I really enjoyed taking this course. The material is super interesting, however I will say that I definitely put the work in for this class. If you don't understand the material, you will really struggle with this class. But if you find the material interesting and don't mind reading the chapters and doing practice problems from the study guide book, then I would say this class is worth your time.

I wouldn't wish this class upon my worst enemy. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. This class is arbitrarily graded and super disorganized. Doyle is "nice" but that doesn't help you at all. He just take the slides from the textbook publisher (found online) and reads through them in class which is a total waste of time. An an economics major who has received some form of an A in all of my classes (including econometrics and intermediate micro which are notoriously the weed-out classes for the major) I received a C in this class. Not reflective of actual effort -- do not take this class. Normally I do not listen to reviewers who say "do not take this class," but I beg of you, if you value your GPA, listen to me.

This is low key one of the hardest Econ electives out there. The TAs weren't very helpful as they were learning the material with us. The only way I see you can do well in the class is to consistently do practice problems and keep up with the readings. I recommend taking this class with Bethune if possible.

This course is laughably bad. While Doyle is ok for microeconomics his inability to teach more difficult concepts shows in this class. The tests are poorly worded and in some instances actually wrong based of off other economics courses. The TA's this semester barely spoke English and the grading was horribly inconsistent. Avoid this class as much as you can and take other Econ electives if you are in the major. With massive inconsistencies throughout he then makes up a grading rubric at the very end of the class so you don't know where you stand until the end of the semester.

Professor Doyle is a beast take his class, i cant see anything right now and am now sure if any of this is spelled right the glare is unbelievable

professor doyle is a great professor, but his classroom environment can be pretty distracting because he is not strict on phones or laptops. overall. this course is worthwhile because you learn a lot about the stock and bonds markets, how the fed works, and interest rates. etc which are all very practical things to know about.

Highly recommend taking this class during the summer. Doyle makes the material pretty digestible with mainly take home quizzes and an extra credit project. Don't be fooled though - his actual tests can be tricky/difficult and you're expected to memorize the formulas and calculations even if he doesn't explicitly say so during class. Dutch knockout is nice but also deceptive. His final is no walk in the park so it's best to try your best all semester long instead of getting screwed by the final in the end!

This class will be easy if you have some background on the financial markets. BUT it can be painfully difficult if you go in with no background knowledge at all. Even though the material can be interesting, Doyle is a very boring lecturer and lectures can be very confusing as he expects you to know all the terms going in. For midterms and finals, you basically have to read the textbook on your own as class notes are not organized and practice questions are useless most of the time, and TAs basically have no idea what Doyle is teaching in class. It is definitely very difficult to get an A as grading can be arbitrary and you never really know what will be on the exams, but not so difficult to pass by with at least a B. I think the class average was a C+ to a B- with no curve and an A was a 95%.

I cannot stress enough what the person below me said. The class is of about 200 students, and while Doyle is typically an effective -albeit somewhat boring- teacher, he does not meet general expectations. Going to lecture is essentially useless if you haven't read the textbook to understand the weekly material, and if you sit close to the back you can barely hear anything Doyle says, let alone read what he puts on the board. Reading each week is not necessarily difficult (it's usually somewhere between 20-80 pages a week), but it was incredibly tedious for me, as I could never truly take it in unless I wrote extensive notes. My final total of class notes and readings notes was over 80 pages, and more than 60 of those were just the readings. While friendly and approachable, Doyle never seems to direct students towards a tangible framework for the class that leads to a greater understanding of the US banking system. Overall, each unit feel disjointed and often unrelated, making exams nothing more than pure memorization of ALL the course material covered, as Doyle never delivers a much-needed study guide (those 30-40 page "guides" he posts on collab are simply questions from the textbook). Grading is convoluted, as the TAs are not in constant contact with the professor and are out of touch with the class material in general. Criteria for grading is also fairly sloppy, with two midterm exams, clicker questions, TA quizzes, and take home quizzes to supplement a cumulative final exam. While dispersing the value of points would usually be beneficial in a class, it actually hurt me in the end, as my TA was unsympathetic when it came to turning in a quiz a day late (I was sick for handing it in during lecture, and they ask you not to email them the quiz); as a result, I went from having a B+/A- to having to dutch knockout to get the grade I wanted (the final was no pushover, either).

Deceivingly difficult class. Doyle is nice and very likable as a person (super nice in office hours), but he is not a very good professor. If you read the book and memorize everything from the get go, it's doable. But you have to do this way in advance because it's a LOT of material. Don't expect to get anything out of lecture unless you do the reading first. The class did not have good TAs and the practice questions (which are dense packets ranging from 30-40 pages) have long, winded answers that do not really help you solve the numerical questions on the exam. The exams are intentionally written so that you are pressed for time. This would be fine if Doyle gave similar practice questions, but he asks questions you have no experience in solving. Afterwards, the exam keys are not posted to help you study for the final, and Doyle/the TAs rush through the exam reviews. The TAs are not on the same page as the professor or each other and make no attempt to teach you the material. Oftentimes, discussion would last for 20 minutes and then we would be dismissed. Honestly, if Doyle just gave students a formula sheet/more numerical practice questions, the class would be better. My problem is he makes the material more difficult to learn than it has to be. I really wanted to like this class because it's important information that could be interesting, but Professor Doyle does not know how to structure a class. Save yourself from the biggest pain of my fourth year and do not take this class unless you enjoy memorizing entire textbooks on your own.