Although professor hou wasnt the greatest professor, the reviews that are posted here are too biased. Granted, everything is true, but just keep in mind that everyone who is leaving a review here bagging on hou most likely got a bad grade. I'm here to give a completely neutral review of him. First of all, he acknowledges the fact that he goes into tangents during his lectures and justifies it by saying that it's nice to have a short break, and that we cant handle straight economics for such a long period of time without burning out. And for everyone who says going to lecture is a waste of time...it isnt. It is unfair for him to make us show up at 7:45 but he often explains the harder concepts in a manner that is easy to understand. Also, though he doesnt explicity tell us what we have to read, he outlines his entire lecture on the board before he starts his lecture, and he never makes it past halfway through...so just go home and read up on those concepts. He also gives very obvious hints on what's going to be on the test if you pay attention during lecture. He taught a concept which was never in the book "Mercantilism" and he straight out told the entire class that it would be both on the midterm and on the final...so if you didnt showup, you probably missed it. As for his availability outside of class, it's fair to say he's basically not there. His office hours are before class (he proudly says he is in his office at 5:30 am) and he doesnt reply to emails. It's also true that he TAs barely understood any english, but that shouldnt be hou's fault. As for his tests, and his very "high" difficulty rating, trust me when I say that it is grossly exaggerated. His past exams are nearly identical to the tests that he gives you, and there are many repeats of the same multiple choice questions. Basically, if you read the book and take a couple past exams before the test, you'll score the easiest A ever. With that said, many students choose to procrastinate and start studying the night before the test. Keep in mind that economics is not english or math, it's based on concepts that build on top of one another. It's unrealistic to expect that you can fully understand concepts in a couple day's time especially if you havent been keeping up with your readings or going to lecture. Even for the best crammers, I'd say that it takes at least a full week to cram for the final and score an easy A. Also, keep in mind that many people choose not to wake up for an 8 am class, and many completely bomb the tests. Combine this fact with the fact that he curves his tests and sets the median score at a B-, and you'll realize that anyone who doesnt get at least a solid B just isnt putting forth the effort.
Conclusion: Hou isnt the best teacher, but he gets the job done. If you're striving for an A, reading the book on your own and taking some past exams is all you need to do. Hou is never available outside of class and dont expect him to be a sympathetic professor. Take this with some friends, or make some new ones, so you can help each other with concepts. If you are not a business economics major, take econ 1 with bresnok instead. If you are a bus econ major, this class should be a breeze, if it's not, you should consider switching majors. Hope this helped!

POSSIBLY THE WORST PROFESSOR I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! his excuse for being a bad teacher is that we go to a states school and only pay a state's tuiton whereas if we went to Yale we would have a much better professor. Unfortunately, for me Im out of state and pay the same tuition I would if I did go to Yale. Anyway, his TA's barely spoke English. Coming into the final exam, my TA had never even met Hou. I dont recommend this guy to anyone

I highly recomend that you DO NOT take econ 2 with Jack Hou. As if an 8 am class is not early enough, he makes the decision to start class at 7:45, and what is worse, his office hours are BEFORE class. This is unacceptable. Furthermore, nearly half of each lecture consists of ridiculous stories about the success of his wife, how he exploits writing expensive meals off as busines expenses, and how he inhaled secondhand pot smoke one time. His primary teaching job is at CSU Long Beach, and he makes it a point to tell us that he puts most of his energy and effort into his classes over there. He mocks and humiliates students who ask questions in class. He never informed us what the reading would be for the week, thus it was impossible to do the reading before class. I went to his office hours once and he basically yelled at me to "mesh the lecture with the textbook" rather than helping me in a construstive way. It is obvious that he doesn't care about student learning. Basically, this class was pretty much entirely self taught, and my friends and I had to help each other understand most of the concepts since Hou was such an inadequate teacher. the end.

