Basically, the only thing you can achieve a better grade is to read the textbook again and again because lectures are basically useless. Quizzes are ok, but exams are tough.

Horrible ! Super boring ! Just that.

He's trying out a new online textbook this semester, which explains why things are running so inefficiently (e.g., homework problems given out a day before discussion; textbook super meandering). But it doesn't really explain why his lectures have so little to do with the exams/quizzes (and so boring), and why testing is so much of your grade.

Terrible. Makes mistakes all the time during class when explaining material. Homeworks, quizzes and midterms are unlike anything covered in class, and he genuinely doesn't seem to care about teaching. I suppose he gets paid the same at the end of the day, so why should it matter to him if his students do well or not. Avoid like the plague.

Absolutely horrible professor. Does not care at all about teaching, obviously just doing this to put on his resume. Completely unclear with what is expected in the class and what youll get tested on. The least accommodating and unclear professor I have ever had at USC throughout 4 years. The final contained material that wasnt even in the book.

I took Pizzati's class bc I heard his class was decently easy. In all of my courses at 'SC, I have never felt so confused, unprepared, and baffled. I would read all the assigned readings and even go to office hours for both the TA/Professor. Nothing worked and both the TA and Professor were unwilling to help. Worst professor ever

Horrid professor, i took this class because it was the highest rated Econ 305 Class at the time, but as you can see how that went from the rest of the reviews this semester. No structure in his lesson plans at all, little communication about what is going on, tests were completely different than the homework assigned, mistakes always while teaching

Seems like this professor does not care at all. He's constantly getting confused mid-lecture and being corrected by students. It is almost as if he wings the lectures. Going to the lectures definitely helps, but a majority of the time is spent rambling on about subjects not relevant to the quizzes and midterms. I would avoid this professor for 395.

Worst professor ever. Highly disorganized lectures- makes no ppt, follows no script or whatsoever. Goes on irrelevant tangents for the entire class and ends up covering nothing at all. Thus, this class primarily consisted of self studying and cramming with TAs. Problem sets were useless as he gave us all the answers even before the deadline. AVOID!

If you really want to learn about economics, do not take this class. Lodovico is definitely a very smart man, but does not teach. His lectures are very hard to understand. However, if you want an easy class I would highly recommend! The tests are based entirely on textbook chapters, so attendance is not mandatory and exams are easy.

Pizzati is by far the worst Econ professor I've had at USC. His lectures lack structure and he'll often go through homework during class for the ENTIRE period, without actually managing to explain the theory behind it. Makes mistakes often while teaching and seems to resent having to go through steps in order to explain a problem fully to students.

AVOID. By far the worst professor I have had. Lectures aren't "dry" like some ratings have described. They are complete nonsense and do not prepare you for exams and quizzes. Self-teaching is your only hope for this class, but even then, he'll put detail into exams that he never taught or explained. Failed exams due to this.

Lectures are literally useless. The tests pertain to literally nothing that was said in class. I learned more from google and my one day a week fifty minute SI sessions than from him. Skip. Run. Get out. Save yourself.

Don't go to the lecture. Even if you go, you won't be with him mentally. Professor Pizzati's lecture is illogical and boring, even if he is a nice person. I study on myself by reading the textbook and listen to Ta's lecture. This class is a total waste of time and money. I get to learn very few things in the end.

An awful Professor whose dry lectures and difficult tests make you work hard to get a C. The only good thing about this class comes at the end when you do a stats paper/project that is pretty useful and interesting. Other than that though, if you are looking for a good stats professor, stay clear of Professor Pizzati.

he really sucks. DON'T take him. always showed up late to class and seemed like he really didn't care. also very unorganized and can't teach for his life

Lectures are very confusing. Just talks and talks without a sense of where the class is and Assumes you know the material inside and out during class. does not stop to address difficult concepts. Quizzes and tests are not surprising though, studying from the book will get you by - don't count on lectures to really understand the content.

I can't believe I even have to write this review. Out of my 15+ econ courses, he was the only prof to never talk about what the test would be on or any information on the exams. The exam is in two days and we were given literally nothing. never any emails for the midterms that give us insight, and we never review the tests the class before.

Do not take 305 with Pizzati. Dude offered no concrete examples for problems that would appear on the exam. He'd build the test the night before so you have no idea how to prepare. We never review anything, and his test is full of advanced problems that aren't even executed correctly in lecture, nor are they given on homework assignments. Joke.

Horrible class. Would recommend taking literally anyone else. I don't think I have ever cried so much in class. Have fun doing Excel in class for it to not be allowed on exams, leaving you wondering how to do anything by hand. Lectures taught me nothing and the book barely did. Seriously, what a horrible class.

Horrible teaching style. Never tells you what is going to be on the tests or midterms so you are always left in dark, not knowing what to study for. Although the course has a light workload, when it comes down to the exams, it is unlike anything he has talked about in class. Do not recommend, especially if this is your first semester.

I am so annoyed with Pizzati - he teaches us on excel and then expects us to take his quizzes and midterms on paper. This class is genuinely not easy, especially the second half when it comes to hypothesis testing and regression and taking it with Pizzati makes it 10x worse. Not that USC has a better alternative but just be prepared.

He's a horrible lecturer. He picks a random example from the chapter we're on and spends the whole class on it, making several mistakes and often rushes through concepts. You have to read the textbook to pass. Wording on tests can be weird. TAs are a good resource, but they're not great either. Good class and easy if you're a self-learner.

