Surro is the goat. Great lecturer, tests are very unpredictable you will need to study all the practice materials he emails in order to do really well. I was suffering from crammy salmonella during the final exam defintely could have scored in B range if it wasn't for that because I did a lot better on other finals later in the week and felt better physically. So disregard my shitty grade anyways he was extremely helpful wish I had taken the time to go to office hours. I was annoying as hell probably should belched less oh well. His practice midterm/final were really similar. Class get curved massive time so if you're freaking out just chill you will likely pass. He doesn't want anyone to fail--but you will need to lock in more for 101 cuz Silveria is not as chill about that.

I didn't pay attention in class. I was annoying as hell during lecture. I didn't attend a single office hour. I had salmonella during the final. I somehow ended up with an A-. Surro is truly the GOAT. I was lucky enough to secure a spot with this dude again for econ 102 fall 2025.
Quick note that his handwriting is sometimes illegible and tends to emphasize the first three letters of "assume"...the "Ass Tally" exceeded 20 by the end of the quarter.

I absolutely loved econ 11 and prof surro! i was so nervous going into this class bc i heard it was super difficult etc etc but i swear its not.

surro's lectures are always structured (30 mins doing the practice problems he posted for last lecture's content + 45 mins teaching new content), he provides practice problems, exam style problems, and his typed notes for every lecture/topic, quizzes for each lecture due before the next (only based on completion), and problem sets every week (based on effort but you'll get full credit if you even attempted most). he'll also post more exam style problems for the midterm and final. everything except the final is extra credit unless you do better on the midterm. attendance is also mandatory for extra credit and you can miss up to 5 and still get full attendance credit.

he literally gives you a step-by-step on how to do well in his class, advising you to read thru the types notes before class, do the practice problems right after class, and the exam style ones when you feel confident w the topic, then obviously the practice midterm/final lastly. i did not read the notes or do the pratice problems, but did do everything else.

math in this class was not at all hard, only basic calc. cheat sheets were allowed for midterm and final. i really do not think the content was that hard, either. midterm was extremely easy to me but the final was definitely more challenging. even so, i ended w an A.

i cannot reiterate this enough- if you put in decent effort for this class, you WILL do well. the class is interesting and easy to follow & Surro is amazing. do not fear this class ...

If you have a class with Surro in it, take it. He gives so many opportunities to supplement the material and makes it very clear exactly what he expects and how to achieve it. If you follow all the study guidelines he gives at the beginning, you will get a good grade. This guy is amazing. 10/10 would recommend. Also he's so sweet and always cheering you on.

People glaze this man way too much. Yes he’s a decent prof who articulates the content well and seems to really care about his students but I wouldn’t say that he was a particularly engaging lecturer. His tests are actually evil, questions can be very unpredictable bc he really tries to test your intuition so you will see some questions on the test that are formatted like none of the questions you did in psets/other practice material. Imo midterm was worse than the final (midterm is def more of a time crunch than final) but I also put in more than 50 hrs of studying for the final. For reference the median on the midterm was a 66 and for the final was an 82. All the test questions are free response style but they are graded pretty harshly. One good thing though is your midterm grade gets dropped if you do better on the final. Overall this class will require a lot of effort and may make you question your major.

Surro is such a wonderful lecturer and he definitely teaches well. We are allowed cheatsheets on both midterm and final, and we also have problem sets as a cushion for our grades. I was taking ECON 41 with Hahn along with this class and they both turned out fine. As long as you follow Surro's advice on when and how to study, an A- is guaranteed. Always do the practice problems before the lecture and use the problem set and practice problems to practice for exams.

Prof Surro is the best. Definitely take his classes if you can. Just make sure to follow his suggested study methods and you'll be fine.

Chris Surro is easily the best professor at UCLA. He has a unique talent of breaking down complex concepts into easy to understand intuitions and uses those intuitions to guide the entirety of the course. He never strays too far into the math/abstract and keeps his lectures laser focused on the core concepts he wants to get across. He provides a lot of specific guidance beyond classroom learning on how to succeed in his class which was very useful for me.

The midterm will likely be harder than expected. The questions are kind of like SAT questions with relatively easy concepts but somewhat involved problem solving. Its usually just basic algebra/recognition of different concepts.

Definitely do the problem sets; the process of solving problems should be like clockwork before the exams. The more important part is making sure you understand everything in complete detail.

Surro definitely gives you all the resources you need to do well in this class but damn this class is HARD. 33% midterm 66% final grading scheme or you can go 100% final. There's quizzes and problem sets and attendance that can all add extra credit to your grade. You can miss 3 quizzes 2 problem sets and 5 classes to still get max points. Use your bypass on problem set4 fs, however it will help you study for the midterm but it literally takes so long. If you don't put in the work you won't do well. You need to prepare for this class. You legit need to do all the practice problems for each concept to study for the midterm and final. The midterm is meh but that final is wayyyyy harder than the midterm and no one finished early for the final. Honestly if you're not super mathy like me, you'll die in this class.

This course can get challenging, but Professor Surro makes the learning process smooth and engaging. There is an extensive amount of material provided, including quizzes, practice problems, problem sets, and plenty of past exam questions to study from. In addition, Professor Surro is very active on Campuswire and makes sure to answer every question asked.
Both the midterm and final were free-response, with a one-page cheat sheet allowed. The midterm consisted of 3 short-answer and 2 long-answer questions, and the final consisted of 6 short-answer and 3 long-answer questions. From what I could tell, the graders were pretty lenient with partial credit when applicable.
To succeed in this class, I would recommend having a very solid understanding of the intuition behind everything. The math is pretty simple (only goes up to Lagrangian/partial derivatives), but understanding the WHY for each question and scenario will help a lot.
I would definitely recommend Surro for ECON 11, he is a great professor in general!