For an economics teacher, sure. I'll give him that - his lectures are clear and concise. But when you're going into this class, don't bring your hopes up. UCLA Economics requires you to do a lot of self study and understand the material by yourself.

The "best" teacher I ever had is Ravetch. This guy does not belong in this league of teachers. When you mumble and recite from memory an insurmountable amount of information, I am not impressed. This guy is NOT as good as everyone else says he is.

Do not buy the lecture notes, take your own notes. You need all the help you can get internalizing the theory.

Short answer is not tough, but multiple choice questions (answer choices a-k) are pretty ridiculous sometimes.

Overall, it really doesn't matter what professor you take for any economics class, as it's going to be ridiculous and BS anyway.

Professor McDevitt is one of the best professors I've had at UCLA. He is extremely receptive to feedback and understanding of students struggles. He really wants to make sure his students understand the concept. He was by far the best at accommodating to the change in learning environment due to COVID19. He would prerecord lectures and then do them again live. He is very clear on what is on each test and gives lots of very similar and helpful practice problems. His teaching is clear and easy to follow. The only thing I had a slight problem adjusting to at first is that his multiple choice questions can have up to 10 choices including choices like "two are correct" and "none are correct" and there is no partial credit so if you get one wrong you've already lost 10 points. However, if you do the practice problems they should be pretty manageable. I would highly recommend taking this class with Prof McDevitt!

This is a very doable classes. The key to success is to make sure you show up everyclass, and complete all his study questions before his exams.
There are not too many workload, and all exams are open books which means that you can even print his study questions out since many exams questions are taken directly from the practice questions(maybe changing some number or some wording, but same idea).
Professor is very clear and as an international student with weak English skills, I am able to follow his lecture without any confusion. Gradings are 25% midterm1, 25% midterm 2 and 50% finals. His office hour is helpful as well.
The content is interesting for me, I would absolutely want to take his class again.

McDevitt is by FAR the best econ professor i've encountered at UCLA. His tests are hard and his tests make up your entire grade (45% midterms, 55% final) but he never tries to trick you and the tests are fair (nothing he doesn't cover in class are on exams). He gives practice exams which are incredibly helpful in studying for the tests, and provides detailed notes that are almost word for word in what he goes over during lecture, so if you miss something in lecture you can go back. McDevitt is so accommodating to his students, and gives extra office hours in the days leading up to the exams and always gives detailed answers and more to whatever you ask. I cannot sing higher praises for this professor, he knows his stuff and is fair to his students.

Maybe I am different from most of the students, I am not really like this professor. He will curve but not round up 0.1 ever. He never replies emails after the final exam, and usually in rude or confusing words, like " I told this balabala" instead of Yes or No. Recording has a blurry quality, too.

Professor McDevitt is the best lecturer in the Econ department. To be fair, I put in minimal effort in the class due to extenuating circumstances from the COVID-19 pandemic. I didn't watch a single lecture, studied maybe 3 days before each of the 2 exams and final, and somehow managed to get a B. Getting an A is definitely doable if you put in the work to fully understand the material (which I've managed to do in other courses I've taken with him). I find his curve generous, and it only serves to help you. If you're not great at graphs, you'll struggle a bit like I did. You're only graded on the 2 exams (20% and 25%) and 1 final exam (55%).

The "theory" part of the title is accurate - not many case studies like some other upper divisions, think Econ 1 and Econ 2 type graphs and theory.

Has a different style of teaching and tests which takes the first midterm to get used to. Listening to his lectures is the best way to study, not reviewing notes. He is a good teacher that clearly understands everything he is saying extremely well. Questions will be answered thoroughly. He explained some basic econ 1/2 concepts better than I had ever heard before.

Very unorganized lecture notes. Tests are NOT math-based plug and chug type but more concept based with free writing response sections where you are expected to copy down graphs and explain.

I got to say whoever wrote all these good reviews wtf! Because taking this class was lowkey hard asf. After taking econ 11 with surro and thinking that was hard I now thought it was easy. Surro was definitely a hard class, but he helped so much and was such a good lecturer. But McDevitt, good luck if you can even read his hand writing. He goes so fast in class and writes all over the chalk board in different areas so you have to rewatch the lectures to make sure you even got the information down. Since all his tests are open notes, the test are hard and pretty much test on random stuff that he didn't even teach. He expects you to know the intuition and how everything is changed, but never explains any of that. I also attended pretty much all his office hours and he just says the same thing in lecture, like a fucking script so doesn't help with the exam questions. It's easy to get the free response/ essay questions as they are similar to the practice exams, but the mc and fill in the blank he pulls shit out of his ass. He also marked two of my questions wrong on the midterm, so make sure to look at your exams. I got B's on both midterms and final and ended with a B, but 1 point from B+. Not the worst professor I have taken, but there is a lot of stuff that is up in the air and he loves his fucking graphs for every problem. Which I suck at graphs, so definitely didn't help. Overall, I just think I put in too much work for this class, studying so much every week and before midterms, at office hours, etc. for not getting an A- or A. Take your chances I guess!

Class wasn't terrible but difficult to score high in. MCQ worth 9% of the final with 8 options was unbearable. No drop mechanic in the event of a poor midterm. Essentially need close to perfect for an A in this class.

Not sure how there was a quarter with 50%+ A-/A/A+ distribution, but class was not an easy A by any means for Winter 2025.

Prof McDevitt is one of the best professors I've had at UCLA. He is an excellent lecturer and records them. The class is graded purely on exams. His exams are open note and if you take the time to prepare, you will succeed. He provides practice problems that are very similar to the actual exam questions. I cannot recommend taking a class with Prof McDevitt more.