Both this class and Surro are extremely mathy. This class is a struggle for English types of people. Furthermore, this class IS NOT for people who like to play catch up -- DO NOT fall behind in this class, you will be seriously pay the price. Trust me, I tried (really fucking hard too) and my grade reflects how it panned out. I just want to elaborate on this a bit so people planning on taking this class don't follow my same mistake -->
I never understood the homeworks because I was always a little bit behind in the content, and that lead to a recurring issue. As I was trying to understand the last week's material, the homework for the current week would be due, and I would have to ask a friend for the answers. It absolutely sucked, and I really wish I wouldn't have, but because everything was so mathy with little written explanation, rewatching the lectures was entirely unhelpful to me. Surro is not at fault for this vicious cycle, though. I just r e a l l y wish it wasn't all math with little conceptual explanation.
I do believe he is a great professor FOR MATH ORIENTED PEOPLE (I can't stress this enough). If you aren't the slickest with math, and prefer to play catch up, just be wary this won't work for you here and you might struggle.
However, I did do wayyyy better in ECON101!! So, if you're more English oriented, this class might whoop your ass -- but, the next rendition of microeconomic theory will be easier for you!!! Best of luck!!

Surro's lectures are worth attending if you want an overview, but I didn't find attending them necessary since he posts the notes on ccle. The workload wasn't too bad but he has a tendency to water-down the lecture material, as the problem set questions are much easier than the ones you will encounter on the midterm and final exams. With that said, it's definitely important to understand the concepts at a deep level. The final consisted of 10 short and 3 long frqs (no multiple choice), and his exams are extremely long and tedious, favoring students with better computation skills. As a heads up, the class is curved based on the econ department policy, so you will be competing to earn a good grade.

I didn't think this class was as difficult as the other reviews led me to believe it would be, but you definitely need to stay on top of things in this class because I didn't and my grade suffered for it. I also recommend doing all of the practice questions and problem sets because they both help boost your grade and give you good practice. Prof. Surro is clear and effective when it comes to explaining concepts, but either I just find the subject boring or he's not very interesting because I would frequently zone out during lecture and would even leave early sometimes because I was just so bored. He posted a lot of material on Canvas (typed overview, written notes, practice problems and worked out solutions) which is really helpful for studying. He mentions that the second half of the class is slightly harder but draws on concepts that you learn in the first half, which I agree with. I did really well on the midterm but barely studied for the final and ended up doing poorly on that. Overall, I think this class is very doable if you take it seriously and do your due diligence. It has, however, made me completely lose interest in Econ and switch out of the major.

Other reviews have said it already, this class was not easy but Surro was a great prof in making himself available. Getting an A in this class is hard and not something I was able to do, but i still feel like I learned a lot and I'm looking forward to Econ 11. If you want an easy A for your GPA, don't take this class. If you want to learn a lot, take this class. Depending on what you want to do after your time at UCLA, I may recommend not taking him and taking an easier professor instead. If you're a math/econ major, being good at math wont really help you in this course and its way more conceptual, so keep that in mind!

Note this is a COVID-19 review

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Grading: Higher scoring midterm worth 200 points, lower scoring midterm worth 100 points, final worth 400 points, data report worth 200 points, discussion forum worth 100 points. Total of 1000 points, and if you complete the short quizzes after each lesson, those points become "extra credit" by adding points to both the numerator and denominator of your score (e.g. if you initially got 800/1000 and got 100 points from the quizzes, your score would become 900/1100). The quizzes were pretty easy extra points, all multiple choice. He also rounded grades that were within 0.5% of the next grade.

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Chris is a good teacher, but not an easy one. The exams are not plug-and-chug or simple filling in the definition of vocab type questions, you really need to understand how to apply the concepts to a given situation. Even being online with open book exams, the book, notes, and internet are only marginally helpful, you must understand the fundamental concepts. He gives provides questions after each lecture to demonstrate how to apply the concepts and before exams he releases versions from previous years to practice. Use these to your advantage! Practice them a lot and make sure you really understand when certain variables will move and why. All exams are multiple choice.

