<p>I’ll be taking this class next year since it’s a requirement for my major (not econ). I’ve never taken an Econ course before, but I hear mix things about it. Some say it’s really, while others say it’s do-able if I have decent math skills and put some time in studying. I’m not a huge math person, but I’ve never been terrible at it. I’ve taken pre-calc and dipped into some higher level calc stuff. I’ve also taken geometry, algebra, and trig. But in college, i’m going to take Stat. What should I expect from a microeconomics intro class? Thanksss…</p>
<p>Graphs. Expect graphs.</p>
<p>My math is horrible and so far I am surviving in Econ. So far it has been very basic stuff though, pretty much just like algebra. It’s most likely going to get harder though.</p>
<p>But yeah. Graphs. So many graphs…</p>
<p>RoxSox has it right. It’s going to be just graphs and algebra. You’ll need to know the concepts and how to apply them You won’t be asked to derive them using calculus or other higher math.</p>
<p>Mostly graphs and understanding economic concepts, barely any algebra even. Should be very easy if you put the time in.</p>
<p>What to expect? Not much actual economics, a heck of a lot of graphs and theorems and definitions, very little insight into the history of economic thought, after which you won’t know squat about how an economy actually runs. And all micro textbooks are the same, doesn’t matter if the writer is leftist or a libertarian.</p>
<p>The book Economics for Dummies by Flynn should help you through a lot of the stuff that your obtuse textbook or Chinese-accented grad student teacher will have trouble explaining in a way you can understand.</p>
<p>It actually doesn’t hurt to know differential calculus for Introductory Micro, either. Makes concepts like marginal utility and rules like MP=MC make more sense if you use calculus to derive them.</p>
<p>Basic, but make sure you put the effort in. An intro to macroeconomics is super easy once you’ve done well in micro.</p>
<p>Pretty easy/standard lecture+exam class. Shouldn’t require an inordinate amount of time.</p>
<p>Here’s what trips people up in economics:</p>
<p>–economics requires a total shift in your thinking, you are being exposed to a kind of analysis that is brand-new, imagine an ant being taken out of the ant colony and shown what his entire colony looks like at once. People resist this shift because many of the conclusions of economics don’t make sense to them, a great many concepts in economics are counter-intuitive and sometimes even clash with certain peoples’ political views/preconceptions.
–the lingo is different. “Cost” and “price” are used interchangeably in daily life, not so in economics. Cost and price have very specific, and different, definitions that you must understand. People think of things like “profit” in accounting terms, i.e. revenue minus expenses. Now you will have to think about profits in economics terms, however.
–the back-and-forth relationship between supply and demand</p>
<p>I’m a Finance and Economics double major at Penn State. It you’re taking Econ 102 the best professor that I can recommend is Dirk Mateer. He’s very inspiring and makes class interesting. He’s the reason I’m taking Economics classes and I wouldn’t consider learning the course from another Professor.</p>
<p>Micro and Macro are both principal classes. A lot of definitions and introductory concepts that get builded upon later. They’re both fairly easy. Expect a lot graphs but very little math so don’t sweat it. </p>
<p>Later on in the 300 levels is where you need to know statistics and calculus.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses, guys. So far, I’m not too worried about it.</p>
<p>@cabhax, that’s awesome you go to penn state, too. I hear Brown is good, as well, but most of my friends recommend Mateer.</p>
<p>A bunch of graphs, not much math, it’s not that hard if you understand the concepts.</p>
<p>I haven’t taken econ in college but it seems like the difficulty is heavily dependent on the professor.</p>
<p>I took AP Econ on high school with a fantastic teacher (normally all but 1 or 2 students would get 5s on both sections). Like everyone has said, understand the graphs. 90% of what you need to know will come from graphs. Also get concepts like elasticity down the first time.</p>