Fast pace, bunch of notes to take, and not enough time to comprehend them all while taking notes in lecture. Old lecture notes uploaded by the professor does not help me comprehend his lecture either. Spent half of my time in the quarter I took this class staring at my note trying to figure out what the professor was trying to say.

Honestly, this class reminded me of high school. The professor threw a couple of people out of class for looking at their cell phones and he wouldn't answer questions (except the shortest "yes or no" type) during lecture.

Other posts here site being impressed with McDevitt's ability to conduct his lectures without notes. He's been doing the exact same lecture, almost word-for-word, for at least 7 years (see the 2007 notes available at the student store). No doubt that he "knows the material", as he's just reciting from a script. This explains his reluctance to answer questions or relate any of the formulas to real-life situations during lecture: if he veers off the script, he risks "losing his place" in it. The lack of notes is not impressive.

He basically writes formulas and charts on the board as fast as possible and you're supposed to just memorize it all and spit it back up on the exams. If you like that type of high school-style class, then I suppose you'll love it and think that he's "the best teacher at UCLA".
(Honestly, anyone saying that gives me the impression that they took McDevitt during the summer as a visiting high school student or as a UCLA freshman, because there are some outstanding, brilliant professors at UCLA and their classes are very different from McDevitt's.)

But if you actually like college-style classes wherein the formulas the professor is giving you are actually taught as they relate to concepts in the world's economic landscape and the class can have a dialogue about that relationship, you're going to be disappointed. You will instead feel like you're in 10th grade all over again.

Tips for his exams:
-Just memorize everything from lecture. His study questions are good practice, but make sure you have the charts memorized exactly as he put them on the board.
-If he has 8 questions on the exam, just think of them as actually being 40 questions. Each one of his questions has 3-6 “parts” to them that each takes some dedication of time.
-And, by the way, don’t buy the textbook. It’s hella expensive and he never referenced it, never gave any assignments out of it, and didn’t ask any exam questions related to problems in the book. His exams, like I said, are ALL about spitting up everything he wrote on the board during lecture.

Unfortunately, pretty damn boring.

He is absolutely great. He is really teaching as oppose to just throwing concepts and problems like most other professors would do. He knows the stuff he teaches very well and can explain whatever you ask perfectly clear. Exams are not that difficult once you understand his problem sets and lecture notes. I feel he is the best professor I've met in ucla.

Professor McDevitt is great.

His classes may be relatively more difficult than other highly rated professors (Sproul, ahem) but he will not just spit information at you. He will teach. That is something UCLA lacks in spades and McDevitt is certainly doing his part to help.

Anyways, just make sure you fully understand the problem set and to remember the small side remarks he makes. The exams consist of questions just like those in the problems set plus some of these side remarks thrown in to set apart the excellent students from the good ones.

Great teacher! He teaches from memory, which makes the lectures daunting and quick-paced. Take good notes and you should be fine. Otherwise, I'd recommend buying his lecture notes at the store. That way, you can better focus on what he's teaching in class instead of copying off the board. I'd definitely recommend him

Good class. Study questions were very helpful. He's hard to keep up with, but as long as you get the basic ideas and examples you should be covered for the tests. Absolutely did not need the book.

If every professor is like him, my college life would be so much easier. I got an easy A+. I did not spent much time on his econ11. There was no homework. Just understand everything in the lecture notes and study questions, you will at least get an A.And my TA,Kang Minjin, is very concern and helpful.

McDevitt is a great lecturer. Very concise. His tests are straightforward, but you have to KNOW the concepts backwards and forwards. There should be no grey areas in your mind or you will not do well. Go to lecture, take notes, do the study questions and go to as many TA and prof office hours as possible and you will be fine. ALSO!! I highly recommend buying his lecture notes from Ackerman. He writes so fast and sometimes sloppy that you spend more time trying to decipher what's on the board than learning the actual concepts.

I had 11, 121, 102, 101, and 150 with McDevitt (huge fan if you can't tell). His lectures are so clear and concise, and he has a really lovable quirky sense of humor. For most of his classes, he has the course readings available in the student store. Although, you should take your own notes in class and use the course-reader as a supplementary tool rather than a substitute for lecture. What's so great about McDevitt are his practice exams. The actual exams are always similar to the practice except a different scenario (e.g. if interest goes up instead of going down). If you put in the work, you should get at least get a B.

rating says everything