Thomas Drechsel | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/29/2025	I never skipped classes in all my years at UMD. I go to every class, except this one. Super boring. I couldn't bring myself to show up to the lecture. I just learned myself, but it wasn't enough. The midterm was easy, the final was hard. Extremtly poor wording of questions and not a great format (20 question multiple choice exam at 40% of your grade means each question is 2% of your final grade. Straightforward to screw yourself over with the final).
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/25/2025	Easy class to self-teach, I didnt go to lecture once and still got an A. Mainly because the mock exams are almost the same as the actual exams But why tf is the midterm 20% and the NON-CUMULATIVE final 40%? That genuinely makes zero sense. It should just be 30% and 30%
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/23/2025	Course is 40% Hw, 20% midterm and 40% final. The homeworks are online through pearson each week, and are relatively easy to do. The midterm was not bad and was very similar to the mock exam. The final was significantly harder and makes up 40% of your grade. Both the midterm and final are only 20 multiple choice questions, which makes it very easy to get a bad grade with just getting a few questions incorrect. He did a 5 point curve for both exams. Overall, this class is fine and "44.4% of you got an A, 48.2% got a B, 7.0% got a C, 0.4% got a D and nobody failed the class, ie nobody got an F."
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2025	He's very knowledgeable about the course and honestly sometimes goes a little too far in depth in lecture, but he's laid back, and basically gurantees a 100% on the homework section unless you genuinely don't try. Practice tests were kinda too easy, same with the homework, but if you have a good study sheet/cheat sheet for the test you'll be fine. He curved the exams 5% to an 80 average which was nice. Studying can be rough only because it's much harder than the other work you've done, but ultimately the bulk of my studying was just making those sheets for the test. Overall, take the class and put in some moderate amount of effort before the exams and you'll do good. Just make sure you know what's on your sheet and when to use stuff and it's not just copy and pasted blocks of text.
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/12/2025	Fairly easy class. The exams are now in person but you're allowed 2 pages front and back worth of notes. The midterm was fairly simple and utilizes a lot of basic econ knowledge. He posts the lecture slides, and although they tell you what to know to know for the exams, they explain the concepts extremely poorly and make simple concepts extremely complicated. There are weekly homeworks that are easy and make up a large portion of your grade which is nice. Overall an easy class but extremely boring.
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/18/2024	Professor Dreschel's lectures were very boring, so after only a few of them, I stopped going. He simply reads off the Pearson Slides and posts them after class anyways, so I saw no point in attending. The weekly homeworks are manageable, typically around 20 questions with a mix of multiple-choice and free-answer questions. You get 2 attempts on them, so you can redo the homework for a better grade if you do badly. Studying wasn't too bad, the exams included material from the lecture slides and also the textbook, so I recommend taking weekly notes on the chapters to have for the exams, which are online and open note. If you're looking for an engaging lecture and professor, don't take this class. But, if you feel you can independently study, the course is painless. Be prepared to hear a lot about a theoretical pineapple market, as he uses that in most of his in-class examples.
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/24/2024	In my opinion, the lectures were insanely boring after one point. He just uses the Pearson Slides which regurgitate information from the textbook. The material for the midterm is quite easy (bonds, macroeconomics, supply & demand) and the material for the final is all policy based which was harder to apply. The final is weighted so heavily that it can tank your grade so if anything, make sure you do well on the final. He curves a little and the homeworks are useful, but I didn't learn anything from this class.
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Anonymous 05/20/2024	He is not a kind professor. Cutoffs for grades make no sense. He makes it very hard to get an A while giving B students a huge boost. His grade distribution is unkind to students who are actually doing good. He also gets snappy when you asks questions.
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/20/2024	Tell me how I got 95 on the midterm 90 on the final and have a 94.86% in the class but is getting an A- because of his distribution model. Terrible.
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting an A- pierogi 12/20/2023	Drechsel is pretty great. Very nice guy, on the younger side and does not seem jaded like many other professors. He really cares about the subject, which makes paying attention easier. I can't say I find the topics super interesting myself, but I do feel like I learned a decent amount thanks to his passion for the class. There were 8 homeworks, all ~20 questions, mostly multiple choice (we got 2 tries). Mid-term and final were 1 hour each, online, open-note.
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/23/2022	Drechsel is a reasonable and kind professor. This class has weekly, multiple-choice homework assignment (40% of your grade), a midterm exam (20% of your grade), and a non-cumulative final (40% of your grade). The exams are online, open-note, and 60 minutes long. There are two lectures each week and he said attendance is optional because he only covers content that is in the textbook. However, it is important to read the textbook and go to class. In class, he covers content from the chapter that is most important. I would recommend reading and taking notes on the chapter covered BEFORE coming to class. The questions on the midterm exam were VERY similar to the math problems in the homework. I would recommend creating a formula sheet and knowing how to do every math-related problem on the previous homework assignments. The midterm had a low average, so it was curved and he made changes to the final. Before the final, he told us exactly what we needed to know. Focus on the graphs and understand the shifts and you will do well. Again, it's very helpful to go through the previous homework assignments. If he is teaching this class, take it!! Don't wait a semester and get stuck with Copelman.
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2022	Make sure to actually show up to the lectures and listen to the information he is telling you. If you just do the HWs and never show up to lecture the exams are going to be extremely difficult for you. Lectures can be boring but if you commit to them it shouldn't be that hard to get an A.
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Anonymous 04/27/2022	ECON330 homework is pretty easy. It makes up 40 percent of your final grade so you can easily get your grade to a point you won't fail(not to mention Dreschel drops the lowest homework & you have 2-4 attempts depending on the question). The Midterm(which makes up 20%) isn't anything like the homework. It is much more challenging and nearly impossible under the time constraints. Due to a lot of complaints from students, the professor had to boost everyone's grade by some points. I have yet to see how the final(which makes up 40%) will be. Overall though, Dreschel is a pretty nice guy that's really knowledgeable of what he is teaching. This was his first time at UMD so I'll cut him some slack. He makes the class structure quite organized so I appreciate that. He makes all his slides available online and it's fairly easy to catch up if you fall behind in the class. Just be sure to read the textbook. The only reason I'm not giving him 5 stars is because he is not necessarily outstanding or spectacular- he is simply above average.
Thomas Drechsel ECON330 Anonymous 03/16/2022	330 homework is extremely easy. 330 exams are insanely hard.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/29/2025

