“I have studied a lot for this test, but I didn’t do well. That\u2019s so unfair. How can I do better next time?”<\/p>\n
This is a question I have heard often since I began teaching. Because I used to teach the core undergraduate microeconomics course in a public policy school, where not all students like economics, it is a question I have probably heard more often than my colleagues who have always taught in an economics department.<\/p>\n
So instead of giving the same advice over and over again to different students, I thought I should write down my thoughts about how one can maximize the chances one will do well in one\u2019s economics class.<\/p>\n
Beyond the obvious, my credentials for doing so are as follows. I started college wanting to major in philosophy. After a few semesters of (i) wondering what I would do with my life with a philosophy degree and (ii) feeling frustrated by what I felt was somewhat arbitrary grading, I switched my focus to economics, where I didn’t do very well in microeconomics and math for economists until I figured out a good method of preparing for tests. But that wasn’t until I started my Masters in Economics.<\/p>\n