As you have probably already read, Hou is a terrible Professor. He forces his students to wake up for a 7:45 class every Tuesday and Thursday (Is that even allowed?), yet chooses to waste a good 30 minutes of his lecture each class on random tangents about movies he watched on the plane coming home from his meetings in China, his wife's superiority, the new car he wants to buy, and who knows what else. My personal favorite, however, was how he chose to interrupt the final to explain that in most econ courses you are not allowed to go to the restroom during the final! As seen, Hou really could care less about how his students perform. He mocks students when they ask questions, makes them feel stupid, and makes his office hours before class (that is right at 7 in the morning, so he obviously does not have to deal with helping anyone). Obviously, I highly do not reccomend Hou, though unfortunately he is usually the only professor teaching Econ 2. If you get stuck with him the key to success is forcing yourself to read and memorize practically every major key term in the textbook (they come up on all the quizzes and tests). Secondly, make sure to do a significant number of the past exams he has online. Many of the same questions come up (both multiple choice and free response), and having prior practice and knowledge of the test format will help significantly in finishing the tests on time, which the majority of people in the class cannot do. Good luck!

This guy is a terrible professor. His real job is at CSULB, which he will not hesitate to tell you. He just teaches at UCLA "for fun." His lectures are tangential, often diverging into topics such as his wife's superior income, people he has known along the way (a couple of them actually relevant to economics), his dogs, and other such mindless blather. There was no readings schedule on the syllabus, so I had no idea what to read before lecture. Even though the registrar says his class starts at 8 in the morning, don't be fooled. Hou starts it 15 minutes earlier at his own discretion. I mainly self taught myself for this class. My TA was useless, but that of course varies by quarter. The head TA is always the same. The final took the full 3 hours, not many people finished it on time or early. I wish I had taken Econ 1 instead

Perhaps this could best be summed up in the traditional form of haiku

Tiny China Man
Doesn't explain things clearly
Tangents in lectures

This class is not as bad as people are making it out to be. To do well all you need to do is keep up with the reading and do a lot of practice midterms and finals which he gives you online. the tests are all basically the same questions from the past ones so if you do them and understand them you will ace the tests. Every class that you actually have to study for here at UCLA gets a bad rap. Just study for this class and it is very doable.

by the ratings you should be scared enough to NOT take Hou's econ class but in case you have to... Hou is BORING. His TAs usually aren't that great/ useful. It's one of those classes were you have to read the book and teach yourself the material. I'm not sure why they even pay Hou b/c I'm not sure what he does at all. I do know that in the middle of our exam, he started talking loudly to another student for a good 10 mins and the whole room was pissed off b/c uhmmmm we were in the middle of an exam. GOOD luck!

this was one of the worst experiences with economics of my life. I am an Business econ Major and this professor almost ruined it for me. His lectures are useless and sections (at least the one i had) are just as bad. You better not mess up on the first midterm because the second midterm and the final are very hard. I managed a B+ in the class but had to study about a week before each test. if you are taking this class for a GE, take econ 1 with bresnock. If you have to take Econ 2, good luck because Hou is the only teacher. The only good thing is the curve which is pretty generous (taking into account that almost everyone fails the exams).

Please do not let Jack Hou discourage you from studying Econ. I have no idea why they let him teach one of the intro to econ classes, I'm sure it has scared many people away from the major. He is a terrible lecturer that rambles and goes off topic so often that I found myself more confused by his lecturers than if I just read the material on my own. You don't really need to go to lectures, I did not go to a single one after the first week and I still got an A in the class.

The key to success in his class is to do each and every practice test that he puts online, multiple times if need be. He very often repeats questions exactly from test to test, so doing the practice tests will really give you an edge. Theory and thinking about the economics at work is not that helpful, rote memorization of his inane test questions is.

Hou wasn't a bad teacher, he just wasn't that great. I would definately recommend that you take Econ 1 first with Bresnock because she will teach you the basics of economics much better than Hou ever could, and also her book is much better (and more explanatory). Hou's class consists of random tangents, which will help you stay awake in class, but wont help you with the class. All I have to say about this teacher is make sure you review the past midterms and finals (I took about 6 of them before each test) and I pulled one of the easiest A's in my life without going to a 7:50 class (yes it starts at 7:50 AM because he skips a week and has to catch up).