I never skipped classes in all my years at UMD. I go to every class, except this one. Super boring. I couldn't bring myself to show up to the lecture. I just learned myself, but it wasn't enough. The midterm was easy, the final was hard. Extremtly poor wording of questions and not a great format (20 question multiple choice exam at 40% of your grade means each question is 2% of your final grade. Straightforward to screw yourself over with the final).

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/25/2025

Easy class to self-teach, I didnt go to lecture once and still got an A. Mainly because the mock exams are almost the same as the actual exams But why tf is the midterm 20% and the NON-CUMULATIVE final 40%? That genuinely makes zero sense. It should just be 30% and 30%

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/23/2025

Course is 40% Hw, 20% midterm and 40% final. The homeworks are online through pearson each week, and are relatively easy to do. The midterm was not bad and was very similar to the mock exam. The final was significantly harder and makes up 40% of your grade. Both the midterm and final are only 20 multiple choice questions, which makes it very easy to get a bad grade with just getting a few questions incorrect. He did a 5 point curve for both exams. Overall, this class is fine and "44.4% of you got an A, 48.2% got a B, 7.0% got a C, 0.4% got a D and nobody failed the class, ie nobody got an F."

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/19/2025

He's very knowledgeable about the course and honestly sometimes goes a little too far in depth in lecture, but he's laid back, and basically gurantees a 100% on the homework section unless you genuinely don't try. Practice tests were kinda too easy, same with the homework, but if you have a good study sheet/cheat sheet for the test you'll be fine. He curved the exams 5% to an 80 average which was nice. Studying can be rough only because it's much harder than the other work you've done, but ultimately the bulk of my studying was just making those sheets for the test. Overall, take the class and put in some moderate amount of effort before the exams and you'll do good. Just make sure you know what's on your sheet and when to use stuff and it's not just copy and pasted blocks of text.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/12/2025

Fairly easy class. The exams are now in person but you're allowed 2 pages front and back worth of notes. The midterm was fairly simple and utilizes a lot of basic econ knowledge. He posts the lecture slides, and although they tell you what to know to know for the exams, they explain the concepts extremely poorly and make simple concepts extremely complicated. There are weekly homeworks that are easy and make up a large portion of your grade which is nice. Overall an easy class but extremely boring.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/18/2024

