I'm only writing this review because I saw a review from my class (Winter 2021) and don't think its fair. Also, I would've appreciated an honest and comprehensive review like this instead of an angry rant from someone who didn't get the grade they wanted.

Grading:
- 25% HW (1 HW per week, lowest dropped)
HW assignments were like 8 problems each, very doable if you just attend lecture/follow his slides. Occasionally there will be problems that the lecture can't answer, so you have to attend a TA's office hour. After each HW is due, the solutions are posted.
- 25% Midterm (covers HW 1-4) If you understand how to do every HW problem you'll get an A
- 50% Final (covers HW 1-9) Same as midterm, just study the HW and you'll get an A. The final and midterm are just HW problems.
- No curves, but for our class overall scores 85+ were given an A. 35% of the class received an A.

Course Content:
You start off by learning budget sets, which is those basic problems where you pretend you have x money and then figure out how much of Good A and Good B you can buy. Then you learn to solve these algebraically. The entire class is just maximization problems and revolves around this concept. Then you start to use partial derivatives to solve more complicated problems. You're not required to understand anything conceptually. If you know how to do a partial derivative, U substitution, the chain rule, and simple algebra, you're set. I only spent a few hours per week on this class.

Overall Thoughts:
Even though I got an A, I have to agree Zame isn't the best professor. He just reads off the slides. This class will require self-studying and patience. I advise you to think about what type of person you are. If you're fine self-studying, you will get an A in this class. It's easy and straightforward, don't worry. If you expect the professor to hold your hand, don't take this class.

Random Thoughts:
I wouldn't take the review from the guy/girl with a B+ seriously, and any other angry reviews that get posted after I write this. My class had a GroupMe, which was just people constantly trashing Zame. It just became rude and toxic towards the end. I suspect that review was from one of those people lol.

This class is not as bad as everyone says it is (I actually thought it was quite easy) and Zame is a decent professor and tries to improve based on feedback. He emails often and is much more organized than most professors since he posts slides before hand and also comprehensive answers to the homeworks after they are due. Before tests, he gives a lot of practice material. On the tests, he even gives extra credit problems. I will put a quick disclaimer and say that I have taken 32A and yes I am a STEM major as well, but I don't actually think it helped me for this class at all. I was not expected to know how to LaGrangian even once and the partial derivatives are literally easier than Math 31A so if you're an Econ major the math is not super hard. Honestly yes his lectures aren't the best so I recommend finding a good TA (Andrew is great! Highly recommend him since he is well organized and goes over many problem types in discussion) and you don't have to go to your discussion except to pick up your HW and midterm so go to other TAs if you think yours isn't good. The HW can be annoying but in retrospect it took 3 hours MAX each week and you only really have to do the HW outside of class (no reading). Definitely find friends in the class to go over the material with; sometimes there are tricky questions and he makes things harder for no reason but do your best on the HW since they are 25% of your grade. GOOD NEWS: The HW can be rough, but you get friends to do it with and it is very manageable that way. This helps you IMMENSELY with the tests because they are very much like the HW. In the end, this class has honestly a certain amount of problem types (not too many types in my opinion but I guess I'm biased because math has infinite types) and you just have to figure them out by doing practice problems and looking over the HW answers. He also curves the class AND a 85 is at least an A rather than the usual 90 (and I believe a 70 was a B but basically all the cutoffs were lower than usual) ON TOP of extra credit. Yes, he isn't the most clear at lecturing because he can go on tangents/just talk which loses students but the slides are clear (he does make mistakes but fixes them, usually they're easy to catch since they're just typos or simple math errors) and go through the problems so that's all you really need and a good TA, and you can go to any discussion so do that. In the end, I would actually recommend taking this class with Zame. I thought it was relatively easy and manageable since it was organized so well. I know people who flipped their entire schedule just to avoid him, but I think that was a HUGE mistake. His class was very manageable and this class is a core for Econ so you will be changing up a lot of your schedule to avoid him. Also, almost all econ professors have horrible reviews so you will be waiting for a long time. Don't be afraid of this class; I don't know why Econ majors hate on it so much it is actually very manageable. In response to a certain negative review, I have never taken this class before nor have I learned the material before. I am really bad at self-teaching but the slides run you through the problems - just do them step by step like the slides and you can figure it out. I put the disclaimer on my STEM background just in case but to be honest I don't think it helped me out at all content-wise.

Disclaimer: Math major here in a calculation based class

This class was truly an experience. Like another reviewer said, the difficulty of this class is mostly up to your TA. Lectures were kinda disorganized with useless handwritten slides, and Zame seems like a nice person but is not that great at explaining concepts. Homework isn't that bad, especially if you attend section/TA OH since they basically give you the answers. Make sure you do them well though since the exams are heavily based off hw questions.

Homework: 25% (drop the lowest from each half of the class)
1 Midterm: 25%, average was about 70/100
Final: 50%

Overall, the class wasn't that difficult thanks to my TA and previous experience with Math 32A. The final grade distributions were pretty generous too, with about 35% of the class getting above A. If you're a math person, then you'll be fine. If not, don't be afraid to attend other discussions to find your favorite TA, they'll be your best friend for the quarter.

The professor wasn't as bad as these ratings posted, however he did make a lot of careless mistakes and confusing notes in lecture. His homework worksheets are very similar to the exams.

I don’t know why undergrads are giving bad reviews to such a nice professor. He is so nice, kind, caring and patient. Although he sometimes go on tangent in class and start talking about irrelevant stories, he is such an interesting person and extremely enthusiastic. He even asks us to call him by his first name, and gives extra lecture on interesting topics. He is so enthusiastic that he send email almost five times a week, haha.

Professor makes tests fair. Makes a lot of mistakes. Didn't really go to lecture and just learned from TAs. You'll probably need 32A to succeed in this class but it's not a prerequisite.

He difinitely changed the way he grades/tests. I'm glad I didn't run away after reading all those terrible reviews below. It's honestly an easy A class now. According to his email 36% got A- or above and 56% got B or above. I wouldn't say the final is super easy but I ended up almost acing the test because he gave a 25 point bonus question lol

This class is not hard at all. In fact, I don't understand why the professor has such a low rating. Professor Zame is an excellent instructor and he is very helpful in answering questions. Some homework problems might be challenging and involve a lot of calculation, but as soon as you know how to compute derivatives and integration and how to solve the equations, you can solve most of the problems without any trouble. The midterms and final are pretty straightforward, and they are super easy compared to the Econ 101 class that I have taken. So please don't be scared by the bad reviews of this professor.

Would highly recommend taking Econ 11 with him! His homework helps prepare you for the tests very well. His lectures are useless, but if you do the homework you should be fine. Put a lot of time and effort into the class and you can do very well. Listen to your TA's!! Andy was amazing and prepares you for the final well.

I was scare to take it with Zame after reading the reviews down below. But he happened to be a decent professor. He is very straightforward with the materials and keeps his words on what he will or will not test you. Just do his weekly HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT and you will be in good shape for both midterm and final. Go to office hours and find a good TA !!! That is the main key to getting A in this class !