This class opens your eyes to how stupid the econ classes are moving forward. Who made this shit up, I really dont know. The professor doesnt care either, he speeds through the slides.

I retook this class after failing it the quarter before under Mazzocco. Goncalves is a nice guy who reads off the slides as well as switches off to digital notes. I agree with the other commenter that he does not provide enough relevant extra practice material -- but I will say to definitely study the questions he gives on the practice tests because they end up reappearing on another midterm or even the final. Study early and often. He did apply a good curve (failed all the exams but still passed the class). If one midterm is higher than the other, then he drops the lowest midterm. If you do worse on the final than on both midterms, he weighs them all. Homework is 10% of the grade.
For me, retaking was enough to make me realize that UCLA Econ is merely applied math and isn't as interdisciplinary as I thought it was; I'm switching to Cognitive Science.

Professor Goncalves generally presents course material with clarity, although there may be occasions where his proofs or explanations are confusing. Fortunately, he always provides practice problems in class to help solidify our understanding. The midterms for this quarter become progressively more challenging, and the limited time provided during the exam can be difficult. However, this course offers ample resources for you to succeed, including a bunch of past midterms and finals with solutions to practice before the final exam. Additionally, the TA Jack Sitarski is the GOAT: he recorded two hour-long review sessions where he went over each multiple choice question from a past midterm step-by-step. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this class.

This class was very challenging, and I found it difficult to keep up. While I understand that it's meant to be a tough course, I believe that the professor could have done a better job with the material. The class requires a lot of practice, but the practice material provided was not enough. During lectures, I often felt confused and unsure of what we were studying. If the professor had taught the material in a way that reflected what would be on the exam, it would have been more beneficial. I would recommend attending all the discussion sections since they were more helpful than the lectures. When I asked the TAs and professors for extra practice material, they were not very helpful, and what they had posted online was not sufficient. If they had provided mock exams, it would have been more helpful. The exams got progressively more challenging, and I could have done better on the first exam if I hadn't panicked and made silly mistakes. One of the TAs held review sessions that were useful, so I would recommend attending those. Overall, I think this professor is still the best option for Econ 11, despite the difficulties of the class. I do want to note that I am not very good at math, so my experience may be biased. Other students may not have had the same issues as me. Good luck!

Professor Goncalves is a super awesome professor in the Econ department. He does a great job of explaining the material, and is quite clear in lecture. He posts his lecture notes along with the slides, so it makes it easy to review if you missed anything. The class material can definitely be tricky at first, especially since students who haven't taken Math 32A will have to quite a bit of multivariate calculus. However, the class does get easier as you go and get more familiar with the material. He's really helpful in office hours too. I also took his seminar course, where we read academic papers on the economics of crime and policing and discussed them. This was super fun, and it was really awesome to discuss these topics with him, since he's literally an expert in that field. The midterms weren't terrible, but the averages were somewhat low, with the first having an average of 75 and second 65 (medians were 80 and 70). If you studied and paid attention in lecture, it wasn't terrible. Overall a really cool guy, and great professor too.

Professor Goncalves did a good job teaching Econ 11. He offered practice exams which were quite useful.

HOWEVER, this class really is NOT easy, and make sure you understand the material and the lectures.

(Personally, I didn’t find the textbook helpful, but it depends on each person.)

Being honest, this class was hard at the beginning but that's the foundation for the entire class. If you can understand the early material, the later material will come easier to learn as you make connections and lines to the different theorems. The trickiest part of this class for me were the concepts like the stuff you had to memorize like properties and how to apply theorems to different parts of the problem to find the right solution. This class was math heavy, so a strong foundation in calculus would be nice, but not needed. The midterms in my opinion were fair and true to the practice tests he gave, but he did throw 1 or 2 curveballs on the frq portion and the mc. What really helped me get through this class was a man who took this class already who was willing to help and a strong group study of friends. Approaching this class, I don't recommend reading the textbook but rather rely on the slides to understand the concepts, the TA notes to understand the math behind it, and YouTube for anything else you're having trouble understanding. Goncalves is a good professor in general, but the way he explained some stuff was confusing when there was a simpler way to understand it but I had to connect the dots myself and find relationships after doing the problems like 100 times. He does goof up on his math a little, but overall not bad. Pay attention to the lectures because the small things he say will be tested.

Professor Goncalves was great!!! He gave so many opportunities for us to ask questions and really nail in the material. He gives so many resources like practice tests to test your knowledge before the exam, so there really is no way to under prepare for his exams. The exams were fair, and never beyond what he lectured. Take this class with Goncalves!!! The material will be naturally difficult at first but I can't think of any other better professor to take it with. Also, I highly recommend Goncalves' honor seminar on crime and policing. Such cool stuff and very relevant to today.

Goncalves is truly the BEST professor I have ever had at UCLA. His lectures are engaging and straightforward; he doesn't waste time explaining concepts you don't need to know. His problem sets can be a bit tedious in the beginning, but you get a long time to work on them and they're insanely helpful for the exams. His exams are super fair and align exactly with what he teaches; most people say Econ 11 is a pain but this was by far my favorite class I've ever taken in the major. I would 100% take any other class with Goncalves given the opportunity; he really cares about his students learning and office hours were super helpful as well.

Absolutely love Prof. Goncalves! I took his class online, and he was excellent at clearly explaining all the concepts. He provides a crazy amount of practice material for the exams, so there's not really anything they can throw at you that'll surprise you. In addition, he was extremely helpful in office hours. Having a good TA helps as well, I had Barone, she's great! There's weekly homework assignments that account for 20%, 2 midterms (each 20%), and a final (40%). He was also fairly lenient in terms of changing up the grading structure to give you the best possible grade. Overall, Goncalves is a great option for Econ 11, especially because a lot of students find the subject matter challenging.