The professor seems nice enough but the graphs are difficult to follow and the lecture just feels like he’s going over the slides. The exams are difficult, the final was pretty bad, and if you have no background (or a very small, introductory background) in Econ you’re going to have to pour in a lot of time. I regret not going to office hours or asking for outside tutoring; overall, just put in the effort.

This class is a pretty basic prerequisite. The lectures can be very dry and boring, but Rojas does teach you all the concepts you need to know. If you do all practice midterms and lots of MindTap practice problems, then this class is fairly manageable. Your grade is only based on the two midterms and final (all multiple-choice).
Personally, I thought it was easier to attend lecture and take notes than to just read the textbook. I mostly read the textbook to review sections I didn't understand well. I attended the first 8 discussions and had to skip the last two. My TA, Diana Van Patten, gave us an extra practice midterm before the second midterm, which was also very helpful, but you had to go to discussion for it. She's been Rojas' TA for a few years so she also can tell you some of the tricky types of questions she's seen before. I recommend attending her discussion if you don't like your TA.
There are usually about 3-4 tricky questions on the midterms and the rest are similar to MindTap problems and the practice midterm. The final was a little more difficult. This was mostly because it covered the whole year and had more problems, not because the questions were significantly harder. There were 70 questions on the final and 25 on each of the midterms.

It is a very straightforward class. The grades are solely consisted of the 2 midterms and the final, and they are all multiple choices. He explains things very well in lecture, but even if you skip them, reading the textbook would do you just fine. Discussions were not necessary.

I used the Mindtap chapters and questions almost exclusively (lectures were exhaustingly boring) and got an A- on both midterms. I got screwed over when I thought that the final would be the same level of difficulty as the midterms. The final is way harder. Way way way harder. Ended up getting a C on the final which was still higher than the average score. Prank.

Also note to Rojas: asking the class of 200 people "Does this make sense?" and "Anyone confused?" ten times a class aren't a substitute for teaching more clearly and slowly.

Econ 1 with Rojas is really just a prerequisite class that you take because you have to.

It's not very interesting, to be honest. There is next to no math and memorization (there's not a lot of it) is the key to success.

Rojas has a textbook (online, not required, but helpful) and his lectures are PowerPoints that I suspect are provided in the educator's version of the textbook. If you want to practically guarantee yourself an A, go to lectures, read the textbook, and do the practice problems and midterms. That is what I did, and in hindsight I think it's overkill.

My suggestion is to pick one: go to class or read the textbook. Be sure, however, that if you choose the class option, that you actually pay attention and take notes. Lecture slides are posted on CCLE so those are always accessible. Doing practice problems and the practice midterms is important. It makes it very likely that you'll be able to avoid the one or two trap questions he puts on each test.

Grading is as follows: 2 midterms (25% each, 20-25 MC questions, not cumulative) and 1 final (50%, 60-70 MC questions, cumulative). There is no homework.

Personally, I would go to discussion just to pick up the TA's note sheet, and then stay if I had questions.

Tip: If you plan to buy MindTap (the textbook), pay for the yearlong subscription, since Econ 2 uses the same book (as long as you take it with Rojas).

Selling a loose-leaf textbook for this class! 8th Edition. Basically brand new. More helpful than the professor. $50 or best offer. Contact me: **********

Just reads off the slides, very boring professor.

I'm selling the loose-leaf textbook for this class for $35. There are a few chapters where I highlighted some stuff but other than that the book is in great condition. Message me if interested: **********

This class is one of those where the textbook will teach you more than the actual class. Buy the mindtap online textbook because there are thousands of extra problems. The key is practice. Theres only 3 grades including a final which is 50% of the entire grade. What that means is every question counts on both the midterm and final. Each midterm question is worth 1 percent of the final grade and each final question is worth like .8 percent of the final grade. There is only so many notes you can take and the good thing is everything on the final was a word problem so if you practice tons and tons of word problems, you will be able to master most of the exam.

I had never taken econ before and I really liked this class. The only assignments are 2 midterms and a final, but they progressively get harder. The 2nd midterm isn't cumulative. Discussion sections do not matter at all and I didn't even go unless I had specific questions. All the discussion section problems were problems from the textbook and I would 100% buy the online textbook with Mindtap access. He uses a lot of questions from Mindtap on the midterms and final. As long as you read the textbook and do the practice problems you should be good.