This guy is a HORRIBLE proffessor, he might be the worst teacher on the face of the earth. Confusing, difficult and arrogant. Keep away from this guy or as he likes to be called "the proffessor "

ain't so sure what the F is goin' on with him and his lecture...

WARNING: DON'T EVER TAKE HIS CLASS!!!!! Quiz every lecture which is 33% of overall grade. Lectures are not well-prepared and mostly confusing. It's apparent that he doesn't really understand the stuff well enough to be a professor.

oh my god what is wrong with this guy? yes his only words of encouragment are "dont worry grades are curved" does he not realize some of us want to LEARN something in econ?

<-- 'nuff said....

He has taken a class that shouldn't be too difficult and has managed to turn it into the HARDEST, MOST STRESSFUL class that I have ever encountered, and he keeps telling us that he doesnt want us to stress. I really cant express my feelings toward him right now

Absolutely THE worse econ professor I have taken at Cal and I'm trying to major in it. He makes little sense during lecture and always corrects himself through emails. Assigns hard problem sets that has NOTHING to do with the lecture. Mandatory iclicker quizzes that is only hurting my grade because the book he chose to use is horrible as well. BAD!

Horrible professor who is bad at lecturing because he doesn't prepare for it and often has to correct himself after the lecture. Chose a book solely because he knew the author and the book is almost as incomprehensible as Acland. Problems from the book also has nothing to do with the lecture or the reading. Bad professor, bad book, horrible decisio

Horrible professor who is horrible at lecturing who assigns problems out of a horrible book which don't relate to the readings or lecture at all. Overall, a horrible class to take if Acland is teaching.

Acland singlehandedly made me regret declaring as an Econ major. 100B was awesome with Wood. 100A with Acland, not so much.

SUCH A BAD TEACHER!! His lectures are terrible, you don't learn a single thing, and the book is chose is just as bad, and then he expects us to do problems that have obviously proven too difficult for the class.And his daily quizzes are just ridiculous... I just have one question, HOW DID THIS MAN BECOME A PROFESSOR!?!

I know he has a PhD in Economics and all, but I really think he should go back to school and get some sort of degree in Education. Horrible teacher, book, lectures, assignments. An abomination to the Economics Dept. of UC Berkeley. AVOID AVOID AVOID...learn from my mistake

Worst teacher ever, I hate the damn book the professor quiz you like you know the**** before he lectures on it. Lectures are just horrible, the biggest regret in my academic life in Berkeley. FML FML FML!!!!!

I agree with the person below, why the heck do we get quizzes on things BEFORE he lectures about them!?! If ever there was a definition for the worst professor of all time, Dan Acland would be it

I think the other ppl have said enough for me to just say: heed our warnings!

mid term is around the corner, yet have no friggin idea how to study for it. the most amazing part is that Problem Set, Text and Lecture are perfectly uncorrelated....fml

i really wonder why i am an econ major!!! fml!!!!! farming school here i come!!!!

...yeah...he's really THAT bad...

I dont understand what this man's deal is, he needs to chill out a bit more. As person Im sure he's a decent guy, but he really has no place teaching, as stated by someone else earlier, such a large and important class. I really do hope he reads these comments, itll open his eyes as to how his students feel, and maybe it will instigate change.

Acland is horrible!!!! It is really sad that Berkeley don't have much fund to bring competent professor to the campus, especially for the important core class like econ100a.

He is a nice guy but not can be qualified as a professor at all.He makes my life so tough and too stressful. If you want to challenge with the most scared things in the world..then read the book and do the PS he assigned..lectures are useless..quiz is ridiculous..no connection at all...why we have this kind of prof for the core class?

so micro econ agrues that people always make the best choice as rational behavior, but apparently taking his micro class COMPLETELY violates this fundamental micro assumption, as it's the worst decision I've ever made...

The problem with this man is that he is so smart. But he is not smart enough to realize that his fellow students are not as smart as him.

Dan is smart, but at the same time he has been studying Econ for his whole life while we have been studying it for 2 years. Despite the difference, he treats us as his equal instead of passing along his knowledge as a professor should. The class would be much better if he didn't assign the hardest problems in the book and lectures made SOME sense.

I assume the one who rates Dan 4/5 is Dan HIMSELF.....

ughh...i really don't think he should fail anyone, I mean this is the hardest class Ive ever taken, and Im assuming many other students feel that way, from the looks of this page. The only people who should fail are the ones you get like under 30 or 40%

eh...still finding his way a professor, but he is NOWHERE NEAR it yet. Very hard,b/c he expects too much from students taking an undergraduate intermediate microecon course. I think he would do much better as a graduate level professor; he seems very intelligent. This class will be the demise of my 4.0 GPA ><

After having a professor like Acland, I now know that it can't get any worse. Sure he is a smart guy, but his class structure is an absolute mess. Book is decent (minus the occasional errors). Lectures are not based on the book and sometimes very hard to understand, and Acland often makes huge mistakes. He shouldn't teach 100a again.

...uh....yeah...

