I took Econ 1 last semester, and overall, it was a pretty chill class. The professor was super clear in explaining the material and always made sure we understood the concepts before moving on. They were also really helpful—always willing to answer questions and break things down during office hours or after class.

The only thing to watch out for is that the tests can sometimes stray a bit from the easy practice problems we worked on in class. They’re still manageable, but you might need to think a little harder on test day. That said, the course still felt super easy overall, especially if you kept up with the practice material and paid attention in lectures.

If you’re looking for a straightforward econ class with a professor who’s clear and supportive, this one’s definitely worth taking!

Class overall feels super easy throughout the quarter and then the tests are a curveball. The teacher/course does not at all prepare you for the test. The practice/quizzes are mostly irrelevant to what you really need to know and they try to trick you. The grammar on the final was just as confusing as the content itself. I don't recommend taking econ 1 online or with this professor.

This class pretty much highlights some of UCLA’s biggest flaws. There were 556 students in an asynchronous format because the department wasn't offering normal lectures, so you're essentially self-studying with minimal support. The only graded homework (weekly 4-question multiple-choice quizzes) didn’t reflect the difficulty of the exams, which are a lot harder and make up most of the grade. On top of that, he curves down for some reason? The recorded lectures were the professor reading off slides (that he didn’t even create) making the textbook the better resource, especially since concepts weren't that difficult, though it lacked depth... the textbook’s author (Mankiw) had a walkout from 70 of his own Harvard students in their Intro to Econ class for "presenting conservative economic views as fact," take that as you will. I’ll admit I fell behind in this class, but the lack of structure and engagement made it especially difficult to stay on track. If possible, it’s worth waiting for an in-person lecture or taking it at a community college instead.

I mostly self taught myself this course with the textbook and some youtube. The lectures provided weren't very helpful by themselves. Prof. Ohanian and the TAs both offer office hours.
Final was 80% or 50% depending on your grading scheme, midterm was 0% or 30%, and online quizzes were 20%. Prof. Ohanian provides a practice midterm and final. I would highly recommend taking them in as close to a testing setting as possible, the questions were relatively similar to the real thing. Be aware that he may curve down- the cut off for an A was a 93.8 this quarter.
I'd recommend looking up practice midterm/final questions as well as weekly quiz questions and finding quizlets that contain them to find similar difficulty level questions. There's barely any homework, so I'd suggest spending most of your time reinforcing and grinding mcqs for the tests.

This was an online class for me and overall, Professor Ohanian can be a bore. His lectures are in a style where it feels like he's in an interview and very un-interactive with the content. He's basically reading off the lecture slides and does't make an effort to solve the example in real time. He just pops up the solution and quickly reads over it without much explanation. Personally, this can scratch my brain as I am more of a visual learner who learns best seeing the process of what is actually happening. I often found myself confused at first as I would try to find where in the slides he was talking about as he does not even provide a laser or pointer to point out where he is reading at. He would also overcomplicate some concepts that were actually really easy to understand. Also, I recommend reading the book more than watching the lectures as the book would explain things wayyyyy clearer.

Final was also way harder than I ever imagined, 50%. Most of the questions were not like the ones in the book as it was claimed that if we understood how to do the examples in the book, we would be fine. Midterm was pretty solid with it being 30%. We also had weekly quizzes that was 20% of our grade. If we scored higher on the final than the midterm, it would count as 80% of our grade.

Overall, I wish this class was more interactive and the lectures were better quality and thought through.

This class online was very light in course load and content. It was an online lecture a week that you can complete whenever with an online quiz graded on completion on the weekly content. The quizzes were very easy and Professor Ohanian drops your two lowest quiz scores. The grade scheme is pretty difficult though: Quizzes 20%, Midterm 30%, Final 50%. There is no makeup midterm so if you miss it your final is then worth 80% of your grade, or if you just score better on the final than the midterm that is the grading scheme used. Professor Ohanian himself is very nice, but it is an online class so there is not much student to professor interaction unless you are the one reaching out to him for help. Overall not bad class to take for Econ 1, it is not a content and workload heavy class, but the midterm and final are by no means easy so you really do have to study for them to get a good grade and even then it can be difficult to get an A.

this class was online, as you have to learn the materials on your own time and place. I wish it was more interactive, but the slides are pretty easy to understand and read! definetly take the class in the winter as it was online, but be prepared to cram for midterm/final

This class is pretty light when it's online, you just have to watch the lectures. All of the quizzes are online and aren't lockdown browser so thats definitely a plus. You just have to make sure that you study for the midterm and final because it's easy to fall behind when you don't have in person lectures. It's really up to you to keep up to pace with classwork every week. As long as you have the motivation for that, you'll be fine.

I took this class winter quarter of my freshman year and did not mind it at all. It was an online class with an online mid-term and in-person final exam. The midterm was not bad at all, but the final exam was weighted 50% of our grade so you had to do well to do well in the class. All of the lectures were pre-recorded and he just read off a script. The professor is very passionate about the subject but genuinely was all self-teaching and studying. I wouldn't say it was bad at all, just make sure to prepare for the final exam!

I took this class online; don't. Loved my TA Fatih Ozturk, but professor was very unresponsive to emails and the tests were much harder than the weekly quizzes.