Rick is a nice guy but I found his lectures mostly complementary to reading the textbook. Lectures were often dry and elaborate in a way that was not instructive and often rich with superfluous parentheticals. Had I never gone to lecture, I believe I would have performed only marginally worse. Exams are fairly easy if you read the textbook.

The best way to succeed in this class is to not go to it and read the book. Lectures aren't related to test content but do contain some interest real-world knowledge, though some is also outdated. Good guy but definitely more concerned with his other jobs than teaching in my opinion. Tests are 50 multiple questions.

Overall, a super interesting lecturer with SO much real-world knowledge. The class was pretty early and didn't cover things that would be on the exam. Challenging tests that rely on your textbook knowledge. Discussion is helpful but often empty as well. Curve is pretty kind. Exciting content but be prepared to fight for your grade!

Ask him real world questions he is happy to give his thoughts. Very nice guy!

March 18, 2025. Steven Rick sets a personal record of saying the word massive 10 times in his 8am Econ 102 lecture. An absolute gamechanger. A masterclass performance. Not only this, but he says the word boom 4 times. This will be remembered for years to come. His buddy the crane guy would be so proud.

The homework is not useful for the exams. You are required to purchase a textbook to do this homework and it does not even explain the chapter material clearly enough to go off on your own. This class was a complete waste of my time and left me more confused than ever.

Interesting and knowledgeable lectures about the real-world economy, but not not at all related to the textbook. Be ready to self-learn. Very hands off in terms of grading info/criteria, test prep, course info. Not a lot of effort in that area. Lecture notes also are hard to understand without going to lecture, hardly went since 8 AM class.

Professor Rick is knowledgeable, but lectures can be dry. Expect to self-study the material to succeed on exams. Unstuckstudy proved helpful for practice and test prep.

Prof Rick understands macroeconomics, explains real world application just not in the most engaging way. Lectures differed significantly from book, be prepared to learn book material by yourself. Graded on 2 mult choice midterms (25% each) + 1 NOT cumulative final (40%) - even split between lecture material and book material. online HW 10% of grade

Barely learned by his lecture. Complete the semester by teaching myself.

I took econ 330 during covid. I heard his class is hard now. But he is smart and great professor

Class is curved and mainly graded on the exams but they are not cumulative exams.

Expect to teach yourself the material for the exams. He does give out practice exams which are helpful. If you don't mind learning the material on your own he is not a bad choice, as he talks about the current economy and provides a lot of practical knowledge. I didn't find that attending lecture was particularly crucial. I am indifferent.

He talked a lot about the current economy. The homework was on the textbook. It felt like we learned all the terms on our own from the textbook and then were expected to know everything for lecture. Need to go to lecture because there are blue box questions for exams only shown in class. You should take notes before class.

Professor Rick is a very cool guy, and you can tell he knows Econ well. Overall this class is not hard at all. The exams only consist of surface-level multiple choice questions. You do need to BOTH read the book and go to lecture, as some of the material from lecture isn't covered in the book and vice versa. Prof doesn't respond to email.

I am extremely confident that the students leaving him a bad review simply don't care enough about economics to try to understand it. Steve teaches some pretty basic level classes so they are full of people taking the class because they have to with no desire to learn about it. If you expect to learn everything without effort, econ is not for you.

Fantastic lecturer. Steven Rick has the rare quality of being both a teacher and a full-time professional Economist which makes him a fountain of knowledge. You can learn as much or as little from him as you want. Real lovers of economics will flurish and those looking for an easy credit will learn nothing. As is the rest of life, its on you.

If you want to teach yourself this course then take it with Rick. He is awful at teaching the actual course material and doesn't teach anything that is in the textbook! Lectures are long and painful, and he has "blue box" that isn't posted on the slides posted to canvas, but only like 20% or less of the exams is on that, it is mostly textbook.

I think I went to maybe two lectures and got an AB. Once I realized his lectures were not beneficial, I was gone. Seriously just read the textbook, and you're good. For each exam, he pulls questions from the textbook test bank and pulls questions from the practice exam to put on the exams. Exams are 50 mp questions. Didn't go to a discussion once.

This man is the type of guy to aim for 2nd place. Puts part-time effort for a full-time check. Cares more about his "real job" at the credit union as opposed to teaching

I am a sophomore at UW and I can definitively say Steven Rick is not only the worst professor I have had in my 2 years at Madison but in my 20 years of life. If you want to learn anything do not take his class. He is the laziest professor on campus, his lectures are horrible, and you will leave the class knowing nothing about macroeconomics.

