Advising Information About Spring Term Courses for Prospective Economics Concentrators

If you took Social Analysis 10 during the Fall Term

Most of you will continue in Social Analysis 10 for the spring term. The important curricular planning issue is to note that there is a calculus prerequisite for the intermediate theory courses that you will take as sophomores. Economics concentrators ordinarily enroll in Economics 1010a or 1011a during the Fall Term of the sophomore year. Math 1a (or the equivalent) is the prerequisite for Economics 1010a. Students planning to take Economics 1011a should be comfortable with multivariable calculus at the level of Math 20 or 21a (partial derivatives, total derivatives, implicit differentiation, and constrained optimization will appear a lot). If you have not already taken the math course that you will need for intermediate theory, you should do so this term.
Students who have achieved a score of 5 on the macro portion of the Economics AP test may divide Social Analysis 10 with credit for the first half and will have the spring term of Social Analysis 10 waived as a concentration requirement. If you have the appropriate mathematical background, you may enroll in Economics 1010b or 1011b, or another course for which Social Analysis 10 is a prerequisite. Neither Economics 1010a nor 1011a is a prerequisite for either Economics 1010b or 1011b. You may also want to attend the course-wide lectures in Social Analysis 10 to hear members of the department talk about topics in their areas of interest.

If you took Economics 1010a or 1011a during the Fall Term

Those of you who achieved scores of 5 on both the micro and macro portions of the AP test or a score of 7 on the Higher Level examination toward the International Baccalaureate (or who placed out of Social Analysis 10 on the basis of other foreign credentials and consultation with Professor Ardagna) are advised to continue with Economics 1010b or 1011b, though you may want to attend the course-wide lectures in Social Analysis 10 to hear members of the department talk about topics in their areas of interest. You may enroll in Economics 1010b or 1011b on the basis of your math preparation, regardless of which course you took during the fall term.
If you took 1010a or 1011a in the fall and are enrolling in 1010b or 1011b in the spring and also took Statistics 100 or 104 or 110 in the fall, you are eligible to enroll in the Economics sophomore tutorial, Economics 970. Information about the tutorial is available on the course web site. Note that sectioning preferences must be entered on-line between 10am on Thursday, February 1, and noon on Friday, February 2; tutorials begin meeting next week Wednesday and Thursday.
If you had a score of 5 on the micro portion of the AP test but not on the macro portion, you should enroll in Social Analysis 10 for the spring term. You will have the fall term of Social Analysis 10 waived as a concentration requirement.

If you were not in Social Analysis 10 or a more advanced course during the Fall Term

One possibility for those of you who have not placed out of Social Analysis 10 and did not start the course is the fall is to wait and enroll in Social Analysis 10 next fall. You will be able to take Economics 1010a/1011a, 1010b/1011b, and the sophomore tutorial as juniors. We regularly have a group of students who successfully go through the concentration in this way and write senior honors theses. Of course, you should begin planning your schedule to leave room for economics courses during your junior and senior years.
Some of you may consider joining Social Analysis 10 for the spring term. There are pros and cons to doing this. While you can begin to move forward with concentration work (and test your interest in the field), you will be starting at a disadvantage, as the course will not make allowances for your not having been in the fall term. Also, you will still need to postpone Economics 1010a/1011a and the sophomore tutorial until the junior year. If you wish to pursue this option, you should read chapters 1 to 22, with special emphasis on chapters 1 to 9, of the Mankiw textbook.

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