Professor Kirkland is easily the best lecture professor I've ever had. Each of his lectures are through and well thought. Every sentence matters, he is incredibly engaging, and the lectures are quite inspiring. He also answers questions after class and is alway there during office hours for deeper dives into course materials. I highly recommend taking a course with him!

History isn't really my forte but this class is definitely well suited for those who don't like history but are okay with rote memorization. Aside from mandatory attendance in the discussion, coming to the lectures isn't that necessary as the exams consist of memorizing certain pictures and vocab words but all of them will be provided and you'll know exactly what to study. There are no surprises on the exams and everything about the course is very straightforward plus the prof is pretty cool and is very inviting and helpful during office hours. If you're willing to cram memorize before every exam and write two short papers, this class isn't that much work and is definitely easier than most.

It's just an interesting and easy GE. Professor Kirkland is a really interesting, engaging lecturer, and the readings were also fun to read. The tests were easy. Almost all of it was simple memorization, like key terms, object and passage identification, and, on the final, a simple map and long answer question.
My TA was actually Professor Kirkland, which might have been why I had such a good experience in this class. Getting to interact with him more closely in discussion was super cool and gave me a deeper understanding of topics we discussed in class. Also, he's a chill grader. I'm still riding that high from when he called me a good writer, and it's been months.
Grades are based on participation, two short and easy papers that give you a lot of freedom, a midterm, and a final.
If you're even a little interested in classics, take this class!

Prof. Kirkland is an AMAZING person who is so excited to teach his students about Greek History, which is probably the reason that I enjoyed the class without having any background knowledge in anything Greek really. He speaks eloquently and really does try his best. Just like any history class some parts are boring and some parts will be interesting . Overall he's clear in how he presents the material and what is considered *fair game* for exams. He is very straightforward and fair on his tests, and even adds extra-credit! The only thing is that there is a LOT of material to memorize so you need to dedicate AT LEAST a few days to memorize terms, images, passages etc. but he won't try to trick you. I did read the textbook but lots of people in the class got away with not reading at all since you honestly don't need it for the exams. I didn't buy any of the side material and went to read or scan the pages of the books I needed at the library the week before. I think it was a good experience for my first quarter!

Professor Kirkland's class was the highlight of my first quarter at UCLA. While I never really interacted with him outside of lectures, he is notably an outstanding and engaging lecturer. His passion for Classics inspired me to take on a minor in Classics! (I am a South Campus major.)

To be honest, I wasn't doing my best at the beginning of the quarter, partially because I hadn't figured out how to study yet. But, I was able to pull myself together and managed to get an A-. Here are some tips I wish I knew before taking the class:

- Use flashcards or Quizlet to study the artwork that you need to know about. These tools are also very useful for memorizing time periods and historians/poets/philosophers. Stay on top of making such cards.
- Read all the primary sources assigned every week for section. If you don't understand what you are reading, use Sparknotes to guide you. They are helpful for identifying who wrote these pieces...
- The tests are easy and offer extra credit. They are definitely worth studying for.
- DO put effort into your essays. They're also a great way to make you go back and reflect on what you've learned so far.
- Attending lectures makes everything easier because the textbook is sometimes superfluous. Just go!
- Make more connections with upperclassmen, especially if you're not a North Campus major. They're way more chill over there.
- Lose any stereotypes you have about Ancient Greece. They're not going to be helpful.

Loved this class as a GE! Only enrolled because it worked with my schedule, and I'm so glad I did. Wasn't sure what to expect as I had nearly zero knowledge/interest in Ancient Greece, but Kirkland made lecture very interesting and it was very manageable workload-wise (granted, I didn't read the textbook, only used it to look up key terms definitions). Lecture isn't technically mandatory, but if you miss it it's hard to make up because most of class is him speaking and not reading off the slides (which is what makes it engaging!). Weekly readings were manageable, I usually did them the night before as they were around 40 or so pages on average. Section was 15% of your grade, and I'm not sure how James (my TA) graded, but I'm pretty sure if you show up and speak once you'll be fine. DO NOT underestimate how long it will take to study for the midterm and final (think: >200 terms, images, passages)! It's ALL memorization, so budget your time very wisely and make quizlets/flashcards.

TLDR; Pretty light weekly workload, engaging lecture, 2 essays, and memorization-based midterm and final.

I loved Prof. Kirkland -- his lectures were so engaging and you could really tell that he loves what he does. The class, however, does require a fair amount of reading from both primary texts (like Herodotus, the Iliad, Antigone...) and also from the textbook. (The primary readings were actually quite enjoyable, but the readings from the textbook were long and overly detailed). But overall, I did enjoy the class mostly because of Kirkland's lectures which actually make the material interesting.

Also, Camille was a great TA -- she's very understanding and a reasonable grader.

Classics 10 with Professor Kirkland was one of my favorite classes that I took this quarter. I personally found that the assigned primary source readings were interesting, and they are important for discussion as participation is included in part of the grade. Weekly readings were manageable with only 1 or 2 weeks requiring significant time to complete. As long as you study, the midterm and final are very straight forward and easy to do well on. While it is not necessary to attend lecture if you do the readings, I highly recommend attending anyway as hearing Professor Kirkland present the material was the most interesting part of this class. His passion for Ancient Greece and care for his students are clear. Take this class if you want the perfect combination of low difficulty and an interesting subject.

Professor Kirkland is an incredible lecturer. Even though I wasn't super interested in everything he lectured about, he was so passionate about the material that I paid attention anyway. The class is 15% participation (in your discussion section), 15% mini-essay, 25% midterm, 20% essay, 25% final. His tests are very fair and straightforward: for example, on his midterm, he just had 3 sections (vocab, images, passages) and you would only have to talk about around 1/2 of the words, artpieces, and passages that he listed. You didn't have to go very in-depth for your explanations either. There was also very easy extra credit offered on both the midterm and final. There is a lot of assigned reading every week, but honestly if you pay attention during lecture you don't really have to do it; Kirkland will never test you on anything that was in the textbook but not in his lectures. Overall, I would definitely take this class again; it was a really cool and manageable GE.

LOVED THIS CLASS. It's a great GE, especially if you like Greek history. Lectures aren't mandatory, but Prof Kirkland is so good at his job that you'll still want to go anyways. He's funny and very engaging. His tests are EXTREMELY fair because he tells you exactly what to study.

Don't buy any of the smaller books for the class because you can find all of the plays/texts online for FREE. You can definitely just skim most texts for section because the goal is to understand themes/context rather than memorizing specifics. As for the actual textbook, definitely rent it online from amazon because it's so much cheaper that way. Lectures are SUPER helpful. I cannot stress this enough. The class focuses on the more social aspects of ancient Greece rather than the political, which kept things a lot more interesting. Overall, Kirkland is fantastic and the whole class really liked him. I'd take another class with him again in a heartbeat.