Dan infuses the lecture with his opinion too much so we get a biased view of Econ (he bashed Macro for 5 minutes before). He also puts the same amount of focus on unimportant topics that he likes compared to important topics like consumer or producer theory. This class is just sucks and I would never have taken him if I know her was this bad.

This is the hardest class I have taken at Cal so far, and it's not because of the material. This is Dan's first year teaching and it shows. First day of class, he gave a speech saying how he doesn't not want to be the cause of a student's stress leading to a suicide. Well guess what, everyone is stressed and almost @ the point. DON'T TAKE HIS CLASS

The book he chose is awful and is riddled with typos, inconsistencies, and useless banter that makes it frustrating to read. His lectures have nothing to do with the reading or problem sets. He throws tantrums and goes on digressive tirades in front of the class. However, I do feel he is trying his best and hope future classes have it better.

Horrible professor teaching a class that should be relatively easy to teach. Chose to use a book because he personally knows the author and didn't consider how the material is presented (horribly). As many people have said already, the quizzes are bad and the homework does NOTHING to reinforce learning. I'm relying on what I learned in AP to pass.

A terribly unclear book with a teacher who doesnt explain anything from the book.

fresh out of grad school, he already has a beard and acts like he is the department chair. one of the worst, yet pretentious professor I have ever had. He cant teach, spends most of class going on rants about his opinions and making pretentious speeches. Disgrace to the department. Grading is inefficient and takes forever. DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS!!

Maybe my opinion won't be new among all these reviews, but I simply hate this class! It takes my whole time! I might even fail my other classes cause I have to spend way too much time trying to comprehend this stupid book! Neither lectures that only confuse u, nor the text help you with problem sets. and if u forget iclicker, u can't take the quiz!

The professor is actually trying to show off his knowledge of this field instead of letting student achieve something from the course. His lecture jumps way too quickly, students like me just can't process fast enough to absorb what he says.

Legitimately the worst academic experience of my life. Dan Acland is not qualified to be teaching elementary school algebra, much less college level micro Economics. Acland threw out a tried and true textbook only to replace it with the single worst book of any kind ever written. Worst. Class. Ever.

Quizzes: If your iClicker blinks green but the system doesn't register, there's nothing you can do. Prob Sets: Very long and comprehensive; there is a very fine line between plagiarism and collaboration. Exams/Lectures/Textbook: Poorly structured/written lectures/textbook and do not correspond w/ exams. [[[I no longer want to major in Economics.]]]

The book is hard to understand. The lecture is impossible to understand. The GSIs (PhD candidates) have trouble solving the problem sets. The final is cumulative. He will not give any sort of outline. The book has 1200 pages. The class is overtly math intensive. Concepts are not explained properly.

Ok so yeaaaaaaaaa this professor is definitely not good and this class is extremely hard in my opinion because he is an inexperience professor. The book goes on tangents and is just annoying, the lectures are pointless and he does not explain the material at all. Problem sets are hard and take long to do. Worst professor and class I've taken.

His exam and problem sets are extremely difficult and problem sets are so challenging even though they are not helpful to study for exam. He is the worst test maker on the earth! so unexperienced! His final is very difficult also. I will never ever!!! take any class with this professor.

Prof. Acland seems like a brilliant guy and an incredibly nice person. Will he go on to be a great economist and a brilliant professor? Sure. Should you take a class with him in the near future? Absolutely not.

I honestly feel that he has the potential to be a good instructor. As far as his first time teaching. Terrible. As is expected. If you take classes with him understand that he is inexperienced. As far as giving him a good review this semester though. Not happening.

This was the single worst class I've taken at Cal, and possibly in my entire schooling as a matter of fact. I had to end up teaching myself everything from the textbook because the lectures were absolutely useless and the professor was not at all clear about any of the concepts, and it seemed he himself struggled with the math during lecture.

I can tell he has a good potential to be a great lecturer. But he is not now. His lecture, this semester, just made students get more confused. The textbook is horrible. Any professor at berkeley should not choose this book.

Acland hasa person is a nice guy, but as a professor he just sucked. The book, his lectures, quiz's, and problem sets didn't go correlate with each other. You had to pretty much teach your self the material.

worst professor EVER

He's pretty bad as a professor. Pulls random equations out of nowhere and makes little or no attempt to explain it. However, good curve at the end which might explain all the "good" comments later on. But as a professor who ought to teach the material, don't take him (unless you plan to fail 140 later by not knowing your microeconomics)

He did get better over the semester. BUT, he's still really really bad compared to all the other econ professors. People say: Oh yeah! He was good because he started as really really really bad and by the end he was really really bad. So, that's good then? Right?

Don't take his class if you plan on learning any economics.

I thought I was going to be an Econ major. Apparently not after taking Dan's class. Calculus 2 is not a prerequisite, yet you will do this on day 1. Better brush up on those math skills. No, better be an EXPERT in math AND econ.

I'm almost certain any positive comments here were written by Dan himself.

Not a good professor at all. Psychology and economics is fairly new and there are no textbooks. Readings he assign are extremely difficult to understand. Not much calculus but will need to understand very new math concepts and apply them in problem sets and exams. His lectures are misleading because the exams are far more difficult than lecture

The most confusing and frustrating class I've ever taken. Avoid this prof at all costs.

