Professor Devereux (forgive me for I still cannot pronounce his name) has very organized and slow paced lectures. He takes his time to make sure that students clearly understand the material. He also has this persona that make students feel welcomed to approach him. He's very friendly and always happy to answer any questions. Sometimes lectures are dry, but he cracks an occasional corny joke, which is pretty cute and makes it worthwhile. =)

I honestly believe that this class wasn't as hard as Econ 11. The midterms are pretty easy, but I learned that the slightest calculation error can cost you a lot. Be sure to check your answers! He hands out problems sets and posts previous exams, that really help you study for the test. So you should definitely do them.

However, I know that what I'm about to say may sound contradicting to what I've already said, but he throws in one tricky question on every midterm. It's based on a concept that he's gone over in class, but it tests you on whether you really understand it or not. It's not going to be like any of the questions that he's given you in the problem sets. You have to think on a higher level. And goodness, the final is packed with them! During the first half of the final, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I thought I was totally going to ace it. Then suddenly, out of no where, the second half of the final was bombarded with all these freakishly hard questions. I was expecting maybe 1 or 2 of these, but it was half the final! Anyways, after taking a few breathers and calming myself down from the sudden panic, I realized that the problems were in fact doable. I guess it's just the shock that the questions weren't similar to ones he's given us. But they are indeed doable. You just have to put on your thinking cap. Btw, do not be alarmed. There is a curve! =)

Bottom line--do I recommed him? Definitely. I would take another class with him if he were to teach any.

By the way, I am in love with him. He's so adorable! Everything from his Irish accent, to his corny jokes, to his green sweatshirts. =)

His lectures are well organized and he breaks subjects down in a very simple manner. The first midterm was cake. The second was a little tougher, but still quite easy. I went into the final with a high A and ended up blowing it because the final was so different. I did the problem sets and looked at old finals, but the final this year was just so random and confusing.

Overall, he's a really good professor and the material is much easier than 11 in my opinion. Don't buy the book--I never read it. Do the problem sets (which are usually harder than the midterms) and review old exams. Just be prepared for a very complicated final.

hmmm.... let's see... u do have to understand the material to do good in his class. but compared to econ 1, 2, and 11, i seriously think 101 is much more easier (that is if u're good at math). plus, unlike other econ classes where there's a bunch of material under each topic u discuss, econ 101 only has about 5 topics and monopoly is one of them (which we've done over and over already). much of this class is math-based. DO THE PROBLEM SETS. they're harder than the final and midterm. it really helps you prepare for the tests. as for devereux... he doesn't quite know how to teach but the information is so simple anyway so no worries. oh yea, DON'T BUY THE BOOK. i read it... and nothing in there helped. but overall, i got an A (unlike the B's and B-'s in the courses before) so i would seriously recommend him. just review the problem sets and do some of the sample midterms/finals and u should be fine!

Having Devereux as an econ professor has been a one-of-a-kind experience for me. He presents his lecture material concisely and in a very organized fashion. I think he does a great job at it, since what he lectures makes a lot of sense and is based heavily on intuition.
Before taking his class, my suggestion is to briefly review basic differential calculus, since he won't spend too much time on it (but should be no problem to most students anyways). The great thing is that what you need to know are all in the lecture notes as well as the problem sets. I will reiterate what several other students have pointed out earlier: DO THE PROBLEM SETS, as it is the surest way to doing well on the exams. I must say that the Fall 2001 Final has been unlike any of the other exams Devereux has written. I did find it to be much more difficult and challenging, but I thought it was still pretty reasonable. The last couple of questions on the final exam are hard in the sense that they integrate many of the important concepts together and require additional steps or sophisticated reasoning. But, they are all do-able if you think your way through them. Put it another way, Devereux can test you on the same concepts by asking a variety of questions in different ways. Definitely look through his old exams to get a feel for the types of questions he can ask.

One of the best Econ professors at UCLA. His tests where a bit harder than the ones from previous quarters but they were far from unfair. Since he grades on the curve it really did not matter how hard or how easy those previous test were. They really did help me in preparing for both tests. His lectures were very clear and organized and the tests were pretty much based on the lectures. He also posts his notes on the web site and are practically word for word. There were no surprises in either test and they were focused on Economics and not so much on math. One cannot ask more of his grading policy (your final grade is either worth 40/80 [midterm/final] if you did better on your midterm than on your final or 20/80 if you did better on the final then on the midterm). He is a great professor and I would definitely recommend him.

To be honest, this class was very fair and didn't require that much time. The review prior to mine said that the final was unfair...this is hardly the case. Ok, the final was not EXACTLY the same as the problem sets...nor was it EXACTLY the same as the previous finals, but why should it be? The concepts tested are same.

I found the midterm and final to be easier than the problem sets he hands out. The key to this class is to DO THE PROBLEM SETS. They prepare you very well for the tests. A third of the problems on the sets may seem quite difficult, but once you understand them, you are ready for his tests. They are not graded, only your tests count. Lastly, I hardly looked at the previous exams because they were just more of the same.

Here's a breakdown of the time I spent this quarter...
1) Lectures: 1.5 hours each, 2 times a week
2) Discussion: 1 hour each, 1 time a week (try and take it with Hui Cao. She was awesome.)
3) Problem sets: did them all the day before the midterm and the final since I'm a procrastinator. About 9-10 hours of concentrated study each. (Thus total time outside of lecture and discussion is only approx 18-20 hours...which is VERY FAIR for an entire quarter of work.)
4) Grade: A

This guy gave the MOST UNFAIR final I have ever taken. I think the 8 foot piece of metal that him in the head during the middle of the quarter must have really messed up his senses. He gives you problem sets and previous finals that are really simple, but then he gives you a final that is NOTHING like what you have studied. If you love your sanity and your GPA, avoid this guy. Wait and take this class with Murphy. If you do take him, don't look at any finals previous to this quarters, cause its only gonna throw you off.

Man, his lectures are well organized and easy to follow of the web and all, but his tests are HARD. since his final is cumulative, he mixes old concepts from wk 1 with wk 10 material and it can get very vague!

First off I see someone wrote that he/she got 94% in the class and didn't get an A. I don't know about that, and I really doubt that that is what his curve is like. I sure hope not...

Anyway with finals coming up I am going to tell you about Prof Devereux. This econ class is easier than 11 (no Lagrangian stuff). Basically its monopoly, game theory, and probability and some oligopoly stuff. Most of the stuff is straight off the lecture. He lectures well, and the cool thing is all his notes are ON THE WEB. And these are good notes, lecture-notes quality notes for free(there're 30 pages or so for the last 8 weeks that're online) and they're pretty much exactly what you copy down from the board, so the reviewing is really simple. He gives out good problem sets, and there are many old midterms/finals online. Do HW but ESPECIALLY review old test!! Those are what got me that A the 1st test around. There's just 1 midterm and 1 final, 40-60 ratio. However...if you do better on the final, the ratio is 20-80, which is awesome (the midterm would be worth hardly anything). This policy actually benefits you by encouraging the natural course that your tests scores go, which is generally improvement over the quarter, and he rewards you. I think that is the coolest thing about this professor, that grading policy. TAKE HIM :)

He is great. His dry humor keeps the class interesting and he spends more than enough time on each concept so that you really understand what is going on. This class is so easy that I feel like it should have been a prerequisite for Econ 11. His tests are fair, just do the problem sets and you will be fine. Go to lecture, do not buy the book.