it as a lower div for my major. I believe it's a new class? And it's basically "intro to econ but we know you're not a stem/econ major."

There's one group paper that's pretty straightforward, and for the final she basically siced us--it was unbelievably easy (since I paid attention most answers are already obvious) and she told us in advance to download all the slides and every single answer would be in the slides--it was. idk if she's always gonna go this easy but I'm suspecting it was the circumstances of this quarter.

She started off with a very organized and prepared zoom session on day 1 to introduce everything, and then the rest of the class was recorded lectures. The lectures were easy to pay attention, very straightforward and simple, and there was a simple quiz each week to check in. Sometimes lectures would be posted late but makes sense professors have lives too and stuff happens. Overall she was very organized, communicated well, and adapted to the online format absolutely amazingly.

TA was Daniel, he was swell. ngl the class material was too easy so there wasn't much to go over in discussion he'd just review what was already in the lectures but he prepared and cared about us as students. Thanks man

Please take this class with Olivia!! She is one of the most clear and engaging professors I've taken a class with. I took this class online for because of covid. She was the only professor of mine who pre recorded lectures, which I preferred because it make for more efficient listening. Her slides were extremely concise yet informative, and she was so clear in all of her explanations. This class is extremely structured and easy to follow along, and TAs are approachable and very understanding. As someone who is not interested in economics, this class was really engaging and taught me a lot about macroeconomics. I am so glad I took it!

I'm not sure how this class is outside of COVID-19 times, but in COVID times the grading scheme is 50%-Project 20%-Weekly Quizzes and 30%-Final. The project is very doable. You pick a country, and every two weeks you submit a 2-3 page paper relating the country to a topic that is relevant to what we're going over that week. The professor uploads the lectures to CCLE ahead of time, so you can watch them whenever. The professor is a great lecturer, and the material is pretty interesting! It definitely answers the question of "what prevents developing nations from becoming developed". The weekly quizzes are 8-10 questions and if you watch the lectures and take notes down, they are not bad. The final is similar in difficulty to the quizzes. If you're interested in that topic, or you want an econ elective that isn't super time consuming, take this course!