Overall I'd say that this class was fairly easy. Weekly quizzes were straight to the point and covered exactly what was in the previous week's chapter and lecture, each containing 5 mc questions and being timed for 5, but soon 6, minutes. As for discussions, we would be put into different breakout rooms where we worked together to write a memo also based on the previous week's topic. Additionally we were required to write a 5 page paper, and my TA did a great job of specifying what we needed to include in order to get a good grade as well as clearing up any further questions in her office hours. Lastly, we had a midterm and a final, both 25 mc questions and timed for 35 minutes. Although the professor’s lectures, the discussion sections, and assigned readings provided great insight into various sociological topics, it became somewhat difficult to fully enjoy due to the constant complaining of slight inconveniences by other students. One of the main things fellow peers would love to complain about is the timing of the quizzes and exams, which I would like to point out had been clearly set by the professor in the syllabus. Many believed that five minutes for five questions wasn't enough time, but as stated before, the quizzes were fairly easy and we're literally based off of stuff directly stated in the textbook. Had the student just came prepared by simply reading the chapter or even just bothered to look over the slides put up by the professor, there would be no reason for them to take up all of the time given for the quizzes. Due to the lingering entitlement, the professor was bombarded with emails asking for additional time which he eventually came through with, but students still found a way to complain even though he wasn't even obligated to give more time. As harsh as it is to say, many have failed to realize that college classes and professors won't always accommodate your wants, this is the real world afterall, and not everything is going to go your way. Another problem many people had was with the actual questions in the weekly quizzes, midterm, and final exam. Many believed they were hard to understand because of the wording, however many also failed to accept that had they read the answers more carefully, one could note the slight variation between the right answer and those that were wrong, therefore allowing them to pick the correct answer and getting the points. With this out of the way, I would recommend this class, as the workload is highly manageable and easy to complete and the topics discussed by Professor Villarreal and the textbook are clear, fascinating, and eye opening.

Due to COVID, class was asynchronous, a huge hit especially for such a discussion based class. Villarreal really tries his best and I also took his honors seminar to get some sort of live class, but it really just isn’t the same watching lectures and reading the textbook alone. Not a hard class by any means, very simply structured with weekly quizzes, an essay, participation (group memos in discussion), and the two exams. I wish there was a bit more padding in the grade because some exam questions are quite tricky (pay attention to lecture and the book!) and the essay was pretty vague, so I’d suggest to try your best with the weekly quizzes. Villarreal is a sweet and kind professor and I wish I could have taken this class in person!

This quarter was Prof. Villarreal's first quarter here, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I went in thinking that there would be a lot of reading, but pretty easy tests and essays, but it actually turned out to be almost the opposite. The only homework was reading the textbook chapter for the week, watching the async lectures, answering an embedded lecture question, and taking a quiz. Overall, very light workload. Since this was my first async lecture, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, I felt that there was an overall lack of communication from the professor; he basically only sent emails for the midterm, essay, and final. As others have stated, there wasn't really a rubric that the TAs graded the essay on, which was unfair. I think prof will benefit to provide a TA for them to use next time to grade essays so students have a clearer understanding of what he wants. If he does not, make sure to attend TA office hours and figure out what your TA wants.
The weekly quizzes were fairly simple, although the midterm did not necessarily reflect those weekly quizzes. There were quite a few confusing questions (either worded strangely or otherwise), and some that you would not have known if you did not read the textbook thoroughly. I didn't think that the rule that you couldn't go back to your previous questions was too bad, although it did add some additional stress. Honestly, I think I stressed out about this GE more than needed, but he wasn't a terrible professor. If you can time manage for quizzes/tests and read the textbook thoroughly, it shouldn't be too bad.

A pretty easy class, but felt pretty disconnected since it was async. Workload was very minimal, just watch the lectures, take the weekly quiz, and write a short group paragraph during discussion. Tests were easy if you just make a study guide with terms and concepts that he put on the slides.

My lectures were online recorded, so I did not interact much with the professor. There was two multiple choice midterms (no final), one 5- paged essay, and each week there was a group memo and a discussion. Instead of just knowing the definition of the vocabulary, you have to properly apply the terms.

Overall Vibe: I had a positive experience in Soc 1 with Dr. Villarreal. It was quite a large lecture with at least 200 seats. Soc 1 is a required pre-requisite for sociology majors, and I'd feel confident recommending soc majors or pre-majors take it with Dr. Villarreal. However, I would not recommend this course to non-soc majors just looking to knock out a GE; I think you could find a slightly more engaging and topical course that is less theoretical. The lectures are not highly engaging, and as suggested by some of Dr. Villarreal's other reviews he is not the most "thrilling" lecturer, but he gets the job done. Soc 1 content is just dry and theoretical in general, nothing you can do to avoid that.

