Professor
Tomasz Sadzik
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2023 - I think that taking this class is the biggest mistake I made in my college career. I know I am being dramatic, but as a student that wants to go to grad school and usually puts 100% into every class, this class felt to me like one that I just could not do well in, regardless of how well I may feel I understood the material going into the tests. And for context, I got an A+ in 106D literally the quarter right before I took this class, and the content in both classes is VERY similar. Something to note about this class that I didn't realize going in was that there is a lot of positive selection, meaning that the type of people who would choose to take this class in the first place are among the most mathematically inclined in the econ major. If you aren't good at math, don't take this class! You will be competing with peers that are and will probably feel stupid everyday in class. I don't think the professor realizes this, because the curve in this class is really harsh. At the end of the course, it was revealed that only slightly above 20% of students received some sort of an A. This means that you can literally score in the upper quartile and still not even receive an A-. And I have heard that in the past quarters, the professor has curved the class down before. If everyone is working hard and doing well in your (very difficult) class, I don't know why a professor would want to punish students by deflating their grades. I also wanted to talk about the professor. While he is very enthusiastic, social, and friendly to the students, he also will not make it easy for you to succeed. What do I mean by this? He habitually posts problem sets days after he says he will in the syllabus and still expects you to turn it in on the original due date (which could end up being less than two days after it is posted). Sometimes, he will teach a concept to you using very simple examples and then expect you to make leaps of knowledge in the homework or on the test. This was especially true on the final, which was not only inhumanely long but had questions on it that hardly related to what was being taught in class at all. I genuinely believe that if it weren't for my TA, I would have gotten a 50% on all the homeworks alone. Furthermore, the professor will post "practice" problems for you on the tests the day before the tests and also not give you an answer key. What is the point of posting practice problems if you can't even check your work? Finally, I wanted to talk about the lab component to this class, which was supposedly graded "on completion" and that everyone would do well in. There was absolutely no standard for how your grade in that class will be determined, and there was very little clarity as to what sort of presentation they wanted us to make. This review may come off as overly bitter, and honestly it is. I know that the 106 series is supposed to be harder than the rest of the econ electives, but you can still do yourself a favor and try to take easier ones. I heard pricing and strategy is pretty fun. You may think that you are good at game theory (like I did before I took this class) but unless you are okay with the possibility of actually putting a lot of effort into a class and still struggling to get a B, I would not recommend taking this class.
Spring 2023 - I think that taking this class is the biggest mistake I made in my college career. I know I am being dramatic, but as a student that wants to go to grad school and usually puts 100% into every class, this class felt to me like one that I just could not do well in, regardless of how well I may feel I understood the material going into the tests. And for context, I got an A+ in 106D literally the quarter right before I took this class, and the content in both classes is VERY similar. Something to note about this class that I didn't realize going in was that there is a lot of positive selection, meaning that the type of people who would choose to take this class in the first place are among the most mathematically inclined in the econ major. If you aren't good at math, don't take this class! You will be competing with peers that are and will probably feel stupid everyday in class. I don't think the professor realizes this, because the curve in this class is really harsh. At the end of the course, it was revealed that only slightly above 20% of students received some sort of an A. This means that you can literally score in the upper quartile and still not even receive an A-. And I have heard that in the past quarters, the professor has curved the class down before. If everyone is working hard and doing well in your (very difficult) class, I don't know why a professor would want to punish students by deflating their grades. I also wanted to talk about the professor. While he is very enthusiastic, social, and friendly to the students, he also will not make it easy for you to succeed. What do I mean by this? He habitually posts problem sets days after he says he will in the syllabus and still expects you to turn it in on the original due date (which could end up being less than two days after it is posted). Sometimes, he will teach a concept to you using very simple examples and then expect you to make leaps of knowledge in the homework or on the test. This was especially true on the final, which was not only inhumanely long but had questions on it that hardly related to what was being taught in class at all. I genuinely believe that if it weren't for my TA, I would have gotten a 50% on all the homeworks alone. Furthermore, the professor will post "practice" problems for you on the tests the day before the tests and also not give you an answer key. What is the point of posting practice problems if you can't even check your work? Finally, I wanted to talk about the lab component to this class, which was supposedly graded "on completion" and that everyone would do well in. There was absolutely no standard for how your grade in that class will be determined, and there was very little clarity as to what sort of presentation they wanted us to make. This review may come off as overly bitter, and honestly it is. I know that the 106 series is supposed to be harder than the rest of the econ electives, but you can still do yourself a favor and try to take easier ones. I heard pricing and strategy is pretty fun. You may think that you are good at game theory (like I did before I took this class) but unless you are okay with the possibility of actually putting a lot of effort into a class and still struggling to get a B, I would not recommend taking this class.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - There are two parts of this lab. Lab lecture and the group project. The lab lecture is Sadzik talking about applications to what you learned in class. I enjoyed this part because it supplemented what we were learning very well. The main part of the lab is a group project called "Econ in Action" which is essentially creating a game using your knowledge in game theory and explaining the theory and your findings behind the game, which is 100% of your grade. It was an easy A to say the least and as long as you're proactive with you project, it isn't much work at all. The TAs are there to help guide you to make sure that your reasoning is not flawed either. Your grade is ultimately determined by the Alumni that you are presenting to but they are super kind and grade easily.
Spring 2020 - There are two parts of this lab. Lab lecture and the group project. The lab lecture is Sadzik talking about applications to what you learned in class. I enjoyed this part because it supplemented what we were learning very well. The main part of the lab is a group project called "Econ in Action" which is essentially creating a game using your knowledge in game theory and explaining the theory and your findings behind the game, which is 100% of your grade. It was an easy A to say the least and as long as you're proactive with you project, it isn't much work at all. The TAs are there to help guide you to make sure that your reasoning is not flawed either. Your grade is ultimately determined by the Alumni that you are presenting to but they are super kind and grade easily.
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