Moshe Buchinsky
Department of Economics
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2.3
Overall Rating
Based on 26 Users
Easiness 2.1 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.1 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 2.0 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 2.4 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
  • Needs Textbook
  • Useful Textbooks
  • Often Funny
  • Tough Tests
  • Would Take Again
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
22.4%
18.7%
14.9%
11.2%
7.5%
3.7%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

29.3%
24.4%
19.5%
14.7%
9.8%
4.9%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

25.4%
21.1%
16.9%
12.7%
8.5%
4.2%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

44.0%
36.6%
29.3%
22.0%
14.7%
7.3%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
Clear marks

Sorry, no enrollment data is available.

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Reviews (19)

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Quarter: Fall 2017
Grade: N/A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
March 31, 2018

This course was very challenging as the material is dense and difficult to comprehend. It made it worse that Moshe is a poor lecturer - you can barely read his handwriting on the board, and he goes over very few examples of concepts during lectures. His homework sets are SO difficult, so don't do them the nights before they're due or you'll be up till 3am. His tests were very challenging, but all multiple choice, so if you have no clue what you're doing, at least you have a 20% chance of getting the answer right. I took this last quarter and remember absolutely none of the material - I crammed for the tests then forgot everything. Pretty good curve though if you can manage to hit above the average on the midterm and final.

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Quarter: Fall 2017
Grade: A
Feb. 15, 2018

i enjoyed the class. buchinski at times is a bit cranky / dry, but when he does tell tidbits about economics in general it is extremely honest down-to-earth stuff. very underrated prof here.

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Quarter: Fall 2017
Grade: A
Jan. 12, 2018

I love this professor! Although I do agree with the comments below that the homework can be challenging, as long as you start early and ask around you should be fine.

While he may seem intimidating (waiting in silence for people to ask questions), I think he is super nice and quite funny.

This is one of those classes where you have to read the textbook on your own, but I prefer classes like this over classes with only notes to follow.

He gives you past midterms/finals which are at least 50% similar to the actual tests (all multiple choice). You should be able to solve the rest if you understand the concepts in the book.

I wouldn't necessarily call it an easy A class, but compare to the competitiveness of Rojas's class it's definitely way way easier to score an A.

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Quarter: Fall 2015
Grade: B
Jan. 26, 2016

103/103L is notorious for being the most difficult Econ class. This is true only in the sense that the information is already not easy to grasp but Buchinsky doesn't really teach in his class. He reads off of his lecture slides which are the exact examples from the book and even gets his own lecture slides wrong. His equations aren't always the same as in the book and when asked to do a different example he simply refuses. He constantly seems disorganized and asks his students to ask questions, but when they do speaks to them condescendingly as if the question was the dumbest question he's ever heard.

His homework assignments are incredibly difficult if you don't go to discussion. Even then sometimes they're impossible to do. The only reason I was able to do half of the assignments is because my TA uploaded an "example" which happened to be part of the homework assignment. Otherwise he doesn't teach any of the coding information in class or even how the equations are supposed to work and leaves all of this to the TAs which then requires the TAs to move incredibly fast through discussion and making it damn near impossible to actually understand what is going on.

The homework assignments will also take you awhile to get used to / complete, so I would also suggest starting that a lot earlier than the day before it's due.

At the end of the day Buchinsky was definitely not a professor I would ever want to take again, but because he made this class so confusing and his tests so hard, the curve was incredibly generous (and he allows like 10 pages front and back for a cheat sheet). So for the purposes of grades, he isn't bad. For the purpose of learning anything valuable, I wouldn't suggest taking it with him.

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 19, 2015

I just took this course in fall of 2015, and it is a manageable course. I am not a straight A student, and got an A- in this class.

The breakdown is 20% homework, 20% midterm, 60% final OR 20% homework and 80% final.

The homework is easy as long as you go to discussion & learn how to use STATA. The midterms and finals are very similar to his past exams, which he posts with solutions as practice exams. Attend the lab lecture on Fridays to listen to the guest speakers because he puts basic questions asking what they talked about on the final exam-- easy points.

He has an extremely generous curve. The average for the midterm was 85% and I got 73%. The average for the final exam was 67% and I got 70%. Before the curve, I would have had a C+ and I ended up with an A-.

Although the lectures are somewhat boring, Moshe is funny and makes class more bearable.

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 12, 2015

He is pretty bad as a lecturer i would say. It seems like he's so impatient sometimes that he treated everyone who asks basic questions as if they were stupid and wasting his time (even during his review session which was meant for Q&A). If you were to take him, be prepared for that bad temper he has.

On the bright sight, his lecture notes are good, and they are all you need to study for the course. Just make sure to go to discussion sections to learn all the STATA stuff (or you could be spending hours doing the homeworks) and you should be good.

