Professor Benelli cares greatly about the well-being of her students and their ability to be successful. Her lectures, however, are often confusing even when the content isnt very hard. Quizzes also do not match lectures very well and are worded confusingly.
Cindy was fabulous. Even with covid Cindy was able to make herself available to all her students, and gave lectures to the same quality one would expect while attending in person classes. Cindy was also a caring human being who (unlike my other professors) understood the difficulty of learning online for most students. I am very grateful.
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.
Professor Benelli is amazing. You can tell she's such a sweetheart. She is honestly one of the most kind and understanding professors I have had at UCSB. There is a lot of complaining about her class being difficult but you really just have to TRY and she will reward you for it. It is all about the effort. If you can take Econ 9 with Benelli do it!
Terribly organized, her lectures are all over the place. I would recommend just reading the textbook and ignoring her lectures entirely.
If you want to actually learn econ in an organized format, I would not recommend Benelli. You can tell she cares and wants to engage with students but she's having a hard time with teaching online... she often mentions that teaching remotely is more challenging than getting her PhD. Feel bad for her, but yeah her class is a struggle bus.
I honestly cant believe so many people didnt have a good experience with Benelli! I was skeptical taking the class because of her ratings, but I thought she was awesome & very nice. I didnt attend classes for about half the quarter, never went to a single section, barely studied, and got a B+. Cindy is very accommodating & wants to help you.
Benelli is a nice woman but she has zero organizational skills, making her class near impossible. Regardless of if you understand the material, she makes the quizzes so confusing and unorganized (I suspect she isn't writing the questions herself, so they don't match with what she is teaching) that its pretty difficult to do well on them.
Honestly, Prof. Benelli is a great person and means well, but she has not at all adapted to the online format. Deadlines keep changing, class is supposed to meet 3 times a week but only meets once, and the content is completely different than the syllabus. This class is an absolute mess, all of the slides in recorded lectures are WAY too fast.
So sweet, you can tell shes passionate about what she does and teaches! A little bit hectic just being online, but I thought she adapted well given the circumstances. I genuinely enjoyed this class and learned a lot!
Take this class if it's offered remote! She adapts her class very well for her remote students. I've heard otherwise when taking it in person. Overall, Benelli is very unorganized and impossible to reach over email. She's really trying her best though, and I appreciate her effort. The only difficult part were quizzes, but even then totally doable.
Professor Benelli was extremely kind and caring and her positive attitude made a subject that I am not usually interested in much more bearable. Despite organizational issues, I would say the class was fair and made easier due to her understanding demeanor. It may be different for those that take it in person but this was my experience!
This class was a blessing. Yes, she was a little unorganized, but definitely NOT to the point where it should have an effect on your grade. She's extremely accommodating, has a very calming voice, and easy to follow. If this class is just to knock out a minor prerequisite or gen-ed, I highly suggest taking her.
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.
Profesor Benelli is one of the most caring, sweet professors I have ever had. She genuinely cares about how her students are doing- more than just academically but on a personal level. She is so understanding and supportive. Not only that, but she puts immense effort into teaching and making sure her students absorb the material.
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.
Benelli has a lot of controversy, but I did fairly well by always attending lecture. It's easy to get lost if you don't pay attention b/c of her complicated examples. You can also never go to class & watch yt vids but this worked for me. She's really funny and approachable. Also, definitely don't waste your money on the book & js take good notes
I loved Econ and I got a good grade by studying hard and doing the work. Going to class wasn't necessary, she's a lovely lady but she's a very odd professor.
Was very all over the place for a lot of her lectures. Often went on economic tangents about concepts that she then would say were not on the test, thus wasting time. While she is very caring and wants to make sure everyone passes, she can often make relatively simple concepts confusing.
You can do well if you 1) attend lecture, 2) read the book, 3) attend section, and 4) do the practice problems (!!). Lectures were kind of confusing and often very indirect. They were entertaining, but not my personal learning style. The book is more direct, but I really would still recommend going to class. Sections were very straightforward.
I was definitely frustrated with the class at some points this quarter, but she was consistently nice, caring and helpful even if the class was a little unstructured! She posts everything online and has a very fair grading system, but she isn't always the most clear or organized with her lectures. She is helpful if you use her as a resource though!
Benelli is a nice lady, but honestly, lectures are kind of pointless. I managed an A in the course with barely showing up. What really matters is that you GO TO SECTION and DO THE HOMEWORKS. They are a big grade booster. Also you should for sure get the textbook, its really good and make sure to do practice tests on GS before exams super helpful.
WARNING: Every test had questions omitted, controversial answers, and unequal grading or a combination of all 3. Content is easy, but Cindy makes it 10x harder by over explaining and skimming hard, easy to miss concepts. Also witnessed her essentially disregard an international students concern about their understand of an english word on a test.