the professor is well-versed with teaching materials and knows the content inside out, however, moves fast and there is a decent amount of self-learning. Midterms are hard but often a reflection of past midterms so a great tip would be to use test banks and actually be able to answer the questions.

I struggled a good amount with this class because the material was all very new to me. I thought the discussion sections were most helpful in this course and helped me prepare for the exams, although they were always very difficult. Professor Goncalves did curve pretty generously in the end.

This class opens your eyes to how stupid the econ classes are moving forward. Who made this shit up, I really dont know. The professor doesnt care either, he speeds through the slides.

This class is definitely a weeder and tests are tough, but Gonclaves is a very fair professor and a solid lecturer. The content volume is not that much, just that the content itself is quite complicated and conceptual — you can’t really rely on just memorization — do the practice problems. He also provides a ton of practice tests which are very helpful for tests. You don’t necessarily have to attend lectures if you are diligent with studying on your own time. The grading system is pretty generously curved, so you really just have to do well compared to the rest of the class. For reference, I got an 83 (69 avg), 79 (avg around 63), and a 90 on the final (avg around 70) and I got an A. He also will drop your lowest midterm and weigh your final more if you end up doing better on it. However, tests are 90% of your grade nevertheless. Overall, would take again with him for ECON 11.

I retook this class after failing it the quarter before under Mazzocco. Goncalves is a nice guy who reads off the slides as well as switches off to digital notes. I agree with the other commenter that he does not provide enough relevant extra practice material -- but I will say to definitely study the questions he gives on the practice tests because they end up reappearing on another midterm or even the final. Study early and often. He did apply a good curve (failed all the exams but still passed the class). If one midterm is higher than the other, then he drops the lowest midterm. If you do worse on the final than on both midterms, he weighs them all. Homework is 10% of the grade.
For me, retaking was enough to make me realize that UCLA Econ is merely applied math and isn't as interdisciplinary as I thought it was; I'm switching to Cognitive Science.

This class was very challenging, and I found it difficult to keep up. While I understand that it's meant to be a tough course, I believe that the professor could have done a better job with the material. The class requires a lot of practice, but the practice material provided was not enough. During lectures, I often felt confused and unsure of what we were studying. If the professor had taught the material in a way that reflected what would be on the exam, it would have been more beneficial. I would recommend attending all the discussion sections since they were more helpful than the lectures. When I asked the TAs and professors for extra practice material, they were not very helpful, and what they had posted online was not sufficient. If they had provided mock exams, it would have been more helpful. The exams got progressively more challenging, and I could have done better on the first exam if I hadn't panicked and made silly mistakes. One of the TAs held review sessions that were useful, so I would recommend attending those. Overall, I think this professor is still the best option for Econ 11, despite the difficulties of the class. I do want to note that I am not very good at math, so my experience may be biased. Other students may not have had the same issues as me. Good luck!

Professor Goncalves generally presents course material with clarity, although there may be occasions where his proofs or explanations are confusing. Fortunately, he always provides practice problems in class to help solidify our understanding. The midterms for this quarter become progressively more challenging, and the limited time provided during the exam can be difficult. However, this course offers ample resources for you to succeed, including a bunch of past midterms and finals with solutions to practice before the final exam. Additionally, the TA Jack Sitarski is the GOAT: he recorded two hour-long review sessions where he went over each multiple choice question from a past midterm step-by-step. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this class.

Professor Goncalves was great!!! He gave so many opportunities for us to ask questions and really nail in the material. He gives so many resources like practice tests to test your knowledge before the exam, so there really is no way to under prepare for his exams. The exams were fair, and never beyond what he lectured. Take this class with Goncalves!!! The material will be naturally difficult at first but I can't think of any other better professor to take it with. Also, I highly recommend Goncalves' honor seminar on crime and policing. Such cool stuff and very relevant to today.

Since this was my first econ class at UCLA (I got credit for Econ 1 and 2 from high school) and it was a difficult class I felt that I struggled a bit more than if I had taken Econ 1 and 2 before this. I knew it was a weeder class going in and the difficulty was expected but I felt that my TAs (I attended Victoria's sessions and Akina was my original TA - I changed due to timezone issues) were both incredibly responsive and helpful. Additionally, Professor Goncalves was helpful and hosted Q&A sessions but due to timezone issues and the timings of my other classes, I could only attend one. I think that Professor Gonclaves could've potentially just had live classes and then posted the recordings of those instead of posting lectures and separately hosting Q&As during class time, but of course, this is more applicable due to COVID. I found that he was a good professor and he definitely took feedback well (midterm 2 was easier than midterm 1 and I felt the final was also a good level of difficulty - especially for an open-notes test). However, sometimes I felt that it took me a while to understand the content because he explained it in a very roundabout way. Other than that, I'd say this class was reasonable given the known difficulty of econ 11.

Professor Goncalves is really helpful, accommodating, and cares a lot about students' learning. He really devoted a huge amount of time and efforts into teaching this class with pre-recorded lectures, two Q&A sessions each week at the scheduled lecture time, and lots of office hours. His lectures and Q&A sessions effectively introduce key concepts and examples and have clear focus on what will be tested on the exams. In a difficult quarter when it's hard to fully focus on classwork, he accommodated a lot by providing multiple grading schemes and making the exams straightforward. In future regular quarters, I would expect his exams to be harder but still manageable, as he gives tons of practice exams and goes over tons of example problems that really consolidate almost everything learned in this course. Regarding this class itself, I would say it's easier than I thought before taking it. I would say this class focuses more on applying quantitative tools and linking economic concepts with quantitative interpretations. I didn't take Econ 1 and 2 here at UCLA, but I feel this class did not add that much to the theoretical background I learned from my high school Econ 1 and 2 equivalent. Although Math 32A is not a pre-requisite for this class, I would recommend taking it before or together with Econ 11. Still, Professor Goncalves explains knowledge related to Math 32A well so there's no worries. Overall, I would highly recommend taking Econ11 with Professor Goncalves.