Bresnock is a very good, straightforward teacher. Her lectures are well organized and clear, although it is possible to do well using only the book (Hubbard and O'Brien). There is a midterm (40%), a non-cumulative final (40%), and two projects (20%). As far as I know, there is no curve, but she does give 20 points extra-credit for filling out a survey. (The exams are 200 points each.)

Bresnock IS a kind and caring professor. Unfortunately, students misinterpret her sarcasm and take offense. For example, when students handed in their midterms without writing down their id numers, she said "Come on people, it's not that hard! Are you retarded?" She talks like this to everyone though. I heard her say to her TA's after the final, "Can we maybe walk a little bit faster here? You guys are so slow." -- or something along those lines. The point is that innocent remarks like that should not influence your perception of Bresnock as a teacher. If you ever actually express an interst in economics and talk to her, as I did, she is extremely enthusiastic, kind, and helpful.

The only probelm with Econ 1 is that it's an 8 am class. Since it's physically impossible to go to EVERY lecture, go to the first few and the last few before the midterm or final. You can use the book to fill in the gaps.

One more thing: During one of the lectures, some LaRouche idiots started disturbing class by asking Bresnock a bunch of questions and would NOT shut up. She asked them to leave the class, but they refused. So, she asked the students to kick them out, and a really buff guy dragged one of them out. Under the threat of physical violence, the other left too. It was hilarious.

Bresnock is an interesting individual. I can see how students get frustrated with her because she is strict and outspoken, sometimes rude. But if you get over that, she teaches the material amazingly well. She is completly organized and consistent. The book is unneccessary except for an additional tool to learn the material. Its tempting to just read the book and not go to lecture, but not recommended. Some of the things in the book are defined differently or not included. I also suggest you get to class slightly early because there are soo many students and you are likely to end up on the floor if you get there past 8.

Ann is a very hard working but also strict teacher. She was always late or absent at her office hours and tried to kick students out as soon as possible. She had a very haughty personality and did not take any of the students as adults. During class, she would berrate any individual who's cell phone would ring in class but then proudly picked up her own during the final. Oh yes, and during the midterms and final she made all the students cram into the seats either on the left or right of the classroom making it impossible to stretch or even ask any questions. I would definitely recommend her if you are able to study on your own. All the material is self-explanatory and you can learn it on your own. But if you have any interest in economics or would like to ask questions, better ask a TA or take a different professor.

I had Bresnock for spring 05 quarter for Econ 1. The class was fairly hard and wasn't as easy as i thought it would be and i put a decent amount of work into it. There was no curve at all and she had a strict "no rounding up even if you have a 89.99%" policy. She did give 25 points of extra credit in the end for doing a survey which was nice, but we did not get enough time for the first midterm EVEN WITH the extra 30 minutes she gave us by telling us to come at 7:30 AM for an 8:00 AM test!(not worth the extra credit in my opinion especially since the class was straight scale) Although she does teach fairly well, she has the worst sarcastic condescending attitude you'll ever find in a teacher. Don't get me wrong, she will help you during office hours, however it's at the expense of your self esteem and the temper you have to hold back as she rolls her eyes at you after every other sentence.

Bresnock is probably the most unfair professor I've had. She gave us about an hour and 15 minutes for a good 3 hour test for the midterm...so you're pretty much screwed after the midterm. It is a test of speed, not knowledge. Not even the extra credit helps afterwards. She does NOT curve in ANY way. The book she uses is great, but it's not very effective for her tests. it's not THAT hard to pull off a good grade, but don't count on an A.

shes a good teacher and her tests are hard but fair. she also gives extra credit. if you put time into it, youll do well.

Don't be fooled by the midterm; the final is HARD.

This teacher and this class were a joke. It basically consists of printing out her lecture notes and filling in LOTS of graphs until 9:15 hits or you fall asleep. Yes, she does have a loud voice, and is passionate about economics, but she treats all the students like high school students at best. She repeats really basic material over and over again as if there's anybody who doesn't get it. She's really boring, her jokes never aroused a chuckle from more then a few people in a 300+ person class, and she'll start to get snappy if people don't answer her questions.
She has very few office hours, probably because she spends most of her time where she's actually a professor, at CSU Pomona, so expect to only get help from your TA.

The tests are easy as long as you have the lecture notes to study from. The MC questions are just tricky enough to do well without the notes. The Krugman book was new this quarter and is really good. She also gives out 40 extra credit points for taking online quizzes, which should be plenty of points to make up any points you miss on the MT or final, giving you an easy easy A. I thought giving extra credit stopped in high school. And how many times does she send out emails about the same freaking thing? Yeah we know we have to take the online survey to get out credit, and yes we know we have to get a scantron and a non-graphing calculator (yes, they actually do check them ALL before the test, talk about anal).

If you want to get an easy A at UCLA from a CSU professor, then take this class. If you can take waking up at 8am (yeah you have to go to lecture b/c she leaves the graphs in her notes blank, and there's a lot of graphs on the tests) and feeling like you're in high school again, then this is a good GE to take. If you have to take this class, then hopefully she's not teaching it when you do. South campus majors, this is a really easy GE, nothing but basic math.

Professor Bresnock is one the most organized professors you will ever encounter. she uses the same notes every single quarter and she knows them inside out. Going to her 8 am lectures everytime was worth it because she thoroughly goes through her notes and explains things VERY well. THe down part is...ALL her TA's sucked really bad. Her exams are pretty straightforward..if you know her notes good..then you're all good for the tests. I definitely recommend taking her class.

Boring, and too thorough. Not a sweet 8am class, but if you need to take Econ 1, she's a good choice.