Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions/week; 1 hour/session
Recitations: 1 session/week; 1 hour/session
Prerequisites
Some calculus at the level of 18.01 Single Variable Calculus will be used. Otherwise there are no prerequisites.
Textbook
There is no formal textbook for the course, but students can access Prof. Gruber’s free online introductory microeconomics class from MITx Online. This is a simpler version of the same material. This open online course is available for free, but students must sign up to enroll.
If students are interested in further reading, the following book is recommended: Perloff, Jeffrey M. Microeconomics, 7th Edition. Addison-Wesley, 2012. ISBN: 9780321160737.
Course Requirements
Problem Sets
There will be eight mandatory problem sets which will be individually graded and returned to the students. At the end of the term, students will have the best seven homework grades cumulated up, and this will count for 25% of the final course grade. Late problem sets will not be accepted for any reason.
Exams
There will be one mid-term exam. This will be two hours long and will count as 25% of the grade. There will also be a three-hour final during finals period, which will be cumulative and cover all of the course materials. This will count as the remaining 50% of the grade.
Grading Policy
At the end of the semester, the faculty will report internal grades to the MIT registrar with + and – modifiers, where appropriate, and only for grades A, B, C. The faculty will be happy to regrade any problem set or exam in entirety. Consequently it is possible for your revised grade to fall as well as rise. If you are a first-year student at MIT, the faculty will evaluate your performance on the first exam and first 3 problem sets, and if it falls below passing we will send out a warning to you and your advisor.
Feedback
We will create a Google survey for you to submit your comments/questions about the course. The form is completely anonymous. We ask you to identify your section to better address your concerns, but this is also optional. Please use this form at any point during the semester. Questions/comments will be addressed in the general class forum.
Tutoring
Students are encouraged to seek help from the faculty, who will hold regular office hours. Tutorials will be held regularly throughout the semester. The faculty can also arrange for individual tutoring for students who are having exceptional difficulty.
Exam Conflicts, Illness, and Makeups
Students with exam conflicts must give written notice to the head Teaching Assistant (TA) at least two weeks in advance. A student who happens to be ill on the day of the exam should contact one of the consulting deans in Student Support Services, who will determine whether the student has a valid excuse and then inform the head TA. The head TA will schedule a makeup exam, to be given on a fixed date and time, for students with a valid excuse due to a conflict or illness.
Students with Disabilities
We will make every reasonable accommodation for any student with any physical or mental disability. A student who needs special accommodations for an exam should present to the head TA—at least two weeks in advance of the scheduled exam—a letter from MIT’s Student Disability Services certifying the student’s disability and requesting specific accommodations. The contents of the letter will be treated confidentially.
Individual versus Joint Work
All assignments, including homework and exams, will be submitted and graded individually. Students may work together on problem sets, but they all have to individually write up the answer. Also, collaboration during exams will be considered a breach of academic honesty.
Academic Honesty
When we suspect that a student has engaged in academic dishonesty, we will follow the procedures described in the latest MIT guidelines on Academic Misconduct and Dishonesty.
