Economics 41 fall 2013:

Some misconceptions I need to address:

The problems on the practice exams are nearly identical to his actual midterms:
This was NOT true in my class. His midterms are pretty straight forward but if you come into the midterm with just memorizing the answers on the practice exams and don't know how to do the actual problems, you're in for a surprise. If he did this in the past, then he no longer does it.

There is no curve:
It depends. He ended up curving the final grade. I had a C- after the final and before the curve. My final grade after the curve was a B.

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Rojas is a pretty good professor in my opinion. Definitely attend the lectures because notes are not posted online. Students who never took stats before may struggle though.
Midterms are straightforward although some of the grading by the TAs can be really harsh. The final was extremely hard (class average was 55%). The integrals on the final were complex so you will need to review your calculus. I recommend Rojas if there are no better professors available.

ECON 41:

Rojas is a good professor, extremely boring, but will teach you everything you need to know. He gives you a lot of information not needed for the test so if you've taken a basic stats class, you will be fine. I didn't study too hard and got an A-. Also, don't buy the book. Waste of money. Enjoy

This is for Econ 41

Professor Rojas is quite a character. Honestly the other reviews are somewhat right, it appears like he is concerned but that is not the case with his tests. I saw previous years and the exams were easy. My friends said take him but I am taking him right now and his averages are not high. He is not flexible about grading and in Econ there is hardly a curve. The department must have told him to make the test hard to weed more people out.

Oh and definitely study the practice exam questions. They are more or less the same format as the real exams. I wish I realized it before the final.

!!!!!!!!ECON 1, Fall'12!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(not stats 10)

I'll just c&p what I wrote for my friend. Very informal, I'm afraid but it will give you the gist of this class.

I like him. Its not a difficult class to pass
To ace is another story, but I was able to pass the class just by reading the book. Going to lecture is a good idea though, it will help a lot. I put in very minimal effort and that's my fault, but still manage to pass. The final review session was aggravating but it help a lot for someone who did not do anything except skim the last few chapters needed for the final.

He explains thing pretty well and gives good examples and other information that is not in the book.

i never went to discussion or lectures for the second half of the class
no homework
he does assign stuff but you don't have to turn it in
the stuff he assigns will be discussed by the TAs
if anything try to get a good TA or go to tutoring
but like I said, passable just by reading the books

the first exam was a little easy because the pacing was a little slow
it was supposed to be like five chapters, but i think we cut it down to two or three, or not. I don't remember.
but the thing is, for the second half it picks up pretty damn quickly.

the book discusses concepts and only gives a few general examples. but what the proff lectures about is completely relevant and helpful. Nothing on the exam is something he hasn't taught in class

the second exam was like above six or seven chapters but the thing was, he glossed over like two chapters
also, make sure to get the most recent edition of the book, the previous one is crap and deviates from the original after the second chapter.
but it wasn't too bad, I just returned the old book and spent my time in the library studying and photocopying.

I did alright with just the reading. no discussion and hardly any lectures. but what I learned from the first half of lectures really helped me and build my base
oh another thing. learn the bases completely, reading and lectures. i.e supply and demand stuff is a must.

I do regret not attending all the lectures. As for discussions? I had two crappy TAs in a row, so I gave up on them.

I think the lectures who have been a tremendous help because some of it is looking at graphs and he explains them a lot better in the lectures and perhaps the discussion.

I took Professor Rojas for econ 41. He explains things very clearly during lecture and provides practice midterms. There are no surprises on any of the tests. My one complaint is the textbook is horrible. He is a fair and effective professor. Just show up to lecture, study his examples and practice midterms, and you will do great.

ECON 41

I had Professor Rojas in the Spring 12. The grade consisted of two midterms, each 30%, and a final, worth 40%. The exams were fair; no curve balls and he distributes formula sheets for each test. The orange book was not useful, but Professor Rojas was thorough enough during lecture so that the book was not really necessary. Go to lecture and take good notes... you should be fine :)

***I TOOK ECON 41 w/ ROJAS***

Honestly, he speaks in exclusively statistics vocabulary and makes the material much more difficult to understand than it ought to be. However, the midterms and final were very fair (not too difficult) and if you put in the work and have some knowledge of math you should do fine.

During the course, I felt confused and still do now. I also do not understand the practical applications of our coursework. However, I think I received a B+, maybe even an A-.