Overall: bad professor, easy enough class.

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 10, 2015

Contrary to the review below, I didn't think this class was too bad and it was kind of a breath of fresh air. Buchinsky is pretty entertaining, he is definitely brash/doesn't put up with the typical UCLA BizEcon/Econ bs (which I enjoyed), but overall, his lectures were alright. He doesn't feed you information for tests and goes over the "why" in lecture.

I haven't gotten my grade back, but I got a high A on the midterm and felt that the final was pretty straightforward. He gave us old midterms/finals which had a lot of questions which were very similar to what we were tested on. He also lets you use 10 pages of notes.

The class itself wasn't much work. I studied a couple days before the midterm/final and just went over the past exams and his slides and felt that it was enough.

If you're looking for a plug and chug class, then I guess take someone else. You learn how to interpret data and its results, which I felt was more useful than any of the other classes I've taken.

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 8, 2015

Just had him for Fall '15. I have to say he is by far the worst professor I've had at UCLA. If you care about your GPA and your mental health, do NOT take his class.

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 26, 2014

I just took this class. It's honestly not that hard. I took the midterm high as fuck without studying anything and I got a 79/100. The midterm is optional(which i took very much to heart) so if you get an A on the final you will pretty much get an A in the class assuming you do all the homework. I basically learned this entire class in 2 days, and managed to get an A but I had to teach myself everything. His lectures are fucking terrible, you can't understand anything he is saying and they are just boring as fuck. I stopped going because it was a waste of time. His lecture slides, however are really good and you can learn everything you need to know from them.

Overall I think he was a really shitty professor. He was kind of amusing even though I couldn't understand what he was saying most of the time(he just has a funny voice) but because of how shitty his teaching was he went from amusing to just really annoying. But yea you can get an A in this class pretty easily just study yourself and don't go to lecture. If i learned the class in 2 days and got an A then it's easy as long as you understand from the start that you are teaching yourself this class.

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 22, 2014

This is my first evaluation on Bruinwalk. I thought the material was easy, and received top 10% on exams, so I am not writing this to get back at Moshe.

But with that being said, this guy does not give a rat's behind about his students. I cannot believe that a UCLA professor could be so heartless. He is at UCLA for one thing and that is research. He is a terrible lecturer. His lectures are so bad I stopped going to his class after the first week. Not only is he extremely slow and redundant, I am actually not at all impressed with his intellect.

If you take his class, make sure you are ready to do all the work by yourself because he will not be there for you.

I am really trying to get this guy fired. I do not think he belongs in a school that is claimed as a top ten. So if anyone wants in, please contact me.

FIRE MOSHE!

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Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2017
Grade: N/A
March 31, 2018

This course was very challenging as the material is dense and difficult to comprehend. It made it worse that Moshe is a poor lecturer - you can barely read his handwriting on the board, and he goes over very few examples of concepts during lectures. His homework sets are SO difficult, so don't do them the nights before they're due or you'll be up till 3am. His tests were very challenging, but all multiple choice, so if you have no clue what you're doing, at least you have a 20% chance of getting the answer right. I took this last quarter and remember absolutely none of the material - I crammed for the tests then forgot everything. Pretty good curve though if you can manage to hit above the average on the midterm and final.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2017
Grade: A
Feb. 15, 2018

i enjoyed the class. buchinski at times is a bit cranky / dry, but when he does tell tidbits about economics in general it is extremely honest down-to-earth stuff. very underrated prof here.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2017
Grade: A
Jan. 12, 2018

I love this professor! Although I do agree with the comments below that the homework can be challenging, as long as you start early and ask around you should be fine.

While he may seem intimidating (waiting in silence for people to ask questions), I think he is super nice and quite funny.

This is one of those classes where you have to read the textbook on your own, but I prefer classes like this over classes with only notes to follow.

He gives you past midterms/finals which are at least 50% similar to the actual tests (all multiple choice). You should be able to solve the rest if you understand the concepts in the book.

I wouldn't necessarily call it an easy A class, but compare to the competitiveness of Rojas's class it's definitely way way easier to score an A.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2015
Grade: B
Jan. 26, 2016

103/103L is notorious for being the most difficult Econ class. This is true only in the sense that the information is already not easy to grasp but Buchinsky doesn't really teach in his class. He reads off of his lecture slides which are the exact examples from the book and even gets his own lecture slides wrong. His equations aren't always the same as in the book and when asked to do a different example he simply refuses. He constantly seems disorganized and asks his students to ask questions, but when they do speaks to them condescendingly as if the question was the dumbest question he's ever heard.

