October 2009

Intro Economics courses and how they affect you

Since September 2008, the Economics Department no longer offers the traditional Intro Macro (Econ BC1001), Micro (Econ BC1002) sequence. We instead offer 2 new introductory courses:

Econ BC1003, entitled “Introduction to Economic Reasoning," introduces students to fundamental economic issues, concepts, and institutions in a non-technical way, and explore the economy in relation to the broader society. This will be ideal for non-majors and also as a first course for potential majors.

Econ BC1007, entitled “Mathematical Methods for Economics," focuses on preparation for intermediate courses, especially Intermediate Microeconomics, and is intended primarily for those students who are seriously considering majoring in Economics, in either our economics track or our political economy track.

Students who enter Barnard College with AP in economics or who are transferring in an introductory economics course from another college or university ofter have questions about which of the above courses they should take to be adequately prepared for our intermediate theory courses. To give you a clearer understanding we have constructed the following table.

First, please note that AP credit in introductory economics is granted ONLY IF a student passes the Economics Department Placement Exam. The placement exam covers micro and/or macroeconomics. A score of 4 or higher in either AP Microeconomics or AP Macroeconomics, or a score of 5 or higher in IB Higher Level economics qualifies a student to take the department introductory economics placement exam.

AP and Intro Credit table

* There are no mathematics prerequisites for Intermediate Macro Theory, Econ BC3033.