You must go to his lectures otherwise you will miss key concepts. He is really passionate about economics which is seen in his lectures. The tests were all multiple choice scantron but other then that I have no complaints!

Good teacher, cares about economics, just very boring lectures. You have to go to the lectures or you will miss little things on the exams.

Professor Rick is passionate about teaching economics. My class was at 8am but he was always ready to teach. He's pretty good at explaining what he lectures and going into detail about data on graphs. There's the usual weekly homework but it's not too hard (you use cengage). Overall, Professor Rick is a great guy who seems like he loves his job.

He is decent, great guy but super boring. Talks about topics that seem irrelevant which makes studying difficult since you don't know what to expect. Take it but don't expect it to be a cakewalk.

90% of your grade based on Exams. 25% on two midterms and 40% for final. His lecture and exam seemed unrelated and it really messes you up. Worst experience ever.

This class was the worst class I've ever taken. His lectures were hard to listen to, barely understandable, and not relevant to the exams, which were 90% of the final grade (with the final alone being 40%). The only communication we received from Prof Rick all semester were emails two days before the test that all said the same thing. Horrible.

Prof. Rick has a job outside of being a teacher and it shows. Lecture uploads were super inconsistent and the content in them was only important if it was in a "blue box". Most of the info you NEED to know comes from the book, which was hard to know exactly what you were expected to know for the test since the lecture and book didnt match well.

His lectures do not relate to the actual material of the class. You have to read the book and attend discussions in order to understand the material for exams.

Horrible teacher. Almost none of the material he covered during the lectures was on the test. Many quality of life errors from misspelling words, difficult lectures to take notes to, and low-quality videos among other issues. He is not mean, but he has a 2nd job outside of teaching and it shows. Also, assigns extra homework before tests!

I honestly learn nothing in this class. His lectures have nothing to do with material on the exams and he makes no effort to engage with students.

This was the worst professor I've ever had, its unacceptable. With unwatchable lectures (due to microphone/tech issues, irrelevant material, and dry instruction style), minimal outside of class communication, and no attempts made to develop a connection with students, I would recommend trying your hardest to switch professors if you can.

No communication outside of class. Lets you know about exams 1 day before he posts them. The TA in this class saved me because even though I like Econ, he made that class incredibly boring and hard to understand.

This class is graded solely off tests and its ridiculous. Also canvas is not weighed properly so youre grade is basically a surprise at the end as very little guidance was give the entire semester. Frankly his lectures are pretty straight forward but exams can be a little complicated.

The class consists of four main grades: Homework (Worth 10%), Two midterms (Each worth 25%), and a Final (Worth 10%). What he talks about in the lectures does not relate to the book. The only thing from his lectures that show up on exams is his "Blue Boxes". The exams are straightforward, all multiple choice, no trick questions.

He seems like a nice guy and is obviously knowledgable about economics. However, his lectures have nothing to do with the class content & focus entirely on what's going on in the economy today. Does "blue boxes" in his lecture where he puts information that he will make an exam question based off of. Has another job that is clearly his priority.

This class was suprisingly very enjoyable especially being online. The lectures were pre recorded and there was homework weekly and three exams all together. Overall this class is very doable and in my opinion much easier and more enjoyable than Econ 101! The professor made the lectures interesting and the test were fairly straight forward!

This entire class is based out of the textbook and lectures rarely provide useful material. He has a pretty big full time job so it's clear his lectures and work is rushed. Most of the work is done by the TA and your entire grade is based down to basically 3 exams. He's not awful, but definitely not the best.

he seems like a nice guy but i learned nothing. In fact, Im still not sure if his name is Steve Rick or Rick Steve. Anyways, I did learn that economics is like a bathtub. He definitely knows a lot about economics, he just didnt pass it on to us students.

He is a smart dude who doesn't care about his students. He spent probably about 10 minutes one lecture relating inventory to a bathtub, making it pretty clear that he seems to think we don't know anything. He makes many test questions come word-for-word from his lecture slides, ruining much of the incentive to understand the material deeply.

Worst professor I've ever head. He has another job and it's clear he prioritizes that one instead of teaching, because he is not accessible outside of lecture and he'd upload his lectures days (even weeks) after he was supposed to (for online classes during COVID). Exams consist of "blue box material", which is only available in lecture.

