I learned a lot from this course. It was super interesting. Tests were hard, though, and heavily curved.

Johnson's style is like no other's but that is a good thing. His old school lecturing forces one to be engaged and is useful in reinforcing the contents of the textbooks. his review sessions are appreciated. his additional readings and connecting of course content to the news is beneficial

Johnson definitely had really high expectations of his students, but his lectures reflected that. He gives you a bunch of ways to understand the material if you don't understand lecture. The first and second midterm aren't that bad, but the final is notoriously difficult. The curve is generous though so don't stress out too much. Very entertaining!

Amazing professor but difficult course with different expectations than other professors. He will hold your attention in lecture and is great at conveying the relevance of the information. However, all exams are in-person and no notes are allowed, the best you can hope for is a large curve.

Man made my 8:25 am lecture worth going to. Very animated in class that makes you want to learn because you want to know why he's so passionate about this subject matter. Problem sets did take a while each week and his use of mindtap instead of canvas is very tedious and annoying but about the only downside of taking this class.

Funny, very animated during class. Never got tired once in my 8am. He's a very intelligent dude

Made Econ very hard, teaches very fast, does not post the notes or use Canva (uses MindTap instead), writes on a chalkboard, long homework assignments due every week, final is 40% of your grade. Though - he is funny and very theatric you may not like being yelled at in his early morning lectures.

If you want to be screamed at in lecture at 8 am, this is the professor for you. He also makes economics significantly more difficult than all the other professors so definitely switch to someone else.

Best professor I've had at UW Madison thus far. If you have the opportunity to take him for 302 I would highly recommend. He does yell and run around the classroom but he's so entertaining, makes the material applicable to the outside world and he really understands the material and explains everything very well. Tests are kind of hard so study.

DO NOT TAKE DAVID JOHNSON. He is theatrical and SCREAMS all the way throughout lectures. It was so distracting I did not understand a thing. The three exams are worth 80% of your grade, so you have to do good. Extra credit helped a lot at the end but I did not learn anything.

Professor David Johnson is an absolute gem of a UW-Madison professor. If you get the opportunity to take his course or talk to him, take advantage of how open and vibrant his personality is by going to office hours. He has a holistic understanding of the material he teaches and is eager to give real world examples.

Prof. Johnson has a very enthusiastic personality and engaging lectures. He tries to connect the material to the real world and cares a lot about the topic and students. There is a fair amount of material and I would recommend staying caught up in the textbook. The exams felt difficult but were curved and grading was very reasonable.

This guy knows economics very well. Able to answer any questions with extremely helpful graphical or numerical explanations. Gives the entire lecture on a chalkboard with no notes, just pure knowledge. Definitely take 302 with him if you get the chance. He also has a very interesting personality which keeps lectures engaging

Johnson's lectures were very useful and entertaining. However, there is no provided material in the case that you miss a lecture. Discussions are technically required for points but are a very small portion of the grade. There is a good amount of reading, but the textbook used is simple to read, so readings don't take very long.

Love love loved this class and it made me realize that I really liked econ. his lectures are very entertaining, but I sometimes found some concepts hard to grasp. Luckily he had like 20 hours of office hours per week, and he made it very understandable. taking a course with anyone else would be a HUGE mistake.

This course was by far the hardest class I have taken. You will struggle if you do not form study groups, meet one-on-one with your TA, or go to office hours. Having no prior knowledge of Econ made this course extremely difficult, and the only way I was able to grasp concepts slightly was by spending countless hours reading the textbook.

Favorite professor I've ever had. He is so enthusiastic about what he lectures about. I had him in a lecture hall with no microphone so he would yell the whole lecture. Every word. He was able to answer questions easily and had good office hours. He would start each class off by giving an update on current events in the economy. Great professor.

I hated my time in this class and I will not recommend picking him. The lectures were very fast paced which makes it super hard to keep up with him. There are no past papers provided and his lectures do cover a lot of irrelevant stuff (stuff which isn't gonna help you do well on the exam). Also shouts and screams too much. Please pick Steve Trost.

