This class will require a lot of time and energy. There are multiple problem sets due throughout the quarter, and many of us felt like they were difficult to do without camping out at office hours for all of the TAs. The tests were hard too, but the problem sets were harder than the tests, so use them to study!

DISCLAIMER: This is the first time this class has ever been taught. This is a brand new class as part of a brand new major so expect things to not be 100% smooth. Take these bad reviews sparingly and pray that things get better in the future for y'all future Pub Aff majors!
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The professor did try. No one can say she didn't. She often paused and asked the class if we had questions and took the time to explain. After the class average on the midterm was a 70, she pushed for subsidized tutoring for people who did bad on the midterm so they could do better on the final. She also posted review slides and answered questions diligently in office hours and responded to her email very fast.
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My qualms with this class was the logistics of everything. The problem sets (of which there were 4) took many hours to do even working in groups. The problem sets themselves also had several errors on them that the professor had to notify us on via email. These errors made doing the problem sets an inconvenience.
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The class also goes over a lot. I have taken Econ 1 in the past and I would say most, if not, all the material of Econ 1 is covered within half the time in this class. So, taking Econ 1 doesn't really even help you prepare for the class all that well. There's just so much to go over we often had to carry lectures over onto future dates which had us feeling very rushed.
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The curve was very generous so I imagine without the curve people did pretty terrible. However, the curve was more generous than a regular curve in economics as said by the professor so that's kind of a plus.
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Overall, the class wasn't terrible but I would say only take this class if you need to for the major. If you're not a math person, don't take this class and in fact, you should reconsider being in the major. The major is equally as quantitative as it is theoretical so I assume that's why PA40 was difficult.
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To get an A, do all the problem sets diligently, memorize every important vocabulary word on the slides, and memorize and know how to manipulate every type of graph (demand, supply, monopoly, monopolistic, marginal curves, average total cost curves etc...)***

***There are a lot of graphs lol.
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Good luck and hopefully by the time PA40 is offered with Dr. Bau again, things will be smoothed out.

This professor has a speech impediment not dissimilar to a lisp. If that's something you can't handle, then maybe wait for a different professor. Bau is, however, an incredible communicator. She understands questions intuitively and tries her hardest to explain difficult concepts in simple ways.
Her problem sets and tests are easy if you are math person, hard if you are not. I was able to get most questions right simply by listening to lectures and applying the simple algebra necessary to apply the economics rules to a given graph or set of data. Keep your notes organized and go to lecture / read the textbook and you'll be fine.

Honestly if you are not a pub aff major, just dont take the class. There is no point in taking this as a sub for econ or a ge just dont. Take econ 1 or 2 (whichever is microecon) instead. If you have to take her, dont bother going to her office hours because she is no help. The TA's were even confused about her lectures too. THE LITERAL TA's!!!!

I took this class to complete the Public Affairs minor, and let me just say that it could have been way better than the experience I had. The worst part were the four problem sets that were worth 10% each, amounting to a ridiculous 40% of your grade. The professor thought she was doing us a favor by making them harder than the material on the exams... why not just make them similar to the exams and save your students the headache?
Professor Bau seems to think she explains the material well but this is probably because the material is familiar to her. As someone with no economic background, I found myself struggling in this class and having to consistently go to office hours to do decently enough to pass. I'm guessing the curve was generous if I got a B.

If you can avoid this class, my advice would be to do so.

This is a difficult class if you have no background in economics. The lectures and material move along pretty quickly and each concept builds on the previous one. The readings are not really necessary unless you have never taken any economics class and can't keep up with the professor.
The professor is not that bad. She simply has too much material to get through so she has to go fast. If you go to office hours she is really informative.
The tests are way easier than the problem sets.

This professor literally could not be worse. My study group and I had to teach ourselves the entire class as her lectures were unorganized, uninformative, and a genuine waste of time. Luckily, the TA’s were nice and more knowledgeable on the subject. There were also four problem sets of homework that were extremely hard (especially when the professor doesn’t know how to teach the class.) I’m not sure if this was just because this is the first time the course has been taught, but it was terrible. Overall interesting stuff once you can actually learn it, but I would not recommend taking this class unless it is taught by a different professor.