Exams: 1 midterm & 1 final, both in-person and closed-notes, all multiple choice. I thought the difficulty of these tests was perfectly reasonable. I managed to earn an 84% on the midterm without studying at all. I studied for the final for about 3-4 hours and earned a 93% (missed 1 or 2 questions). I was still able to earn an A in the course despite these scores. I'm sure if you put in the effort and studied more than I did, you'd ace both the midterm and final. Note that I attended every single lecture and took thorough notes, which surely helped me on the exams. If you do not attend lecture, you will have a challenging time in the class.

Readings: We were assigned textbook readings each week. They were extremely dry and I stopped doing them after week 2. Dr. Villarreal covers all of the important information from each reading in his lecture material. So, go to lecture, take notes, and you will not need to complete the textbook readings. There were 1 or 2 academic articles assigned throughout, I would recommend at minimum skimming them because he did ask 1-2 questions on the exams directly from the articles.

Papers: 1 paper graded by your T.A. It was short and straightforward, I believe 5 pages double spaced. Earned a solid A and did not have difficulty answering the prompt or incorporating the lecture material into my paper.

Participation: Participation is only graded in your discussion section, so attending section is mandatory! However, I view this as a positive because it provides an extra cushion for your grade and also is a great environment to reinforce your learning from lecture. My T.A. prepared us very well for the exams by holding in-depth reviews during the class before the exams. In addition to just showing up for discussion, we had to submit a small written reflection after each section in which we collaborated for the last 15 minutes of discussion with 2-3 other classmates to answer a quick prompt related to what we were learning that week. As long as you put in an iota of thoughtfulness and submit same-day, you will get full points on these reflections. Word count requirement was 300.

Additional advice: Take the Honors 89 seminar!! I LOVED the seminar far more than the lecture. There were only about 10 students, so it was discussion based and a nice small learning environment. I feel I was pushed to engage in much more critical thinking than in the lecture. Dr. Villarreal was an excellent discussion leader and created a positive learning environment. We read really interesting studies each week. I wrote a separate review of this course that you should read if interested. Also, Dr. Villarreal was flexible and understanding in my experience: I got quite sick with a flu before the final and he was very willing to reschedule it for me without making a big hassle or asking for medical documentation.

Key takeaways:
-Dr. Villarreal seems like a kind & respectful instructor (see my sickness experience above)
-I would recommend this course to sociology majors & pre-majors, but not to those just looking for a GE (mostly because you could find something more interesting, not because the class is "bad" or "too difficult")
-You do not need to complete textbook readings if you attend lecture
-Lecture attendance is not technically mandatory, but I would very very strongly recommend it
-Attending discussion section is mandatory
-Grading of papers was perfectly reasonable
-Difficulty of exams was perfectly reasonable (again, as long as you attend lecture)
-If you have any interest in social science research, take the additional honors seminar that goes with this course!

I took this class asynchronously with an in-person discussion. Honestly, it was pretty easy. The class is based on a textbook and the professor's lectures basically repeated everything from the readings. I found the tests to be fairly easy by taking detailed notes on the readings and reviewing them the night before, as well as going through the TA's practice questions. There were 2 midterms and no final, and the midterms were not cumulative! The midterms themselves were pretty simple, just multiple choice asking about concepts from the readings on a somewhat basic level. The readings though were a bit long and could take me a long time to get through, but given that it was just 1 chapter a week and a few lecture videos, the workload was really low and I could knock everything out in a day. My TA was Roxanne and she was super nice! Really lenient with the discussion assignments and very approachable.

This class was very straightforward and I enjoyed it. The professor was great, the exams were fair (pretty much made up of the material on his slideshows), and you did not need to read the textbook which I appreciated. My TA was very clueless so that did make the class a little difficult for me, but the topics of the class were very easy to learn on your own, without help from the TA. There is very little work and only one paper. Highly recommend taking this class.

WORST COURSE EVER. This class was soooo bad I do not think I have ever been more bored, clueless, and disappointed in a class than I was in this one. I remember asking him for help on how to improve my grade after the first midterm TANKED my grade and he said "Oh I do not know your grade so I cannot help you maybe ask your TA?" When I asked my TA she said to ask him. This class consisted of 2 midterms and a final paper (which was graded very harshly by my TA despite her saying it was a "easy paper" ,and "I cannot grade a personal paper about racism harshly." Then I emailed both my professor and TA because I spent a ton of time studying for this DIABOLICAL course just for both of them to never reply. Villarreal seems sweet at first but after some time you come to realize that a professor that is unhelpful, has poor teaching skills, and turns exams into riddles cannot be that nice. If you are thinking of taking this class with him I pray for you and as the weeks pass you by I'm sure you will begin to see the enormous lecture hall become more and more empty.