He is the most charismatic and funny person I've met, and he actually cares about the topics he teaches. I highly recommend you go to all the classes; I haven't missed a single lecture despite it being a 8:30am. However, sometimes he speaks too fast and my brain can't keep up with that so I need to go to the TA to ask questions instead of him.

Honestly, I would take him again just for the entertainment rather than the actual success from the class. He is very quirky and teaches in such an interesting way that keeps everyone engaged and interested. But, there is very little material to help you be successful in homeworks/exams, so you really HAVE to go to lecture in order to do well.

He gives energy and makes me like studying Economics.

One of the best lecturers at UW-Madison. If you get the chance, you need to take a class with him at least once. The material is challenging, but he does his best to explain the concepts in an easy-to-understand way. He teaches very energetically and passionately.

Professor Johnson's lectures are a captivating experience. Though the coursework is challenging, his passion and willingness to assist students make it worthwhile. Unstuckstudy AI and the free textbook are great study tools to supplement the class.

I would say if you didn't take Johnson for 101 don't switch to him as he covers more material in 101 and 102 than others. Attend Office Hours for TA and Johnson or Tutoring, Johnson office hours will be packed. I thought he was better at teaching 101, but 102 might have just been harder. Do all the study material before exams as exams are similar.

Although his lectures weren't required, he doesn't use lecture slides or post many reviews from them. He is great at connecting real-world examples with the basics of econ. Would recommend if you want to learn about economics and put in the work but otherwise if taking for general credit take a different professor. Exams are hard but curved.

Do not take Professor Johnson. For one, he does not use Canvas. Everything is done through MindTap. He also has a very funky lecture style that is impossible to follow - scribbling random notes and screaming at the top of his lungs before going to a whisper. Just a weird experience overall. You would be better suited with a different professor.

He may be bipolar because he goes from screaming to whispering in his lectures and even with that I still saw people falling asleep. There are also no slides and he only writes on a chalkboard in a 300-person lecture so you just can't see anything he's writing. Also, he doesn't use canvas??? I literally changed my major after taking his class.

David Johnson is a nice guy, and offers a generous curve. But, the material is so boring and doesn't make sense if you don't already know a lot about econ.

Professor Johnson's lectures are extraordinarily entertaining, it's almost like a performance. He's very knowledgeable and willing to talk with you outside of class about any topic you bring up. As for the class itself its relatively easy. Attend lectures and do the problem sets and you'll be prepared for the tests. The class is curved too.

Prof. Johnson is absolutely amazing. He is an inspiration! He genuinely loves his job and has so much knowledge. With lots of office hours through the week it is easy to ask questions about HW, life, etc. Concepts can be hard to grasp and studying is definitely required, for tests make up the greatest percentage of your grade, it is definitely ok.

He is obviously very passionate about his job, but is hard to follow in class as he does not use slides and just writes on the chalk board. The exams are pretty tough but are curved a lot. He isn't a bad choice of a professor, especially if you're good at economics. I wouldn't take him again, but I can see why so many love him.

I love his lectures and he was super engaging, also paired with a good TA who helped make sense of tough course material. Because he's super passionate his grading feels tougher and exams are A LOT of the grade. Really enjoy him as a professor, and he tries to accommodate students. Problem sets have decent forgiveness, but work is not easy.

This class is impossible, we are almost done with the semester and I have zero clue what is going on in this class. Office hours are packed with people and he often goes off topic. Screams at the top of his lungs during lecture so you cant even learn during lecture. Would be okay as an upper level prof, but NOT for a 101 class.

Took this my freshman year and it was the best intro for econ and now I am an econ major. I am going to take every class that he teaches once he is back from his sabbatical. The class was hard, but I learned a lot from putting the work in. I still remember what I learned in the class a year later and I hope to take him for 301.

Prof Johnson is an amazing lecturer, he is very engaging. It was easy to get help outside of class, which you will need because the material is heavy and requires a lot of reading and lecture engagement.

Professor Johnson knows what he's doing. My friends and I sat on the third row, and his energy literally woke us up at 8:25 AM every single class. Very few lectures towards the end of the semester were confusing and the exams were challenging, but he still made econ101 my favorite class this semester. Would 100% recommend taking it with him!!

