If you need to take Econ 102, take it with Surro. Half of his lectures are going over practice questions and the other half is going over new content. He has you do problem sets, quizzes, and iClicker attendance for “extra points” that gets added as a denominator to your final grade. Exams tend to be fair (mixture of easy and difficult questions). He allows ONE PAGE cheat sheet for both midterm and final. Midterm grade is dropped if you do better on the final. In addition, the Solow Assignment is a great grade booster as it (1) Improves skills with spreadsheets and (2) Goes in detail about one of the main models of the class. Focus on the main part of each lecture and review his lecture notes/slides. Highly recommended!

prof surro is truly the goat of ucla econ 🐐 he teaches in a very straightforward way and his exams are fair (difficult but reasonable). his grading scheme is also pretty helpful in cushioning exams: there are 8 problem sets (can drop 2), 14 quizzes (can drop 4), and lecture clicker attendance for extra credit can miss 5). problem sets and quizzes are based on completion not correctness so there’s no reason to get less than full credit. there’s an solow model excel assignment due week 10 and it’s tedious but very doable as long as you have a basic understanding of the solow model. i found the midterm and final to be very fair with no curveballs (conceptual questions are always more difficult for me but just study up on the theory heavy lectures!!) you get 1 handwritten double sided cheat sheet for each exam that will fit all the formulas you will ever need. the math required for this class isn’t difficult just tedious. overall, even though i hate macroecon i really enjoyed taking it with surro!!

If you have to take Econ 102, please try your best to take Surro. He's one of the best professor at UCLA Econ department. The content of the class itself is not easy, so as the exams (but to a reasonable extent). But Surro provided A LOT of materials for people to study and master the concepts. There's weeky problem sets and quizzes graded on completion, practice questions for each section that he would go over at the beginning of each lectures, practice midterms and finals, and he even posted practice exams questions & solutions for each section of the concept covered. The reading he assigned for each problem sets are also super helpful for us to better understand the economic concepts behind math.

Again, the class is not easy. But Surro genuinely cares about his students and you will do well if you study hard for this class. The concept is so much more interesting than microeconomics too.

Surro is a great guy and great teacher with the resources he gives in homework, quizzes, practice problems, and other materials. HOWEVER, his lectures were somewhat awful, he would go over practice problems in a very rushed way for 40 minutes every class not truly explaining why he was doing what he was doing. This would leave 35 minutes to teach a whole new topic, which he rushed very fast. If you fell behind it feels like you almost can't catch up with how fast and nondescriptive he is. And with how fast he goes you will fall behind at some point. Aside from that the topic is somewhat interesting, class jumps from of topics/models frequently and tests are pretty challenging and give little time for how much there is. Still think he is the best teacher available for 102, but still doesn't mean he's perfect.

The class content is easy, extremely straight forward, however, there is a lot of work to review (weekly hw, slides, quizzes, practice problems and practice exam questions, and a whole 200-300 row excel project that takes too long for how repetitive it is). His lectures are also extremely fast paced, he doesn't clarify certain steps, relationships, or parameters, and the midterm had an average of 60+% because no one was able to finish in time. It had barely any multiple choice and even those required scratch paper to solve. But he is very giving with extra credit, hw grading, participation. This class was like the Lebron of Kelly olynyks. Better, but still Kelly olynyk-esque

Surro did a great job teaching and stands out as one of UCLA’s stronger economics professors. If you have the chance to take him for a core class, I highly recommend it

My review of other professors: https://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/comments/1gmshzu/review_of_econ_professors_as_a_transfer_student/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Best Econ Professor ever.... So organized and explains things in an extremely intuitive way. Exams are tough but there is significant practice material provided. If you do all the practice material and understand it thoroughly, no reason to not get an A.

I took 4 classes with Professor Surro and I think he's one of the best professors in the Econ department. He's very active answering questions and giving out feedbacks to students. The exams are pretty hard and he pretty much respects the department grade distribution. There was a power point on the Solow Model and it was probably my favorite part of the course. Take the midterm because the final is harder and the multiple choice section is very tricky.

i hate his teaching style - it doesn't work for me. if you took econ11 with him and think this will be any different, it won't. save yourself the trouble. this class isn't for people who like to play catch up.

one positive is that he passed me even tho i shouldn't have. if he sees you trying, and turning in assignments, there is not really a way to fail his class. you will move on to the next series. i appreciate him for that. thank you, chris surro! i won't be taking another class with you, but i respect your integrity.

Professor Surro continues to be the best professor in the Econ department. He teaches you exactly what he intends on testing you on and is clear and concise when he teaches. Whenever you see a class taught by Chirs Surro it should always be an indication to take it.