2.2
Quality3.4
DifficultyN/A
Would Retake116
ReviewsN/A
Would Retake
116
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
14
4
12
3
14
2
43
1
33
What Students Say
“Must go to all CLUE sessions to even comprehend what is going on”
ECON200 - 2.0 rating“His class is hard, but the problem is it grades hard”
ECON200 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.28 avg changeRatings by Course
400
5.0
(1)ECON400
5.0
(2)ECON500
5.0
(1)ECONOMICS400
5.0
(1)MICROECONOMICS
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
MICROECON
5.0
ECON400
4.5
200
4.0
400
4.0
ECON500LEVEL
4.0
Reviews (116)
His class is hard, but the problem is it grades hard...not just the material.
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tough class, lots of tricky problems on exams, he teaches out of his own book
He is a brilliant man, albeit arrogant. Stresses comprehension, not repetition.
Likes to go on tangent r trips.
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No point in reading the book, all the stories are the same
a miser in grading. his textbook is a script of what he says in lecture.
An excellent class on (traditional) economics. Uses his own book, but it's not poorly written.
This guy was a jerk and when I asked him for help he didn't offer any.
He is a really smart and nice person, but I didn't like his teaching style.
this class really wasn't that tough - his lectures mirror what's in the book and his tests are always practically identical. some of the topics he covers are slightly interesting too.
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Silberberg made this class much more useful and interesting than it would be. The material is straight forward from his book, so if you don't feel like going to class, you can just read his textbook. Good professor!
This guy spends all of class droning about the book that he wrote.
Has the voice of Ben Stein, very monotone. Boring class, teaching style is terrible. Lectures verbatum from book. Has no passion for subject, but has a bit of humor.
hate this guy...worst teacher ever, slept through nearly all his lectures
Sice he wrote the book, I read it, then heard it in lecture then heard it again in lab section. Once would have been enough, and most of the time I stayed home and read the book. As long as one can understand a supply curve, the class is a cake walk.
Silberberg answers his phone in lecture. He's your typical tenure professor. His class is easy, but I feel as though I am now dumber from taking it. He has tons of ratings for a reason.
Let's see...last friday he played a fiddle duet with someone's parent...I wouldn't go to lecture except he also wrote the book, and it's even more tangential.
zzzzzzz
I wasn't very thrilled with this class - Prof. Silberberg mumbled through his sentences and scribbled on the overheads, making it impossible to gain anything from the lectures. And yeah, he did play the fiddle.
Easy to understand lectures.
He has an ability to fuse humor with class curriculum which makes his lectures engaging and entertaining.
A great guy, great plan for class, fell asleep severaltimes this quarter.
Envelope Theorem RULES!
Silberberg is monotonous, cheesy, and not deserving of student's time. Yes, he did write the book but the book is as dry as he is. No, he didn't play the fiddle this quarter. Don't bother going to lecture.
The lecture is based on the book, though if you enjoy sometimes political incorrect statements and can laugh at how he makes simple interest difficult, the class is a breeze. The monotony of lecture is nice for naps, sometimes he makes the class laugh. Those are the good days.
He used his book and really didn't care if you learned or not. The whole graduate department has very few professors who actually like their student and he is DEFINITELY NOT in the sample that does.
Let's just say that the course evaluation I filled out included the line "Had I been born with sleep apnea, I would have died during one of your lectures."
This guy mumbles quite a bit. Not a bad teacher. Wrote the book so you don't really have to go to lectures if you read it (vice versa). Not a terribly difficult class but it gets a little confusing if you're not used to economic thinking.
Mumbles too much. The book is the lectures. Exams are too easy and material is very dry. Though the fiddle day was the greatest.
Did a poor job of explaining the material. Some lectures had an excess of material that was rushed through, some of them had about 10 minutes of material and 40 minutes of examples. This professor does not give out standard evaluation forms (I can see why!).
No Comments
He really made the material easy to understand. I also found his occasional jokes rather amusing. I ended up enjoying the class a lot more than I thought I would.
Unclear on examination questions. Poor interest in students. Several times I attempted to ask a question on subject material (my TA did not understand English questions well) - treated me very disrespectuflly on all occasions. Mumbles often, unclear on requirements.
Dry, uninteresting. Read the book and dont go to lecture.
The worst prof I've ever had. VERY unhelpful and uniterested in the students and our concerns. Tests were difficult because he mumbled through his unorganized lecture...and it didn't help that the material was boring too. Definitely do not recommend him to future econ students.
