- Home
- Search
- Maurizio Mazzocco
- All Reviews
Maurizio Mazzocco
AD
Based on 121 Users
Top-notch professor. I heard this course was one of the harder econ courses, but Mazzocco made it really easy to understand. He put up his lecture slides online before each lecture, so we'd just print them and bring it to class. He is very good at explaining the concepts in microeconomics, and he never rushed through his points. His lecture pace was perfect, although we didn't get to cover the last chapter of material.
His tests were fair. If you just did the problem sets and practice tests he put online, you're good to go. He only tests off of what he lectured and problem sets he assigned, not what the book teaches. I'd recommend him highly, because I definitely want to take more of his classes in the future.
One of my best professors so far. He drops the lower midterm which definitely helped me to get a good grade. His humorous lectures make me regret skipping a few of them. However, make sure you get a good TA for this class as the materials are way more difficulty than Econ 1 or 2.
Mazzocco is definitely a brilliant Economist and an engaging lecturer. I thought the material was pretty dry, but he maybe it somewhat bearable. You get a lot of resources to do well including old midterms and finals, powerpoint slides, discussion problems and the problem sets. If you can get through everything, you'll do well. I personally thought the hardest part were the multiple choice questions.
Even though he curves pretty generously, you still need to pull As on at least one midterm and an A/high B on the final to get an A in the class. I got a A on a midterm, and a B on the final and didn't get an A somehow. Because he drops a midterm if your final is higher than either of them, you really have to do well. Over 30% of the class got an A on the second midterm. I think the curve really helps the people on the lower end.
Lecture/Discussion
Professor Mazzocco mainly discusses theory in the lectures (PowerPoint slides are always posted) so learning how to do problem sets and applying the theory is on your time. It's important to go to discussions, which is where the TA will teach you how to do the problems.
Exams
Professor Mazzocco drops your lowest midterm and problem set grade. There are 2 midterms, 1 final, and about 6 graded problem sets. He allows a 1-page "cheat sheet" on the exam. Midterm structure is 10 multiple choice questions and 3-4 short answer problems with multiple parts (similar to the problem sets). Multiple choice is basically mostly theory (study and memorize PowerPoint slides) and there are several calculation multiple choice questions. He posts up his previous midterms so be sure to use them to study. I advise you to do them first without looking at the answers to see how much you know and what you need to study more on.
The first midterm was pretty difficult and there was not enough time for most students. Second midterm was simpler and a lot of people did extremely well. Final was challenging and complex.
Overall
Professor Mazzocco is really nice and understanding of his students. He is pretty funny as well so the lectures are not entirely boring. We sped through the market demand/equilibrium chapter on the last class before the final but he did not put that chapter on the final. Before the curve, I calculated a B as my final grade but I ended up with an A. It's not difficult to do well in his class with his flexible grading policy. Highly recommended! I would not hesitate to take him again.
I took Econ 11 with Mazzocco in Fall 2014. Let me start of by saying Mazzocco is a nice guy. But the problem lies in his breaking down of concepts. He makes them seem extremely simple in weeks 1- 3 which does not prepare you for the midterm at all. Most people in my class got screwed over on the tests because they were so much harder than his lectures. This class destroyed my GPA in a sense as it also underprepared me for econ 101 and 102. I came into Mazzocco's class as a 2nd year with a 4.0 with As in Math 31A and 31B but my gpa was ruined by my 3rd year due to Mazzocco's class and the after effects.
I would suggest taking it with Sproul or Garcia or just waiting for a quarter as Econ 11 with mazzocco is a bloodbath.
Avoid this class especially if you are an econ/ bus econ or math econ major.
Mazzocco makes material fun and interesting. His tests are pretty hard as expected in this class and a really annoying thing is the fact that the majority of these econ classes are international students who are extremely good at math. I am not being prejudice or anything, his class is full of students who are prepared well for his class because they have already taken crazy difficult math classes in their home countries so they make the average grade higher.
Anyway, he grades really fairly, IF YOU CAN, TAKE GALLUZZI AS A TA!!! he is seriously amazing.
My advice is, do poorly on one midterm. Do well on another, because he drops the lowest one AS LONG AS IT'S LOWER THAN THE FINAL. So do poor on one midterm. The first midterm was harder than the second, but I think thats just because we didn't know the material as well.
I got a D on the first midterm, a C- on the 2nd, and ended up with a B- in the class, so he does curve very generously because he really does want everyone to do well.
I got an A on this class.
I agree with the poster below me, Alessio Galluzzi was absolutely terrific as a TA. He made a huge effort to help the students. Mazzocco was also pretty good. His lectures were decent. In my opinion, his tests are optimal for students who understand the intuition behind economic concepts.
