This is definitely a step up from the basic Econ classes in terms of difficulty, but Prof. Alder is very knowledgeable, and the class is manageable if you read the textbook in addition to lectures. Packback was really ineffective, though, and it basically outsourced part of your grade to AI grading with a scale not recommended even by Packback.

The worst ECON course. Filled with dense formula derivations but lacked logical flow, making it hard to understand the bigger picture. Textbook was recommended but rarely referenced. Office hours often turned into half-hour mini lectures for one student, leaving others waiting. For students who struggle, there are few helpful resources or guidance.

I tried to give this class a chance, but this made me hate economics entirely. I really enjoyed 301, but 302 was miserable. Each week covers a chapter, but he spends so much time during the first lecture rambling and going on tangents that the second lecture of the week he races through content. Avoid if possible, or go to tutoring/office hours.

In his current class and it might be the most disorganized style of teaching I've experienced at the university thus far. We've had chapters on exams covered in lecture for has long as 15 minutes, he goes 5-7 minutes over lecture every time and he releases important exam information 24 hours before the exam. Good teacher. Greta guy. Organization 👎

I like Prof Alder as a person. His Econ 475 was extremely hard with a lot of differential equations and packed concepts. His tests are also pretty hard. Yet Prof Alder is an interesting guy and his class was actually quite enjoyable. Office Hours are strongly recommended. He curve the grades in the end so getting an A is actually not that hard.

Easily the most frustrating teacher I have ever taken in my whole life. Flies through lectures. Creates impossible weekly homework. I don't think anyone has ever ace'd anything in his class yet, not even homework. A demoralizing class. Pretentious at best.

Prof. Alder!! This class will test your sanity! There is just so much homework! The proof and Excel assignments were the worst. At some point, you might just give up because the proofs don't always make sense. Nevertheless, the class was fun! I can see why ppl hated it tho!

Reaped from switching from Prof. Johnson's section. Prof. Alder's class is clearly structured, with engaging lectures, as he connects topics to real-world issues. Very closely tied to the textbook, and you won't succeed without following it, but that only makes learning better! Discussion materials and feedback on homework assignments is great.

Do not take him if you don't feel like reading the textbook every night. The exams are almost exactly like the homeworks, but what is taught in lecture/discussion does not prepare you for the homeworks. You will need to teach yourself how to do everything by going through the textbook. Lecture is almost entirely theoretical which just doesn't help.

Great lectures make sure to read textbook aswell a lot of the homework is calculation based and u need some of the theory in the textbook to get through.

Taking Econ 312 with him was SO MUCH WORK. He gives out an absurd amount of homework. Quiz homeworks are helpful for exam. Excel homeworks are a waste of time and take hours. Exams aren't too bad. He gives a curve at the end. Make friends in the class you will need people to work with. He is a nice guy and like his lectures just a ton of work

Presented topics clearly, learned a lot from the class, would recommend. Some of the homework got difficult at times, but with enough effort and thought could be worked through.

Avoid this dude at all costs. Homework? You get questions with multiple parts so if you round early or have a mistake in your excel sheet you basically get a 0. Literally everyone cheats, so don't even try to be a good kid. Exams are the same, with questions with select multiple answers where if you miss one you get 0. Made me hate this class.

I can tell econ 475 was one of hardest courses at UW-Madison. He eventually makes easy and never make you fail if you do not drop class. I observed almost 50% dropped at the end of class. Please trust him I heard his intermediate macro econ is similar.

Not a great lecturer but if you read the textbook and go to office hours you'll be fine. Biggest complains are that his lectures are kinda boring (you'd be better off just reading the textbooks) and his exams are kind of hard to prep for. (Don't listen to the people saying his class is the hardest 302 section ever purely a skill issue)

Don't show up to lecture you won't do well. Actually, even if you show up to lecture, you won't understand anything unless you pore over the textbook on an almost daily basis. Homework is next to impossible without office hours/tutoring. The only reason I didn't give him a 1/5 is the lord of the rings themed exam questions.

Unhelpful, pretentious, and just plain rude. Professor Alder is clearly at UW to research, not to teach. Very hard to reach outside of class because he "doesn't like email". Class is curved so it's alright in the end, but the process is pretty painful.

I would not recommend taking Fin 305 with this professor - the lectures are almost entirely conceptual, but the homework and exams are calculation-based. You basically have to teach most of the testable material to yourself which disincentivizes listening in class and makes it very difficult to pay attention.

Only 1 attempt for each assignment and don't have a complete solution for each question. Never take his class otherwise you will be unfortunate.

Only spent time in lecture talking about concepts, did not go through hardly any practice problems with us despite homework and exams being completely based on calculations. I essentially taught myself how to do everything, he is not very accessible outside of class and lacks in giving transparent communication and announcements.

Nice professor. clear teaching.

He explains every content clearly during the lecture time and the homework assignment is really helpful for understanding the knowledge.

Simeon expects too much out of his students. He does not offer practice problems or previous exams to know what to expect on the exams. The homework assignments take about 8-10 hours to complete. He is extremely hard to talk to. He doesn't explain his grading nor tell you what you have in the class. Do not take this class,

His lectures were very informational and interesting to listen to if you wanted to learn about finance and had existing knowledge of economics. However, the homework assignments and tests were completely calculation based and we were never taught how to do them. He was not accessible outside of class and office hours and had many grading problems.

Awful professor. Insanely difficult class with very difficult assignments. You have no idea what the curve is till the very end. Exams are nothing like the homework. Even the homework is extremely difficult to do well on. Definitely do not take this class if your looking for a good grade.