Sat in. Suprised he thinks he knows mathematics. His book is ok but out of date. Learned most of that in high school. Well written. I thought of Economics as a major but I think business or biology must be more challenging based on this course.
In defense of sliberberg w/r/t mathemathatics, the rating below is nonsense. This person mostl likely sat in on syllabus day. You don't learn the mathematics used in graduate economics until math 407/8/9, 436/8/9, and 491/492. Most graduate econ students have undergraduate math degrees. They don't teach this stuff in highschool.
No Comments
I learned more than I thought I did cuz i still apply concepts from that class to this day, but he was extremely unavailable to help his students. He was painfully not funny, and his peers have actually mocked him in other lectures.
I do not recommend him as a teacher. He mumbles, his notes are virtually impossible to read and his lectures are incredibly boring! He does not test you on what you know but on how fast you can write his exact words....horrible teacher!!!
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Don't ever take his class before lunch. He loves using steaks as examples and he'll get you very very hungry.
Worst professor at UW
A meat loving dip. **** Class for an elective. Why?
I think the class I took was econ 200. The book has everything he teaches, so if you like your time, just go to the class, if you like to read and want to sleep in, read the book.
Great 400/500 level teacher. Don't sell him short just because you don't get his jokes, they are funny to some of us. Just go into economics with an open mind, it's a lot different than non-economists think it is. He's a great mathematician, by the way, has published some ground breaking duality theory work (that was a while ago though).
Poor class, poor instructor. Class requires little more than a good memory to get a decent grade. . . . I learned very little outside of memorizing specific wording and realizing when to draw graphs on exams. If you hate red meat and remotely understand the concept of supply and demand, Silberberg's Econ 200 course is a waste of time.
No Comments
Class is pretty easy, if you're interested in economics then it should go by really fast, but Dr. Silberberg teaches directly from the book he wrote, so it's like getting the material twice.
Class was HORRIBLE! Lectures were pointless. Book was pointless. The midterm problems are nothing you've ever done. They want you to give specific answers. Sometimes you don't even understand why, but all you gotta do is memorize word for word, then you'll get it right. TAs are nice, but not helpful. The material is interesting, but just presented very, very poorly.
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I don't have his class but I use the book that he published. His book is useless, wast money if u you have it. I have to learn and read from internet and from my gf. My gf has his class now and she learns nothing in his class. The book costs more than 80 dollars and I bet u can sales for 8 dollars...later :-(
This guy DOES not know how to teach, let alone write a book. Neither he or the book make any sense. Take Haideh Esfani. She's a lot better. And she gives a lot of extra credit.
the class was ok. nothing special. his lectures go on and on sometimes about nothing, but he pretty much lectures straight out of the book he wrote so, if you miss a class just read the book. the TA sections help a lot and just do the practice test he gives.
Do the practice exams, go the the CLUE review sessions, and you should do just fine. Ask your TA what questions in the book to practice for the quizzes. He's a good professor; knows a lot of random tidbits, have patience & a sense of humor. Kind of an ass if you try to approach him after class or via e-mail, though. Beware...
It's true the CLUE sessions were helpful, but do you really want to spend 2 hours each night trying to figure out what the hell he said each day in lecture? There have GOT to be better teacher than this. I kept thinking he must hate his job. Maybe that's why he can be such as ass when you approach him.
Was in the infamous Fall 2004 class he admittedly screwed and over half of the class failed. My TA was no help, his english was deplorable at best and Silberberg didn't care to check. After that horrid experience I'd have never thought I'd enjoy the subject but now am an Econ major. Take a small lecture with 40 people and a TA you'll learn more!!
The worst teacher so far. Talks about weird stuff that is not related to the class. Its like listening to an old man talking about his childhood. He always has typos in the exams and words the question really bad. Good luck if you take this class with this teacher
Regardless of what this arrogant narcisist says, if you get a lenient TA, you will do well. This guy is a freakin' anal grader and instructs his TAs to do the same. You have to not only understand the concept but memorize the exact wording. I am dead serious, do not hesitate to drop this class. You've been warned.
Tedious, boring, hard to understand, hard to read writing. gets off topic frequently. don't go to class, just read the book, it's the exact same thing as lecture, you can follow him word for word from the book.
If you want an easy class, take Econ with Silberberg. If you want to actually learn something, take one of the other ones, b/c all Silberberg does is lecture everything from his book!! So, if you read the book and attend the lectures, you'll receive the information twice!!
The only reason the class is hard is because nothing he says in lecture or wrote in his useless piece of**** book has anything to do with the questions he gives on the exams. I have never had a professor who gets so off track. Don't take this class WITH HIM unless you have to, if you get a good TA that can go over actual problems you might be ok.
