His lectures are definitely interesting and engaging. Beware of the final, which is surprisingly difficult, but the tests are easy enough to get you a good grade. Definitely recommended.

The best

This was an awesome class, even if you're not interested in econ. Elzinga is a genius and one of the nicest professors i've met on grounds

enjoytable overall but tough final. reccomended.

Econ is the way to go!

Everyone should get a basic intro course in principle economics some time before they graduate. It is relevant to anyone once you leave UVA, whether you are an Econ/Comm major or not. Elzinga introduces the material in a really concise manner, and he's such a congenial professor. But, like everyone says, the final is a curveball.

Professor Elzinga is overrated, he is a decent professor who does an adequate job at teaching the material but any real understanding comes from the textbook. Overall the class isn't all that difficult just do not rely on the dutch knockout system.

Elzinga's lectures were very entertaining, but definitely not worth the hype. People definitely over-hype this class. Some of the questions on exams are directly from his lectures, so its helpful to actually listen to lectures while you are at UVA instead of lying in bed or skipping class. There is really no reason to be late for a 11:00 or 12:30 lecture anyway. First two exams were relatively straight-forward and fair. By no means were the exams SOOOOOOO EASY. Some questions were, but others weren't. Final was definitely hard and my grade dropped from an A+ before the final, to a B+ after the final. So I don't really know what happened, even though I knew the material, or at least I thought I did. But if you came to UVA to take classes that are "Easy A's", then transfer out of UVA, you can't get through 4 years of UVA without encountering any difficult course. Bottom line is just read the book and listen to his lectures. If you do that, the midterm exams will be a fair representation of your knowledge. And take everyone's opinion about the final exam with a grain of salt, because I thought it was really hard, but others probably thought it was easy.

Okay, so you're reading the posts below mine and crapping your pants about the final. But don't let it discourage you from taking the class. Coming from someone with no knowledge or background in ECON (and no further desire to study it, if that tells you anything...), I found Elzinga's lectures pretty entertaining and the basic knowledge of economics to be useful. For me, the tests were pretty tough, even with studying (same grade on all three), but that's what to expect. Plus, he curves the final. Overall recommendation: good, but not quite worth the hype.

Midterms were short answer/drawing graphs and not that hard. Final is 75 multiple choice..they are tricky! I got solid A's on the midterms and a C- on the final. So a B+ for the year... Discussion section very helpful if you're confused and TA office hours are great. Once you simply the material in discussion it's very understandable.