He was just there to relay the information. Nothing more, nothing less. In his lectures he has "Blue Boxes", where each box has a test question in it. The only way to get the blue boxes is to go to class.. so if you skip class you won't have access to the blue box test questions. The exams were harder than expected. Read the book if you're confused

Steve is extremely knowledgeable with the banking system and economics in general. The course material is interesting. It can be tricky but the exams are surface level questions from the book. Exams r 80% from book and 20% lecture. I'd recommend going to lecture cuz he has a couple questions on tests that you will only know if you go. Great class

If you are interested in macroeconomics, the Fed, the 2009 crisis or the current COVID-19 crisis, or banking you will enjoy this class. He provides a lot of historical and current day backdrop, and it makes the complex banking system understandable. Go to lecture as he has an 'issue of the day' each class that will show up on the test. Very smart.

Steve knows a lot about econ. He is an excellent public speaker as well and lectures are interesting if you're awake early. His lectures merely graze the textbook content but are real world useful. Read the textbook and if you don't understand something, go to discussion. Tests are all textbook and super easy. Fair class, people complain too much

Passionate about his lecture material, but that material is largely unrelated to the homework and exams. The only material you're actually tested on from lectures are his "blue boxes." Be prepared to teach yourself the majority of the content. Great economist, just lectures for the paycheck and fails to prepare students for exams

cool professor, if you are interested in economy, follow him!

Probably the most boring lecture you will ever be a part of. Content is pretty easy and doesn't require much work.

Steve Rick is the coolest dude at UW-Madison. He knows a LOT about economics and it shows. MAKE SURE YOU GO TO THE LECTURES! Although they are at 8am, you just gotta drink some coffee and somehow show up; it actually helps. Read the book, and use the practice exams on Cengage.

Steve Rick is the man, though his lectures are dull if you don't care about the subject matter. He cares a lot about what his students are able to take to the real world. Final was not cumulative but it is worth 40% of your grade

Steve Rick is not a full time professor, he works for Cuna Mutual, and it shows. Single handedly one of the worst professors Ive had here. No lecture material shows up on the exams, he doesnt respond to his UW email which in specific circumstances is a huge problem. I would never recommend taking him.

He's easy to understand and is enthusiastic about econ, however the only point of going to his lectures was to get the information from his "blue boxes". Nothing else he taught in lecture showed up on the exams. Use the online test prep from Cengage because he basically pulls questions straight from those practice tests.

Rick was great, really knows his way around the banking system. His lectures were well done and abundant with examples. The tests are worth way too much of the grade however and curved so an average on them is a BC. Study previous year exams and be sure to read the book.

Steve can truly gives you many useful tools to apply in real time economy and he is such a cool guy! Go to his lectures and you won't regret it!

professor Rick is without a doubt an expert in his field, and his lectures mainly focus on explaining contemporary economic issues rather than concepts of Macroeconomy. I really like the way how he combines practical knowledge with dull concepts and his lectures are very vivid. Though 90% of the grade are exams, still he is a fantastic professor.

Lectures are very dry. He relies heavily on the textbook which did a pretty good job. Was a bit frustrating that lectures were rarely related to textbook material which was the main content on exams. Final exam was not cumulative and was 40% of grade.

Prof Rick is a cool guy who knows a lot about the subject. His lectures are hard to sit through though, and only about the 5 minutes of class with the blue box matter. Lectures are very hard to connect to the textbook, and I stopped going after the second midterm and still managed an AB on the final. Do the online homework and read the textbook.

here is how i set the curve for each midterm&the final. 1) make a quizlet and use that to take notes on the blue box. type everything in the blue box in the quizlet. write it down in your notebook while he is talking about the rest of the crap during lecture that is totally irrelevant to the midterms. 2) cengage practice exas. just do them A LOT.

Annoyed at the fact that homework would take hours but only accounted for 10% buts not too bad since its only once a week. Lectures are basically pointless except the blue boxes. For exams its book heavy, use the online cengage practice tests, then study blue boxes. I felt like I definitely self taught the whole class. :/

If you need to be taught information to learn it do NOT take this class with Steve. If you're fine teaching yourself from a textbook then go for it. The stuff he teaches you in lecture has absolutely nothing to do with the exams and doesn't teach you the concepts of macroeconomics. Econ does not come easy to me and I struggled hard in this class.