TAKE DAVID JOHNSON!!!! He is a king. The tests are impossible and I got a 50% on every one but ended with an A/B because he curves and gives so many opportunities to get your grade up. He gave us a 5% increase for doing a practice test. Also dropped our worst midterm. So funny i hate Econ and am bad at it but he made it okay

If you have to take Econ101, take it with Johnson. This class is difficult, I went in thinking it would be easy since I took Econ in hs but I found it to be very hard. With that being said, Johnson is an amazing lecturer and he does everything he can to make it easier on his students (HUGE curve). He's super funny and approachable. LOVE!!!

As the other reviews indicate, this is half lecture and half comedy show. David is beyond funny. He makes learning enjoyable, especially for a tough introductory course like this. Beware, this course is hard (and heavily curved), but this is a Harvard-educated man giving Harvard-quality lectures.

The best lecturer you'll ever have. period.

Hands down, best professor I've ever had and I would definitely take another class with him if the opportunity arose. I had not studied any economics before taking Econ 101 and Prof. Johnson made me super interested in the subject with his passion and energy. I had lectures with him at 8:30 in the morning but looked forward to them every time!

10/10 amazing professor. If material is difficult for you - go to office hours!!! They helped me so much. Johnson comes off as a little crazy but H\he is so engaging and loves economics which makes learning more enjoyable. Great lectures, also has recorded lectures for when you don't want to go to class.

Professor Johnson's class was engaging and his notes aren't just from a slide, which made learning concepts more retainable. SUPER energetic in the morning and is super accessible outside of lecture (has many office hours). Also reads articles from real life events and applications to pair with what he teaches in class which is also helpful.

Johnson is one of the best professors at Madison. He cares deeply about his students and wants them to succeed, but to use their own brains. Couldn't recommend him highly enough, if you get an opportunity to take a class with him, jump at the opportunity.

Econ 101 was great with Johnson!! His lectures are so engaging for 8:25 in the morning. This class is hard but I would recommend reading the textbooks and spending time on the problem sets. Good Luck!!

Johnson is absolutely amazing. His lectures are very engaging and he has a lot of energy. There is never a dull moment in lecture with Johnson running around the room. He's the type of professor where he will make the concepts in an application based so you understand its purpose.

The professor is really awesome, no one could teach better than how he does. The only problem is that the exams are really tough, but they will be highly curved, if you attend the lecture(also provided as recording), and complete the problem set and the review for exam, you can easily score. I would highly recommend taking this professor.

David Johnson the GOAT. I took Intermediate Micro with him - a tough class, but I think he did a great job explaining. Lectures are awesome and his energy is always there. UW Legend.

Literally the GOAT. You won't find another professor that cares about teaching more than David. The greatest lectures ever. No slides, just pure knowledge, high energy, and a lot of chalk. David spends the first 30 or so minutes going over current events and directly relates what you're learning to real-life events. Best experience. Go to his OH!!

Always makes lectures entertaining and interesting, cares about teaching and wants you to really understand the material. He is also really good at being available for office hours, and he will talk your ear off about anything you want to know if you don't stop him. Helps to read textbook, but not necessary.

Johnson is the best economic prof in the whole university! He constructed his course logically and organized. He read economic news at the beginning of each class which was interesting and introduced the following topic of each lecture. He allowed unlimited attempts for problem sets and would give extra credit which would boost your grade.

As a freshman, Johnson is probably one of the best professors I've had this semester. A lot of people might say that his problem sets are difficult and exams are hard but you actually learn so much from it in retrospect. Never regretted it.

Easily one of the best professor's at Madison. He really cares about his students and LOVES teaching. However the course is really really hard, in my opinion. The lectures are so much fun, but the exams and midterms are very difficult (the mean is always really low). All in all, I learnt a lot from this class which is what I think is important!

If you dont have any sort of passion for economics before taking a course from Professor Johnson, you certainly will afterward. He is very passionate about the subject matter, and takes significant steps to ensure his students have the same passion, despite massive lecture sizes. Overall, a truly wonderful Professor.

Overall, this class was challenging. I missed quite a few lectures but did all the homework and read the textbook. He covers critical material in the lectures, so it is important to go (otherwise there are recorded videos online). I did poorly on the midterms and the final but still ended with a B. Very generous curves and very caring professor.