His homework assignments are incredibly difficult if you don't go to discussion. Even then sometimes they're impossible to do. The only reason I was able to do half of the assignments is because my TA uploaded an "example" which happened to be part of the homework assignment. Otherwise he doesn't teach any of the coding information in class or even how the equations are supposed to work and leaves all of this to the TAs which then requires the TAs to move incredibly fast through discussion and making it damn near impossible to actually understand what is going on.

The homework assignments will also take you awhile to get used to / complete, so I would also suggest starting that a lot earlier than the day before it's due.

At the end of the day Buchinsky was definitely not a professor I would ever want to take again, but because he made this class so confusing and his tests so hard, the curve was incredibly generous (and he allows like 10 pages front and back for a cheat sheet). So for the purposes of grades, he isn't bad. For the purpose of learning anything valuable, I wouldn't suggest taking it with him.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 19, 2015

I just took this course in fall of 2015, and it is a manageable course. I am not a straight A student, and got an A- in this class.

The breakdown is 20% homework, 20% midterm, 60% final OR 20% homework and 80% final.

The homework is easy as long as you go to discussion & learn how to use STATA. The midterms and finals are very similar to his past exams, which he posts with solutions as practice exams. Attend the lab lecture on Fridays to listen to the guest speakers because he puts basic questions asking what they talked about on the final exam-- easy points.

He has an extremely generous curve. The average for the midterm was 85% and I got 73%. The average for the final exam was 67% and I got 70%. Before the curve, I would have had a C+ and I ended up with an A-.

Although the lectures are somewhat boring, Moshe is funny and makes class more bearable.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 12, 2015

He is pretty bad as a lecturer i would say. It seems like he's so impatient sometimes that he treated everyone who asks basic questions as if they were stupid and wasting his time (even during his review session which was meant for Q&A). If you were to take him, be prepared for that bad temper he has.

On the bright sight, his lecture notes are good, and they are all you need to study for the course. Just make sure to go to discussion sections to learn all the STATA stuff (or you could be spending hours doing the homeworks) and you should be good.

Overall: bad professor, easy enough class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 10, 2015

Contrary to the review below, I didn't think this class was too bad and it was kind of a breath of fresh air. Buchinsky is pretty entertaining, he is definitely brash/doesn't put up with the typical UCLA BizEcon/Econ bs (which I enjoyed), but overall, his lectures were alright. He doesn't feed you information for tests and goes over the "why" in lecture.

I haven't gotten my grade back, but I got a high A on the midterm and felt that the final was pretty straightforward. He gave us old midterms/finals which had a lot of questions which were very similar to what we were tested on. He also lets you use 10 pages of notes.

The class itself wasn't much work. I studied a couple days before the midterm/final and just went over the past exams and his slides and felt that it was enough.

If you're looking for a plug and chug class, then I guess take someone else. You learn how to interpret data and its results, which I felt was more useful than any of the other classes I've taken.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 8, 2015

Just had him for Fall '15. I have to say he is by far the worst professor I've had at UCLA. If you care about your GPA and your mental health, do NOT take his class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 26, 2014

I just took this class. It's honestly not that hard. I took the midterm high as fuck without studying anything and I got a 79/100. The midterm is optional(which i took very much to heart) so if you get an A on the final you will pretty much get an A in the class assuming you do all the homework. I basically learned this entire class in 2 days, and managed to get an A but I had to teach myself everything. His lectures are fucking terrible, you can't understand anything he is saying and they are just boring as fuck. I stopped going because it was a waste of time. His lecture slides, however are really good and you can learn everything you need to know from them.

Overall I think he was a really shitty professor. He was kind of amusing even though I couldn't understand what he was saying most of the time(he just has a funny voice) but because of how shitty his teaching was he went from amusing to just really annoying. But yea you can get an A in this class pretty easily just study yourself and don't go to lecture. If i learned the class in 2 days and got an A then it's easy as long as you understand from the start that you are teaching yourself this class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 22, 2014

This is my first evaluation on Bruinwalk. I thought the material was easy, and received top 10% on exams, so I am not writing this to get back at Moshe.

But with that being said, this guy does not give a rat's behind about his students. I cannot believe that a UCLA professor could be so heartless. He is at UCLA for one thing and that is research. He is a terrible lecturer. His lectures are so bad I stopped going to his class after the first week. Not only is he extremely slow and redundant, I am actually not at all impressed with his intellect.

If you take his class, make sure you are ready to do all the work by yourself because he will not be there for you.

I am really trying to get this guy fired. I do not think he belongs in a school that is claimed as a top ten. So if anyone wants in, please contact me.

FIRE MOSHE!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 2
2.3
Overall Rating
Based on 26 Users
Easiness 2.1 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.1 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 2.0 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 2.4 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
    (2)
  • Needs Textbook
    (1)
  • Useful Textbooks
    (2)
  • Often Funny
    (1)
  • Tough Tests
    (2)
  • Would Take Again
    (2)
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