<p>What do you guys think the difficulty / workload of Econ 1 is at Berkeley?</p>
<p>I know some CalSO counselors advised against taking it first semester (for pre-haas people) but I signed up for it because my other classes were pretty damn easy. I wanted to get some more feedback on the course.</p>
<p>How's the workload? How's the curve? Is it as scary as some people say it is?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>what classes are u taking?</p>
<p>i took it last semester, spring 2006, with the same professor. he's a pretty engaging lecturer but your gsi is the one that grades you. it's curved amongst sections so you'll be competing against people in your section, not directly with people in the lecture. </p>
<p>there were 2 midterms and a final that made up 95% of the grade with 5 problem sets that rounded out your final grade. it varies between GSIs but with mine last semester, i would guess an A was anything above 83? the rumors about it being really hard are kind of blown out of proportion. as long as you don't bomb more than one of the big tests, you'll be fine. train also is known for giving out one or two problems on each midterm that aren't like any of his previous ones so be wary.</p>
<p>ok.. i think the calso advisors don't quite know what theyre talking about.. sure, you gotta ease the transition into college, but that doesnt mean you have to take 13 units of easy breadths.. Econ 1 is definitely manageable 1st semester..</p>
<p>and about econ 1.. its not that bad.. you have the occassional problem set and weekly readings (which aren't that much).. the concepts aren't that hard to grasp either.. I took it with Olney, and shes quite picky with her grading on the exams.. but i think Train is teaching for the fall, and i dont know how he is...</p>
<p>i would say train is easier than olney after talking to some of my friends who took econ 1 with olney.</p>
<p>Haha thanks for the info guys.</p>
<p>I am also taking math 16a (should be ridiculously easy seeing as how i took calc bc alread), rhetoric r1a, and some breadth course that i havent chosen yet.</p>
<p>Yes, Train is a great professor. However, the difficult of econ 1 will mainly depend on how smart the students in your section is, as one user have noted, the curve is determined by the GSI's two sections.</p>