As for the slight about international students from the poster below: whose academic inadequacies does your comment really display ?
Top-notch professor. I heard this course was one of the harder econ courses, but Mazzocco made it really easy to understand. He put up his lecture slides online before each lecture, so we'd just print them and bring it to class. He is very good at explaining the concepts in microeconomics, and he never rushed through his points. His lecture pace was perfect, although we didn't get to cover the last chapter of material.
His tests were fair. If you just did the problem sets and practice tests he put online, you're good to go. He only tests off of what he lectured and problem sets he assigned, not what the book teaches. I'd recommend him highly, because I definitely want to take more of his classes in the future.
One of my best professors so far. He drops the lower midterm which definitely helped me to get a good grade. His humorous lectures make me regret skipping a few of them. However, make sure you get a good TA for this class as the materials are way more difficulty than Econ 1 or 2.
Mazzocco is definitely a brilliant Economist and an engaging lecturer. I thought the material was pretty dry, but he maybe it somewhat bearable. You get a lot of resources to do well including old midterms and finals, powerpoint slides, discussion problems and the problem sets. If you can get through everything, you'll do well. I personally thought the hardest part were the multiple choice questions.
Even though he curves pretty generously, you still need to pull As on at least one midterm and an A/high B on the final to get an A in the class. I got a A on a midterm, and a B on the final and didn't get an A somehow. Because he drops a midterm if your final is higher than either of them, you really have to do well. Over 30% of the class got an A on the second midterm. I think the curve really helps the people on the lower end.
Lecture/Discussion
Professor Mazzocco mainly discusses theory in the lectures (PowerPoint slides are always posted) so learning how to do problem sets and applying the theory is on your time. It's important to go to discussions, which is where the TA will teach you how to do the problems.
Exams
Professor Mazzocco drops your lowest midterm and problem set grade. There are 2 midterms, 1 final, and about 6 graded problem sets. He allows a 1-page "cheat sheet" on the exam. Midterm structure is 10 multiple choice questions and 3-4 short answer problems with multiple parts (similar to the problem sets). Multiple choice is basically mostly theory (study and memorize PowerPoint slides) and there are several calculation multiple choice questions. He posts up his previous midterms so be sure to use them to study. I advise you to do them first without looking at the answers to see how much you know and what you need to study more on.
The first midterm was pretty difficult and there was not enough time for most students. Second midterm was simpler and a lot of people did extremely well. Final was challenging and complex.
Overall
Professor Mazzocco is really nice and understanding of his students. He is pretty funny as well so the lectures are not entirely boring. We sped through the market demand/equilibrium chapter on the last class before the final but he did not put that chapter on the final. Before the curve, I calculated a B as my final grade but I ended up with an A. It's not difficult to do well in his class with his flexible grading policy. Highly recommended! I would not hesitate to take him again.
I took Econ 11 with Mazzocco in Fall 2014. Let me start of by saying Mazzocco is a nice guy. But the problem lies in his breaking down of concepts. He makes them seem extremely simple in weeks 1- 3 which does not prepare you for the midterm at all. Most people in my class got screwed over on the tests because they were so much harder than his lectures. This class destroyed my GPA in a sense as it also underprepared me for econ 101 and 102. I came into Mazzocco's class as a 2nd year with a 4.0 with As in Math 31A and 31B but my gpa was ruined by my 3rd year due to Mazzocco's class and the after effects.
I would suggest taking it with Sproul or Garcia or just waiting for a quarter as Econ 11 with mazzocco is a bloodbath.
Avoid this class especially if you are an econ/ bus econ or math econ major.
Mazzocco makes material fun and interesting. His tests are pretty hard as expected in this class and a really annoying thing is the fact that the majority of these econ classes are international students who are extremely good at math. I am not being prejudice or anything, his class is full of students who are prepared well for his class because they have already taken crazy difficult math classes in their home countries so they make the average grade higher.
Anyway, he grades really fairly, IF YOU CAN, TAKE GALLUZZI AS A TA!!! he is seriously amazing.
My advice is, do poorly on one midterm. Do well on another, because he drops the lowest one AS LONG AS IT'S LOWER THAN THE FINAL. So do poor on one midterm. The first midterm was harder than the second, but I think thats just because we didn't know the material as well.
I got a D on the first midterm, a C- on the 2nd, and ended up with a B- in the class, so he does curve very generously because he really does want everyone to do well.
I got an A on this class.
I agree with the poster below me, Alessio Galluzzi was absolutely terrific as a TA. He made a huge effort to help the students. Mazzocco was also pretty good. His lectures were decent. In my opinion, his tests are optimal for students who understand the intuition behind economic concepts.
As for the slight about international students from the poster below: whose academic inadequacies does your comment really display ?