Unlike most of the reviews on here, I did have a high school background in accounting. I'm not going to lie; people with an accounting backgrounding prior to taking this class will do better. It just takes a while for some people to understand debits and credits and the little nuances that accounting entails. Gardner's tests are very time intensive; however, the questions were fair and relatively easy to answer. Although I finished both the midterm and final with 15 minutes left to check my answers, I know people who did not finish both exams. Simply put, if you know that you struggle with time-intensive tests, then you will struggle on Gardner's tests.

I do have to agree with many of the reviews in that the homework assignments were useless. Although somewhat interesting, they were not helpful for the tests at all and simply felt like busy work. The homework was also graded quite harshly and I can imagine the average score around the low to mid 80's. Homework is 20% of your grade, so it is important that you do well if you want an A.

Gardner is one of the most engaging lecturers I have had at UCLA. She is absolutely a bundle of energy and repeats constantly what you need to know for the exams. She is also extremely knowledgeable and will actually set aside a week of lectures to talk about practical financial information such as a ROTH IRA and investment strategies. It was really something different, and I really appreciated that segment of the class. The one criticism of Gardner is that while she is a great lecturer, she is not all that invested in students' concerns and well-being. UCLA is a huge campus, so I assume this is pretty common throughout all classes.

I can't speak much for the TAs. I can imagine them being helpful for some students, but I only went to discussion once throughout the whole quarter. The one time I went was just a review and really did not enforce my learning of the material at hand. They also seemed to be kept out of the loop when it came to the exams and what would be on them. They were nice, but were not worth my time when it came to studying.

I did receive an A in this class with an 81 on the midterm (average: 63, median: 64) and an 83 on the final (average: 70, median: 73.5). According to a TA, the average for the midterm is usually around a 70, so I guess my class was just really stupid or something. I'm assuming that Gardner made the final easier to compensate for the drop in raw scores. The midterm is worth 35% of your grade and the final 45%.

Good luck!

I did not complete the class because of a midterm conflict between this class and a course which was a major requirement for me. I tried to explore different possibilities the beginning of week 2 with Professor Gardner but she was extremely inflexible and unhelpful. She did not reply any of my emails and the only answers I could get from her were when I approached her after lecture. I ended up being able to drop the class midway through week 3 because I realised it was not impacted. I don't feel like I can give an accurate review of the actual course and I'm sure given another circumstance, I would have taken the course with no issues. But I would not expect Professor Gardner to be helpful or constructive should you have any course-related issues if you do choose to take this class with her.

The class itself is NOT hard. Accounting is a "learning by doing" subject as Gardner says. She teaches everything exceptionally well. People are complaining on Bruinwalk for weird reasons, but in all honesty, Gardner does have her weak points as a teacher. But if you are a competent student, you will succeed in MGMT 1A.

First, your grade is comprised solely of 7 components: 5 assignments and 2 tests (1 midterm, 1 final). Both the midterm and final are 2 hours long. They are not endurance tests. If you know the material for both of these you will be fine.

Assignments 1-5 are not assignments where you can bullshit them and be done. Make sure to actually try on these assignments for especially ASSIGNMENTS 1, 2, 3, and 4. Assignment 2 is a trial balance that is ESSENTIALLY YOUR MIDTERM. Know how to do it well. Assignments 1, 3, and 4 have nothing to do with the content of the class in all honesty, BUT they are NOT GRADED ON COMPLETION. You must actually put effort in and make sure your information is accurate. Assignment 1 especially is what people get tripped up on because you think "oh! I'll just use AI and finish it in 1 hour!" No. Actually do the assignment yourself. I spent many hours on that damn packet because I made sure everything was correct. The TAs have more time than you realize to fact-check and grade stuff.

Now, how do you succeed in this class? First, Gardner is probably the most specific professor I've ever had. Read instructions for assignments 1, 3, and 4 especially well. If it says single spaced, make the text single spaced. If it says to cite your sources, CITE them. Next, as for the actual content (the assignments are filler BS), you MUST understand the intuition behind each concept. Not just DEBITS AND CREDITS increase this and decreases that, but you must know the WHY. Because once you go past accounts receivable into random bullcrap like depletion and fair value adjustments and bank reconciliation memorization isn't going to help you a ton. You must know the reasoning behind each concept.

