Carolyn Craven

Craven is a very nice professor, but not good at teaching. She doesn't explain things well, jumping from topic to topic without connecting them. She teaches very old school, usually just lecturing the whole class and occasionally cold calling. Exams are very difficult. Would not take a class with her again.

Professor Craven teaches this class in a very approachable way, starting with the essentials of macroeconomics. We begin with core topics like supply and demand and the production possibilities curve, then move into bigger ideas such as unemployment, inflation, and both fiscal and monetary policy. What makes the course interesting is how it connects these concepts to real-world government decisions and why certain policies are used during different economic situations. The workload is very manageable—there’s only one homework each week, and it prepares you well for the exams. If you stay on top of the weekly assignments, nothing on the tests feels unexpected.

Professor Craven teaches this class in a very approachable way, starting with the essentials of macroeconomics. We begin with core topics like supply and demand and the production possibilities curve, then move into bigger ideas such as unemployment, inflation, and both fiscal and monetary policy. What makes the course interesting is …Read more

Professor Craven is very smart and motivated to have students actually understand the basics of economics. You may find her boring at first, but she will grow on you quickly. Reading the textbook feels optional, but if you do, it will give you the upper hand in class-she likes to ask students questions sometimes, and having read the text makes it easy not to say something dumb. Problem sets are assigned once a week and are fairly straightforward. Professor Craven is very nice if you show up to office hours, and it will pay off if you ask her good questions. She will go off on the occasional tangent that may seem random, but remember, this is someone extremely overqualified teaching an intro-level course! Let yourself be interested. If you give just a little effort, you'll fly through the tests and problem sets with no problem.

Professor Craven is very smart and motivated to have students actually understand the basics of economics. You may find her boring at first, but she will grow on you quickly. Reading the textbook feels optional, but if you do, it will give you the upper hand in class-she likes to ask students questions sometimes, and having read the …Read more