OMG HORRIBLE PRO if you ever take this class don't bother going to lecture or quiz sections. Professor is dumb TAs don't speak english go to CLUE and go to quiz sections when you have quizes and you will be fine in the class. Don't even read the book doesn't make sense or help in any way! Your better off taking another professor!
He plays the freakin fiddle...how cool is that!
prof is emotionless. classes r DRY/boring. TA's really matter! take koyuncu as a TA. he is an AMAZING TA. he does have an accent, but you can understand everything he says. and he's REALLY HELPFUL!! everything i learnt was in his section. if you take silberberg, TAKE KOYUNCU as a TA
The lectures DONT help and since he wrote the book, the book doesn't help either. Very boring and tough to gather info because TAs are bad too.
Either read the book or go to lecture. His lectures are very dry. The TAs are what really matter so get a good one. CLUE is the best. He reuses all old quizzes and tests.
I recommend taking any other professor for Econ. I learned nothing from lecture and the teaching style was very ineffective. He presented the curriculum in a way that was confusing and frustrating.
Lectures and book are exactly the same, so basically use one or the other. Best thing is to have a good TA. Review the old tests and go to CLUE and you'll be okay. I would definately recommed taking this class from another professor.
This prof is horrible. He does not care for his students' success. He does not have posted office hours and when I approached him about the course he was defensive and rude. He relys too much on the TAs (who arent that helpful either). He is egotistical and boring. His book is not helpful or clear. Dont take his class if you can help it...really.
This guy is TERRIBLE! If I wanted to hear about Jackie Robinson or some Russian journalists, I would just watch CNN, not attend these crappy lectures. Let's just say that if I ever have trouble sleeping at night, I load a Silberberg lecture into my iPOD and BAM, the next time I open my eyes it is morning. Terrible job, please UW FIRE THIS GUY!!!
Ever heard the song "Laffy Taffy?" Well, thats Silberberg.
Prof. Silberberg is a tough teacher for those who do not want to study. If you are there to coast through the class hoping for a good grade, you will fail. If you are smart, you will do OK. Lazy people may find this class hard. But if you are a normal student, you will just fine.
Terrible teacher. Terrible at explaining things, his textbook is poorly written, his lectures are nearly reading from the textbook, and his exam questions are frequently vague and can be interpreted multiple ways. He is clearly a free market supporter whose views you better agree with if you expect to pull a decent grade. Take this class from a TA!
His lectures are basically word for word from the textbook which he wrote. The TA i have is horrible!!!! The TA doesn't even know enough to teach.
Underrated! Great prof if you're actually interested in econ - and if not, why are you taking his class? Take a TA section, don't hog spaces here. GIVES YOU PRACTICE EXAMS THAT ARE INTENTIONALLY ALMOST IDENTICAL TO HIS NEW EXAMS so you can be prepared. You'll do fine if you're not lazy and try to learn the concepts. Very approachable after class.
Silberberg is horrible. The tests are easy if you study past exams. I am going to get a 4.0 but I still hate him. He is egotistical, annoying, and horrible at lecturing. I strongly reccommend taking this class from anyone else. If you do take it from Silberberg, go to CLUE and study old exams.
There are a lot of stupid people in the class...Silberberg's a boring professor, but just attend to the old exams and read the book. I don't really understand all these crazy reviews about him...he's really just another typical professor. I never tried approaching him...I heard some good and bad things, like always. I think I got a 3.9-4.0
Don't go to lecture and get 3.6-4.0. but MUST GO to TA sections and CLUE!! You learn how to answer his old exams word for word, and literally memorized them! (5-7 questions per mdtrm, 2 mdtrms, 1 final with 9-10 questions) 50% of students don't finish their exams on time, so pre-test yourself and know how to solve each question IMMEDIATELY.
doesnt teach a lot outside of his textbook
this teacher is horrible, he doesnt teach you anything, he spends entire lectures talking about random stuff that doesnt relate to the class. Avoid this teacher at all costs.
Worst teacher ever. Doesn't teach. Must go to all CLUE sessions to even comprehend what is going on. Suck up to your TA.
He is a likeable guy, but not a great teacher. I had to learn most of the material from my T.A. I was disgusted with my grade. How can you average a 3.9 on all quizzes and get a 2.8 in the class? The answer is that Silberberg has trick questions on his tests.
well, he was alright. Problem was that he lectured the text book which he wrote. go to the lectures or read the text book. Either will be sufficient.
Everything he said came straight from the textbook. He tried to explain everything but came up short. The material is very confusing and the TAs seem to confuse themselves too much. VERY hard grading!
