HIUS 2061

Professor Thomas is awesome. Definitely one of the best lecturers at UVA. He's hilarious and super easy to talk to in office hours. The course material is interesting for the most part. This is a really enjoyable class for the most part, but it's certainly not easy. There is an extensive amount of reading and the tests are all handwritten essay questions with significant time pressure that are worth a substantial amount of your grade. The syllabus says there are 2 midterms worth 25% each and a final worth 50%, but the final exam is split into a 3rd midterm and a cumulative final. If you stay on top of everything, it's definitely possible to get an A, but it's super tough. Exams are 5 ID questions, 3 one paragraph essay questions and a 1-2 page essay question. To prepare for the midterms: 1) Take great notes in lecture. This is essential, because he posts nothing online at all. Your only resources are lectures, readings and his office hours. 2) Read the PACKET readings thoroughly and be able to explain the main ideas, arguments, conclusions, etc. The packet readings are what you're tested on. The textbook readings are helpful, but you have to prioritize the packet readings. The cumulative portion of the final exam was a series of essay questions that all had to be about 2 blue book pages long. You have 2 hours to do it. The questions focus on the broad themes of the course. Honestly, it's hard to prepare for this if you didn't understand earlier material. Main takeaways: 1) Do not miss class and always take notes. 2) Do all the packet readings thoroughly. 3) Write faster than you've ever written before! It's an intensive class, but it's worth it if you're willing to put the work in.

Professor Thomas is the most amazing lecturer you could ask for. He is extremely enthusiastic and funny and lectures fly by. There are hefty readings due each week, however, there are only two midterms and a final so how regularly you read is up to you. The exams are mostly reading based so reading the textbook and reading packet are very helpful. The exams are hard but they are curved. Overall this is an amazing class and I highly recommend, but keep in mind its not an easy A and there is lots of reading.

Professor Thomas is an amazing lecturer and so passionate about the subject. It's definitely a hard class - After spending extra time studying for the exams and meeting with Professor Thomas for paper help, I ended up with an A. If you put in the work and are genuinely interested in the subject, then you will definitely do well in the class. One of my favorite classes at UVA!

Pretty fun class, and since the course focuses mainly on history over economics, it overlaps significantly with stuff you've learned about US history since grade school (unless you're an international student of course, in which case this class will be significantly harder for you). Lectures were typically quite interesting, but Thomas does talk quite fast and uses a lot of data, so I suggest taking notes on a laptop if you're a fast typer and then just taking pictures of the board and inserting them into your notes file. 3 exams (more like 4 because the final has 2 separate sections, but they're taken at the same time) determine your entire grade in the class, and (except the second half of the final) are broken down into three sections: term ID (people, organizations, events, laws, etc.), short answers relating to the packet readings, and an essay. The last part of the final was just writing something like 3 or more essays in a few hours.
You'll have to buy a reading packet for this class — don't skip this one, because as previously mentioned, a good portion of the tests cover content exclusively from it and it contains various articles that it'd be very difficult to find externally. However, I almost never read the textbook and still ended up with an A- in the class, which I primarily credit to my study group, which was super helpful. It's probably best to take this class with friends like I did; you can divvy up work (my knowledge of the readings for the final came exclusively from summaries that a friend wrote up for us) and cover things that the others miss.

hated this class. don't take it

This course was a lot of good things and a lot of not incredible things. Professor Thomas is by and far the best lecturer I've ever had. He is so enthusiastic about the most mundane of topics (like wheat and cotton cultivation) and actively is weaving a story, full of twists and turns. He teaches in a way of making sure you don't believe everything he says, because the whole course is basically one big "Well, that's not the whole story". The grading was pretty steep, as your whole grade was 2 midterms and a final. The actual material was a balance between pretty interesting economic relations, the development of infrastructure, and the steepest lulls ever, such as discussing wheat. The readings for this course were extremely dense and mostly uninteresting at times, and he pulls some of the exam IDs from the textbook, as well as all of the quote/idea IDs from the primary source packet, so it's not something you can actively blow off. He also doesn't post lecture notes, use slides of any kind, or basically give any bones on Collab if you happen to miss class, so be sure to get someone who can send notes if you miss class for any reason. The class was very interesting and TAUGHT extremely well. Decently difficult but rewarding

I feel that this course should be titled "A Statistical History of U.S. Economics" or "Historical Research of American Economics" because the course focuses on how different historians have estimated historical economic figures for the U.S. and the merits & critiques of their approach. This is a very traditional class - the professor talking the entire time, you are expected to read many pages of dry historical content, and exams are written in blue books. If you know you won't be able to motivate yourself to read content like that, I advise you to take a different HIUS course. Also be forewarned: the professor will present an approach, everyone will write down what he's writing on the board and try to absorb it as fact, then he states that this approach was all wrong. Everyone kind of groaned at this at the beginning of the semester until we learned to expect it.

Mark Thomas is a great lecturer and it is clear how passionate he is about his subject. However, do not be deceived in how great of a lecturer he is when you find out about how you are tested in the course. There are 2 mid-term exams (one in September and one in October) that cover the first few topics of the course respectively with each weighted at 25%. Next, you have the final exam which is 50% split into 2 parts a third midterm and a comprehensive portion where you have to write 5 essays out of a choice of 7 in under 2 hours. The format for the midterms is exactly the same for all 3 where there is a part A (known as IDs), part B (source analysis), and part C (an essay out of a choice of 3). Luckily, for those who are interested the exams are curved which is beneficial. I do not recommend taking this course if you are a first year despite it being 2000 level as it is difficult for that level. Only take this course if you are good at memorizing a lot of information and or you are passionate about American Economic History but do not for the sake of the professor.
#tCFfall22

Mark Thomas is a REALLY great lecturer and his class was very interesting. However, taking this class as a first year who only had some interest in American Economic History was a huge mistake. His tests are incredibly difficult (and hyper-specific) and can cover a huge amount of material, so you have to study a lot without knowing what will be on the exam. It is really challenging to get a good grade. If you are a first year/non-history major stay away from this class, your GPA will thank you.

I am going to suggest two keys to succeeding in this class. Go to every lecture! This may seem obvious to many, but I am consistently surprised by the number of students who find attending class to be beyond their scope as students. The second recommendation may be uncomfortable for many UVA students, because it's not part of the culture here. Find a handful of students and form a study/exam review group! Compare notes, discuss the key concepts from the readings and lecture. This is a class that requires real thought to succeed in, and sharing different perspectives can make all the difference. I learned this lesson the hard way: I only formed a study group after the first exam, and my score on that test prevented me from getting an A in the class. Also, this is absolutely a history class and while it's on the topic of economics, most ECON students may find it light on economic concepts.