Okay so I usually don't write reviews but I'm seeing way too much Mazzocco slander that's undeserved. Professor Mazzocco is probably the best math-based professor I've ever had, and definitely the best econ professor I've had in my prerequisite courses. Honestly, this class cemented for me that I want to be an econ major. I'm definitely not a math person whatsoever, and I kind of learn concepts and apply them because I know I should, but this is the first time that I actually understand what's going on, and like holy crap it's a whole new world.

I took this class in the online format, and it definitely sucks just because it takes up twice as much time as usual because you watch the video lectures, and then the regular lecture time is used as a Q&A. The lectures are also longer than they're supposed to be, like some weeks he might post a two-hour long lecture for whats supposed to be an hour and fifteen-minute class, but I put the lectures on 2x speed anyway so I can't really complain about that. You also definitely don't have to go to the Q&A, because Mazzocco posts all the previous years' midterm and final exams and their solutions, and as long as you run through at least three to four of those, you're pretty set for the exams. I reaaaally recommend doing them because there are some questions that appear there that you don't see anywhere else. The Q&A's are still good though because he runs through different problems and it's just exposure y'know. I'm just not a morning person and couldn't even wake up at 9:30 am at home.

It'd be stupid to call this an easy class, and it's definitely the class I had to put the most effort into, but I actually felt like I learned in this class and that's pretty cool. The averages of the midterms and the finals were pretty low, like around 65 and 73, but Professor Mazzocco curves really well for the econ department and I think if you score around average you get a B. Also if you score better on your final than one of your midterms, your lowest midterm gets dropped and the final gets weighted more.

Overall, Mazzocco is a nice guy, explains things well, and is kinda funny sometimes. I recommend him!!

I am so sad to write this review. I remember doing everything I could to enroll in this class because of all the incredible reviews that I had read over the summer for this professor. I was also anxious about getting into my major and this was the last class I needed. The lectures are quite clear and the homework material is also easy (accounts for 10%). But DANG... The exams were challenging!!!!! The first midterm average was a 65 which is incredibly low compared to the previous years. I did all the practice midterms he offered and those exercises were actually how I learned how to apply the knowledge, but for some reason, Professor made the questions more challenging, and actually, some I had never even seen in the 7 exams he offered were present during the midterm. The second midterm was better and the average was 74. The final exam's average was 73, but I would say that was the most difficult exam. Also, there were a couple of typos which added to the whole anxiousness of the experience. I thought that with Covid, the class would not necessarily be easier but not as challenging as it became. He said that because it's open notes, it had to be more difficult but in my opinion, having notes does not help you if you don't understand how to do the math. This was a math-heavy course that took lots of time to simplify and get to the answer choices. Nonetheless, Mazzocco seems like a kind man who enjoys economics and there were times where I laughed while watching the lectures. Perhaps in a non-remote learning setting, this class will go back to its normal level of difficulty and will be far more enjoyable. Good luck!

Great professor, clear lecture, challenging test during the pandemic but manageable

He was alright. I thought the lecture was confusing at times but it was recorded so you could go back and watch it if you want. The discussion helped me a lot too. He posts his old exams for you to study from which is nice because it gives you lots of practice before the test. The class is curved and math heavy.

This class was extremely hard for me. I found the concepts to be interesting and I definitely learned a lot, but the tests (2nd midterm and final) were very difficult. Tests are worth 90% of your grade and weekly problem sets make up the other 10%. The average on the final was a 57.5% -- I spent over a week straight studying for the final and failed. Luckily, the tests are curved pretty heavily. Mazzocco is a fine professor, but his tests are not.

Professor Mazzocco is extremely knowledgable and kind and provides lots of clarity on the topics we learned in comparison to the textbook. He provides a plethora of practice midterms and finals to review that helped me succeed. The workload is very manageable: we had about 6-7 problem sets that were 3-4 questions each: these were very useful in getting a grasp on applications of the topics learned in class. I would highly recommend this professor. The only difficult thing about this class is the math -- I would recommend reviewing multivariable calculus concepts beforehand such as partial derivatives and lagrangian multipliers.

Fall 2022: Pretty fair class. Lectures are recorded. Tests are online and open note but theres not enough time to look through your notes bc of the 75 min time limit for the midterms. Class averages were about 78% on both midterms and about 84% on the final I believe. I would recommend doing the practice old tests he gives you, helped me out a lot. I bought the textbook but didn't open it once. Overall this class is a lot of work but def do-able.

The professor is literally the GOAT. He is definitely one of the best professors I have had at UCLA, period. His exams are all online and open-notes, his problem sets are very well planned and always make sense out of the week's lectures. Everything he says and does just shows that the professor listens to feedback and thinks very carefully about making the class easy. The way he has explained the concepts of Econ 11, which is supposed to be one of the tougher Econ classes, is amazing. I never thought I will be good in a class where everything is math based, but, the professor has made the entire class so, so, so, easy that it is crazy. If you have the option of taking the class with this dude, you must otherwise you are missing out an amazing grade and also a very well taught course.

PS. he is super Italian and only gives Ferrari examples.

not sure how the grade scale of this works. the professor is cool. he provides formulaic examples in class and can be funny. However, his examples in class DOES NOT translate over to the exams. Half of the people in the class dedicated 40+ hours a week to study for the midterm, neglecting other areas of study to find out the midterm is nothing like the, "years of practice exams".

This class was challenging but I wouldn't blame the difficulty on the professor; I think the material is hard to grasp in general unless you spend hours and hours practicing it. Professor Mazzocco provided practice exams which were helpful, but completing the midterms within the allotted time was difficult - the exams typically consisted of 20-25 questions and were an hour and fifteen minutes long. The exams were open note, however, there wasn't much time to look at them because of how little time you had to solve a large number of lengthy problems. In the class, you're graded based on homework (10%), midterms (30% or 40%) and a final (30% or 50%). If you performed better on the final than you did on the midterms, he dropped your lowest midterm score (there are 2 midterms and one final) and weighed your undropped midterm at a 40% and your final at a 50%. On the other hand, if your final exam score was lower than that of your 2 midterms, he weighed them all at 30%. The class was definitely difficult and it requires you to start preparing at least a week or a week and a half in advanced for the exams because of how much material you need to go over. Overall, professor Mazzocco was a decent lecturer, but it would've been nice if he didn't make the exams significantly harder because they were open-note (considering there was no time to look at your notes!)