This class was fine. The title is somewhat misleading - you don't really learn a whole lot about "Computational Methods" and there is barely any "Data Analysis". There's a nominal coding component in R, and weekly lab lectures where the TAs teach some stuff about R, but it's very basic stuff, and you can get through all the coding homework parts by following the TA example code. I was somewhat disappointed that with a name like "Computational Finance and Data Analysis for Financial Engineering", there were few useful skills that I learned (ARMA and ARCH models notwithstanding).

Liao isn't the most engaging lecturer, and he can be a little hard to understand at times, but at least his slides were good. The first half of the class is a review of basic concepts in finance and probability. I haven't taken 106F, but some of my classmates said it was all review from that class. The second half covers time series concepts and models, including conditional volatility (ARCH/GARCH), with a final section on portfolio theory which I found interesting. The time series and conditional volatility models are the most useful part of the class for real-world skills, but I took Econ 144 with Rojas in the same quarter, and the time series concepts in this class paled in comparison to the shitshow that was Rojas. The second half of this class would actually be a good preparation for Econ 144.

The tests were much more difficult than the homework (which was not a good preparation). Make sure you have probability and statistics from Econ 41 squarely down, as this class relies on that a lot. Both the midterm and the final allowed "cheat sheets", which were very helpful (if you take the time to prepare them right). Overall, the class wasn't that difficult, and it's a fine choice if you're interested in econometrics electives.

Professor read off slides that were so hard to understand because he didn't explain the notations unless you ask him. I could've put more effort into this class but I was juggling two mgmt classes at the same time so my grade suffered. if you're not a mathy person this might be hard for you. I found econ 11 to be easier but that's also cuz I had a great professor too. shoutout to surro :p

Liao was actually a surprisingly good professor. The quarter I had to take Econ 41 I didn't have the option to go with Rojas that I wanted, so I was nervous about taking Liao since he had no reviews and I heard his accent is pretty tough.

Nevertheless, the class is incredibly straightforward. All lecture notes are posted online and he merely goes into them in more detail in class which is very helpful since you can study things you may not have understood in class at home and clarify things in his online notes during lecture. The midterm was very easy and covered only up to basic probability concepts such as independence and conditional probabilities. It's made super easy and I, like a lot of people, was able to get 100 on it. He also provides a significant time gap between the midterm and the last content covered on it. So you have a good 2 weeks to study for the midterm which was very generous.

Our class was a bit behind so he did end up rushing a bit at the end when we got to actual hypothesis testing and he was barely able to finish the last lecture materials on the very last day of class. Things really do pickup very quickly after the midterm. This makes it a bit hard, especially because you likely fall behind at least a bit while studying for the midterm itself but it's doable as long as you have a good TA (Alec was great during my quarter) and try not fall too behind.

The final, like the other guy said, was definitely hard. it was more than twice the length of the midterm in less than twice the time (30 questions on midterm, 80 on final). On the other hand, no you don't need a tutor as long as you can... you know... study? The content on the final is definitely harder than the midterm. DO NOT solely rely on his practice questions to study for the final!! While that's a good strategy for the midterm, it will NOT help you for the final as the content is much more difficult and is meant to put you in a huge time crunch. That being said, he told us he didn't expect anyone to finish the exam (nobody did) and thus you should take your time, do the easiest first, and try to be as accurate as possible before just bubbling randomly in the last minute or two. I studied as many textbook, practice problems (TA and prof), and past exams from other classes as I could to be familiar with any type of problem he could throw and ended up getting one of the highest scores. The final is curved VERY generously though so don't worry. Average score was about a 50% i think

Overall, surprisingly good professor. Definitely a nice guy who does care. His accent can be rough at times but honestly he explains things pretty well regardless.

great econ professor in econ department. You can learn a lot from the class. Selling textbook for econ41. Text me **********

