One of my biggest issues with this professor and class is that the material in the lectures and homework does not adequately prepare you for the material that will be on the exams. The professor posts his past exams a week before each exam, and I guarantee you that you will not get a good grade on an exam if you do not use rigorously study with the past exams to familiarize yourself with the types of questions he typically uses. The lectures themselves are outrageously boring, and the homework assignments are outrageously easy. I suppose they balance each other out. I would say Mazzocco is overall a pretty average professor.

Grading scheme:
10% homework assignments and one of the two following schemes:
If your final grade is higher than each of your midterms, 50% final and 40% highest midterm;
Otherwise, each exam counts for 30% of your grade.

I heard before taking this course that Econ 11 would be a weeder course and it was notoriously hard from a few of my friends. However, with Mazzocco, it was a lot easier than I anticipated. He starts the quarter saying that you can learn this entire course from the textbook and if you're really good at self-learning, you don't necessarily show up to lecture. There is some truth to that. However, Mazzocco is relatively clear and has a pretty good sense of humour. I went to his office hours once and I found it helpful. Also, I think having a solid TA is integral as well. I often learned most of the course through my TA discussions. Further, TAs hold review sessions for the midterms which really help clarify concepts that will be assessed. In terms of tests, I thought they were extremely fair and relatively easy. Every exam is 100% multiple-choice so depending on who you are that could be good or bad. Additionally, the past exams are very similar to the actual exams given. I often found that doing every practice exam made me more than prepared for the midterms and finals. Mazzocco doesn't curve his tests or provide extra credit, but I believe that he scales the entire course afterwards. If you're not the strongest in calculus I would definitely recommend reviewing derivatives beforehand. There is a lot of chain rules and log rule usage in the course and being familiar with it will make Econ 11 a lot easier.

Exam Averages
Midterm 1: 90% Median // 87% Mean
Midterm 2: 80% Median // 78% Mean
Final: 92% Median // 87% Mean
Needless to say, the exam difficulty is not very challenging but a large portion of the class also does well.

His grade scheme is as follows:
10% Homework
30% Midterm 1
30% Midterm 2
30% Final
(Worst Homework Score Dropped)

OR

10% Homework
40% Higher Scoring Midterm
50% Final
(Worst Homework Score Dropped)

Okay so I usually don't write reviews but I'm seeing way too much Mazzocco slander that's undeserved. Professor Mazzocco is probably the best math-based professor I've ever had, and definitely the best econ professor I've had in my prerequisite courses. Honestly, this class cemented for me that I want to be an econ major. I'm definitely not a math person whatsoever, and I kind of learn concepts and apply them because I know I should, but this is the first time that I actually understand what's going on, and like holy crap it's a whole new world.

I took this class in the online format, and it definitely sucks just because it takes up twice as much time as usual because you watch the video lectures, and then the regular lecture time is used as a Q&A. The lectures are also longer than they're supposed to be, like some weeks he might post a two-hour long lecture for whats supposed to be an hour and fifteen-minute class, but I put the lectures on 2x speed anyway so I can't really complain about that. You also definitely don't have to go to the Q&A, because Mazzocco posts all the previous years' midterm and final exams and their solutions, and as long as you run through at least three to four of those, you're pretty set for the exams. I reaaaally recommend doing them because there are some questions that appear there that you don't see anywhere else. The Q&A's are still good though because he runs through different problems and it's just exposure y'know. I'm just not a morning person and couldn't even wake up at 9:30 am at home.

It'd be stupid to call this an easy class, and it's definitely the class I had to put the most effort into, but I actually felt like I learned in this class and that's pretty cool. The averages of the midterms and the finals were pretty low, like around 65 and 73, but Professor Mazzocco curves really well for the econ department and I think if you score around average you get a B. Also if you score better on your final than one of your midterms, your lowest midterm gets dropped and the final gets weighted more.

Overall, Mazzocco is a nice guy, explains things well, and is kinda funny sometimes. I recommend him!!

I am so sad to write this review. I remember doing everything I could to enroll in this class because of all the incredible reviews that I had read over the summer for this professor. I was also anxious about getting into my major and this was the last class I needed. The lectures are quite clear and the homework material is also easy (accounts for 10%). But DANG... The exams were challenging!!!!! The first midterm average was a 65 which is incredibly low compared to the previous years. I did all the practice midterms he offered and those exercises were actually how I learned how to apply the knowledge, but for some reason, Professor made the questions more challenging, and actually, some I had never even seen in the 7 exams he offered were present during the midterm. The second midterm was better and the average was 74. The final exam's average was 73, but I would say that was the most difficult exam. Also, there were a couple of typos which added to the whole anxiousness of the experience. I thought that with Covid, the class would not necessarily be easier but not as challenging as it became. He said that because it's open notes, it had to be more difficult but in my opinion, having notes does not help you if you don't understand how to do the math. This was a math-heavy course that took lots of time to simplify and get to the answer choices. Nonetheless, Mazzocco seems like a kind man who enjoys economics and there were times where I laughed while watching the lectures. Perhaps in a non-remote learning setting, this class will go back to its normal level of difficulty and will be far more enjoyable. Good luck!

Great professor, clear lecture, challenging test during the pandemic but manageable

This class can only be taken if you are taking Econ 11 with Mazzocco during the same quarter. He will make an announcement during his Econ 11 class telling you to send him an email if you want a PTE number to be enrolled in this class. I would recommend everyone to try and get into this seminar.

This class met 5 times during the quarter for 2 hours at a time each. There were 5 readings and although they were long, the topic was very interesting. Professor Mazzocco was very engaging and made the class extremely fun. There is one final paper at the end of the class.

Textbook is useless, don't get it. Mazzocco reviews all the calculus you need to know during the first few lectures which was very useful for students who have never taken multi-variable calculus before. I had Richard Domurat as a TA and he was extremely helpful, would recommend. All you need to do to study for exams is review the past exams he posts online.

Midterm One Average: 82%
Midterm Two Average: 68%
Final Average: 69%

I think Mazzocco is the best professor that teaches Econ 11. The material is somewhat challenging but he is a great teacher and provides students with all they need to be successful. I studied the previous exams and ended up getting As or Bs on the midterms and Final. As for the TAs, I wouldn't go to my discussion or my TAs office hours, because Galluzzi was just that good.

Take this class with Mazzocco if you can.

This class is difficult in general. Teacher uses slides but they don't necessarily help with homework since the slides are very generic, but still contribute. Try to get a good TA because that's what will really help you in the class. My only complaint would be the final. He gives previous finals (and midterms) to study for the tests from every year since 2010, however the finals previously given were SO much easier than the one given this quarter. Midterms consist of 10 conceptual multiple choice and 3 free response math questions with multiple parts. Yes there is a curve depending on how the class does as a whole. He will drop your lowest midterm if you do better on the final and the other midterm.

BEST PROFESSOR EVER! Engaging, smart, helpful, clear... everything you'd want in a professor. TAs--for the most part-- were really good too!