DO NOT TAKE HIM. I have to say his lecture is clear, but this class makes me feel like all my hard work is just bullshit, like a ridiculous joke. His exam consists of all essay questions, which are so objective. He has several graders with totally different standards. The rubric is also vague, which is not fair at all. Due to the coronavirus, we have an optional take-home final. I spent more than 20 hours studying all the material cuz I know the open book one would be hard. I got around 90 on midterm which is higher than the average. But the final I got a really low score. I asked the TA for my grading details and correct it with the answer key. Some minor different expressions lead me to get the deduction for the whole question. If he could have the same ruler for everyone, I will complain about nothing. But many people I know get 99 or 100, one of them even has a much lower midterm than me. I would never believe that they were graded under the same standard as mine. After the midterm I tried to talk to him about the unfairness for grading, he just told me "life is unfair". I would remember this ironic sentence for a long time, cuz the only thing he taught me is sometimes your hardworking is just bullshit.

This course was very interesting. In regular Econ classes I feel as if I didn't learn something that directly applies to the real world but here, we covered many topics that directly impact our life. The professor is very knowledgeable and explains each topic well. The exams are very lengthy and the questions are not too difficult but do require some thinking, which conflict with the time constraint. Problem sets can also be very lengthy. If TA Chang is leading a discussion, definitely take her. She is one of the most helpful and attentive TA I've had. Chang goes out of her way to really prepare students for each exam, even if it requires putting in more work than required.

I don't usually write reviews, but seeing the reviews written about Baqaee here made me feel like this guy does NOT deserve any of this. If anything, we don't deserve him. Contrary to most of the reviews here, Baqaee is absolute GOLD. He's super clear in lecture, and goes slowly because he wants us to understand the material and really encourages deep understanding of the material and not just surface stuff to pass tests. He's really understanding and patient in office hours or after lectures and tries his best to explain concepts to you. He broke down proofs for us on the slides and the math can be tricky but this guy legit broke it down into pieces and if you still don't get that then go back to 31B, seriously. There were people complaining about how he's not clear enough with the math and were super rude to him in lectures but you can't expect everything to be hand fed to you right? I mean... he even started using a whiteboard in lectures even if it meant he had to jump up and down from the stage like a million times each class. If thats not caring and accommodating, I don't know what is. His tests are more concept based, which I didn't really like if I'm to be honest because I prefer some more calculations but if you like writing a lot then he's perfect. He even made the final optional when the problem sets were worth 40% already - and people were still negotiating with him on how to get a higher score... like seriously? Honestly, probably one of the best econ prof I've had so far at UCLA. He got thrown with a fire alarm on the last lecture and he still laughed... We don't deserve this guy honestly.

The lectures were easy to follow along to and he goes pretty slowly, but he would get sidetracked sometimes by questions in the chat. The problem set questions can be confusing though, and it was really frustrating because I would just not know what exactly he was asking for so I wouldn't be able to answer the problem. It seemed like most of the class relied on TAs to clarify what some questions were asking or to work through similar examples. We had Zoom proctored, timed exams and he gave long exams. I barely finished both the midterm and final. The questions were pretty fair and he gave some practice exams, but looking at the rubric/solutions from our midterm or old midterms you can't tell exactly what gets you the point (i.e. do you need just the graph or do you have to write out and explain what shifted in the graph), so I probably wrote out more than I needed to but I was scared of not getting the points.

I wasn't going to review this class until it was over, but then I saw the recent reviews and I have to disagree with them a little. I would not describe the professor's lecturing style as "wack", yes they're a bit dull, especially if you're used to speeding through a course the entire 10 weeks. Professor Baqaee lectures relatively slow because he explains every slide and interprets every graph with a lot of detail and uses different examples to get his point across. He's always willing to stop and answer students' questions and even began using a white board for further clarification (he uses PPT slides) as requested by some students. Attending lecture is useful for his exams and HW because he adds a lot of explanations not stated in his slides.
He's always open to constructive feedback, even though some guy can be so rude! I'd recommend taking 102 with him + it also helps that HW is worth 40% and and extra 5% for attending section.

I think I learned nothing from this class. Midterm is hard, final is a little bit easier compared to the midterm. There are 4 problem sets and they really require effort to get good grades on them.

If you choose to take this class with Baqaee, please make sure that you have Chang He as your TA.

I wouldn't agree with some of the former comments. I have several activities last quarter so I was not able to attend every lecture, but I found it took me much less time if I study the materials with his lectures. He explained the slides clearly, would explain all detailed questions of the students, and added a lot of interesting side notes to the slides (while some of these side-notes might be beyond the level of the course, he made it clear that these contents wouldn't be tested in the exams).

A lot of comments mentioned how his slides are not relevant to the exam. That is simply not true as I only went over the slides, my notes, and the TA notes before midterms and finals and his exams covered nothing beyond the basic knowledge of the slides. I would suggest that do not only memorize the theorems and the graphs in this class but really, understand the logic behind it (which is also illustrated on the slides). If you get these ideas, then the exams are actually easier than the content covered by the slides - I was really worried about the section 3 of the class about the interest rate before the midterm as I couldn't well manage the slides, but the questions on the material turned out to be just fine. While yes, his exam questions were more subjective and asked less pure math questions, but after all, this is an econ class and econ is a social science subject. Plus, his exam questions are in the same style as the problem sets and the practice exams, so definitely study those materials as well and see how to apply the content in class on these questions.

This guy is a genius, and with that in mind, his exams aren't straightforward or easy, but so are other professors' so I'm not very surprised when I took the midterm. The exam questions do require critical thinking and understanding of the materials. Because of the department curve, he was forced to make the exam a little harder with time constraint, but the curve is generous ( my raw grades are B- but got bumped up to A). He actually explains everything very clear, which makes him slow and behind the schedule but his lectures are very interesting and relevant. He's also very helpful and approachable, so don't miss out his office hours. The problem can be tough, but work with your classmates and you'll be fine. S/o to TA Chang, she's literally the best and most helpful TA!! She tried really hard to make sure she explained everything and everyone in her session understood the materials. She even made the effort to send out feedback forms to improve and spent time to discuss the midterm results and helped us improve. If that's not dedication then idk what is. So if Chang is teaching, definitely take her.

Taking this class just gave me too much anxiety. His midterm and final have way too many questions and he doesn't even give extra time for uploading the tests onto ccle. The textbook was helpful as I found his lectures way too confusing.