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Participation in the discussion forum was easy, just research a recent news article related to macroeconomics, post a summary and analysis with your thoughts, and comment on at least 2 other people's posts. The data report was also relatively easy, but a bit time-consuming. You're basically taking some raw data of macroeconomic variables for the US and another country, making graphs of them (using something such as Excel, Google Sheets, or R), and observing any noticeable trends you see. If you don't already know how to use a program to make graphs from raw data, he provides a tutorial on Excel. Just put a decent amount of effort into making the graphs look nice, write a decent amount of observations and you're good to go.

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With covid, lectures on the material were pre-recorded and the live sessions were dedicated to first going over the end of lecture questions, then answering student questions - it was basically flipped classroom. This format felt good to me though, not like flipped classroom in other classes like the LS 7 series - it provided flexibility and made it easy to seek help on anything you were confused about. It may not be for everyone though, but as long as you’re keeping up you’ll get by fine, and it likely won’t last after Covid. We also had a campuswire that made it easy to ask questions even if you couldn't make the live session.

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Overall, Chris' lectures were pretty clear, he was very helpful in answering students' questions, and the grading was fair. A solid choice of class to take. Just don’t automatically expect an A just because it’s an introductory course, you’ll need to work for it.

Hands down best professor I've had in the econ department, his lectures are very clear and his tests are fair. The class is hard but if you put in the work you can get the grade you want. His homework also serves as extra credit so it not only helps you better understand the coursework but it gives extra credit points. Would take any other class with Chris again.

I really, really like Prof. Surro. I cannot say enough great things about him. For this class, your TA is extremely important. I had Andrew Hess, and if you can get him, he is amazing. Both Andrew and Prof. Surro are extremely straightforward when explaining content. The class is also graded very easily. There is a lot of opportunity for extra credit. Quizzes and problem sets are based on completion. With that being said, the midterm and final are a big chunk of your grade and are a lot harder than the quizzes and problem sets. Prof. Surro wants you to understand the concepts, not just regurgitate formulas and definitions. What worked for me was watching all of the lectures and going to discussion, most people did not go at all. The lectures are also all typed up in separate notes from the handwritten notes he uploads. Even though the tests are difficult, all of the information is given to you (also open notes). If you use all of the material given and do A LOT of practice problems, this class is manageable.

Disclaimer: I took this class in a summer session in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a few words, Chris does not make it easy for you to succeed in this class. He makes you work for it. I initially started the summer session with a job and two classes, but I decided to drop one class since I couldn't balance all of those commitments at once. The content was a lot to swallow all at once during the five-week summer quarter, but I'm sure it's pretty manageable during a regular quarter.

Although many students commented that the exams this quarter were extremely hard, I have to disagree. I found them pretty manageable given all of the study materials he gave us, to be honest, even though they were all high-difficulty application problems (during non-COVID quarters, there is a mix of definition and application problems). I have no doubt that the exams would be no problem during a regular quarter with the simple definition-recollection problems. Nonetheless, you can't just sit back and review the slides/read the book and hope to do well on the exams. You need to build the proper graphical intuition and problem-solving skills before going into each exam. Some hard work and intention is required for this class.

Grading scheme: [100(discussion board grade)+175(midterm grade)+175(data report grade)+350(final grade)+100(optional quiz grades] / (800 if you completed no quizzes or 900 if you completed every quiz)

Good luck!

I was expecting this class to be much harder than it was, HOWEVER you really need to put in the work to do well. Professor Surro is pretty clear in his lectures, however they aren't super engaging and the examples that he does in lecture are much easier than what you will be tested on. The problem sets and quizzes are optional, but DO THEM because they are only graded on participation and they actually help your grade a lot. Also, he never mentions this in class, but be active on campuswire because you get points for that too. Respond to people's questions and ask questions on there if you have any because you get points for that. This class was pretty difficult, but you can do well if you really understand the concepts and are able to apply them to more difficult questions.

Midterm and final are insane. And TAs are useless because they assume you know all the materials. You'd better to read the books and pay attention to classes otherwise exams will destroy your GPA.