Rutgers ECON 102: Introduction to Microeconomics
ECON 102 (01:220:102) covers supply and demand, elasticity, consumer and firm behavior, and market structures. It's the entry point to the Rutgers economics major and one of the most-enrolled social science courses at the university.
Fennie is independent and not affiliated with Rutgers University. This is an unofficial study guide.
Build my ECON 102 study planWhat makes it hard
Exams are multiple-choice but precision-based: curve-shifting logic, surplus calculations, and elasticity scenarios where plausible-sounding wrong answers are deliberately included. Students coast on the intuitive early weeks, then get caught when the graphical analysis stacks up around midterm time.
What you'll cover
- • Supply and demand
- • Elasticity
- • Consumer and producer surplus
- • Taxes and price controls
- • Costs and perfect competition
- • Monopoly and market power
The ECON 102 study guide
How to study for Rutgers ECON 102, step by step.
- 1
Don't coast on the intuitive early weeks
ECON 102 feels like common sense until the graphical analysis stacks up around midterm time. Keep weekly graph practice going from week one so the cumulative material never piles up.
- 2
Drill shift-versus-slide until it's reflexive
Whether a change shifts a curve or moves along it is the most-tested distinction in the course, and the multiple-choice traps are built around it. Classify scenarios daily until the answer is instant.
- 3
Compute surplus and elasticity, don't just shade
Exam questions want numbers — surplus areas, elasticity values, tax incidence splits. Practice the arithmetic under light time pressure so it doesn't fall apart on exam day.
- 4
Review the questions you got right for the wrong reason
On every practice exam, audit your correct answers too — a lucky guess on a trap question is a future miss. That's where the deliberately plausible wrong answers live.
- 5
Keep the streak alive with Fennie
Upload the ECON 102 syllabus and Fennie's Daily Plan holds graph work to a steady weekly schedule paced to your exams, with trap-aware multiple-choice quizzes generated from your actual lecture notes. Free to start.
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How Fennie helps with ECON 102
Daily Plans keep ECON 102's graph work on a steady weekly schedule so the cumulative graphical logic never piles up before an exam. Chat through why a curve shifts versus slides, and run practice quizzes built from your lecture notes to simulate the trap-answer multiple-choice style.
FAQ
Is ECON 102 hard at Rutgers?
It's moderate, but the multiple-choice exams reward precision over intuition. Students who practice drawing and reading graphs quickly do noticeably better than those who just review slides.
Do I take ECON 102 or 103 first?
They're independent — 102 is micro, 103 is macro — and both are required for the econ major. Many students take micro first, but order is usually flexible.
How do I get an A in ECON 102?
Drill graph mechanics until they're automatic, do every practice exam, and review the questions you got right for the wrong reason — that's where multiple-choice traps live.
Pass ECON 102 with a plan, not a cram
Upload your ECON 102 materials and Fennie generates a Daily Plan paced to your deadline — plus chat, flashcards, and quizzes built from the actual course content.
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