This was the easiest econ course I took at UCLA. I never read the textbook but attended probably 75% of lectures. Unlike almost all other econ professors, Baim is an entertaining lecturer. You will do well if you attend lecture and study all the sample midterms that Baim provides. I ended up with an A-

good lecturer but deceiving messed up grading system and twisted multiple choice questions worth 5 points each out of a total of 100.. wtf?!

Baim is VERY fair. He provides online lectures which will actually keep you awake. It is necessary to get as many old midterms/finals you can get your hands on. His questions are exact duplicates of past exams. Read the book if you're confused on certain subjects, but much of his tests are from lecture material, but he'll just phrase the questions in odd ways.

I received a B on the midterm and really learned from my mistakes. I concentrated more on past tests and got a 90+ raw score on the final... and he has a rule that if you get 90+ raw score, you get an A... therefore I got an A in the class.

Would love to take more classes with him.

Prof. Baim is a good lecturer. His humor and hilarious sarcasm will keep you entertained all along. In short, lectures are interesting.
The material in itself is very interesting. However, you must read the book in addition to going to lecture to really feel like you are doing some econ.
The worst part of taking Prof. Baim is the grading. 100 points mid term, 150 points final.
On the final it was 20 True/False, 15 Mutliple Choice and 30 points of Essay Questions (1 mandatory + 2 out 4 choice). Because of the huge wait the True/False and Multiple choice (4 or 5 points each) have you can get screwed very quickly. I did not feel like it was a very good way to test students' knowledge. To do well, you MUST do the old exams + know the main concept (don't try to go too much into details)
So good students take the risk to get a B because of 4 or 5 mutliple choice, but you can also get lucky and end up with a B w/o studying too much...

Grade Received: A-

he will screw you over like no one else has ever done. do not take him.

Don't take this guy. You think you did ok, end up not. He's not approachable when you try to talk to him about your grades and such; doesn't even care to answer questions about what's gonna be on the test. Do yourself a favor and don't take this class unless you really think it's necessary. He should really go back to Pepperdine and teach.

Don't take this guy. Even if you know all the material COLD (like I did), you could end up with a B.

The multiple choice questions he asks are screwy, and even if you know the material and are good at this Econ stuff, you'll get screwed over.

Put it this way, I got A's in all the other Econ classes , even an A- in Swanson's 121, but ended up with a B in this class.

How messed up is it that studying old exams matters more than knowing the material in the textbook or even going to class!

Professor Baim is a great professor. He has a twisted sense of humor that is very entertaining. The subject matter can get pretty boring but some of it is very useful knowledge. Tests are HARD even if you do study the old midterms. As far as elective econ classes go, 160 with Baim is a pretty good way to go.

He gave me my first C. The midterm is optional and i didnt take it. I studied lecture notes and only lecture notes for about 4 hours max for the final. Its a crappy but passing grade and im sure if you look at old midterms and finals and read parts of the book youll get an A or B.

Baim uses a story/anecdotal teaching style which I found interesting. You can get an A if you study ALL of the previous exams in preperation for BOTH the midterms and the final. Some of the questions are exactly the same. Also, study the textbook, this will help you especially for the long essay questions and short multiple choice. Lectures merely introduce you to the material, and the textbook gives you more depth of knowledge. Lectures notes are least important. I'll emphasize studying past midterms over studying lecture notes or the textbook. I did this in addition to reading the textbook, and I got A's on both the midterm and the final. Study these past midterms from the UCLA library website, under course reserves. Lastly, learn how to price bonds if you are not familiar with them, these questions are on both the final and midterms.