I would not recommend taking this class with Liao, mainly because of the grade scheme. His lectures are useless to go to, so just focus on the homework, the discussion, and the slides he posts. The final is either 100% of your grade or 70% (if you do better on the final the midterm is dropped) and as mentioned the grading is purely competitive. Our final average was a 63% or so, and an 80% got me an A- (my midterm was dropped). I think if you spend a lot of time on the practice exams you will be fine, but if you want to save yourself the stress try and take someone else.

i would say liao is a pretty good teacher to have for econ 41 compared to the others. he does have a very strong accent so it is difficult to understand him in class or over his recordings. he posts his lecture slides on canvas and the TAs post their discussions as well so i mainly did this class remotely and had no issue. liao creates reasonable, multiple-choice exams, unlike what i experienced in econ 11. the midterm was 30% and the final was 70%. his midterm was very easy and almost exactly like the practice midterm, if easier. it is 30 questions in 1 hour and 15 minutes, and i had time to triple check my answers and still turn it in early. the final was 51 questions and 2 hours, which was a huge time crunch, but still very similar to the practice final. the worst thing about this class is that he follows a grading structure of 25% A’s, 35% B’s, 25% C’s, and 15% fail, so no matter how good you do on the exams, you’re just competing against how well you did against your classmates. as long as you study and know how to do the practice finals you'll be good.

Ill go straight to the point: do not take this guy. If you can do yourself a favor of just taking 11 or 101 if there is no other professors the quarter you plan on taking 41. He's english is horrible so you wont understand anything, he only reads his slides which mostly have useless information for the class, you will only learn from viewing the office hours where he teaches how to solve the homework but not even with that you will learn the concepts. In this class you mainly learn only how to solve some of his problems, which even thought I spent over 1 month studying for the final, he gave us some new problems which with the little time (51 questions in 2 hours) is impossible to think how to solve this problems. I do not understand what is the point of doing this in order for most students to literally only answer half of the exam and getting your grade based on the curve. I had the final today, and the curve situation is that bad that my final grade can be between an F or an A as I can only hope that the rest of the class did horrible (which most likely they did as almost everyone had to guess at least 14 questions). If you say that this class is good, either you are an extreme nerd with no life or you just are kissing his a*s idk why. At least they say the curve is insane for this class.

Avoid at all cost. Good luck understanding his "ENGLISH". Only reads off from slides

-- Professor Liao suffers from the classic UCLA professor curse of having wonderful lecture notes but terrible lecturing skills. He has a strong accent and just reads off the slides, so I stopped going after the first lecture because it was a waste of my time.
-- The lecture slides were very detailed, and this class is basically a dumbed-down version of Math 170E (or its equivalents). I took 170E this quarter as well (for the Data Engineering Minor) so I learned the material more rigorously in that lecture and carried it over to this class. I had no issues on either exam (there is one midterm and one final), which were both averaged around a C. The final grade is 30% midterm, 70% final. I got a 100 and 90 on the midterm and final, respectively. The final was significantly more difficult than the midterm. You do not get any lecture notes, only a janky calculator that he provides for students (and your wits). There was optional homework (for no credit) each week, with answers posted as well. It was great practice for the exams! He also posts a practice midterm and practice final before each real exam, and the topics are VERY similar to the real exam. Understand them well, and you'll do great!
-- Also, this class is graded on a pure curve (which I have many disagreements with since it discourages collaboration significantly), with 25% getting As, 35% Bs, 25% Cs, and 15% failing. I had a few friends in the class who I studied with for the exams and it was pretty smooth sailing for me.
-- Overall, this class wasn't too bad for me, though I know many that struggled. It isn't bad, nor is it good. Ok overall. Good luck!

This class was difficult. Significantly harder than 11 imo. The lectures are not helpful. Midterm was easy but the final was significantly harder. Midterm av was like 80 and final av was like 64%. Make sure you study or hire a tutor for this class. Midterm 30% and Final 70%.