An absolutely awful professor. Never talks about the material you need to know for the quizzes and exams, and even the textbook doesn't help. The entire class is math based, with the textbook being pretty much all conceptual stuff. Even the TAs are awful, so you're on your own. If you can take the other professor for this class, do it.

Quite possibly the worst communication out of any professor within the department. Class heavily relies on learning from the SI rather than the lectures. Shows up late to class without explanation.

Unless you must, DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR. He teaches about one of the simplest concepts and then tests on 7 concepts never taught. He includes test questions with the intention to trick you instead of teach.

bro cannot teach to save his life but luckily the material isn't very hard and the SI sessions are gold , you don't even really need to go to class if you just go to SI sessions especially if u have nakul malik

I wanted to be fair and write this review once I've finished with the course however, as the person before me said, its ridiculous he's testing us on topics that he hardly went over or squeezed in for the midterm. His lectures aren't the best and I end up doing self studying or learning way more from my TA.

Possibly the worst professor I have ever had. He lectures about one topic and the midterms/quizzes have a ton of things we never went over on them. In addition, he never responds to emails and rarely gets to class on time. In addition, the TAs are also terrible. They grade extremely hard and show up late to teach.

His lectures almost feel pointless to attend because they are completely disorganized and unstructured. He is horrible at explaining even the most simple concepts. He is also often unable to tell the class what will be on tests. Most learning comes from reading the textbook and doing the homework.

He did not seem to care. I would suggest against taking this course.

Was an extremely stressful course, with Professor and TAs who did not care about their students success enough to do diligent work. Told this course would be curved, then it was not. Most of my friends dropped midway through the semester.

The professor informed the class that everything would be curved. This did not happen. The exams were not too difficult but still not able to do well without a curve. It was a very stressful class and the syllabus was changing every few weeks as well so things changed without students knowing.

Was told that the class was going to be curved but a curve was not given. Exams were very difficult and homeworks were the only parts of the class that correlated to the exams. Highly suggest not taking the class unless it is confirmed in the syllabus that a curve will be added.

Can not teach if his life depended on it.

Hands down the worst professor I've ever encountered at USC. Lost my midterm but claimed it was my fault and refused to accommodate. Had to drop the class in April despite having all B+s and As in every single other assignment/quiz in the class. Horrible person in general and lacked any concept of empathy.

In the second half, homework assignments had little to do with the chapter. Then the tests had little to do with the homework assignments. His teaching skills are awful. Your professor is the book. Thankfully the first half of this class was normal, with homework related to the book, and tests related to HW.

TBH I feel it's a shame to pay more than $8,000 for this course. He doesn't seem to care about the students at all—no lecture notes, no slides, and the TA did most of the work for him in this course. If you're considering taking his course, make sure to ask yourself if you're good at self-studying first!!!!!

Do not take if you want to enjoy learning. I would often read the chapters before going to class and his lectures would make no sense. Very unaccommodating, writes on a whiteboard so there are no slides posted. Took AP Micro/Macro in high school and this class was unnecessarily hard to learn from.

This is the only ECON class i have to take for my major, thankfully. By the first lecture, i knew i would have to do a ton of self studying. In lecture, he scribbles pratice problems on the board. its very easy to get confused. He often confuses himself. Tests are straight foward but TA's can be picky. Most dropped early on, avoid if you can!

Though a delightful bloke to speak to, Pizzati isn't the best professor. Rambling, using chalk boards, being disorganized, and never replying to emails are just some of the many flaws with him. Avoid taking Pizzati if you can - you'd rather grab a cup of coffee with him than take his class!

Pizzati is a very nice guy, and sees to be very knowledgeable about economics. However, his abilities as a teacher are not great - he uses a chalkboard, rambles, loves to hear himself talk, and doesn't put in any effort. Avoid Pizzati if you actually want to learn!

****FOR MUIN MAJORS: AVOID AT ALL COSTS**** can't explain how much i suffered in this class. its pretty comical. prof uses a chalkboard. what century are we in?! Just do the Hw, watch youtube vids, and try your best on the test. its not extremely hard content, just frustrating that we had to teach it to ourselves. Good luck soldiers

He doesn't use PowerPoints, he simply writes on the chalkboard, but his handwriting is unreadable. Tests were not too difficult, and there are many of them, but most of my tests were graded incorrectly at first, and I had to fight to improve my grades.

honestly this guy cannot lecture for his life. going to class is a waste of time, just read the textbook. on class content: i took this as a freshman thinking bc a lot of the class is the same as ap stats it'll be easy -- do not be fooled! there are no calculator computations (1propztest and the like) or formula sheets. get ready to study

Doesn't care about teaching or his students. He's lazy about his lectures, posts nothing on Brightspace, and barely knows what's going on. Good class for people who want to skip lecture and self-teach. Exams are similar to the homework problems. Otherwise, he's not worth USC tuition and I'm appalled that USC could hire such an unprofessional guy

First half semester was ok, but the second half was a disaster. He skipped a bunch of content and wasn't clear on whether those would be on the final, simply because he couldn't finish the course. The last lecture was like 45 minutes and he went through a whole freaking chapter with no one understanding what he was saying. TAs are very supportive!

If you want to self-study or have taken econ before, you will be fine. During lectures he rambles on a lot, and will not be super clear of what is on the test. During the first half of the semester, we would do review for the quiz/midterm, but he has rushed the 2nd half of the course so we do not have a review class. There is no curve on any test.

dude just writes on the whiteboard all class and was literally telling me the wrong stuff when I emailed him to ask a question. When I tried to clarify he just didn't respond. I also needed to go to office hours (during the scheduled time mind you) but somehow he was "in another meeting".