Professor Rick was a good guy, lectures were interesting but most of the things he talked about did not appear on exams. Exams were significantly easier than Micro exams, 50 MTC questions that are pretty easy if you have a general understanding of the content.. Exams are worth 90% of the total grade. I really liked Steve and would take him again.

Do not take his class

Terrible teacher. Lectures are ridiculously dry and have nothing to do with relevant info for exams. For the 2nd exam I went to lecture once and got an A. If you want to do well, study the textbook (which is super interesting). Exams are MC, questions based off the cengage adaptive test prep (use it! very helpful) Exams are generally fair.

I really enjoyed the class, it was pretty interesting and I learned a lot. You definitely don't have to go to all of the lectures, but he does include a few questions from it on every exam. I thought the lectures were pretty boring but made myself go. Study the practice tests he sends out, very similar to the actual exam/actually uses same question

Nice guy who knows his stuff, but he's not very good at preparing students for exams. Depends a lot on the book, and only gives one practice exam before each exam, making it really difficult to get a lot of practice in. Even if you read every chapter, it is likely there will be some random concept on the exam you've never seen in the book.

Although he's cool guy and knows the material well, he doesn't prepare students well for the exams. He only gives one practice exam, making it pretty difficult to study. The exams are so much of the overall grade it makes it difficult to pick up your grade if you don't do well on even one exam

Personally, I loved Steve. My friend and I would always crack up at his quirkiness, but aside from that he relied too much on the textbook to teach his class. Apart from his "blue box", not much else of his lectures matter for his test. Discussion sections and reading are key for mastering concepts.

Loved him. Probably one of my favorite professors at UW. VERY interesting and smart man. Knows how to teach the material and his real life experience in the field really helps. Genuinely learnt a great deal and enjoyed going to lectures. Tests not hard at all if you actually study. Hope I can take another class with him.

Rick is a very smart guy who knows a lot of econ. That said, his lectures were really dull, often repetitive, and often pointless to attend. Most of the teaching for the tests is executed by the TAs (probably 90% of the tests). He means well, but is very uninspiring. 90% of the grade is based on 3 exams.

Professor Rick most definitely knows what he is talking about, no question about that. That being said, the tests are extremely book based so you will need to read. They are not too difficult though. There will be a question here or there that came from the lecture but overall missing lecture is no big deal.

I appreciate connecting the concepts to real life, but I was often confused about the direction of the class, and understanding the core concepts was difficult. A lot of responsibility was put on us to read/understand the material on our own and our TA had to do most of the teaching. Lecture wasn't that useful, and exams were very hard/book heavy.

Steven Rick's exams dictated the course and was all based off the textbook. His final was notoriously difficult. I would not recommend taking this course as I honestly do not feel like I learned anything. His lectures were useless and it was all out of the textbook.

Even though I understood the material by reading the textbook, I didn't do my best in the class because the exams were unnecessarily hard. Not sure what I could have done differently.

Lectures go by pretty fast, so if you don't attend them MAKE SURE you're keeping up with the book or else midterm studying can be pretty rough. Steve is a super respectable guy who knows what he's talking about, but he does have another job as an economist which seems to be his main priority. Tests are on the harder side but definitely fair.

He is very good at explaining economic issues and this is the only reason I go to lecture. He rarely talks about the exams and the majority of material tested is not in his lecture, you have to read textbook by yourself. His exams are easy m/c with some questions that tests you on (detailed) memorization. A cut-off is ridiculously high. (94%+)

Macro is dry enough as it is. Steve's lectures are not very inspiring and don't seem to be conducive to studying for exams either (all book-based). He has another job so communication about the course depends on TAs. Exams are tough, but definitely fair. Decent amount of homework assigned weekly. 2 midterms, 1 final. Discussion is mandatory-ish.

Lecture was useless, except for the "blue box" info which you can easily get from someone in discussion. HW assignments are very useful for understanding the concepts, but account for very little of your grade. Read the text and, most importantly, go over his old exams. There were a ton of repeated questions I answered correctly simply from memory.

Steve is very knowledgeable but not a good professor. Going to lectures is pointless because the only thing from lectures that is on the exams is the "blue box", one slide during lecture. Make sure you read the book. Discussions are helpful to go to. The curve for exams generally only rounds you up 5%.

