I did not mind this class. Stuart had all of the lectures posted so you could go at your own pace before the midterms. 3 midterms, 3 FRQs on each with 150 word limit for each question. I took 100B w another professor b4 & had to drop, and it was all math. With Stuart, I really was able to understand the concepts as opposed to j memorizing formulas.
The worst prof I've ever had. Ended w/ an 89 but received a B so he down-curved without telling us. Gave awful lectures where he would would read off tiny font, handwritten notes. So rude & wont tell u how he grades the exams, why u got something wrong, & will not let u talk to a TA or get regrade. Gives v few A's. Grades randomly :( did not learn
I received overall 91.25% but it turn out to be a B+. Never understand how he grades.
Professor Benelli is one of the most caring person I ever met but with the worst capability of organization. Of course I understand that things been tough for all of us during the pandemic, but changing syllabus and grading in week 7 is just going too far.
What exactly was I paying for? Completely disconnected. All prerecorded lectures. Totally useless. He did not do anything this quarter. I could have received a better education from YouTube.
Probably the most disconnected professor Ive ever had; he wouldnt even go to office hours. I get he had difficulty with technology but still. Feel like I learned nothing in this class even though I did really well on tests.
Professor Stuart is my bai. He's super knowledgeable about the material and is very good at explaining it in a way that can be understood. He writes the notes as he goes which makes sure that it is easy for students to follow along and take all the notes they need.
Professor Stuart is very knowledgeable, and his lectures/material for this class are definitely a good learning experience if you have any interest in governmental finance. However, he is a tough grader and isn't always clear on how to actually get that good grade. The class is 50% midterm and 50% final, and both exams are written responses.
Prof. Benelli is caring, but her lack of organization just ruins the class. Lectures can be confusing, and sometimes she would just explain a concept that isn't relevant to the course. I appreciate her for recording lectures, but she sometimes a week late to post them. Paper and final needs more guided instruction of what she wants.
This class is horrible. I've never had a teacher like Mrs. Benelli, she has such an odd way of teaching and doesn't explain things adequately. She's extremely disorganized and is hard to follow. Don't take her!!
The most disorganized prof I have ever seen. Lectures are messy. She promised to do a lot of things but did not do any. She would mess up your study plan. It is the 5th week now, but she still hasn't posted any instructions about our homework, quizzes, and papers. I am so confused about this class.
Cindy is an amazing person and professor. We did not get along at 1st but she grew on me. She provides a lot of resources to help you do well and the class comes with a huge curve. She is so smart and well educated. She also actually cares about her students and their lives, Ive had hour long discussions with her multiple times.
I genuinely liked professor Stuarts lectures. What he wrote on the board is what you needed to know and that was it. Many professors just lecture off 100s of powerpoint slides but not Stuart, just a few pages of notes each class. Reading the book helps a lot as well as doing practice problems.
This is my least favorite professor at UCSB. He pretty much arbitrarily gives 80-90% of the class a B and occasionally hands out an A or C. It's essentially impossible to fail, but just as impossible to get an A in. Lectures are tangential, tests + content have nothing to do with the textbook. You learn basically nothing. No work but no reward.
Instead of 9 FRQs, your grade is now based on three noncumulative 10 question MC exams (as of fall 2019). His teaching style is very old school but he gives you 90% of the information you need for exams during lecture. Textbook isn't necessary but fills in the gaps of the other 10%. Best prof I've had and overall easiest econ class I've taken.
Make sure to go to lectures because she does not post slides as she lectures with her iPad. Offers extra credit but really your grade is going to be based off the tests. Good thing the subject isn't too difficult because her lectures aren't that great.
Mrs. Benelli is interesting. She knows what she is talking about but her teaching style is not very good. Her lectures are often messy and clunky and confusing. Her graphs aren't very good. She does not use power-point slides which is a BAD thing in economics. She zooms through lots of math and assumes we know things magically. Pretty funny though.
The material isn't super difficult but Benellis teaching is terrible. Her class is very disorganized and her lectures are just math based, very little explained in concepts. She does a bad job at explaining herself and often goes against the textbook or gives us wrong information. Overall, she is a horrendous teacher.
One of the worst economics professors I've had at this university, constantly makes mistakes and confuses students. Very disorganized in every aspect of the class, including test prep, gauchospace posts, and even lecture. Often does not even introduce the subject she is going over before jumping into some abstract calculations. Would not recommend.
She is a nice person, very caring compare to other professors. That being said, lecture is very hard to follow as she writes on her Ipad and is a bit all over the place. However, you have to attend class as notes are not posted and exams have questions gone only in lecture. Overall one of the easier classes in Econ if you have good math skills.
Contradicts herself in lecture very often. Unclear visuals that shell brush off if she cant properly explain it. Slides arent posted online so youre stuck copying down slides that shell always find a mistake on. Easy test grader though so its not hard to pass, but its a hard class to excel at.
She really does try, but she's just not a very good teacher. Her lectures are cringe worthy. Too much time spent trying to be funny and she makes the concepts way more confusing than they need to be. One of my least favorite classes I took in the Econ department.
The class is graded on 9 free response questions, each worth up to ten points. Grading is more or less subjective and answers are marked up or down based on how well the reader thinks you understand the material. Because it's conceptual, it's difficult to grasp at first, but if you go over the lecture notes religiously you'll be fine. Solid prof.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Class grade based on 9 questions. NO MATH. There's no consistent grading with no rubric or anything. Purely conceptually. JUST NO.