Intro to Economic Reasoning · Economics
Light workload, never did reading because slides covered all topics and one assignment a week which takes around 10-30 mins.
4 problem sets: take home so you can work with your peers. Some tricky questions, but seek out help from TA. Midterm: definitely some questions that I felt were subjective, but most people ended up doing ok. Final: I am going to assume because I got an A in the course that this went ok...I will never know. Again, sometimes felt confused by niche/subjective questions. But if you have a general grasp of info it'll be ok.
Weekly assignments (12, lowest 2 dropped): 25% Attendance: 5% Midterm: 30% Final: 40% (non-cumulative) His exams aren't as straightforward as Mulu's, but the good news is both our midterm and final were curved (pretty big curve).
Several books Optional Problem Sets 2 Midterms, lowest dropped Final Exam
Reading one unit from CORE econ textbook online (free thank god) each week. I didn't read it and most people didn't but it helps sometimes. 1 Debate (very chill) 2 Tests Biweekly problem sets that are mostly very easy but have a couple confusing problems
5 bi weekly assignments 2 midterms 1 final 1 project
His lectures are quite boring and confusing, but his slides are excellent and cover all the content so no need to open the textbook. Both exams are very similar to the practice tests and he clearly wants students to succeed. I would definitely recommend taking his class, easy A.
Sonia is an angel, a sweet person, a mom figure which is nice. The class admittedly is pretty disorganized, but if you are willing to put in the work you will be ok. She tries to make this class very applicable to the world in terms of relating stuff to climate change, global issues, etc. As much as I appreciated it I think it is why we struggled to get through a substantial amount of the actual. pertinent course material. The midterm was extremely late (like 2nd week of November), and the weeks between the midterm & final were a frenzy. The class can be difficult to pay attention in mostly because she allows students to have opinions (which is great except when they become distracting...) The problem set answer keys were riddled with errors, so my biggest advice is be your own advocate. Hunt down the TA and continue emailing Professor Pereira if you think you are right. Professor Pereira is extremely understanding and tries to help people understand. Her office hours can be the golden ticket to understanding concepts. Attend office hours with both the professor and TA to do well on problem sets. I think your grade in this course really depends on your dedication in hours and meetings.
He certainly isn't a bad person (anymore, I guess?) but he's definitely not the best lecturer. He does seem a bit nervous, and he definitely stumbles here and there, but he's pretty kind. I recommend going to lectures anyways, but you can also self-study the material (he uploads slides to Courseworks before every lecture). I knew people who only took notes to stay awake in class. We used a free online textbook—his slides are the EXACT same material, so if you need a more in-depth explanation, you can refer to it. I'd say the exams are more in-depth than the psets and what we cover in class. Take Prof. Dye's class if you have a foundation in Econ and can self study. Recitations were sort of helpful.
Intro to Economic Reasoning was a fantastic course, and I'm sorry to hear that Marcellus is leaving after this semester, because I would have loved to take another class with him. Marcellus made economics so interesting by relating the numbers and principles to real-life problems, including some of his own experiences. I am an Econ major, and know Econ classes can be dry (see Math Methods for Economics), but this has been the most interesting class I have taken at Barnard by far. If you pay attention in lecture and take good notes, there is no reason to have difficulty with the midterms or final.