It is important to know what to expect coming into this class. Lu's notes are extremely helpful but very detailed, so its easy to just lose information in them. His lectures can be important, but they just reiterate the notes and therefore are not super useful. The midterm and final are very not intensive (consisting of 25 multiple choice questions and around 5 free response questions that made up 75% and 25% of the test, respectively). They are straight from the notes so take as much time as you can making sure you have all of them memorized, it is a lot. Also not many practice questions so do the ones in the notes over again. Class is manageable, just not a ton of room for error.

As much as I would love to say Professor Lu was great and amazing, I will not lie. He is an amazing individual who you can connect with to steer you in a direction revolving accounting, finance, consulting, etc. but he is by far the WORST lecturer in the Accounting Minor Program. My issue with Professor Lu is the strenuous PAGES OF NOTES he assigns weekly. While some pages we covered in MGMT 1A/1B, it just feels overwhelming when studying for the exams. The midterm was solid for me, above average and decent but the FINAL was a creature I believe none of us saw coming. He claims we should use his notes to study but his notes for the final exam were almost 200 pages worth of coursework to review which felt mind-gobbling. The final exam this quarter had a big chunk of information that were in some notes that he didn't exactly go over or he wanted us to focus on a specific formula when it came to that topic. I am saddened because I will have to take this class again, but more so because I manipulated myself into thinking it would be okay to take this class with Professor Lu. :(

If you wish to take Professor Lu, be ready to take a CPA Review course filled with over 100-200 pages worth of notes.

Of the accounting professors you can take for MGMT 120A, Ming Lu is definitely not on the easier side. That being said, Prof Lu's class is very helpful and Ming Lu is a great professor. He truly cares about his students and their knowledge of accounting. The course is great for those looking to take the CPA exam and although it covers a ton of accounting topics, it will reward you greatly if you stick with the course. Your grade will almost be entirely dependent on your midterm and final, which makes the workload not bad until preparing for exams. If you attend lectures and keep up with weekly homework problems, you will do just fine in this class. I would definitely recommend this class and Professor Lu.

Before looking at the rest of my (or anyone else's) review, please understand that Mgmt 120A and 120B are NOT EASY. Most people who take these classes are planning to complete the Accounting Minor and pursue a CPA license, so naturally it's not going to be easy. If you're not willing to put in work, you WILL NOT succeed in these two classes. That's not to say that if you're not planning to become a CPA, you shouldn't take these classes - in fact, given how useful the materials in these two classes are, I would encourage everyone to take them, regardless of your major or professional aspirations. But again, it's NOT an easy class, and if you want to do well, you HAVE TO put in the work.

That being said, Professor Lu is an incredibly caring Professor - he was always happy to answer any questions I had with class, and he never hesitated to give career advice based on your personal future aspirations. It's pretty evident how much he cares about teaching his students, especially since his notes are extensive and absolute PERFECTION.

The secret to doing well in his class is to really study the notes extensively, do all the practice problems and UNDERSTAND THEM, and ask clarifying questions if you have trouble understanding certain concepts. These things are essential since the class is completely exam-based: 10% quiz, and 90% midterm and final (can't remember the exact distribution). If you don't understand the concepts and don't get comfortable with doing problems under time-constraint, you won't do well in the class since the exams are pretty time-tight. However, if you put in the work, practice the textbook problems, and make sure to truly understand each concept, you will get a good grade.

For those who want to take the CPA, professor Lu will prepare you for it in this class better than anyone else can. You just need to be willing to put in the effort. This class is not easy, and you will have to study quite a bit, but if you've come this far, you're pretty much set on being an accounting minor and getting your CPA, so no reason to not study anyways. If you don't want to get a CPA, I wouldn't recommend you take this class. Go to lecture, make good study habits and study every day, even if just a bit. You won't memorize everything if you don't. I may not have done well in this class, but the blame lies solely on me, which is why I'm more than happy to give it a good rating.

Before coming into class, brush up on your accounting basics from 1A and 1B, you'll need it for the accounting fundamentals quiz (which is very easy if you know 1A 1B material well).

Beyond the class, Professor Lu is a great mentor and always prioritizes his students. He wants his students to succeed, and also wants to stay in touch after the class. Take Professor Lu, you won't regret it.

I worked hard, but it's still very hard.
It would help if you are already preparing for CPA.
Midterm & Final make up most grade

Professor Lu is truly invested in his students' success in his class and into their careers. With that being said, he is not one to give out easy A's. The class averages on exams were generally around 80-85%, so definitely manageable if you keep up with lectures and do the optional assigned textbook problems. There was never any unexpected material on exams, so I found them to be fair. What separates Professor Lu from other teachers is his emphasis on career opportunities and willingness to be a networking resource and inform his students via his YouTube channel. Overall I highly recommend Professor Lu, but keep in mind Intermediate Accounting is naturally challenging.

I would recommend taking this class with Lu if you want to be prepared for the CPA exam. He really scares the class on the first day with how hard the course is but the difficult thing about the class is the amount of information we have to know. The content itself is not very difficult as long as you keep up with the material. He always says our brains are going to explode if we try to cram all of the information. But it is extremely beneficial to know all of this information because it will all be on the CPA exams. He doesn't go over information that is lightly tested on the CPA exams but still provides it for us. His exams are extremely fair and straightforward but you have to make sure you know everything in the notes, even some of the smallest details. There is no curve but he does give flex points and small extra credit for doing the course review. Lu makes an effort to know each person in his class and truly cares about his students success. He does cold call on students in class which can be stressful but it was a real motivator for me to keep up with my work. He also emphasizes how important your MGMT 1A and 1B foundations are which made me nervous because I hadn't taken them in a while before this class but I felt he reviewed those topics enough in his notes that I didn't have to do much review of the past classes on my own. To study I summarized all of his notes on a separate document and then handwrote all of the summaries and practice problems from the notes. You can succeed in the class by dedicating the time. It is a lot of work but it is completely manageable if the other classes you are taking aren't also super time consuming or if you truly make the effort.

He is one of the best accounting professors in UCLA. He tries a lot to clarify problems and answer questions from the students. Exams were straight forward if you know how to solve homework and in-class problems.

Professor Lu gave us all the notes for his class, which was nice of him. Online lectures are given via Zoom, and he doesn't post them online afterwards, but attendance isn't mandatory, and if you only study off of the notes, you technically could do fine.
You have to buy the online textbook to take the midterm and final, which was annoying.

The grades were 10% quiz (taken early week 1 to test your knowledge), 40% midterm, 50% final. Like all accounting classes, you'll probably have to work hard and study a lot no matter what, so, I mean, it could be worse.