Policies

Prerequisites for the course and how to do well

This class is among the more demanding in the economics sequence. Beyond Calculus 16a,b and Intermediate Micro 100, the most important thing to have is diligence. 121 requires steady practice: taking good notes in lecture, participating in section, putting a good effort in home works. Dr. Friedland tends to be selective about what he uses from the text, hence, there is no substitute for good notes and class attendance.

Section will be dedicated to talking through tricky steps in the home works and addressing any questions you might have. As much as possible, I will ask you to answer questions instead of lecturing. Who I ask will be random, so I can get a representative distribution of what people are understanding, and because in this class, there is a danger of having a false sense of familiarity. Answering questions will help you see if that sense is well founded. Section is aimed at the average student ,so if done right ½ students will feel its too fast and another ½ will feel its too slow.

Falling Behind

If you miss lectures or stop doing hws, at first, things will start to seem confusing and hard, but later things will not seem so strange. That’s because you have to know something in order to be confused, ie, to know that you don’t know. Past some point of unfamiliarity, you don’t know enough to know that you don’t know.

Coming to get help early

Because economics is cumulative, the farther you fall behind, the more difficult it will be to catch up. Doing the hws on your own and bombing gives early warning that there is a problem. Email me if you have questions. I always answer emails within 1 day, so resend if you don’t get a response in that time. See me or Dr. Friedland, who is very nice, during office hours, but realize that we have other responsibilities as well and can’t give you a summary of all past material just before the exam.

Homework and Exam policy

You can get help for doing the home works before they are due in office hours on Friday.

Home works will be graded out of 5, where 5 is perfect and 0 if not done. These are graded coarsely, so its important for you to go through the solution key for details, and most people should get 4. Since hws in total count for 10% of the course grade, if you make a decent effort, only 0.2% will be at stake. So, I encourage you do these hws on your own to get the practice with problem solving (see suggestions on doing well) that you will need for the exams. Solution keys for home works and exams will be posted. Home works are due Monday noon. Answer keys will be posted at noon Monday, so late home works will not be accepted.

There is no make-up exam either before or after the actual one. If you miss a midterm for medical reasons, you must provide official documentation, and you must give notice before the midterm. (You may want to get a flue shot to lower the chance of missing or being sick during an exam.)Your midterm grade will then be shifted to the final. Incompletes will only be given if you have an officially recognized incapacity, and then if you had a passing grade for all prior work.

You must bring any grading errors to my attention within 2 lecture days of getting your exam or homework back, so it’s clear in my mind how exactly I graded everyone else. Graduating seniors and people who are on probation: Please note grades will only be changed for clerical mistakes.

A detailed discussion of study strategies that you might find helpful is here.

Posted Section Notes

I will post notes when I can and think its important, but these should only be a supplement and not a substitute for your own section notes, because I might cover more things than I put in the notes. In a few years, I could probably make a text book out of these notes, but for now, there could be gaps and typos. You can get extra points for finding typos—5 typos for every point on some hw. These notes will only be elaborations of specific parts of lecture and hence, not a substitute for attendance at lecture.

Please email me if you have suggestions on how section can be more helpful. I will take a short anonymous survey of the section after every midterm.