Although the class itself isn’t horrible, the grading scheme is. The midterm is worth 40% of your grade as well as the final. I only took this class for my major and I would not take it again. The tests were very specific to the textbook and overall was too hard for what it should be. The professor was not bad but should take into consideration changing the grading scheme or even offering extra credit.

Avoid this class if u can. There’s such few assignments that if u miss like 2 points it drops ur grade a lot since everything is graded out of 7 points. No extra credit assignments offered and midterm wasn’t bad but u had to know the lecture slides good to do well. I didn’t like how u don’t even get to see ur midterm exam after it’s graded but whatever. He started passing around an attendance sheet week 3 I’m not sure if he’s gonna continue that but attendance counts for 5% of ur grade. Overall, the professor as a person is great and was openly available after class but the assignment scale grading was absolute garbage.

This class was way too hard for a GE. The midterm killed any chance at getting an A. Though it was open note, the questions were super specific and they were super nit-picky about the free-response ones. Like you had no idea what they actually expected you to write. The class was not engaging and it felt like being forced to watch a very boring YouTube video.

The professor and my TA definitely were knowledgeable on the subject. Perhaps my final assessment is that this would be a good class for someone genuinely interested in the subject, otherwise, you are bored and frustrated out of your mind. I cannot imagine taking this in person and having to memorize dates, primate teeth, digestive tracks, what kind of tools neanderthals used, and so forth. But if you're into that, this is the class for you.

I would not take this class again. The content was interesting but there are such few assignments (no extra credit) that if you get a B or lower on midterm 1 your fate is sealed. I barely skimped out an A- barely! This class ended up being more stressful than my other classes and I am a STEM major. He needs to learn to either put more assignments or curve, not an easy A class if you have more than 3 classes to take a quarter. TONS of reading

Like everyone has said, the overarching issue were the exams. Not only were they 80% of your grade, all the exams were super specific on content and it was just difficult overall to memorize everything all at once within a period of 10 weeks. There was also zero guidance on how to study for the exams. While the TA’s did have some worksheets available, most of it was really broad compared to the specificity on the tests. Additionally, Professor Wood read off his sixty plus slides for the majority of the lectures and made it really hard to stay alert during class.

However, Professor Wood was accommodating when people had COVID and was responsive when I emailed him about what I was dealing with. And without the TA’s, the course would have definitely been harder. I needed this course for my major but I highly recommend taking it online as I have heard that exams were open note, which would make your life 10x less stressful with all the information given. Overall, this class would have been better without his strict grading scheme. Content was interesting-ish LOL but wouldn’t recommend this as a GE.

So i actually had him for human behavioral ecology but nonetheless, i do not recommend taking any of his classes. He gives out so few assignments so that your grade is heavily based on what you get on midterm or final and he doesn’t even let you see what questions you got wrong to try and get a better score. He’s also a very lazy grader and it took him until week 9 to publish the midterm that we took week 3. He’s ok lecturer but he doesn’t bruincast and said attendance wasn’t mandatory but then started counting in the middle of the quarter?????? Finally, his exams aren’t that bad upfront but the mean for both of them was a 70% with no curve .

The professor isn't terrible, but the strictness surrounding exams and grades was insane. Professor Wood made it virtually impossible to take exams online, even when COVID-19 was running rampant through the student body. I attempted to take the final exam online because I had come down with COVID-19 the day before, and I received no reply from the professor. There were no make-up exams, and there were no online exams unless approved by the professor (and like I said, it was virtually impossible to get approved). I, along with many others, ended up having to take the final exam while positive for COVID-19. The entire lecture hall was coughing and sniffing, and though I do not fault anyone for coming in to take the exam seeing as we had no other choice, it was a horrible health hazard.

As for the grading scheme, the midterm average was 70%, and because one student scored 100%, there was no curve. I do not know the average for the final exam, but I have heard that my classmates generally do not feel good about their grades. This grading scheme is far too harsh for a class many take as a GE.

This class covers interesting material -- human evolution, archaeology, and primates. The class was offered in person, and both the midterm and the final were given in person. The class closely follows the textbook. As other students have commented, the final and the midterm were each worth 40% of the grade, which means you have to focus your efforts on studying the book to get an A in the class. One reviewer here said you could not take the midterm or the final online, but this is BS. You could definitely take either the final or the midterm online if you were not cleared to come to campus because of COVID symptom survey app. I took the final online because I had a positive COVID test. I know that many of us took the test online. This class is GE class but also a STEM class and there is lots of material to cover -- 7 million years of human evolution results in lots of findings.

Professor Wood is the most boring prof I have had at UCLA yet. He reads directly off the speaker notes on his slides and is not enthusiastic about what he teaches. There is one midterm and one final, each worth 40% of your grade. The other 20% is easy to get full credit as it consists of discussion attendance and online inquisitive assignments. The tests were absolutely horrible. There is so much information covered in class, and he gives no guidance on what to study. It's all memorization but the content is so heavy it's impossible to remember everything. The class avg on tests was a C, and he did not curve because ONE person (out of hundreds) got a 100%. With tests being worth so much, even getting a B on the midterm makes it virtually impossible to get an A in the class. Tests were in person, and he made it extremely difficult to accommodate those positive for COVID. Overall worst class and professor I have taken.

This class is pretty easy, content is pretty much what you would expect taking an anthro evolution class. Except the grading is completely unfair. 40% midterm and 40% final would’ve been alright if there were two midterms to adjust an average score. I studied hours for this class because there’s no study guide, well they only provided one for the final which was literally pictures and just a chart (not helpful at all). Prof curved the grade based on highest overall grade but there’s always someone who aces the class so there’s essentially no curve. It’s just upsetting having aced stem courses but yet failed a GE. Make it make sense, change the grading scale or provide weekly quizzes or something for your next class won’t suffer. He’s a cool guy, but wasn’t understanding at all for everyone who emailed him about curving the grade for a good portion to not fail.