Horrible. Don't take him. Find another Professor...

Wow where to begin... Um Zame is probably one of the worst lecturers in the Econ Department. His Homework Assignments are like Calculus Assignments, and he doesnt teach you how to do them in lecture. In fact, sometimes he'll assign assignments that he hasnt even gone through in lecture. He'll justify this by putting a shitty slide on the course website to "help" you with the homework. These hw assignments have caused me plenty of grief, and if you want any sleep on your Wed nights, I'd advise not taking this class. The Class was not curved, and so many people failed the Midterm, so Zame had to make the final easier so that people got decent scores. Here's the breakdown on scoring, and personally I find that it WAS FAIR. But all the stress involved with this class makes it so shitty...

A+ 14 (5.36%)
A 48 (18.39%)
A- 16 (6.13%)
B+ 16 (6.13%)
B 53 (20.31%)
B- 18 (6.9%)
C+ 17 (6.51%)
C 29 (11.11%)
D 23 (8.81%)

F 27 (10.34%)

I agree with the person below who scored a 91 on the test. I too scored a 91 and I was ranked like #10 in the class and I spent hours and hours on the homework. The only way to pass this class is to KNOW how to do the homework, then you'll do fine on the test. BUT Zame does a poor job teaching you how to do the homework. AND HIS CLASS IS NOT CURVED. Unless you are a self-motivator and like to study on your own, avoid this class. I heard he doesn't give a f**k because he has tenure. all the more reasons to avoid this class. and yeah he is comparable to bruce brown, but his class is WAY easier than Zame's tests.. if you take this class, good luck! reading the text doesnt help either its very dry....

I took several classes with terrible professor. However, Prof. Zame is the worst in my life. BAD LECTURE BAD TEST BAD HOMEWORK. You cannot learn about anything from him. My suggestion : 1. NEVER TAKE HIS CLASS. 2.Choose good TA so s/he will help you. My TA was terrible too so because of them, my quarter was really bad. I hate that I am breathing with them...

I got a 91 on the midterm which was ranked 10 out of 268 students...that is how hard this class is.

Zame's class is relatively hard...and he is a terrible lecturer. I will recommend this class to people who can study on their on...but if you're the type that learn materials in class, postpone taking Econ 11 and wait for other professors. Overall, one of the worst professors who is comparable to Bruce Brown. However, Bruce Brown's classes are easier than Zame's. Oh well UCLA start firing these professors.

Im sure Zame is a brilliant researcher, however, when it comes to teaching, he is one of the worst professors I've ever had.
Even if Zame was "trained to speak professional", u can never truly hear his voice, even when he uses his microphone. Zame knows his stuff, but he does not actually convey this knowledge to the class. I wouldnt care as much if this was a non-curved class, but unfortunately, the average was a D on his midterm, and hes not curving it.
I am generally an A student and I scored a B- on the midterm, which is actually in the top 20% of the midterm scores. The homework is currently buffering my grades, but homework has taken me hours and hours and hours to finish each week. Zame does not teach his students how to actually do the homework. He will teach about the whole concept theoretically, which is great, but then he expects his theory to translate into calculus without the help of a complete example. Many times he will lay out a problem, then say "then if you solve it..." and then writes the solution. No explanation whatsoever. When the homework comes around, you will need to figure out his enigmas by yourself (Even my TA didn't know how to solve some of his questions).
I don't know what my final grade is, but even if i get an A, its because i learned the stuff from my TA or by myself, not Zame. Econ 11 is already a difficult class. Zame makes it worse.
I would highly recommend not taking this professor. If you do, take it with friends, so you can help each other, and vent about him to each other.

this class is not too bad..econ 11 is just a hard topic in general but the hwk is such a big part of ur grade and as long as u go to office hours u can get 100's on them all. the tests are challening but i know people who got A's. its not impossible.

Literally the WORST professor i have ever had. i would rather cut off my right arm than take another class with him. i cannot imagine a more terrible, unnecessarily difficult way to teach the class. His lectures were impossible to follow and taught vague, impractical concepts which had nothing to do with the impossible, insanely long homework. none of the TAs could figure out the hmw. i went to multiple discussions and office hours for multiple TAs EVERY WEEK and still got a D on the midterm. after studying like crazy. and i'm not stupid... i got above average. and HE'S NOT CURVING THE TEST OR CLASS. WTF? is that legal?

SERIOUSLY avoid this fool like the plague. i will have nightmares about him for the rest of my life.

Haha.... I have never written a negative comment about a professor in my life, that is until I met Zame.... Where do I start.... For midterms, I made it into the top 20 percent of the class, but my grade is a C... If I had taken any other professor, I would have safely gotten an A, or at the very least a B+. But prof Zame is unique in this sense, he doesn't believe in curves in the universe. He might be stubbornly smart or deliberately stupid, but he refuses to go into details and he doesn't even care if we understand. Try asking him a question, and you end up more confuse than before. No one understands him!!! If u you do, you're in luck, I know a couple of guys willing to pay $50 an hour for tuition.

What really got me worked up is after attending every single class, and doing every piece of brain hemorrhage inducing homework, I admit I have learned nothing from Zame. Don't get me started on the TAs, office hours are suppose to be a time you can ask specific questions and at least get a minute of individual attention, but no! It turns out to be just another TA session, with close to twenty people turning up and the TA starts repeating what he has taught during his class. You can't rely on TAs or the professor, who can you turn to? Friends of course. My last hope was to ask around friends who have taken the course, turns out Zame is not teaching us Economics, but an alien language that even my friends who are graduating with straight As could not decipher.

Lets be frank here, I really don't care what kind of chocolate your gf buys, what your hot dog preferences are, or the transitive properties of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream. And unless you do, DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR. Zame writes in a red marker on the board doing jibberish math for hours on end until someone raises their hand and corrects his nonsense. I got PRESCRIBED for this class. Yes, it's true, i now wear glasses. But that still doesn't help in reading his bloody chicken scratches five hundred people away.
Seriously, all i think about in this class is pulling up his saggy pants while i have a migraine from squinting to copy down his never-ending algebra.
The boook? useless
Lecture? pointless
midterm? NOT CURVED. more people got Ds and Fs than A Bs and Cs combined, and the stubborn man still wont curve it.
oh and hw? thats SUPPOSED to "buff up" your grade. but dont cry when you lose points for a miniscule response that was never asked about in the question and you spent countless hours, (average of 18 pages of math for me) per week.
It wasn't so much that the problems were THAT BAD, but the way the test was graded was horrifying. Partial credit was miniscule, and there was no mercy for inevitable algebra errors.
Seriously, if it wasnt for my TA, seth, I think I as well as a couple dozen of us would've just DIED. I worship this man, hero, and kind soul who made our descend to hell less painful.
And im not bitter because i did bad. I was well above the mean score thank you sweet baby jesus, but still nowhere close to where I wanted to or deserved to be.
Students even shook hands with the ta saying "nice knowing you, but im dropping class" (and that was eighth week when scores finally came out)
I wish luck to MYSELF for getting into bus econ; however, Zame has single handedly crushed the dreams of countless talented individuals....may you not be one.
Personally, I believe satan has embodied Zame and is testing us here on planet earth. Thanks a lot God, the jokes over-- I want my sanity back.