RICK IS AWESOME! Pro tip for taking any of Rick's classes: he tests about 30% on lecture material and 70% on the textbook. He won't cover the textbook in lecture much at all. However, he gives out old exams before each midterm/final and that's SUPER helpful. Going to lecture is necessary because he usually asks a few q's about current events

Read the book, a lot of questions on the exam come from the book. Also, do the practice exams because he takes questions directly from the practice exam. His lectures are interesting, but not very applicable to exams in my experience.

He's a good lecturer who really knows his stuff about econ but the lectures get long and boring. The class is just 3 exams and weekly homework. The exams get progressively harder but are graded on a curve, where less than 10% of people get an A. So you have to work for it but it was an interesting class.

Rick is one of the best lecturers I've had in the Econ department. But the lecture material has minimal relevance for exams. To do well in this class, READ the book and do the practice exams. You can get away with not attending a single lecture and do well in the course. Exams have little to no curve and consist of 50 mc questions. Expect an AB.

I had Steven for Econ 102. He was very good at lecturing in "econ lingo" and then clarifying it in more conversational terms as well. He has an excellent pace of lecture and is a good speaker.

This class ended up being one of my least favorite at UW-Madison. Steve Rick is a very intelligent and experienced professor, but he was simply not a good instructor. He never really made any connection with his students and his tests were very specific and challenging. His lectures also don't pertain to the textbook material.

I feel that Steve doesn't really care that much for his students. He may be very passionate for econ but maybe not that interested in teaching. The curve for this course is unreasonably high. I nearly skipped all my other courses to study for econ and I only got an AB for the final.

Tricky exams! Lecture is 10% of tests. He makes you memorize arbitrary lists and categories from lecture, but doesn't really test on their application. You'll walk out of exams feeling good and find you did worse than you thought. If you're good at memorizing everything (and I mean everything)you'll do fine. The final is 40% of your final grade.

The lectures are pointless besides the first ten minutes of information on the economic indicators which are 30% of the exams. He doesn't actually teach the info, you have to learn from the book or maybe your TA if they are good. Overall not a hard class though.

Steve is awesome and one of my favorite professors in Madison. I took him for 330 as well as 102. If you want to keep up on current news in the economy, go to lecture, otherwise it isn't necessary. Most of the learning comes from the textbook. Tests aren't too difficult and the grading is fair.

His lectures are very dry, disorganized, and I feel like I did not take anything from them. He introduces economic indicators of the day which are the only thing you need from lecture as they show up on exams. I learned the most from my TA. Homework is graded on completion and all answers can be found online.

You must read the book and show up to lecture to take good notes in order to do well on the test. His lectures RARELY pertain to the book but are interesting because they deal with real world events.

Lectures were really interesting and applicable to current events. However, most of the exam material comes from the textbook which he only brushes over in lectures. Discussions were only useful to turn in homework. Great class overall though and I learned a lot.

He's really good about applying what we learn to what is happening the today's economy

The discussion sections are a must but his lectures are actually very interesting and he is very passionate. Its a pretty easy class as long as you read the textbook and go to discussion.

Great professor! Uses real life examples to illustrate his concepts. I wouldn't say this class was an easy A by any stretch, but if you ace the two midterms, you should be comfortable in the finals. That being said, you should still consult the textbook due to the brevity of his powerpoint slides. Good luck!

Don't bother going to lecture. You have to read the book to learn what will be on the tests because Steve only talks about current issues during lecture. I went to about half and got B's on both midterms. Class is easy enough, I'd recommend taking it with him compared to other professors.

Great class, Great Teacher. Very easy to understand in lecture. Keeps you up early in the morning. Study for midterms and final.

He is a decent professor. He really focuses the current events of the economy in his lectures, which are a small portion of the exam. Most of the book material is taught in discussion - a must go. He teaches the material clearly, but not all of it is relevant. Not a bad choice for 102, a fairly easy class.

Study the economic indicators for the exams. Homework is completion points but reading the textbook is necessary to learn the material. Discussion section is important for learning the concepts due to Professor Rick only lecturing about our current economy (interesting, but unrelated for the most part, to the book concepts).

Lectures are unrelated to the text but reading the text is necessary for the exam. Class is based more heavily on current rates and graphs, but you are tested on these things so attending class is necessary. Discussions focus on what you should be learning from the text and what you will be tested on, so attending those is mandatory. Exams are fair

Two midterms, one final, and problem sets. Non mandatory attendance in discussion and lecture is useless to attend. The way to do well is study and read the book. Steve doesn't help at all- he couldn't care less if anyone was even at lecture or not. Not too math intensive. Take if you are okay doing the work on your own.