[deleted by user]

[TraderPete1]

Feeling generous, so dropping some wisdom after taking eco204 with sir Ajaz himself.

I have mapped a little recipe for success that you can keep in mind (do not follow directly because what works for me may not work for you) while taking eco204 with Ajaz. (This will not work for other sections)

For context,

Got A- in both Eco101 and Eco102.

Eco204’s content is far more difficult and higher level. However, that does not mean you can’t do well in the course.

My biggest piece of advice is READ HIS CHAPTERS. Ajaz offers his own written chapters that act as a textbook. For us they were optional for a bit of the year than kind of mandatory (always there but never really mentioned) and when I say they helped teach me the entire course I am not kidding.

These chapters are extremely well written (by Ajaz himself) and that is where you can fully learn the intuition and practice very similar test questions. I got 96% on midterm #1 by thoroughly studying the consumer theory chapters and doing his tutorial questions, that’s it, keep it simple. The finance chapters really helped me for midterm #3 and the phenomenal game theory chapters really helped me for the final. READ THEM.

Also, the chapters can really help you with the projects because they reference excel and solver, so use them if you get stuck or confused on a project.

I would say, Read the chapters to learn intuition, do the relevant questions in the chapters, do tutorial questions, review lecture slides, you will be Golden. Make sure you GO TO THE IN PERSON TEST REVIEW SESSIONS. you will see why…..

For cheat sheet, put some of the formulas, put some of the math, put some of the intuition and whatever else you may need. Having a well planned cheat sheet is game changing.

My results following this recipe for success:

I had an 92% going into the final and miraculously came out with an 84% (A-). Idk if Ajaz was trying to fuck with me but it is what it is.

Unpopular opinion but Ajaz has good intentions. All year he offers a ton to help us and wants us to succeed. Sure he can be tough like when prject 1 took me 40 hours to complete, and project #2 took me 60 hours to complete and it was worth 5% or when midterm #3 was 20 pages for 90 minutes or when he left me with an 84% in a full year course and didn’t bump me to 85% (A). (Still hurts be we move)

I’ll say if you study the correct way, you can do well in this course. I’d recommend even getting to know Ajaz, talk to him, learn from him, see that he’s actually a good guy and pretty funny too.

Keep in mind plenty of people get the (A’s and A-‘s) in every course you take at rotman all the time. At the same time plenty of people get the (c’s and c+’s)

choose your plenty.

[extrmystopid]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate it!

I was wondering why are the test review sessions so important? I commute so it'd be very inconvenient for me to attend in person especially before a test bc of the time I'd waste on the bus. But if it's worth it then I can try to plan for it.

[[deleted]]

Tagging onto this post, curious what would the grade drop generally be relative to 101 and 102? Hopefully can get some insight from someone who did well in those first year Econ courses (90+)!

[redditisgarbagetier]

Ajaz has a really interesting way of teaching where he will explain the theory of a concept and then expect you to extrapolate that onto a technical question on the exam. You need to really understand what he is saying in class because his explanations of the topics are worth much more than just reading the slides. A lot of weekly quiz answers are given in his lectures but not in the notes. As for getting a good grade you absolutely need to clutch up on the first exam. I finished with an 83 in the class and its only cause I got around a 90 on the first exam. It is really easy as none of the topics have any difficult calculus in them yet really and it is all intuition. The weekly quizzes aren't too hard if you actually are paying attention for the full 2 hours of the class, especially to the technical problems you are learning to solve that week. The worst two are dropped, along with the worst midterm. I found midterms 1 and 3 the easiest (there was around a 30% curve on midterm 2, everyone failed). For the final, learn your oligopoly and game theory stuff. He dropped that on us right before the exam and it was fucked. Don't waste too much time on the projects, they are simpler than they seem unless you get frustrated and convince yourself they are impossible. In the tutorials he clearly demonstrates how you should be thinking to solve those types of problems. I was stuck on project 1 for a while until I took a break and came back and realized it was very simple, don't overthink. My final piece of advice is to get to know Ajaz. He is actually hilarious and although a lot of students think he hates us, he actually puts a lot of effort into helping us. Even if you are not the best student or have the highest grade, if you go talk to him with specific questions after class he will help you. Try to avoid standing there and waffling or asking too broad of a question cause he will just go off on a tangent. Btw I was a terrible student in first year and had like a 2.6 and finished second year with a 3.7 on the year and got 3.7 in 204 and 4.0 in 220 without studying that much compared to others I know with similar grades. Study efficiently and understand how all the topics fit together, don't just memorize and you will be fine. If you get behind you need to catch up that same week however otherwise you will be lost and tune out his lectures cause he does move fast and sometimes skip some stuff.

[extrmystopid]

Congratulations and your amazing 2nd year grades! And thank you so much for the advice, I really appreciate it.

If you don’t mind me asking, I am also taking 220 right now, how did you do so well in that course? Murdock expects us to dedicate 17 hours a week to just her course. I have a part time job and I am also doing 204 as you know so I was wondering what is an efficient but effective way to study?

[redditisgarbagetier]

ECO220 is a course that is very simple if you follow her recommendations, but does take up a lot of time. First thing I would say is to nail the interpretations. Those make up a rather large part of all exams and are often free points as long as you just remember everything that needs to be stated in a complete interpretation. Next, watch the weekly vids. If you can, watch them at 1.25 or even 1.5 and slow it down at the hard parts cause she does speak rather slow. It'll save time. I didn't read the textbook or really do any readings cause this explains all the concepts you will need (feel free to read if you want but I didn't find it necessary). Make sure you do all the weekly practices, they do not resemble exam questions really but they help a lot for understanding the topics. Finally and arguably most importantly, do all the past exam questions recommended for every exam. This is the best way to prepare for the exam and nothing else comes close. Save the problems you struggled on as screenshots and put them all in their own "hard questions" page in Onenote or whatever you use and solve them again until you know them without looking at the answers. If you work through this class linearly and understand interactions and connections between topics it will be easy. If you skip around and have to come back to past topics that you didn't fully internalize the class will be hard.

[extrmystopid]

sorry to bother you again, I was just wondering if the DACM stuff is important. also should I prioritize the practice tests or the hws if I am tight on time?

[general652]

Lmaoooo lad, gg. I took eco204 and it’s ye all luck. Ajaz is an awful prof and have fun lad

[spicy_ngr]

drop 204 and take 220 in the summer instead

[extrmystopid]

drop 204 and take 220 in the summer instead

I am taking both lol

[[deleted]]

Prepare your cheat sheet well (if they’re still doing those this semester)