Professor Johnson is a great professor, but econ 101 itself is incredibly boring, and the exams are really challenging. If you need to take econ 101, or have a genuine passion for economics, definitely take it with DWJ, but if this class is not needed for your major, don't take it at all.

Professor Johnson is my favorite professor at UW. He is just so good at making Economics interesting and applicable to the real world. GO TO OFFICE HOURS. His lectures are fascinating, but he does go fast, so office hours will save you.

Electric lectures that make you connect with the content. Hes an ex-Harvard professor though that writes his own tests so the tests are pretty hard.

DJ is a legend, probably best professor I'll ever have. The lectures are interesting and relevant to what is going on in the world so they make you feel really informed. the dude is hilarious and his crazy energy in the morning is the only thing that kept me awake during 8 am lectures. yes this class is early but you need to take it

SAVE YOURSELF. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS CLASS. I am typically an A+ student, but I could not find myself doing well in the course whatsoever. His lectures don't make sense and he doesn't explain anything and assumes you already know all the material. I read the entire textbook and kept up with lectures and work. There is no hope for doing well.

I was not particularly great at economics but Professor Johnson does a great job at explaining concepts. My TA was particularly good and had some good discussion sections. Dispite the difficulty, by the end of it, I really enjoyed the class and Prof. Johnson's lectures.

The one and only choice for ECON101 at this school. Insanely great lecturer in class and helpful educator outside class. Attend his OH for learning more about Econ and getting better scores on assignments.

The class is difficult, but it's not impossible. Professor Johnson has engaging lectures that connect to the real world. He has a lot of office hours, and he's willing to help students. The tests are hard even though they are online, but he curves them.

Quite simply, under absolutely no circumstances should you take Econ 101 with any other professor.

Professor Johnson is super energetic and will definitely wake you up if you have this as an 8am! His lectures are very engaging and make sense with you're being tested on and what you're doing in discussion. Only downside is that his grading policy is very heavy on the final (40-45% of your grade!). However, he does curve his exams.

dude is a legend lol. hes very good at making somewhat boring material interesting and easy to pay attention too. also has prerecorded lecture videos that cover the same material in the same way

Use lecture videos on Canvas (sleep in). Do the review materials for both midterms. Take notes in class/online(canvas). Draw lots of graphs. Study w/ others to check problem set answers b4 submitting on Cengage (website w/ textbook). Make a word doc w/ table of contents of all chapters, so you can ctrl+f b/c open book midterms. USE OFFICE HOURS!

yasssss queen you go girl

Honestly one of the best professors ever listen in lecture and you will ace the class

Prof Johnson was super energetic. His lectures were fine but class was super hard. You do not need to go to lecture because he post the lectures online, but if you want to get a good grade you will have to watch the lectures, read the book, do the non-mandatory problems that go with the book, study notes, etc. Super time consuming

king.

Very energetic lectures. You can tell that he wants his students to succeed, and he tries really hard to make the content interesting and applicable to the real world. The content itself (coming from a non-econ major) is very boring and confusing. The curve is the only reason I got a good grades in the class.

He is a very nice and generous guy, definitely wants his students to succeed. However his teaching style is just awful. He rambles on and on, on a chalk board with random notes, it is not structured in anyway. And his tests don't have much to do with the textbook. The only way to do well is to already know a lot about economics.

he is by far my favorite professor, he has fun lectures and knows what he is talking about. He responds quickly to emails. However his lectures are long and his exams are tough.

Conflicted. Most difficult class I've taken. Love him as a person, & his lectures are interesting/highly caffeinated! Great emphasis on concepts, but not being math-brained, I never got the world problem-style exams. The curve's huge, so I got a BC with 61%. Still put in the most work for my lowest grade. 101 might be a hard course with any prof.

Very interesting lectures and Johnson makes the material easy to understand! The exams are hard, but there is a good curve that helped a lot. The class is difficult, but getting an A is doable.

Professor Johnson is amazing! He's funny and so passionate about econ. He also offered 4 sets of office hours every week on BBC, which were extremely helpful. The exams are hard, but there's a nice curve. You definitely have to put in a lot of time and effort if you don't have a background in econ, but he made the class manageable and interesting.

