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.

I took this class twice with two different teachers. Hartman was better at explaining the content. Class is still extremely hard but he walks through the slides and explains very well.

Professor Hartman was amazing. His lectures were clear and straight forward. He is knowledgeable about the subject and helpful in OH. He expects you to understand the concepts behind the problems & if you want to do well on the final make sure you take him seriously when he says that. CLAS is good for basics but that's not enough if you want an A

After I finished my EconMath degree from UCSB, I have to say that hartman indeed is the good professor among all others. if you really his lecture dry and boring wait until you try some other upper professor. his lecture is very consistence, clear, dry by economics's nature. if you are seeking someone who is better "teacher", he is the one .

Hartman is not a good professor. His lecture is reading off the slides.... a great professor can explain material from their own knowledge of it, and explain it in simple ways that makes it easier to understand. Hartman simply reads from the slides and doesn't add any additional or alternative explanations. Not a good professorwould not recommend.

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!

Every time he says "irregardless," my ears bleed. They've been bleeding profusely throughout the quarter. He pretty much just says what's on the powerpoint in a different way. TAs are more articulate at explaining concepts, like always. The material isn't that bad, just study the concepts. The math is just derivatives and algebra.

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.

Good Professor, very clear on the subject , but goes just a little bit of too fast. Other than that, pretty good!!

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)

I had him in Winter 08 and thought he was an awesome teacher. Midterms and finals were fair. I liked this class a lot better than I thought I would. He incorporates interesting examples. Really easy to talk to if you have questions. take econ 1 with him for sure.