Unlike most of the reviews on here, I did have a high school background in accounting. I'm not going to lie; people with an accounting backgrounding prior to taking this class will do better. It just takes a while for some people to understand debits and credits and the little nuances that accounting entails. Gardner's tests are very time intensive; however, the questions were fair and relatively easy to answer. Although I finished both the midterm and final with 15 minutes left to check my answers, I know people who did not finish both exams. Simply put, if you know that you struggle with time-intensive tests, then you will struggle on Gardner's tests.

I do have to agree with many of the reviews in that the homework assignments were useless. Although somewhat interesting, they were not helpful for the tests at all and simply felt like busy work. The homework was also graded quite harshly and I can imagine the average score around the low to mid 80's. Homework is 20% of your grade, so it is important that you do well if you want an A.

Gardner is one of the most engaging lecturers I have had at UCLA. She is absolutely a bundle of energy and repeats constantly what you need to know for the exams. She is also extremely knowledgeable and will actually set aside a week of lectures to talk about practical financial information such as a ROTH IRA and investment strategies. It was really something different, and I really appreciated that segment of the class. The one criticism of Gardner is that while she is a great lecturer, she is not all that invested in students' concerns and well-being. UCLA is a huge campus, so I assume this is pretty common throughout all classes.

I can't speak much for the TAs. I can imagine them being helpful for some students, but I only went to discussion once throughout the whole quarter. The one time I went was just a review and really did not enforce my learning of the material at hand. They also seemed to be kept out of the loop when it came to the exams and what would be on them. They were nice, but were not worth my time when it came to studying.

I did receive an A in this class with an 81 on the midterm (average: 63, median: 64) and an 83 on the final (average: 70, median: 73.5). According to a TA, the average for the midterm is usually around a 70, so I guess my class was just really stupid or something. I'm assuming that Gardner made the final easier to compensate for the drop in raw scores. The midterm is worth 35% of your grade and the final 45%.

Good luck!

I did not complete the class because of a midterm conflict between this class and a course which was a major requirement for me. I tried to explore different possibilities the beginning of week 2 with Professor Gardner but she was extremely inflexible and unhelpful. She did not reply any of my emails and the only answers I could get from her were when I approached her after lecture. I ended up being able to drop the class midway through week 3 because I realised it was not impacted. I don't feel like I can give an accurate review of the actual course and I'm sure given another circumstance, I would have taken the course with no issues. But I would not expect Professor Gardner to be helpful or constructive should you have any course-related issues if you do choose to take this class with her.

Professor Gardner is by far one of the most engaging lecturers at UCLA. She really drills the basic foundations into you through repetition and this genuinely helped me learn a lot of the content. This class is not easy, but it is also not difficult at all. The class was 35% midterm, 35% final, and 30% assignments (there are 5, and 1 of them you need to complete to pass the class). The assignments are lengthy so make sure to not procrastinate, but it is very doable as long as you space out your work. The midterm covers the first half of the course reader and Assignment 2 while the final is the second half of the course reader. It was all short answer format so you need to know the content well, but the exam was very fair and all of the content is for sure covered in the course reader. Biggest tip is to pace yourself well (My mistake was spending too much time on several problems and I ended up not being able to finish one of the more heavily weighted questions. The points I lost from not finishing that question made up ⅔ of the total points I’d lost that midterm. So make sure to just keep moving and don’t bother checking your calculations multiple times when you haven’t finished the exam yet). The final was about the same difficulty and had a similar structure. The midterm was curved generously (80-100 was A range, 60-80 was B range, etc) and there was 3% extra credit added to your overall grade for completing the course evaluation. In terms of overall studying and class tips: 1) know the course reader front to back, you don’t need to know super minute details, but Professor Gardner will point out important vocabulary terms you need to know so be sure to study those; 2) if you have an iPad, scan blank pages of the course reader into your device so you can redo the course reader problems before the exams (this is by far the most helpful method to really get familiar with the content and problems); 3) reading the textbook is not necessary, it just provides some additional information but information in the textbook that is not on the course reader is not on the exam; 4) for studying for the midterm, redo Assignment 2 because half of the test is basically just that; 5) put effort into the assignments, they are graded somewhat strictly on accuracy and thoroughness but mid to high As are definitely achievable (just don’t expect 100s). TLDR: If you end up with Professor Gardner, there is really nothing to be worried about. As long as you put in effort to learn the content and redo the course reader, you will be fine.

Your trial balance will not balance on the midterm. I repeat, your trial balance will not balance on the midterm. After reading all the reviews about Gardner I was worried going in and to be fair she does teach the material really well but the midterm and final were wayyyyy too hard. Although it is super similar to the course reader, she formats and words it different which really gets you, but its still doable. I knew plenty of people that ended up with B+/ A-. TBH the class isn't that hard, I'm just didn't prepare enough for the midterm and final. The assignments are a pain in the ass and it is so unfair for a 15 page assignment to be graded on accuracy. You don't need to do practice problems to study for the midterm and final but if things don't click, it won't hurt you. Just make sure you really know that course reader inside and out and study at least 3 days before the midterm and final. Grading is 35% midterm, 35% final 30% assignments with 3% extra credit for filling out course eval. With all of that being said, fuck Gardner because I have to retake this class.

