Do not bother opening the textbook. His notes and slides should suffice for the tests.
He is a professor with endless surprises and forces you to learn by your own. (because
you don't really learn much from him) He makes tons of mistakes. I do not remember a lecture session
where he did not point out mistakes. I still cannot forget his preposterous statement "at least
I'm consistent with my mistakes." The material is comparably difficult as it is. He does not have to rub salt on the wounds by making us go through his labryinth of erros.
As the previous commentators have stated, getting a good TA is essential (You will have hard time completing
most of the homework assignments w/o their help). His lectures will seem like the tests are going to be easy breezy. Don't be fooled. The midterms and finals are going to be as difficult as, if not more difficult than the homework assignments.

He also sucks at explaning stuff. He often attempts to explain some difficult concept but utterly fails and ends with "yeh..yeh". I could totally tell he did not prepare his lectures. Also, do not bother going to his office hours. He won't be much better than he was during his lectures.

Just throwing this out there: I did not get A from him. I had an A before the final, so I'm not saying this because he rounded my grade or anything.

Simon Board is NOT a hard professor. Yes, his teaching style is very scientific, but a quick review over the notes does help. Getting an A isn't impossible. Just make sure you study before the tests, and if you don't understand something, take a minute to think it through or talk to him during office hours. He's very nice. Talk to your TAs. They're really good at explaining details. I recommend Meeyong.
The midterms and finals weren't very hard, just long. You even get to drop the midterm with the lowest score. The most important thing to remember is DO NOT pull an all-nighter before the final, even if you have other finals the day before. (I had a south campus minor and an organic chemistry midterm/final 12 hrs before all of my econ midterms/final. It sucked.) Sleep is definitely necessary, because otherwise you forget stupid little things like how to find demand.
One of the other things you'll notice is that there's a lot of foreign asian people that form homework groups so that they can match answers. It's annoying if you don't have the time to run around in circles for this class (or if you don't speak their language) because it just kills the homework curve. But if you do, bonus points for you.

Board was passionate about what he taught and really tried to engage students in discussion. There were almost-weekly assignments that you worked on in groups. Every group also had to present in sections twice in the entire quarter. Every Friday there was a guest speaker to talk about a case which we worked on that week. It's a really applicable class that studies Internet/tech businesses and the foundational concepts like network effect, scalability, competitive advantage, etc. The final exam was a written one that had us read a case and answer questions. We basically had to write essays in an economics exam! Not my cup of tea because there're a million ways you can "solve" a case when the grading is subjective, and there isn't a straightforward list of things you have to know.

Honestly one of the best professors to take for a 106 class. It is not difficult if you aren't shy. The workload and weekly group assignments can feel like a lot, but it becomes simple over time. If you want the A, you will have to really study up on his slides, but you can print out sheets of paper for the final. Overall, great class.

It's an ok class. Easy A as long as you do the work. I've been to only two of the classes and I found what he talks about in class is pretty much useless for exam. You get to bring 10 pages of cheat sheet so it's quite unlikely that you miss the questions that actually ask about class material. Other than that, his exam is just common sense and your own analysis. His class doesn't really help for me. I skipped all the lectures after the two classes I've been to and did great anyways. You just need to make sure to go to the lab and check your attendance every time because the TA can miss your answers and not record your participation.

Outstanding guy, engaging class!

Professor Board is one of, if not the best teachers I have had as an economics student. Not only is the class material extremely engaging, but he is willing to explore interesting topics in detail. He is approachable and often quite funny. I find that his class structure is very conducive to TRUE learning of the concepts, and also leaves you thinking about them well after class has ended. You will have to put some time in to understand some of the mathematical concepts, but it is well worth it given the applicability of the material to the real world. Overall, he is just a genuinely cool teacher and I would definitely recommend taking him if at all possible.

I have to say that this is my favorite class among all my econ electives. Professor Board is a very engaging and fun lecturer and provides great content about strategies. He would talk about different aspects of strategies during lectures, such as competitive advantages, sustainability, strategic moves etc. Every week, you would also do a case study write up with your group and apply what you learned in class.
Professor Board has an amazing group of guest speakers that he invites, who are all very successful people in their respective fields. This group includes people who are partners at Bain and BCG, investment bankers, VC fund managers etc. For Spring 2023, we also had Joe Walters, who's an alumni as well and works at Google, to give us three lectures on negotiation, which was fun and just awesome. I'm not entirely sure if Joe's coming back again in the future for the negotiation week but I would assume so because of how great he was.
Professor Board also cares a lot about students and you can go to him with any questions you have. I really enjoyed going to his office hours and I would talk to him about business in general, and also career development.
In general, it's an amazing class that I would definitely encourage you to take if you are interested in business. Do note that it is not an easy class and you have to actually put a good amount of work in. Also, majority of the grades comes from group work, so it's important to have reliable teammates. If you are coming to the class with reliable friends and ready to learn a lot, this class should be perfect for you.

Professor gives unclear and boring lecture. putting economics model thats useless and confusing. Bad lecture. The guest lecture is better. 70% group work is rediculous.