Professor Dreschel's lectures were very boring, so after only a few of them, I stopped going. He simply reads off the Pearson Slides and posts them after class anyways, so I saw no point in attending. The weekly homeworks are manageable, typically around 20 questions with a mix of multiple-choice and free-answer questions. You get 2 attempts on them, so you can redo the homework for a better grade if you do badly. Studying wasn't too bad, the exams included material from the lecture slides and also the textbook, so I recommend taking weekly notes on the chapters to have for the exams, which are online and open note. If you're looking for an engaging lecture and professor, don't take this class. But, if you feel you can independently study, the course is painless. Be prepared to hear a lot about a theoretical pineapple market, as he uses that in most of his in-class examples.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/24/2024

In my opinion, the lectures were insanely boring after one point. He just uses the Pearson Slides which regurgitate information from the textbook. The material for the midterm is quite easy (bonds, macroeconomics, supply & demand) and the material for the final is all policy based which was harder to apply. The final is weighted so heavily that it can tank your grade so if anything, make sure you do well on the final. He curves a little and the homeworks are useful, but I didn't learn anything from this class.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Anonymous
05/20/2024

He is not a kind professor. Cutoffs for grades make no sense. He makes it very hard to get an A while giving B students a huge boost. His grade distribution is unkind to students who are actually doing good. He also gets snappy when you asks questions.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/20/2024

Tell me how I got 95 on the midterm 90 on the final and have a 94.86% in the class but is getting an A- because of his distribution model. Terrible.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting an A-
pierogi
12/20/2023

Drechsel is pretty great. Very nice guy, on the younger side and does not seem jaded like many other professors. He really cares about the subject, which makes paying attention easier. I can't say I find the topics super interesting myself, but I do feel like I learned a decent amount thanks to his passion for the class. There were 8 homeworks, all ~20 questions, mostly multiple choice (we got 2 tries). Mid-term and final were 1 hour each, online, open-note.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/23/2022

Drechsel is a reasonable and kind professor. This class has weekly, multiple-choice homework assignment (40% of your grade), a midterm exam (20% of your grade), and a non-cumulative final (40% of your grade). The exams are online, open-note, and 60 minutes long. There are two lectures each week and he said attendance is optional because he only covers content that is in the textbook. However, it is important to read the textbook and go to class. In class, he covers content from the chapter that is most important. I would recommend reading and taking notes on the chapter covered BEFORE coming to class. The questions on the midterm exam were VERY similar to the math problems in the homework. I would recommend creating a formula sheet and knowing how to do every math-related problem on the previous homework assignments. The midterm had a low average, so it was curved and he made changes to the final. Before the final, he told us exactly what we needed to know. Focus on the graphs and understand the shifts and you will do well. Again, it's very helpful to go through the previous homework assignments. If he is teaching this class, take it!! Don't wait a semester and get stuck with Copelman.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/17/2022

Make sure to actually show up to the lectures and listen to the information he is telling you. If you just do the HWs and never show up to lecture the exams are going to be extremely difficult for you. Lectures can be boring but if you commit to them it shouldn't be that hard to get an A.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Anonymous
04/27/2022

ECON330 homework is pretty easy. It makes up 40 percent of your final grade so you can easily get your grade to a point you won't fail(not to mention Dreschel drops the lowest homework & you have 2-4 attempts depending on the question). The Midterm(which makes up 20%) isn't anything like the homework. It is much more challenging and nearly impossible under the time constraints. Due to a lot of complaints from students, the professor had to boost everyone's grade by some points. I have yet to see how the final(which makes up 40%) will be. Overall though, Dreschel is a pretty nice guy that's really knowledgeable of what he is teaching. This was his first time at UMD so I'll cut him some slack. He makes the class structure quite organized so I appreciate that. He makes all his slides available online and it's fairly easy to catch up if you fall behind in the class. Just be sure to read the textbook. The only reason I'm not giving him 5 stars is because he is not necessarily outstanding or spectacular- he is simply above average.

Thomas Drechsel
ECON330

Anonymous
03/16/2022

330 homework is extremely easy. 330 exams are insanely hard.