I took this class Fall quarter 2021 and it was asynchronous so it might be different if it goes back to in-person.
Anyways, the grading was as follows:
Online quizzes = 15%
TA writing assignments =15%
Midterm = 25%
Final = 45%
Before I go further, the class highly recommends that you purchase Mindtap. It's not required, but the prof essentially pulls his midterm and final questions from the Mindtap practice. I'm currently taking Econ 2 and Mindtap is REQUIRED. What you could do (and what I did) is purchase a longer subscription time. Instead of the 4-month subscription, I bought the 12-month (~$180). This way, you have Mindtap for both classes and have time in between if you choose not to take Econ 2 right after.
Back to the classes, the online quizzes were short, always 4-5 questions per quiz and there was no time limit. The writing assignments were limited 4-5 sentences per questions and the TAs were picky if you went over. Simply put, get to the point when doing the writing assignments and don't add additional fluff. Most TAs graded fairly (there were a couple TAs that graded more harshly), and if you felt that you deserved more points for the writing, then you could email your TA and explain your reasoning to get your points back.
Like the past reviews said, the midterm was harder than the practice midterm provided. You can't use the practice exam as a gauge of how well you'll do on the actual exams. However, the prof bases his questions heavily off Mindtap. If you take practice tests on Mindtap, you'll have a good understanding about the type of questions asked and when you take the midterm, all that really different are the numbers within the questions. The nature of the question is still the same as Mindtap. The same applies for the final, where it was harder than the practice final, but the questions on the final were very much like the Mindtap ones. I managed to get an A on the final after continuously doing practice tests on Mindtap and it seriously does help. I know other reviews say that you can still get an A without purchasing Mindtap, but I recommend it.
As for TAs, I was lucky in that my TA was super nice and explained things clearly. If you do take Econ 1, try to get Pat as your TA! (If she's TA-ing for the class)

The class is pretty easy if you enjoy the subject and study enough before the tests. Personally I preferred watching the posted lectures where the professor went over the chapter rather than reading the chapter myself, I just learn better that way. Weekly quizzes were easy, writing assignments were also easy if you put some thought into it and answered the question basing it off the information you learned off the chapter from that week as well as a brief explanation using the article provided. The midterm was definitely a time crunch which made it quite difficult but many of us emailed a complaint and was able to get fewer questions relative to the time for our final. Overall I enjoyed what I learned in this class. Curve didn’t seem as bad for this quarter as 90.6 was the cutoff for an A-.

Took this class online asynch as a first quarter freshman and it was light work. Even if you have no economics experience, this class will still be so easy. Probably spent 1.5-2.5 hours a week on this class per week maximum (including reading, discussion, homework, etc...).

30% homework (half writing assignments where you basically just guess what the rubric wants you to write, and half "quizzes" that are untimed and super easy). 25% midterm and 45% final.

Do the homework, it counts as 30% of your grade and no late work is accepted. I missed one writing assignment and that dropped by grade by 1.5%. Midterm and final were super easy, they're open note and you have so much time (probably around 2 minutes per question, and realistically each question takes one minute maximum). Curve in my class had almost no effect: every threshold was raised by 0.2% (93.2 for A, 90.2 for A-, etc...), and there is no rounding since there's like 250 kids in the class and that'd mess the distribution up. I don't know if my class was an outlier since I'd expect a hefty downcurve based on other peoples' experiences.

His lectures are boring and useless, he just reads off slides and repeats the textbook, although he is always dripped out in the suit. Can't really say much more to it since I never saw him/talked to him once. The "mandatory" reading is optional, it doesn't come up and I really doubt it will help you learn anything. If you understand the textbook well, the class should be a breeze.

The textbook is necessary (and free online), the Cengage is a waste of money. Discussion is optional and I wouldn't go unless you're really struggling. I had a chill TA who was nice and helpful enough, but it really wasn't necessary.

Of course, in person this class would be way harder and way more unbearable, but if you can do it online, it'll be crazy easy.

Although online and asynchronous, the class ended being significantly better than I initially thought. The lectures are pretty much optional, as they are uploaded and can be watched at your pace and time. They weren't exactly too insightful though because they repeated materials you could have learned from the textbook. I ended up using the lectures slides to take quick notes, read the textbook, and used MindTap to practice for quizzes and exams.

The grade distribution was sort of intimidating since the final took up 45 percent of the final grade (quizzes were 15 percent, writing assignments 15 percent, and the midterm 25 percent). While both exams were reasonable in difficulty (very few tricky questions), timing was a concern for the class in the midterm. While spending $120 on the textbook and MindTap is expensive, I ended up getting it because it came with hundreds of additional practice questions (adaptive test prep) that allow you to hone your skills before the exam, which ended up being very helpful. Plus, if you plan on taking Econ 2, I believe you end up using the same textbook, so it can come in handy.

The best thing you can do to prepare for the exams is to make sure you lose as few points as possible on the quizzes and writing assignments. The quizzes are relatively straightforward and are untimed, but the writing assignments can be tricky as the TAs grade on a strict word-by-word rubric. I would advise, if possible, to talk to your TA when needed to clarify questions that may seem open-ended or have multiple possible answers. The more concepts you can tie into your responses (which should be about a paragraph long for each question), the more likely you are to get your points.

Overall, the class was pretty solid despite having little interaction with the professor. The in-person discussions really ensured that I understood the material, and while there have been significant downcurves in the past, that wasn't the case this quarter.

Do not take Econ 1 with this professor! Took this course over Covid and he just reused prerecorded lectures that were scripted and not very helpful. Had 0 interaction with the class itself. The class was comprised of 2 weekly online quizzes, weekly reading assignment, midterm, and final. The midterm and final were pretty hard considering it had nothing to do with the course material. Overall, I definitely recommend taking Econ 1 with another prof.

Overall I didn't think the class was that bad, I thought the lectures were clear and to the point which I liked; the only bad thing was that all grades were curved down which I have been told seems pretty standard for the econ department. Finished the course with a 92% and still ended with a B+

Actual class and professor were good though, a lot of review from high school econ so if you took that you'll be set and if not it still won't be that bad

It's your average asynchronous class, so it's hard to give a super detailed review. Like every other asynchronous class, it wasn't amazing but it went terrible. The professor seemed like a really nice guy. Super passionate about the subject.

I got absolutely molested by the final though. Dropped me from a high A to a B+.

This class was great. It is completely asynchronous and there is basically no homework aside from weekly 10 question quizzes and a short free-response question. There are usually 1 or 2 tough questions and the rest are easy on the weekly quizzes. The final and midterm are pretty easy with a few tough questions and they are open note but timed. The lectures are not too long just take notes and you should be good in this class. I found the lectures pretty interesting but I could see how some people would be bored the professor makes one joke the whole class and speaks pretty slow but he explains everything well.

All the lectures were pre-recorded and uploaded online so you can work at your own pace. There were 2 short quizzes due at the end of every week but if you did the readings they shouldn't be too bad. Professor Ohanian kind of just read off the slides but it wasn't too dry as he would crack a few jokes now and then. My biggest tip would be to get the optional Mindtap. It's pricey but I found it really helpful with all its practice problems/tests etc. Note, the final marks got curved down with a A- starting at 93. Not sure if this is standard for an econ class or because of special circumstances during online classes.