Very animated, which I found a bit excessive at times, but also very passionate about what he does. Tough exams, but generous curves. Also offered a mock final worth up to 5% extra credit.

Professor Johnson's lectures are amazing, and he makes the material so much easier to understand than previous Econ classes I've taken in high school. Very engaging, but there's quite a bit of reading and practice problems and the tests are hard.

Johnson's energy will definitely keep you awake during lectures. His exams are hard, but don't worry too much because he always offers a generous curve. Take him at least once at UW, you won't regret it.

Like others say, he is a great prof. With that said, when we went online (March 2020) his lectures became 30+ mins longer, sometimes a whole extra hour. Maybe he has changed that. I also hated how the final was 40% of the grade. Luckily it was open book due to the online shift. Otherwise I wouldn't have survived.

David Johnson was my FAVORITE professor this previous semester. He is extremely energetic, engaging, and explains everything well. He is the sole reason why I changed my major to economics, for I fell in love with the concepts that he was so passionate about teaching. He is extremely knowledgable and assures you understand content. HIGHLY recommend

Best economics professor at the entire university. Take any class you can with Johnson!

Professor Johnson is a beast, the lecture videos were great, and his office hours were both engaging, and insightful. The class was extremely difficult, however the curve for this class was absolutely insane. I did not score above a 50% on any of the exams, but I finished the class with a BC/B-.

Don't take Econ 101 with anyone other than David Johnson

Funniest professor ever, would highly recommend taking him if you're going to be studying econ, he makes even boring topics interesting.

David Johnson is the best Econ professor, and maybe the best professor at UW-Madison, by far. He makes 8am classes super fun and is always very energetic. He loves his work and makes you feel like you belong.

Johnson is a dynamic lecturer and also excellent at explaining concepts clearly. I looked forward to his lectures, even at 8am and even when class transitioned online (covid-19). His discussions of current events helped make the sometimes-dry course material feel more relevant. Workload is decent but you'll have everything you'll need to do well.

Having taken 2 economics courses at UW and talking to other students, Johnson is the only prof. you want to take Econ101 & 102 with. It's a super tough class, especially if you have no history or future in economics (but it's a requirement), but Johnson makes it doable. Go to lectures, take advantage of office hours, and you'll pass.

Johnson is a great lecturer and his random SCREAMING will surely keep you awake at 8:25 AM, but his class structure isn't that great for someone with no economic background. I learned most of the material through the Mankiw text and my TA, as his lecture is very fast paced and hard to follow. Overall, not an easy dive into economics, but doable.

Johnson is truly an incredible professor and clearly wants students to do well in his class. His teaching is a lot more theory-synthesis-based so you don't need to be particularly good at math, yet logic will help a lot. He is kind of a crackhead in lecture but it helps in grasping the information. Text is the base for problem sets but is not bad.

Best economics professor at UW-Madison

Johnson is the GOAT

His lectures really pull you in and make you want to listen. There were times I woke up for my 8:25 AM lecture and thought about going back to sleep but decided to go just to hear his lectures. He is really knowledgable and passionate about the course and gives it in laymans terms. He doesnt like to use a lot of jargon and makes topics simple.

One of a kind teacher. So passionate about econ very engaging and does amazing lectures. So far my favorite professor at Madison.

I understand that everyone loves this man. I am so happy for so many of you that do. Johnson's teaching style works for most, but not all. Johnson wants economics to be "intuitive", he wants to teach so that you can figure the rest out on your own. If, however, econ does not come intuitively, you will be very, very lost.

One of the best (and most challenging) professors I have ever had. His exams are tough but his lectures are fast paced, interesting and relevant. Going to his office hours and review sessions was super helpful.

DWJ is one of the best profs that I have had at UW. Exams had a generous curve and lectures were interesting.

David Johnson integrates current events into his lectures for constant synthesis, he is founded on the principles of economics and tries to apply these concepts to reality

Literally the best lecturer I have ever had. I don't even care about economics I just keep taking it because I wanted to have him as a professor again. These classes have nothing to do with my major. That being said, if you want to put in minimal effort, this isn't the prof for you. The way he structures his class kinda forces you to learn.