Professor Gardner is an excellent lecturer, literally the only professor I would not asleep in her class because her lecture is just so entertaining and helpful toward the course. She genuinely care about students’ career development and is there to provide resources and supports for students seeking career advices. I also enjoyed doing the assignments because they are actually helpful in getting a better understanding of accounting and investing, despite many people said they were redundant and extremely long. I get it, for people who are not interested in accounting this class might be boring and unbearable for them. Some cons of this course:
- the lecture is not recorded but attendance is not required
- the Coursereader was expensive, like around $50?
Overall, as long as you study hard, pay attention in lecture, understand the assignment, and do the recommended textbook practices, you will be fine in this course. The curve is pretty generous and she also gives out 3% extra credit for turning in evaluation form.

She's a very motivated lecturer and you won't get bored in her class. But the exams are pretty hard and her grading is an actual black box. Supposedly it's 35% midterm, 35% final, 10% assignment 1, 10% assignment 3, 9% assignment 3, 1% Roth IRA. Assignment 2 was just a pass no pass. She said that she would curve the midterm so that the 60-80 was B- to B+, 80 and above was A- to A+. I scored low 70s on the midterm and final, and had extremely high grades on the three assignments (97%). I also filled out the course evaluation that had 3% extra credit attached. But instead, the only thing in the gradebook was the midterm, final, and the participation, which didn't even go through for me. She never responded to my email regarding the extra credit either. Please just take this class with Woo, and if you're in the class with Gardner right now, just drop it, it's not worth it in my opinion. Even if you already bought the course reader, it's not easy.

Reading the reviews for this class made me worried coming into it, but it honestly isn't as bad as it seems. You have to dedicate a lot of time to the class due to the assignments she gives but they are manageable if you make some friends in the class to work on them with. You also must attend class because she doesn't post anything online, however, Gardner has a bubbly and engaging personality so the lectures aren't too bad. The grading scheme is 35% midterm, 35% final, and the rest includes 5 assignments (although the second assigment is the longest and is just required to pass the class - no credit given). The midterm is based on the first 60 pages of the course reader and the final is based on the rest of the course reader. The exams were confusing at the first look because she gives limited practice in the course reader and phrases the questions differently in the exams than how she has them in the course reader. She curved the midterm generously and also gave 3% extra credit for completing the course evaluation. I've heard to take Woo instead of Gardner if you have the option, but if you end up with Gardner I wouldn't be too worried.

this class was a joke. The professor does not record or post slides of her lectures making it harder to study. Also there are 5 assignments throughout the quarter all except for one is actually relevant to the course. The rest is just a waste of time. None of them were put into the grade book/graded so the final grade is dependent on your midterm and final. There is a chance to get extra credit if you write a review.

Professor Gardner is easily one of the best accounting professors here at UCLA. Especially for introduction classes such as 1A, students are guaranteed to learn a plethora of information from her lectures. Here, I will break down some of the pros and cons of her class.

Pros:
Her lectures are very engaging and informative. If you go to her lectures and actively pay attention, you will absorb all of the information needed for tests. She also isn't like your stereotypical accounting professor and brings a lot of energy to the lectures and obviously has a passion to help her students.

She is very focused on career recruiting. Professor Gardner always has her office hours open and is always available to talk after class in regards to career. Any questions you might have, she can probably answer, making her a great resource for anyone looking to break into any sector post-college.

The content is relatively easy as it is an introduction class.

My TA did not take attendance for discussion either.

Cons:
She does give a lot of work. There are four assignments that take a decent amount of time to finish, but if done correctly and you allocate the proper time to finish the assignments they are no problem. They are also generally interesting if you are remotely interested in accounting and finance.

The course reader is $45 and is necessary to pass the class. The course reader is where you will take all the notes, and without it, it is very difficult to pass the class.

Overall thoughts:
Overall, her tests are very fair if you study what's on the course reader. My recommendation is to take this class as you'll learn a ton about accounting which will help you in future courses. There is a stigma of Professor Gardner being challenging, which she sort of is, but if you take the time to actually learn the content and do some of the recommended homework problems not all of them, which are not graded, this class in my opinion is an easy A. Plus, if you supplement the lectures with book readings, you'll be completely fine. Overall, I probably spent about 2 hours a week of homework for this class.

all the reviews you've read before this are right, this class is nightmarish. do not take this course unless you absolutely have to, i.e. econ & biz econ majors. besides being a certified GPA tanker, the set up of this class is just unreasonable and more work than it needs to be. all of the assignments are extremely time-consuming and inefficient. she's extremely old-fashioned and requires everything to be printed out and completed by hand, including an excessively long assignment involving recording journal entries, which would be so much easier on a digital spreadsheet. although she can be charming at times, i find her to be an incredibly frustrating professor as she often goes on irrelevant tangents. she also expects students to memorize an incredibly unfair amount of information for the midterm and final exams. i think a cheat sheet would've been fair. overall, i despised this class and dreaded every day that i had to come in for lecture. i've heard there are students out there taking this class for fun, do not be like them.