I think this was a really good class and I'm glad I took it. I actually think this class is harder than people in the other reviews make it out to be, especially post covid. I thought his exams were pretty challenging and require studying and practice for sure. An A will not come easy, most of my friends got A- despite putting in a good amount of effort. His exams are open textbook and open notes on the computer so maybe people cheated but I'm not sure. Overall, Professor Karlan is a great lecturer and extremely knowledgable. He's one of the professors I respect a lot at UCLA and I would recommend this class.

This class is a cakewalk. There's no HW. The professor highlights the concepts that are important in class. The tests are open book/open notes. If you study the key concepts, do the test review he releases, understand how to use the excel spreadsheets, and go over the chapter questions (not the problems he assigns, just the explanation questions at the start of each chapter) you'll ace the tests. You can put a minimal amount of work and do great. Plus the class is relevant and interesting. Would recommend.

This class was very interesting and had basically no workload. Prof Karlan has a lot of experience in the field and talked about his personal experience in the real estate industry. To study for the exams, it is best to actually pay attention in lecture and also play around with the excel spreadsheets he provides. Not much studying is needed at all (the book questions are a waste of time IMO)

Grading is as follows:
Participation: 10%
Midterm: 30%
Final: 60%

The curve is generous as well. I got a high 80s raw score on both the midterm and final and got an A.

Overall this class was informative and good but a bit boring. Professor Karlan and the 2 TA's are very helpful. He has a lot of experience in the real estate world so he will often talk about the previous work he has done. The class is structured with him discussing real-world issues pertaining to the lecture and then reading off of a summary of the chapter. He really wants all of his students to succeed which is great. I imagine in person the class would be a bit more entertaining, but in an online interface, it can be a bit boring.