ECON 3720

Worst class ever in my college career. I don't know even what the professor looks like after a whole semester. There are only dry video recordings that made me fall asleep. Gradings are arbitrary, while work is elementary school level.

This class is a trainwreck for most ECON majors, but Chalak does his best to make it bearable, especially in the pandemic. The breakdown was: midterm [30%], 6x problem sets [10%], 3x quizzes (MC) [20%], final [40%]. Everything was open-note and open for much longer than I thought it would be. I feel like I can't fault Chalak too much because he really tries sometimes. The class is a little disorganized and all over the place. There's not much communication between him and the TAs, nor him with the students. The last 3 weeks of the semester felt like he was trying to cram in things like the last few problem sets and quizzes. Although, I can definitely say most of the other comments below are pretty accurate. In addition, exam scores seemed VERY high, averaging a high B. The textbook is your best friend when it comes to exams.

Much more of a STAT class than an ECON one. Lectures are very heavy on proofs for why variables are related or how equations can be expressed, but they don't always make it easier to understand the thought behind them. Large amounts of the material aren't very relevant unless you're doing postgrad in economics/related fields. Chalak rarely uses STATA and you're much better off just finding a free version online or splitting the cost with friends in the class.

There are problem sets due most weeks, the non-STATA problems can be brutal to stay focused on but grading is extremely lenient. Quizzes were worth 20% of our grade, but we only had 3 the entire semester and the last two were thrown in near the end of the semester. Exams were treated like regular assignments (i.e. open lecture/text, multiple days to work on) and could be submitted at your convenience before the deadline, which was great for scheduling.

3720 is known as something of a train wreck for a reason. That said, I do think Chalak is a decent guy who tries to make the course more bearable -- and generally gets it right.

Professor Karim has got to be the best econometrics professor, definitely take this course with him!! Truly is very generous and explains concepts very well!

Bless Chalak’s soul. He is a fantastic guy who id definitely recommend taking econometrics with. Yes, the course material is brutal, but Chalak does a lot to help you. The problem set questions are all online for one so they’re meant to be grade boosters. The quizzes are tricky, but doable. And the exams are very similar to the problem sets, in fact I think they’re slightly easier. I personally am terrible at statistics so I knew it was an uphill battle for me coming into this course as an Econ major. After the midterm my goal just became to get a C+ so i could pass the course. Thankfully I took this for credit and ended up with a low B- (exceeding my expectations) so that was a major helper. I think the TA’s grade harshly but they also curve the exams quite a bit because I did decently well on them for having such little knowledge about the course. My final comment is here is to not stress. If you put in any effort the lowest you’ll get is a C/C+. Chalak understands that this class kills a lot of Econ majors so he told us his grading breakdown, which is 30 percent of the class gets in the A range, 40 in the B range, and 30 in the C range. What this means is that you’d have to be a truly terrible student for him to give you worse than a C. I don’t think the other econometrics professors are as generous with their grading scale as Chalak is. Definitely take this with him.

From what I can tell, Professor Chalak seems like a pretty decent guy, and he's definitely better than Missioner. However, the course is by no means an easy A. You can do well on the problem sets if you check your answers online, and compare your work with others. It's the quizzes and tests that are hard. The quizzes are meant to stump you- they're almost all trick questions. And the TA's grade the tests extremely harshly, so you gotta go back and review where you got marked off so you can see if you actually missed a concept, or if they're just docking you for nit-picky things. Very possible to pull out a B if you put in the work. I recommend reading the textbook because a lot of the questions he asks on the tests will come straight from the book, rather than his own lectures.

**I recommend William Chenelaut as a TA- he was awesome.

If you are a STAT/ECON major and need to take Econometrics definitely take it with Chalak. Having read the horror story reviews of other professors I knew I had to take this course with Chalak. Grading consists of 6 problem sets (10%) none of which are that challenging, 3 multiple choice quizzes (20%), a midterm (30%) and a final (40%). Both exams were fair and I didn't at all feel blindsided by the questions Chalak asked. Additionally, he gave use all of the complex formulas on the tests so you didn't have to waste unnecessary time memorizing them. Chalak is a great professor and frequently stops during lecture to allow for questions he also puts very little emphasis on the use of STATA. Despite this, I certainly learned a lot and I can confidently say that Econometrics is the most useful econ class I have taken so far.

Professor Chalak was very knowledgeable and definitely willing to help. More focus on concepts of the subject matter than on the use of STATA.

Definitely do not take this unless you are majoring in Econ. Chalak is definitely the best econometrics professor though, mostly because he doesn't really care too much about STATA stuff. Not an easy course, but I'd be willing to bet he is the easiest professor for this course.

Obviously Econometrics is a difficult course but Chalak is a great professor so it balances out

If you have to take econometrics, take it with Chalak

Definitely take this class with Chalak. He knows his stuff really well, but most importantly, he is really good at answering questions. He goes through a lot of proof-based material, which I'm not sure is necessary, but if you're good at Stats you'll be fine with it. Besides that, he prepares you well for his tests, and he's a smart guy!

Don't take it unless you have to.

This is far and away the best professor for this class. I know many people who have take the class with other professors, and they had horrible experiences. This class is mostly proof based and has little to do with STATA. So if you aren't interested in learning advanced computing software this is the class for you. The only hard part is that the exams are really heavily weighted-- the first midterm is 37.5% and the final is 42.25% of your grade.