Professor Gardner is an engaging instructor, and I learned a lot just by attending her lectures, especially on funny and interesting instances of fraud. This piqued my interest in taking her fraud class. She also gives tips on how to invest and "how to become a millionaire". She also brings in recruiters from the Big 4 accounting firms, which is good for networking. Furthermore, she actively engages with students, making each lecture unique and enjoyable.

However, I had some issues with the class's workload and pace. Based on past reviews, the brisk pace of the course hasn't changed. Although I'm not pursuing a career in accounting and am a STEM major with no prior accounting experience, I found this class to be as challenging, if not more so, than some of the weeder classes in STEM. For context, I took this class alongside Chem 14C and felt I struggled more in this course than in Organic Chemistry, despite not doing very well in Chem either.

Since accounting can feel like learning a new language, I definitely faced challenges at first. Professor Gardner expects students to grasp the material quickly. She requires the use of a $70 course reader, which has two parts, with about 60 pages covered on the midterm and the other 60 pages on the final. Since she does not record her lectures or upload her notes, going to lectures is a must. However, going to discussion is optional, but can be helpful at times. Studying such a large volume of material for a single test is daunting. Additionally, the wording on the tests can differ from the course reader, and time management is crucial. The exams are free-response, meaning there are no multiple-choice questions, which allows for partial credit. However, completing all questions and showing all work and math by hand within a two-hour timeframe is challenging. You also are not allowed a cheat sheet, so you really have to be on top of the material.

To succeed in this class, I recommend grasping the course reader material early and not waiting until the last minute to study. Practicing textbook problems is also essential, though I didn’t do this because I felt overwhelmed. Forming study groups or a group chat for the five graded assignments would be beneficial, especially since the first two assignments are the most time-consuming. Additionally, the assignments are graded meticulously and every answer is scrutinized, so you could lose a lot of points if you don't put substantial effort in. There isn't a rubric either, so your grade will just rely on how your TA is feeling and how harsh they grade.

Overall, this class seems to serve as a weeder course for those interested in business or accounting, as it is quite difficult for an introductory level class. On a positive note, the new Anderson curve is reportedly very generous, guaranteeing that at least 40% of the class will receive an A, and another 40% will get a B, but I may be wrong. I personally wouldn't take this class again. I enrolled because I had an interest in business and wanted a solid foundation, which this class did provide. However, if I had the opportunity, I would like to take classes with Professor Gardner again... only if the grading and class are not as strict and difficult as in this one.

We're required to buy a textbook/guideline she created for her lecture and a book for one of the projects. The workload is unbelievably much. I dedicated a lot of time studying and working on the assignment she gave. There's one midterm and a final. Lectures are not recorded and no annotated slides posted, so going to lectures are extremely important to keep up with the lecture and study materials. She doesn't give out exam practices but provides the topics to review. I think that she's a pretty okay grader, however, her exam is definitely hard to do. Nonetheless, I personally think she teaches really well and were very attentive towards her students. She cares a lot about our interest and makes sure we understand the fundamentals of accounting.
I would recommend her class for those who really wants to study and get a strong understanding of the basics of accounting.
She also provided opportunities for internship by inviting some companies to open a booth. We had KPMG, Deloitte, PWC, etc. set up a booth in front of our lecture hall.

Professor Gardner is an amazing lecturer and is very clear about her expectations for students. Her tests are extremely fair and she increased the time for the midterm due to previous feedback. You must understand the material to succeed in the class. She is very helpful and passionate about students and going to her office hours is worth it.

I have very mixed feelings about this class. While there are horrible reviews on Bruinwalk about this devastating class, Prof Gardner isn't a bad professor at all. From the perspective of teaching and lecturing, she is phenomenal. One of the best instructors I had at UCLA. However, she does have big classes, and she is always busy. Her email response is very slow, and she is often, if not always, late to her office hours (10-20 minutes on a good day, 30-80 minutes on a bad day). Moreover, the course material is tough, despite how great she teaches the material. Inevitably, there is always a long line waiting for her office hours, even 30 minutes before the office hours time. It feels like a waiting line for a Micheline star restaurant, while it is just for a 5-minute office hour session.

Among all these things, she is still a great instructor. Nonetheless, this course is very challenging, especially for those who are weak in algebra and numbers. This class will be a nightmare for those who don't enjoy accounting, and the 5 assignments are very time-consuming and useless. The only assignment that helps you is assignment 2, which is graded on completion.

