<p>I read all the stuff on rateaprof and from what people have said, his tests seem ridiculous. I’m taking 16 hours (all of them honors aside from the intro to my major class) and i’m NOT a math person (i barley managed a B in AP cal) so I’m worried his class will be way too difficult for me to make an A in.</p>
<p>His tests are exactly like the homework. He provides previous year’s tests, and I’ve seen previous year’s questions show up as this year’s homework problems. I’ve also seen homework problems word for word (with numbers changed) on my final exam.</p>
<p>So, if you go and get help if you don’t understand the homework (he has tons of office hours and supplemental instruction periods). Once you understand it, the tests will be straightforward.</p>
<p>Remember that the only type of people who write reviews on rateaprof or MyEdu are either people who really loved the class, or people who really hated it. Compared to other ECO 304K teachers, hickenbottom gets more positive ratings. Also never use old reviews, anything before 2007 could be a totally different course before he switched textbooks.</p>
<p>okay, thank you so much for the advice. </p>
<p>i emailed my advisor and asked her for her opinion about this as well, i just really don’t want to be overwhelmed my freshmen year. </p>
<p>how much time/studying would you say this class takes in comparison to other classes? like average? or above/below? i’m tempted to just take it during the spring semester or take it online still</p>
<p>For me, it was average. There was a homework assignment every other week or so, and I spent about 30 minutes on it. Whenever there was a test (there are 3 + final) I spent about an hour the night before with a group looking over old tests and practicing problems. That’s all the effort I put in and I got an A by a long shot, but that’s because I really listen well in class and absorb everything the teacher says.</p>
<p>Okay, I might just stick with it then. The Rate A Prof reviews just terrified me, but you’re making me feel a little better about the class.
Thanks and sorry for all the questions!</p>
<p>Do you think studying an AP economics book would be good to prepare for this class? I have no economics background, so was kinda concerned.</p>
<p>moochi, yes that could be helpful. Even buying a super cheap and heavily discounted college-level economics textbook at Half Price Books can help. Just understanding the basics and being familiar with a few key economic terms will come in handy when the professor mentions it in class and you already have a decent understanding of the concept.</p>
<p>How about Hamermesh? How is his class?</p>
<p>I’m considering taking Wiseman’s class- can anyone who has actually had him tell me about him?</p>
<p>Just wondering…How close is the grade correlation between Macro and Micro? Is one significantly more difficult than the other? Or is it really all down to the teacher? I just got my AP scores and I made a 5 on the Macro test. Would this be a good indicator for good performance in Micro at UT? (You know, with a good amount of effort and a decent teacher. Maybe Hickenbottom?) What if Macro were taken the same time as Calc II?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>odyssey, in my opinion, there is no correlation. I took micro with Wiseman and his course ended up being so hard that I came out with a C+. Unfortunately, this was typical of grades in class. Not many people did much better than that. I took macro with Sadler and I made an A (and this is when I also took cal II). I studied extremely hard for both classes and in my opinion, the material and concepts (+ workload) were more difficult in macro than micro. My micro professor just had totally random exams and reviews.</p>
<p>…which leads me to segway to Tim’s question.</p>
<p>Wiseman has weekly quizzes that are simple if you read the book. His presentation of material in the class and the ease of the quizzes are very misleading when it comes to the exams though. He gives you no information about the exams (even refuses to answer how many questions will be on it) other than the format (short answer). I was making really high grades on his quizzes and I understood the material in class. I even read the book and made summaries of each paragraph in my own words and typed them up. Based on everything in class, I honestly felt so prepared for his exams as did many other people until he passed out bogus reviews that had questions that came out of nowhere. Groups of people could barely figure them out. All of my time was spent wasted on the stupid review. Come test day, not a single question from the review was even remotely similar to anything on the exam. Almost everyone in class failed the test or performed at levels significantly lower than they are used to. His questions just seem to come from nowhere. Otherwise, the workload wasn’t bad and the concepts weren’t difficult to understand.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for that answer TMT90!</p>
<p>Do you feel that if you had the textbook in front of you during his random exams that you could have done well? In other words, was the test just extremely nitpicky or just random, as in the questions didn’t even come out of the book? Were the TAs much help with the exams? Did they hint at stuff and did the TAs themselves even understand the exam?</p>
<p>All this talk about Micro being so tough makes me happy that I decided to take that first so I am only stuck with Macro at UT.</p>
<p>LonghornDan, yeah you’re one of the lucky ones. </p>
<p>Tim, even if the exams were open book I don’t the tests would be any less difficult. He said he pulled questions from the study questions after each section but I reviewed those heavily and it didn’t seem to help. I honestly don’t know where he got his questions from, but they were more advanced than anything he taught in class. Even when I thought I aced one of his exams, it turned out to be a failing grade. I’m just thankful i’m not in his class anymore. Micro made me fear macro but I actually ended up loving macro and I excelled in it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response TMT. All this talk about Micro is making me really regret not self studying this AP when I had the chance. 
I am strongly considering taking it at a CC or switching my fall schedule and adding the class while Hickenbottom’s section is still open.</p>
<p>TMT90 is pretty accurate about wiseman. that class was such a pain in the ass because no matter how much you studied the questions on the test came out of no where. He doesnt curve and only managed to curve our first test 10 points because he “made it too hard”. Other than that dont expect any extra points. The weekly quizzes are pretty easy…just read the book. Like tmt90 said he gives you a review before the test but half the questions on the review we had never learned how to work…so you literally are stuck there asking everyone you know hoping that at least one person can figure out the problems, and then you spend the time studying the review and the book only to find out that none of it is on the test. I managed to pull a B in the class ONLY because i studied my asssss off for the final…but that still didnt even work for everyone. I had a friend who before the final literally opened the book from page one and reread every single page till the end and studied it all and failed the final. So i would avoid him if possible</p>
<p>Thank you so much longhorn9791 and TMT90! I’ve registered for his class but I’ll definitely consider dropping it, thanks!</p>
<p>longhorn9791, were you in his fall TTH evening class in Jester? If so then you were in my class. My class’s first exam was also curved 10 points and never a single extra point after that. I was one of those people who studied my butt off for the final and only managed a 70, which was my highest exam grade in his class. I emailed him several times in confusion over how I always did extremely well on the quizzes (almost a 100 average) and failed every test. My performance on his exams was in no way representative of how I felt I understood the concepts. His email replies were always vague and of no help. His TA’s were also useless in that they never emailed us, never held review sessions, nothing unless you went to them. The SI instructor we had was even stumped on a few of Wiseman’s review questions. So yeah avoid him if you can.</p>
<p>anyone have thoughts on sibley?</p>
<p>Yea, what Beowulf said. I always hear about Hamermesh, Wiseman, and Hickenbottom, but never Sibley.</p>
<p>I heard (myedu) that he’s really boring. I feel like that’s just not enough info. </p>
<p>Assuming that Bronars really is retiring, do you guys recommend sticking it out with Sibley or going to HCC while there’s still time?</p>