Such a great guy, his quizzes were a little off in my opinion but this man is so helpful and kind that you will be just fine.

My king. His class has been my favorite at UCSB thus far. He is very supportive and inspirational. It is definitely a tough course and there is no easy A, especially when it comes to participation and speaking up in class, but Professor King was amazing

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.

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.

Lectures are interesting, but tests are super hard. The professor did not have a reasonable time plan for the tests. HARD to get A.

Lectures are cool but do not reflect what is on the exams. The homework also has nothing to do with the tests. He gives sample midterms to practice for the tests and those also do not help. The whole class is graded on a curve so it is possible that the whole class curves down.

Worst Econ professor ever, taking his class doesnt match whats on the test and I have no clue on where the test come from

- forced to buy online textbook that does not help at ALL for exams - no way to prepare for exams, just have to pray you somehow know everything on there - exams rushed for time - practice tests, homework, any practice work on the online website do not help at all

curve is so tough, and time for tests is not reasonable. professor is good.

The whole class is curved and only the top percent of people can receive A's. The test content was fine but had practically no time to answer each question. His lectures make sense as well as the homework my only problem are the tests.

He taught nothing in lectures but exams are very very difficult. Only 9% people can get an A so students are all nervous in studying the course. One of the worst courses I've taken.

Exams gave me a lot of anxiety since you had to join his zoom in case there was any typos on the exam (can't join the zoom? gl trying to find out about the typos mid-exam) and there was always at least 2 typos per exam despite him + TAs checking twice over. The material was fine but he just didn't seem very accommodating for the exams.

Personally, I love Birchenall's lectures and exams. Great professor.

Tests were incredibly hard. The grading scale definitely saved me. Be prepared to do a lot of self-studying.

The exam is too difficult. I got the lowest score in this course since I was in college. It took the most time to get the lowest grades.

Prof Birchenall is a nice guy and he does his best to be accomodating, but his lectures are very similar to the textbook & his quizzes often have confusing wording. Advice for next quarter: annotate the textbook, listen to his lectures in the background (bc he drops important info sometimes) and make sure you can solve all econ formulas 4 midterms.