Goncalves is truly the BEST professor I have ever had at UCLA. His lectures are engaging and straightforward; he doesn't waste time explaining concepts you don't need to know. His problem sets can be a bit tedious in the beginning, but you get a long time to work on them and they're insanely helpful for the exams. His exams are super fair and align exactly with what he teaches; most people say Econ 11 is a pain but this was by far my favorite class I've ever taken in the major. I would 100% take any other class with Goncalves given the opportunity; he really cares about his students learning and office hours were super helpful as well.

Being honest, this class was hard at the beginning but that's the foundation for the entire class. If you can understand the early material, the later material will come easier to learn as you make connections and lines to the different theorems. The trickiest part of this class for me were the concepts like the stuff you had to memorize like properties and how to apply theorems to different parts of the problem to find the right solution. This class was math heavy, so a strong foundation in calculus would be nice, but not needed. The midterms in my opinion were fair and true to the practice tests he gave, but he did throw 1 or 2 curveballs on the frq portion and the mc. What really helped me get through this class was a man who took this class already who was willing to help and a strong group study of friends. Approaching this class, I don't recommend reading the textbook but rather rely on the slides to understand the concepts, the TA notes to understand the math behind it, and YouTube for anything else you're having trouble understanding. Goncalves is a good professor in general, but the way he explained some stuff was confusing when there was a simpler way to understand it but I had to connect the dots myself and find relationships after doing the problems like 100 times. He does goof up on his math a little, but overall not bad. Pay attention to the lectures because the small things he say will be tested.

Professor Goncalves did a good job teaching Econ 11. He offered practice exams which were quite useful.

HOWEVER, this class really is NOT easy, and make sure you understand the material and the lectures.

(Personally, I didn’t find the textbook helpful, but it depends on each person.)

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 is a weeder class and the department does not try hiding that fact at all—you need to embrace the difficult reality and just deal with it when taking this class, especially because it's impacted. Professor Goncalves isn't a bad teacher, but he isn't great either; he'll teach the basic concepts but you will have to supplement his lectures heavily through practice problems. Your grade will end up being dependent on how many practice problems you did prior to the two midterms and the final, all of which are not easy at all (expect averages of 50% and 70%). There are also a few homework assignments, but they only make up 10% of the grade. For a weeder, though, this class is at least reasonable and very possible to do well in.