Worst professor. Regurgitates McGraw Hill content for homework. Lectures are overly conceptual and he takes hours explaining concepts only for our exams and homework to be completely calculation-based. If you go to his office hours, he just re-explains exactly how he did in class, which is not helpful. Save yourself and take it with someone else

I haven't disliked a class more. This class should not be this hard. The hw and test averages are around 60%. His lectures are the worst I have ever attended, he rambles the whole time. He doesn't respond to emails for days. Save yourself the headache of having to learn solely from a textbook and find a teacher that will teach you the material.

If you are a student interested in the subject of economic growth or research, then ECON475 should be to your liking. Not terribly useful for industry. Lectures: expect lots of math. If seeing letters with your numbers gives you a headache like it does me, be warned. Homework: 6-8 hours each closely mirroring class content, 6 homeworks total.

Terrible professor. He alway replies the email 2 days later. You never know your total grade and the curve whole semester. The curve is unfair to me because I got 80 percent in all exams with 55 mean grade. However, I only got ab finally, which is terrible to me.

Althogh it is a tough class, the class has a generous curve and even you get a fifty percent on the exam it is a B. I got 50s on the exam 80s on the homework and somehow i ended up with an AB and i am really happy about that. Professor Alder is a smart guy and his lecture is interesting and entertaining. Definitely recommend it.

Little to no study material for exams (which are very difficult and had a D-average) other than HW assignments which usually have an incorrect answer key, never have solutions posted and are also ridiculously hard. Lectures are straight from the textbook. This class was way harder than it shouldve been and the worst experience Ive had in Econ

Only little really useful info related to HW he covered in the lecture, like about the formula that would be used in the homework, etc. The only possibility you can understand how to do the HW is to go to the discussion section. And the exam is of great amount but not in proportionate time. HW answers also have errors frequently. Not recommend.

Professor Alder is a horrible professor unless you are a genius at Econ. His class was impossible, I felt like I learned nothing, and it felt like there was no way to improve your grades or do better. His office hours were not helpful either. We never new any grades or how we were doing in the class. He wouldn't tell us if he would curve the class.

Awful professor. Midterms are online exams that are open note in-person and are insanely difficult in comparison to the homework. Alder does not give accommodations and often does not reply to emails. Stay away at all costs to protect your mental health.

HW and EXAMS - super hard. TAs rarely reply emails. There were lots of typos in HW and maybe in EXAMS too.

I liked how Prof. Alder encouraged his econ students to think like economists in lectures. He genuinely seemed to care about his econ students doing well in the major. However, the lectures were 50/50, some were full of him droning on, others were content heavy. The real problem is the difficulty of the homework and exams compared to the lectures.

This guy is the worst professor Ive had at this school. His lectures are completely useless, he gives you no study materials for the exams except his ridiculous homework assignments which nobody ever gets full credit on and he never releases worked out solutions for. His exams are the exact same way. Like taking a masters level class, guys a joke.

Enjoyed the class, but it is very stressful because you have no idea how you're doing in the class is until the very end. I spent so much time worried that I was getting 50s on exams and 80s on homework, but I somehow ended with an AB. He's a good lecturer and very interesting and knowledgable, discussion sections are boring but helpful.

Incredibly smart guy, but this class is really hard. The exams were super tough and even getting a 50% was a B or greater at times. You had no clue what your grade was until the end of the semester when you curve it. A really good guy, and I would probably take him over anyone else, but make sure you work with others and study heavy before exams.

Professor Alder can sometimes provide really solid and clear explanations for the course content. However, given this is also an intermediate-level course, the midterms are quite difficult and hard to tackle. The packback questions can be a waste of time to some extent. Don't expect to get full marks for any assignments.

I didn't know until the last half of the semester, but if you go to his office hours he will walk you through the homework and let you resubmit to get full points (uses Canvas quizzes for homework). He is really caring and patient and provides real-world examples/applications of the concepts/models during lectures. Totally recommend for 302!

He's not able to make the material clear. His exams and Homeworks are much tougher than what's been covered in his lectures. I've been to TAs OHs and both TAs said the exam is "tricky".

Alder definitely makes you work for it, although he is there every step of the way to help. Nothing is unclear. I would def recommend taking the course with him, although bring some friends or find some really quickly

ECON 302 with prof. Alder can be a pleasant journey. His experience in the financial sector is evidenced by his fluidity and ease when lecturing. Even considering the pesky PackBack posts, weekly homework was quite light. Read the book (which is excellent), pay attention in lecture, and all should go well.

I've had a lot of great classes at UW, but Simeon's 302 was one of my favorites. In fact, his class inspired my love of macro that has only continued to build and I would like to thank the Professor for that

Took both Econ 312 and 475 with him. The courses are well organized and the concepts are explained clearly. Exams are easy if you prepare for it.

I spent hours of time each week in Packback questions and received poor grades. His handout is just copies of textbooks, and it feels like he is simply reciting the textbook in lectures. Would not take his class again.

He is really good; I like the way he gives lectures. Not an easy class, but worthing spending sometimes to learn. Take him class!

Good lecturer. But sometimes you need to spend a large number of time to learn by yourself after class.

He is a good professor, the mid-terms will be fine once you do and understand all the practice exam, final will be super difficult, I cannot understand that I have all the mid-terms and homework above A and with a final above 70 finally received a AB while who have much lower final score and almost same mid-term and homework grade finally have A.

I really like having Alder for 302. While he wasn't the most accessible outside of class, the tests were fair and homework wasn't bad. You don't have to do too much work in this class, just make sure that you skim the chapter the night before, absorb the material a second time during lecture, and you should be fine.