This guy is the absolute worst professor I have ever encountered. His lecture material has nothing to do with the exam or problem sets. The GSI's practically teach this class and the 2 hours spent in discussion are nowhere near enough to help with the class. Textbook gives no in depth solutions. Horrible professor overall.

Dont do it. Try to take Macro 100b if he is teaching 100a. Test has nothing to do with what you put in hours studying. Practice exams help w maybe one problem on the exam, the rest is obscure facts and stuff you wouldn't even consider important from what you've learned. Questions are true/false about something briefly mentioned in a rushed lecture.

like no

Worst. Professor. Ever. The actual worst professor I have ever had in my life. Just. Dont. Do. It.

Makes lectures seem like the class is a joke, you look at the problems sets and you are like what?? On top of that if you don't get a good gsi, you are absolutely done for. He is a very nice person though and seems like he cares but I feel like I havent learnt anything besides what I taught myself from the book.

Worst professor I've ever encountered both here at Berkeley and throughout my entire life as a student. He gives you unnecessary stress for a class that I basically taught myself and confuses you even more by providing you with slides with typos, unexplained reasoning, wrong explanation, etc. JUST NO. NEVER. I would put a negative score if I could

He is the worse professor/ teacher in my life. Dont take his class if you want to major in Econ!

Professor Acland is one of the most confusing and unorganized professors I have ever had - lectures are super hard to follow and he is very unsure on topics past the first couple of lectures (frequently makes mistakes, says 'sorry, um, see me after class'. He teaches micro in a very unintuitive way. Also psets have nothing to do with lecture.

Possibly the worst professor I ever had. Too theoretical and minimal application. Tries too hard to be funny, but is not. His PSETs are ridiculously tough and notoriously irrelevant and exams are on some other tangent itself.

Just an awful experience.

He doesnt even teach you anything. You can go to every lecture but you will not learn a single thing that will help you for the exam. He doesnt go over any examples. Dan if you ever read these, people clearly dislike the way you teach. You need to go over examples, not ramble on about theoretical drivel that has nothing to do with what is tested.

Pros:- Seems like a nice guy with a great sense of humor -Cares a great deal about the students -Man definitely knows what he's talking about Cons: -Lecture notes are informative, but notes usually do not cover stuff that is on the problem sets - Not enough mathematical examples provided in handouts -GSIs are inconsistent with offering help

awful experience

Took this class as my first class at Cal as a transfer student, hardest class Ive ever taken. Lecture is nothing like the problem set or midterms which are very difficult. Also uses his own grading scheme which he doesnt share. He does curve midterms n final a lot which is good.

I am sure some comments he posted by himself. Dear Dan Acland, I am very surprised that you said you are good a teaching in the last lecture. But in reality, students don't find that true at all.

I looked at the recent comments. Surprisingly, they are pretty similar to each other. Wondering if he posted by himself. Dan Acland is not a good lecturer (very confusing). Yes hes accessible outside (still confuses you). Yes everything is on the study guide (literally everything). Yes exams are different then hw (very Different).

such an awful experience. always confused about his own lecture notes and always awkwardly pauses during lectures, which wasted a lot of time. iclicker required. exams are extremely difficult but he curves a lot. dude, study by yourselves cuz he is not that good at teaching stuffs.

Heavy Test Grader

Sometimes I feel like he does not know what he is talking about in lectures, and then students always get confused by his overcomplicated lecture (ex: on explaining a simple concept such as WTP). Not recommend taking this class. Wasted my time to learn something more meaningful.

one of the worst professors i have had at berk - he is so disorganized with content and then gets frustrated when you ask him simple questions. incredibly rude and demeaning, esp in OH/emails. his grading is incredibly unclear and confusing, the class is so much work and esp being taught by such a bad teacher worsens it. epitome of yt male

Prof Acland is very knowledgeable and his lectures interesting, however homework is extremely long and difficult and barely reflects what's discussed in lecture. You're expected to solve problems without any examples and overall I think his teaching methods are outdated. No electronics allowed, mandatory attendance, does not reward effort, etc.

This is the worst teacher I've ever had in an economics major at Berkeley. His policies are extremely strict, and the rigor this semester is completely different from the rigor of last semester. There is no clear standard for grading, and the right of interpretation belongs to the teacher. Class content is also a bit confusing.

The content taught by Daniel Acland was very difficult for the students, and many of the obstacles were artificially and intentionally set up, and the professor found ways to make it difficult for the students to get through. And the content of this class is confusing and it is hard for students to find a proper path to learn. Don't take

absolutely bad, everythibg is hard, and he intentionally wants students to suffer

Professor Acland is special in how disorganized and uninspiring he is. After final grades were posted, I still had two very important assignments ungraded but who cares, right, the grades are out? The whole semester he was feeding us excuses why he was so uprepared for the course blaming ChatGPT, etc, but I would say he's just a lousy teacher.

The unfortunate thing about Dan is that he assumes of his students an inherent malintent. In his mind, students aim to ease through the class without care or effort. And this is evidenced by the punitive language and practices he maintains. What is sad is that many instructors with a precarious or unemployed job status would be better suited.