Grade breakdown:
-Midterm 35%
- Final 35%
- Assignment #1 10%: answering questions regarding Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway
- Assignment #2 Required to pass the course: practice midterm exam-type stuff
- Assignment #3 10%: group project on a sector (each member analyzes one company from that specific sector
- Assignment #4 9%: group project that summarizes the group's findings and an investment recommendation from that sector.
- Assignment #5 1%: Roth IRA application

As I mentioned, these assignments are very tedious and dreadful. For me, these assignments lowered my grade rather than boosting it. That said, this course was worth taking and strongly built my foundation for accounting and MGMT 1B (I had Gardner for this too)

In summary, if this course is the only offering of MGMT 1A and you are willing to work very hard and learn a lot, this will be a good choice. If that, reconsider. Also, if you are taking this for fun with Gardner, you will regret it. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS FOR FUN: only take it if it is necessary.

Professor Gardner is by far one of the most engaging lecturers at UCLA. She really drills the basic foundations into you through repetition and this genuinely helped me learn a lot of the content. This class is not easy, but it is also not difficult at all. The class was 35% midterm, 35% final, and 30% assignments (there are 5, and 1 of them you need to complete to pass the class). The assignments are lengthy so make sure to not procrastinate, but it is very doable as long as you space out your work. The midterm covers the first half of the course reader and Assignment 2 while the final is the second half of the course reader. It was all short answer format so you need to know the content well, but the exam was very fair and all of the content is for sure covered in the course reader. Biggest tip is to pace yourself well (My mistake was spending too much time on several problems and I ended up not being able to finish one of the more heavily weighted questions. The points I lost from not finishing that question made up ⅔ of the total points I’d lost that midterm. So make sure to just keep moving and don’t bother checking your calculations multiple times when you haven’t finished the exam yet). The final was about the same difficulty and had a similar structure. The midterm was curved generously (80-100 was A range, 60-80 was B range, etc) and there was 3% extra credit added to your overall grade for completing the course evaluation. In terms of overall studying and class tips: 1) know the course reader front to back, you don’t need to know super minute details, but Professor Gardner will point out important vocabulary terms you need to know so be sure to study those; 2) if you have an iPad, scan blank pages of the course reader into your device so you can redo the course reader problems before the exams (this is by far the most helpful method to really get familiar with the content and problems); 3) reading the textbook is not necessary, it just provides some additional information but information in the textbook that is not on the course reader is not on the exam; 4) for studying for the midterm, redo Assignment 2 because half of the test is basically just that; 5) put effort into the assignments, they are graded somewhat strictly on accuracy and thoroughness but mid to high As are definitely achievable (just don’t expect 100s). TLDR: If you end up with Professor Gardner, there is really nothing to be worried about. As long as you put in effort to learn the content and redo the course reader, you will be fine.

Your trial balance will not balance on the midterm. I repeat, your trial balance will not balance on the midterm. After reading all the reviews about Gardner I was worried going in and to be fair she does teach the material really well but the midterm and final were wayyyyy too hard. Although it is super similar to the course reader, she formats and words it different which really gets you, but its still doable. I knew plenty of people that ended up with B+/ A-. TBH the class isn't that hard, I'm just didn't prepare enough for the midterm and final. The assignments are a pain in the ass and it is so unfair for a 15 page assignment to be graded on accuracy. You don't need to do practice problems to study for the midterm and final but if things don't click, it won't hurt you. Just make sure you really know that course reader inside and out and study at least 3 days before the midterm and final. Grading is 35% midterm, 35% final 30% assignments with 3% extra credit for filling out course eval. With all of that being said, fuck Gardner because I have to retake this class.

Professor Gardner is an excellent lecturer, literally the only professor I would not asleep in her class because her lecture is just so entertaining and helpful toward the course. She genuinely care about students’ career development and is there to provide resources and supports for students seeking career advices. I also enjoyed doing the assignments because they are actually helpful in getting a better understanding of accounting and investing, despite many people said they were redundant and extremely long. I get it, for people who are not interested in accounting this class might be boring and unbearable for them. Some cons of this course:
- the lecture is not recorded but attendance is not required
- the Coursereader was expensive, like around $50?
Overall, as long as you study hard, pay attention in lecture, understand the assignment, and do the recommended textbook practices, you will be fine in this course. The curve is pretty generous and she also gives out 3% extra credit for turning in evaluation form.