Surro by no means is an easy teacher but he is clear and very reasonable. His class is structure in a way where you can only help yourself through doing problem sets, quizzes, and good on the midterm. Midterm is definitely a major time crunch but if you do better on the final, it will be dropped. The material overall in Econ 11 can be pretty difficult, but there is not a ton of it. Where most students struggle is with the fact that Surro tries to make students have a full understanding of the material, which means an understanding of the intuition instead of just knowing the basic steps. For the midterm and final, he gives out a practice one that is from the previous quarter that is very similar to the one that you will take. Do all the practice homeworks and problem sets. Median grade gets curved to a B.

This class is very tough, but Surro definitely provides the resources for you to be successful. You just have to really utilize all of the practice he gives you and definitely attend lectures because he goes over problems in class. He cares about his students a lot as well. His tests are definitely really difficult, but I don't think unfairly so. He is a good teacher and if you pay attention and do the practice, you can succeed in the class. You also don't really need to go to section if you can do the practice on your own.

I was so scared to take Econ 11 because of its intimidating reputation but Chris surro is truly one of the best professors I’ve ever had. He explains things in a straight forward way that makes sense. If you put in the work to truly understand the material and not just memorize equations then the tests will be a breeze. This class is a great example of the work you put in reflects your results.

For people with math-related background , this class should be quite easy. In my opinion, it’s easier than math 32a. I watched all the lectures recodings and did the problem sets. His notes were helpful. If you follow his advice, exams should be very easy.

Professor Surro is an excellent lecturer. He explains everything in a clean, concise way, his class is very organized, and you feel like you understand everything after each lecture. However, the midterm and final are challenging because he tests for a deeper understanding of the material. You can do all the practice problems he gives, yet there will still be questions that you have never seen before. Also, your grade is either 33% midterm, 67% final, or 100% final. Attendance to discussions and lectures is not mandatory, and weekly homework/quizzes are practically extra credit. This class was pretty good overall, but I wish the final wasn't weighted so heavily

Surro's class was difficult in the best way possible. His method of teaching and grading was rooted in a motivation to increase conceptual understanding rather than simple memorization or an easy A. He gives you all the tools necessary to succeed in the class, but its up to you to use them-- the problem sets, practice questions, and quizzes are optional. Follow his advice on how to do good in the class, and it will be extremely rewarding. It wasn't easy, but I have gained a deeper appreciation for the subject and broadened my intuition-- would highly recommend Surro!

Surro is an amazing professor, I am just not an amazing student. I just never went to class and crammed midterm/final a night or two before-hand so some of the edge cases that you learn about scenarios are tested heavily, and given my lack of preparedness and simple math mistakes due to my adhd, I got bad test grades.

In the end when calculating final grades, he didn't curve the upper 50% of the class but only curved the lower bottom. So basically if you were borderline B+/A- and was expecting a curve to bump you up, that would not happen. I had a B+ and stuck at the B+ in the end.

This class can be challenging but still doable. As other commenters noted, the majority of your final grade will come from your performance on exams, which can be very intimidating. I would first suggest going to every lecture and discussion if possible, as they provide great intros to the content and reinforce important concepts. On your own time, I would advise redoing problem sets and ensuring that you form a graphical intuition behind what you're trying to accomplish. This will be especially helpful when you're going through different types of equilibrium towards the end of the class. Before starting the class, try to go through partial derivatives if you can. Generally, the exams are an elevated version of the problem sets done in class except with more challenging numbers or rephrased questions that require you to think about the concept more. For the exams, I would highly recommend that you focus on these concepts and their economic meanings: utility maximization vs expenditure minimization (convex vs concave preferences), compensating vs equivalent variation, income/substitution effect, short and long run supply curves (partial equilibrium), and the difference between the general equilibrium situations we cover in class. It can be easy to lose points on these concepts since they involve a great deal of graphical and numerical interpretation. Overall, I felt that I have learned a ton in this class and feel more confident in future courses because of Professor Surro. So, if you can, definitely take the class with him.

Great professor but veeerry difficult class. Tests are weighted very heavily--even with the most forgiving grade scheme, the final exam counts as half of your grade. If you aren't great at math, prepare for a looot of studying. While the problem sets were typically not too difficult, the exams were extremely stressful. The midterm (and to a lesser extent, the final) were time crunches and included questions that were worded in ways that you wouldn't have expected based on the problem sets, practice problems, and practice exams. I kinda felt awful after both exams, but the pretty generous curve came to my rescue. With that being said, Professor Surro is one of the best instructors I've ever had. He lectures by writing out his notes and all the steps to problems in a very systematic fashion. I would definitely recommend attending his office hours because he explains the concepts very clearly. Furthermore, he provides an immense amount of resources to help his students learn the content (practice problems, typed notes, study groups, written advice for how to do well in the class). If you want an extremely strong foundation for future econ courses, then definitely take Professor Surro!