This was the hardest history class I've ever taken as a Senior history major. Not sure if it's because I previously didn't know anything about Ancient Egyptian history, but I took it to learn more about what seemed like an fun subject. The step-by-step weekly requirements on teaching us how to write a research paper was entirely unnecessary and a waste of everyone's time. The midterm and final were unnecessarily difficult, I had never heard of that many people getting D's on a history midterm before. The extra credit assignment was also ridiculous: "write a 5+ page paper and maybe we'll add up to 5 points on your midterm grade." Lectures were hard to follow, I never really knew what themes she was trying to convey, if we were going in chronological order, etc. My expectations were definitely not met, and I have worked hard for grades before so this wasn't just me being lazy trying to get an easy A.

Professor Simpson is a terrible professor. Her lectures are unorganized and are very hard to follow. This class had no structure or focus, it was basically an information dump on various aspects of ancient Egyptian history rather than tell the chronological history of the civilization. I'm a senior history major with some exposure to ancient Egyptian history and this class was a absolute struggle. The lecture before the midterm she ended up repeating a previous lecture for about 15 mins before she realized and rather than turn the lecture into a review; she continued to repeat the SAME lecture for a second time. A lot of people failed the midterm and rather than change her lecture habits she sent a scathing email about how we should change our study habits. Final was cumulative. When many students requested a study guide for the final to better prepare, Simpson refused to provide one sending another email about how we should change our study habits to basically memorize everything ever mentioned in lecture. A class google doc was made to help study for the exam which was basically the lecture notes for the class. NOT HELPFUL. The TAs while nice were basically useless, they didn't/couldn't give any clarity regarding Simpson's lectures or exam material and the TAs wasted a majority of sessions "teaching" a class predominately made up of junior & senior history majors how to write a history research paper. A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. Honestly this class was terrible in terms of structure, clarity, content and did a poor job of telling the rich history of Ancient Egypt. I'm used to working hard for my grades but this was just impossible; I've never had a professor refuse to better structure a course before (even when students are begging for a study guide & are clearly struggling) and I have never had such poorly utilized TAs. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS CLASS AND WOULDN'T EVEN TO MY WORST ENEMY.

Work load is off the roof. Extremely hard grader. Does not believe in giving study guides, is not helpful at all, and goes out of her way to make the class harder. Her power points are not any help. She does not allow the ta's to help the students and gives them strict rules on grading. She expects us to commit our life to this one class, assuming we have no other classes. TA gave pop reading quiz but there is an insane amount of reading so no one did it. Class average for midterm was a D- and she was not willing to curve. Subject is great but tests are long and graded unfairly. Really dont even take this class if you need this. Horrible experience, do not even wish it upon my worse enemy. Good luck!

I was in the same class as the people below me and I honestly don't know what they are talking about. This class was engaging and well organized. Yes, the TAs are really hard graders and I think she learned that after the midterm. A lot of people got marked off on points from the TA and took it to her and she regraded it higher. But all in all I think she is hilarious and I love how she related all of the lectures to pop culture. She is a very good professor. And you should definitely take her if you are at all interested in Egyptology. Even if you aren't it is still a cool class.

In theory, this class should have been very informative and fun at the same time. Realistically, the class was informative, but Simpson expects her students to memorize every small detail for her midterm. The midterm was unnecessarily detail-oriented and hard, but the average was in the high 80's, so I guess it was just me rather than the class as a whole. Grade is based on a raw scale, so there is no curve (whether it may be good or bad for students). There are 2 essays in this class (one is 2000 words and the other is 3000 words). In my honest opinion, I probably could have gotten my point across in 1500 words for both essays, but found myself just adding simple fluff to meet the word limit. Finally, I want to add that this is a Philo GE. There is a reason why I have been putting off this GE for as long as I could. I really detest Philosophy, and I wanted to take this class to learn about the history of Ancient Egyptian Religion rather than exert my own opinions on an academic assignment. It was personally hard for me to really apply myself in a class in which I simply wanted to learn the history and nothing else.

I've never received a B+ in a GE before, but honestly I'll take it for this class. I didn't read any of the required readings and wrote the essays in the night prior. Professor Simpson is what I would describe as a hit or miss professor. Some people love her; some people hate her personality and grading methods. Personally, I didn't like her. Her attitude was a bit brash and she was a bit snarky at times. She was an effective lecturer though, which is hard to find at UCLA these days.

Final Note: Relign M132 and AN N EA M130 are the same class, so this review is for both of those courses.

In theory, this class should have been very informative and fun at the same time. Realistically, the class was informative, but Simpson expects her students to memorize every small detail for her midterm. The midterm was unnecessarily detail-oriented and hard, but the average was in the high 80's, so I guess it was just me rather than the class as a whole. Grade is based on a raw scale, so there is no curve (whether it may be good or bad for students). There are 2 essays in this class (one is 2000 words and the other is 3000 words). In my honest opinion, I probably could have gotten my point across in 1500 words for both essays, but found myself just adding simple fluff to meet the word limit. Finally, I want to add that this is a Philo GE. There is a reason why I have been putting off this GE for as long as I could. I really detest Philosophy, and I wanted to take this class to learn about the history of Ancient Egyptian Religion rather than exert my own opinions on an academic assignment. It was personally hard for me to really apply myself in a class in which I simply wanted to learn the history and nothing else.

I've never received a B+ in a GE before, but honestly I'll take it for this class. I didn't read any of the required readings and wrote the essays in the night prior. Professor Simpson is what I would describe as a hit or miss professor. Some people love her; some people hate her personality and grading methods. Personally, I didn't like her. Her attitude was a bit brash and she was a bit snarky at times. She was an effective lecturer though, which is hard to find at UCLA these days.

Final Note: Relign M132 and AN N EA M130 are the same class, so this review is for both of those courses.

History M103B with Amr was such a great class! Amr provided excellent feedback, was extremely accessible via email and for office hours, and genuinely cared about my growth as a student. Thanks to Amr, I walked away from the class feeling enthusiastic about/invested in the material. Overall, it was a fun, engaging class, and I learned a lot!