Econ 101 was so horrendous. Little to no practice problems for exams, and ones we got were either way to easy or not on the exams. Does not explain how to solve problems in lecture, and exams were nothing like lecture. I would avoid this class with him at all costs.

Structure of the class makes it extremely difficult to succeed. Very little review material, lecture is incredibly unhelpful as are the explanations for previous finals and the problem sets. I would avoid this class. Read the textbook if anything.

average for the midterm was a 50 in the class. prof is a terrible at lecturing, he is not engaging whatsoever because the material he goes over during lecture is absolutely useless to you. Section slides and old tests (which you are given two) are all you go on for this class. feels like the professor is oblivious to the needs of his students.

Absolutely the worst professor and class you can ever take at UCSB. I have never witnessed such lecture slides that are this completely useless. The lecture slides only have equations and useless graphs that won't be needed for exams. Reading the textbook does help a bit, but it's sometimes unclear when it comes to the math portions.

I am genuinely offended at how this course has played out. None of them (professor/TA's) care in the slightest about the education we've received... TA's cant even solve half the problems. And the questions they do attempt to solve are often riddled with errors. The econ department desperately needs to OPTIMIZE econ 101. More like algebra 101.....

Lectures were essentially useless. He goes on rambling about the most generic material that is irrelevant to what you will be tested on. Section slides, problem sets, and the 1 previous test you get are your best way to study. TA's don't even understand what is going on either.

this is the worst economics class I have taken at UCSB and he is the worst professor at UCSB. The class goes way too fast, the professor does not show helpful examples, don't bother asking the TAs for help most of them don't even know what the class is covering. the exams will be hard, unlike the textbook, lecture, or practice exams. AVOID IT!

Really bummed at Javier. I was fresh out of 10A when he scarred me out of taking this course. "You need to take 100b first, its very important for this class". That wasn't true. Everything is directly from 10A. Truly wish I had taken this course immediately after 10A... 100b seems to be much less related to 10A.

READ THE TEXTBOOK. Lectures are completely irrelevant to class. Section sucked on average, but section slides sometimes had similar questions to midterm/final. Book material and practice probs were the closest to exams. Godspeed, soldiers.

Just don't. Not a real professor, just likes to lecture and give homework that has nothing to do with what he talks about. Reading the book is the safest bet, but homework is still super unclear. If you have no other choice...good luck.

tests are unpredictable with few things to review. midterm was relatively easy. final was brutal.

just awful

Ima keep it honest with you guys, this guy is terrible. Brother has no idea how to lecture, and is allergic to giving us practice problems. Lectures were a joke, guy would spend an hour showing us a gdp chart that had no relevance within the course. stay away from this guy if you can.

He failed to provide us with any practice problems for the final exam. With only four short-answer questions in the final, and no opportunity for practice, I'm uncertain if I'll be able to succeed. This course is incredibly challenging.

His lectures are nothing related to the homework, and the office hour is only once a week with an overlap of 25 minutes with the section. The TAs doesn't have any office hours either. The contents of the class are mostly micro stuff from econ10a and econ100b. It makes me wonder why it's a "Macroeconomics" class. Avoid him if you can!

Very nice professor and always willing to help. While the course is difficult and not many students get an A the lectures are always interesting.

Birchenall is very accessible by email or during office hours, he replies very quickly and is always willing to help. I read the textbook and did okay on the tests (which were online open notes). Some of the tests were really hard others were a lot easier which is annoying. Definitely read the textbook, go to office hours, and do the practice exams

Prof Brichenall's lectures were fascinating. Exams ruined people's grades due to brutal difficulty and time constraints. Grading is tough - only the top 9% get A's, but it is set by the department and has nothing to do with the professor. Homework does not prepare you for exams, so make sure to do a lot of self-studying (CLAS, practice exams).

Interesting classes, although they only teach you basic concepts while exams questions are much harder. Don't expect to have good scores without doing his homework and practice exam questions. Syllabus says only the top 9% can get an A, but it has nothing to do with the professor. The department just don't want so many people in the major.

Content itself is not that hard, basically AP Macro content with a few more added concepts. Do the practice midterms/old midterms and its fine. Easy B, but hard to get an A due to curve. But to be fair I don't know if the curve rule is determined by him, likely department designed so I wouldn't hold it against him. He's a nice guy

Lectures were easy to understand and he kept them somewhat interesting, however none of the material seemed to really help for the midterms/ final. Online homework seemed to help a little, but I wish he would have gone over more example questions or not have worded tests so tricky. Only top 8% get an A so luckily for me the class didn't curve down.

This class is absurdly difficult. Javier makes it impossible to receive a good grade. Only 9% of students received an A. Not to mention, his tests were a complete guessing game. Nobody knows where he pulled those questions out of. Went to lecture, did all HW, did practice problems, went to CLAS…Nothing helped. Tests were not reflective of content

bad curve, difficult and rly time limited tests. avoid at all cost. Can learn better with other professors with this course

The lectures themselves were fine but what is taught and what you have to do for homework will not help you with the tests. The tests are worded to trip you up and he never goes over examples so you are left to teach it all to yourself. Only take this class if you have to, and at that point try to get it with another professor.