Lectures out of his textbook and very irrelevant. His questions on quizzes and exams are vague but he expects very specific answers. Would NOT recommend anyone taking him. Try to stay away from taking him. Make sure you go to clue sessions and do lots of studying if you want to do well in this class.
His textbook and lectures coincide....EXACTLY, which leads to either you can read the book or go to lecture. I would DEF go to sections tho! His exams are vaugly worded questions with very specfic expectations....GO TO CLUE (it'll help) Your kinda on your own in this class
I don't see why all you keep complaining. This was the easiest class I've ever had. Don't open the book, go to class and pay attention. He tells you everything that will be on the tests, and he gives you every old test he's ever given. Not hard at all you fools.
I really like him.
Yes i guess one could say that the tests coincide with what he teaches, but he is incredibly boring along with his lack of teaching creativity. I fell asleep almost every time I attended his lectures. He needs to retire.
His lectures are word for word his textbook. Likes to talk about controversial topics which I find amusing. Also likes to play old time music and bring in his band to play for the class. Hard to hear; lectures are sometimes pointless, except for the days before the quiz/midterm/final. Tests are straightforward; final is weighed too much.
If you have any other choice in professor take it! He wrote an pretty good book and his voice is clear, outside of that he's probably the worst professor I've ever had at the UW. If you have no other options then shop around for a good TA, an easy TA will save your life. PS Listen to the 100 other bad reviews for this guy if you need details!
Lectures=nap time. Clue and quiz sections are 100% must if you want to do well in this class. Tests aren't that bad if you're good at just regurgitating answers. Getting a good grade in this class is totally possible; however, actually understanding economics...
I learned a lot but also got the worst grade I've ever received in college by far. So... didn't think the grading was fair. Final exam weighted too much.
He was so cute in class!! And he just knew how to make the entire class laugh and feel happy about themselves. Its to bad he is retiring.
He is the worst teacher I have ever had. I would suggest to any one that gets him to transfer into Ellis's class. If you read the book there is not point in going to lectures, if you go to lecture there is no point in reading the book. It is exactly the same word for word. All I have to say is good luck.
It was very difficult to succeed in this class. Concepts were not taught extremely well. The grading on everything was the real problem though. If you don't include a certain word in your answer, the entire question is wrong. I did learn a lot and I enjoyed the material.
I feel that most of these reviews are extremely unfair. Yes, he requires key words in his midterms, but if you memorize them, then you're pretty much granted a 90%. His book is the same as the lecture, so there's only need to utilize one or the other. It's easy to get above a 3.6 in this class, IF you're a half decent student.
You will learn a lot, but if you are concerned with the class and its entirety, I suggest not to take too much time reading the book (unless you don't show up for lecture); rather, focus more on the practice exams. If you want to do well in his class, it is more important to know how to take his exams than to know everything in the book.
Not only is Eugene Silberberg bitter and cold, he is also extremely **** and overwhelmingly arrogant. He also assumes (incorrectly) that people care about the fact that he drives a Prius. His Prius sucks. Priuses, in general, suck. Possibly the worst professor I've ever had. Extremely rude towards students and unwilling to help in any way.
Having a final that is worth 50% of your grade is ridiculous! I got a 4.0 on the first mid-term, ~3.7 on all of my quizzes, decent grade for the second mid-term, but ended up getting a low B in the class because of the final.. Don't bother using the textbook, GO TO CLUE review sessions and TA quiz sections, and DO ALL PRACTICE EXAMS.
If you like sleeping...
this is a pretty easy class if you just do the practice exams. all of his tests question come from his old exams. I highly suggest going to clue. you get all the answers to the tests and quizzes at clue. teaches straight out of the book. either read the book or go to lecture dont do both
A great class to take if you have myspace on your laptop. A fun way of staying awake through gratuitously long lectures. Intersting fact: Was late for the final on the highway congestion model because of highway congestion... Go figure.
Worst class ever. The textbook is hard to read and the examples he gives are crazy. Failed the class.
You might as well read his book and not go to lecture, since he practically recites it in class anyways. Boring, put me to sleep. Talks about steak and plays the violin in class sometimes.
Super awesome professor! He recites the book too much but his concepts are clear and to the point.
Class Info
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.28 avg changeRatings by Course
400
5.0
(1)ECON400
5.0
(2)ECON500
5.0
(1)ECONOMICS400
5.0
(1)MICROECONOMICS
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
MICROECON
5.0
ECON400
4.5
200
4.0
400
4.0
ECON500LEVEL
4.0