Class was taught by many teachers and they all recorded videos to watch 3 times a week followed by a quiz. Mandatory once a week meeting. This class is easy to pass but not easy to do well. Hartman is terrible had him for 10A at the same time he put the finals on the same day on Saturday! You have to teach yourself how to do everything.
DON'T TAKE THIS PROFESSOR! No seriously, you rather skip a quarter and take it with someone else. Lectures are so useless. Gives an example but doesn't fully go over them. He will say "this is up for the students to calculate and figure out" then honestly what is the point of him? Exams were not similar to past exam so studying those didn't help.
Professor Hartman is not helpful at all. I took Econ 10A with him and I am taking Econ 134A. You need to do all of his previous tests to pass these classes. Don't rely on his lectures because they are useless. You basically need to teach yourself.
He teaches nothing and expects students to know everything.
I took 134a with a TA, but Hartman writes most of the source material. This class is SO MUCH BETTER THAN 10A!! Solving problems for this class is like a puzzle, and it is honestly really fun (but that might be because I am an accounting major). Do all of the practice exams and you will be good to go!
Terrible. Not much more needs to be said. If you have to take him, good luck.
I recently graduated with an Economics/Accounting degree. I saved Hartman's class for my last quarter. I had never had him for a class before this. He is my least favorite econ professor at that school. His lectures do not help at all. You need to study the practice tests. Hartman is not friendly and a difficult person to get along with.
Overall, it is an interesting class because his lectures are relevant to the real-world. However, his lectures have nothing to do with the test, so it's irrelevant. He posts past tests online which is basically your only resource. If you do and understand the past exams, the class is extremely easy. He's a decent lecturer, but a terrible teacher.
Hartman is like the nicest professor I ever had in UCSB. he is super clear and helpful and he put all past exams and lecture slides on gauchospace. If you do your work you can definitely get an A!
Not as the others said, I really liked his lectures. He always takes interesting example from real life (Vegas, Gambling, ...) and illustrate well what he teaches. As a basic finance class, you will not learn how to earn millions! He publishes all tests he gave for the last 5 years. Do it all, you will rock all tests!
Decent professor. Introduces concepts and expects YOU to put in the time and effort, along with TAs assistance, to learn how to apply them to the exam questions. Conceptual understanding is an imperative, memorization won't suffice. The foundation, first 4-5 weeks, are most critical. Master those principles and the rest of the course will be simple
Hartman botches what is a very interesting topic. The class and text book material are very interesting but he knows absolutely nothing about teaching or the subject. Just reads off memorized slides. UCSB need to hire a finace facility member to an Econ phd hack to teach this class. Frustrating to listen to and look at, great topic, terrible prof.
I did not find this class easy like other people. I understood all the material and learned a lot but couldn't do well on his tests. His tests and class can be very frustrating, and he is not a great lecturer. But the material is very interesting and practical. So even though my grade didn't turn out great I'd still recommend this class
Not too hard but a real incompetent unerroringly boring professor. He also never gives a straight foward answer to a simple yes or no question.
Literally the worst professor I have ever had. His tests are a review of micro and macro econ, but you won't know what to study as he wastes your time giving an overview of things like healthcare and social security that anyone with half a brain already knows. If you are suckered into taking this class stay at home and do practice tests. Horrible
Terrible class. His lectures are extremely boring and useless- he talks about anything except what will actually be on the test. I learned most of the material from the TA's rather than the professor, which shows his inability to teach. His tests were nothing like the practice exams he posted online, and he definitely is not flexible when grading.
Hartman's way of gauging participation is a little unorthodox, but otherwise he's a very straightforward professor. Highly recommended.
This class was ridiculously easy. The textbook problems he assigns are super easy, and the test is even easier than the practice problem. He drops your lowest score, so I dont even need to take the final and already know I have an A. Take him. Easiest A I've ever had a UCSB.
This guy is one of the worst teachers I have ever had. He gives you a ton of practice problems to study and then the test is nothing like the practice questions. His tests are cumulative and our 2nd midterm had about 4 questions on the new material and all the rest was the previous unit, so ignore anything he tells you to study...
A class to take if you want an easy A but you won't learn anything useful. A big part of the grade is how well you play games, no kidding.
a really great person. class was interesting. prof really helpful. dont just study the practice finals, actually do many prblems in the textbook. he tests concepts not memorization. learned alot from this class. can be difficult but if you apply yourself and want to learn, this is a really good class.
same thing as said bellow me... the final is hard but the midterms are easy. you get a lot of extra credit for participation in lecture. he seems dumb at first but as quarter goes on hes actually pretty smart guy
He tried to make class involving and interactive. Midterms are easy, but final was difficult. Not bad, but not great either.
Beware: prof gives easy midterms, but an impossible final. The class is curved, but the final was not really a fair representation of the class (Final had to be curved ~35% if I have calculated correctly)