<p>Okay, I had my first class today for this, and he is quite difficult to understand, but I’m wondering if anyone else took this class and has any experience. How difficult is it? I really like that the textbook is written in part by Bernanke.</p>
<p>I had him last semester. Yeah he’s tough to understand but is in general a good guy. Try to understand a few key points from his lectures (he posts them on BB) but mainly focus on the problem sets (which are graded for completion, not accuracy). Definitely read the textbook, it can be dry but it explains the concepts really well. His tests are usually a mix of the quantitative problem set problems, your opinion on certain economic issues, and qualitative explanations of certain aspects of the theory. Usually he will give you 5-6 questions and you will have to answer 4-5…make sure you budget your time accordingly though or you may run out of time. Also a warning, some questions on the test may be difficult to understand (the qualitative ones), for those its best to just try your best to answer since you will probably end up getting most partial credit/full credit (last semester Wan basically said “whatever I guess that question was unfair you can have full credit if you tried”). A lot of the class will depend on the TA though, since he is responsible for teaching you the mathematical aspects of the class while Wan mainly lectures on the theory. If you get a ****ty TA then good luck.</p>
<p>Lastly, make sure you are nice to the TA and answer questions during section as the TA will grade the exam (and has complete say with regards to partial credit). Wan is not out to break people’s GPA so unless you guys are *******s he will be pretty lenient. Last semester the median was a B+, if you went to class, did the HWs and generally understood your stuff then A/A+ is not difficult to get. If you choose not to go to class/fail to do the reading, you may get dominated.</p>