tl;dr - fun class, interesting material, a lot of readings, good discussions, meh tests.

The teacher records attendance by having people sign in before class on a piece of paper. Some lectures aren't recorded. The lectures are generally interesting, but Alexander tends to start and stop sentences and be repetitive, which can just get boring after a bit. I kept with it because I thought that the general overarching themes that were being taught and the various important figures we were learning about were really interesting and I found the material engaging. Each week we had readings and had a paragraph response to a relevant question. There were 9 total questions and you only had to turn in 7 of them. Some of the readings were difficult to read and I just scanned them. It didn't hurt my grade. I didn't attend any office hours either, and missed a discussion session. This class is fun if you enjoy history and science and religion, but you have to be committed to taking good notes and reading notes. For the midterm, you define some terms and then write an essay (one of two choices) in 50 minutes. It was a bit tight. The average was I think 93%. The final was more terms and then two essays (of four choices). The prompts were all general enough that you could answer them so long as you knew they key important people and their ways of thinking, along with the general timeline. Dates aren't hugely important, just knowing who came first, then next, etc. I think it'd be better if the midterm and final were take home, but it wasn't awful in person.

Overall I would take this class again.

Professor Alexander was an alright professor, and his class was an "ok" GE. Not my favorite class I've taken at UCLA since it was very Eurocentric and literally only mentioned one female figure (one philosopher's wife) throughout the entirety of the course. Professor Alexander tends to repeat himself quite a lot which is kind of annoying especially since we can't skip ahead 10 seconds in recorded lectures, but the content was pretty interesting. Insightful for learning about how the world has become what it is today, but also meaningless because everything we learn has since been proven false.
This class is pretty much AP European History and it's very easy to get an A. There are around 30 pages of reading assigned each week and you can skip some of them since they're just primary sources. Additionally, you have to write a paragraph answering a question of the week, but you can skip 2 to still get an A in the class. You definitely have to work to study and do well on the exams, but pretty easy if you like history.

Wonderful GE! Absolutely loved taking this class as a distraction from my engineering workload, the lectures are engaging and very well thought out. Prof. Alexander has been teaching for so long that he's got the curriculum down to a T and it's a great experience as such. The weekly readings aren't really necessary for the midterm or final, but if you have time they can be interesting to read through (and they're necessary for homework). Exams aren't that bad, and my TA section with Max Nikol was insightful and fun. I highly recommend this class :)

with my other major classes, this class was a breather for me. we would have discussions on our weekly readings and at the end of the course, we need to write a final research paper about a topic we pick. i am aware i didn't put much effort into the class because my other classes demanded more of my attention, so i could've gotten a better grade than what i got.

Professor Alexander is a great professor as he gives engaging lectures on the topic at hand. i just wish he would help us understand a bit more of the context rather than assume we understand it upfront even when we did the reading.

Really interesting class and no papers. Dr. Alexander was really kind too and gave me an accommodation on the final because I was sick. Josh was a great TA too. There's some reading and writing but it's manageable.

I quite enjoyed taking this class. The content is quite interesting and extremely manageable. Professor Alexander did a great job providing his students with all they needed to know during the lectures, with discussions often going into further detail to help iron out any misunderstandings. Between the final and midterm, I only had to dedicate about two hours to studying. Overall, this is a great GE on an interesting topic that is in my opinion, quite easy. The biggest apparent "con" is that attendance is graded, which in all fairness can either be a pro/con depending on how you look at it.

While this class isn't super engaging, it is not too difficult. The finals and midterms are graded pretty generously, and if you do the weekly reading assignments and paragraph reflections, show up to lecture and discussion, and have a good understanding on the material you should do well. Definitely a good choice for a GE.

Professor Alexander talks in a mellow tone so class was often boring for the majority of students. He has an attendance sheet that he passes around in class for students to sign, but I'm not entirely sure how much that ties into the final grade. The TAs and discussion section were definitely better in explaining the terms though. Standard grading was 93% (aka. 93% was full marks, so to get beyond that you would have to go beyond what is required).

The course is not heavy in workload. There's only one assignment per week that takes about an hour to complete (if you have good reading skills). Be warned that there is A LOT of reading though. Skim reading is vital to the course! All homework is due before the lecture begins.

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