This class was pretty easy for a first quarter GE. I am a non-humanities freshman and it was pretty good for a GE. Weeks 7-10 were a breeze because everything post 1870 was covered in APUSH or AP World. Weeks 1-6 were very interesting (1715-1870). The class is very independent and there is not much collaboration, despite the best efforts of the TAs, but I guess that's to be expected from a history class. Final and midterms were tedious, albeit very easy. However, I do think that you could probably learn everything in this class on your own quite easily if that's why you're taking this class.

I had an overall okay experience with this course. The amount of reading is very heavy, expect 30-60 pages of textbook reading per week as well as one or two primary sources ranging between 15 pages and 40 pages (combined if multiple sources or individually). I would say if you know your European History or have taken AP Euro/World, it may be advisable to skim the textbook. Otherwise, the textbook contains a wealth of information that will be helpful for the examinations. Chase Caldwell was my TA. I really enjoyed section discussions with him, and he took a great amount of time and effort in responding to weekly responses (around 300-500 words) which counts towards the participation grade. Section was devoted entirely to primary source analysis. The lectures were pretty standard from Professor Ford. She often chooses to focus on specific events or topics from the assigned chapter, but I found the lectures to be helpful. They can be dry at times if you do not have an interest in European history. For the essay examinations, I would suggest choosing prompts a week ahead and focusing your efforts on material that answers the prompts you selected. The prompts are pretty standard, and we were given choices out of multiple prompts which I found to be helpful. I would advise against procrastination, especially in this course as the amount of material presented in this course is immense and sometimes relatively thick, so you will need the full length of time between the release of the prompts and the essay due date to not only do research, but also write/proofread the actual essays. The standard of citation for this course is the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), author-date in text citation preferred (no footnotes) and a bibliography at the end.

Our grades were basically just participation through weekly written responses (usually about a page long), our midterms and then our final. I had Jack as my TA, and he was pretty chill. I never really said anything during discussion, but I still managed to slide by. Grading for the weekly responses were extremely lenient and I got 100 on all of them. I did not buy the book and so, I never did the textbook readings. I just took notes on the lectures and did the primary readings for homework. So the workload is not too bad if you skip the textbook readings. It was confusing at the start of the class because no one really knew which primary reading we were supposed to do for the first reading response, but you can do either the previous week's reading or the current week's reading (for Jack at least). For midterms, we were required to do 2 900 word (max) essays with 3 prompts each to choose from. Honestly, I should have asked my TA what he was looking for in the essays and I ended up with a 87%. I later found this out and managed to save my grade on the final papers (3 900 word essays with 3 prompts to choose from each- I believe grading was 40% for the first two essays and then 20% on the last essay). I got a 92% on the final essays. Overall, there were some confusing moments and the Groupme was legit just a mass of confusion, but you get through it. There really aren't any guidelines on how to write your essays or what to do for the homework, but once you figure it out, it's alright.

This class was a pretty easy GE. The main assignments are weekly 300-400 word responses and the midterm and final papers. The responses are a bit time-consuming, but the grading is very easy. If you are a good writer, you will do well in the class.
The lectures are standard history lectures (a bit boring, but include a lot of information). The textbook is useful for the papers to get good quotes and info.

I had to only take this class to fulfill a GE, and thank god I chose what I did. I personally am terrible at history, and yet in this class as long as you could follow along, participate in discussions, and have a semblance of the time frame, you could do well. All lectures were prerecorded, and the only graded assignments other than participation were the midterm and final. Both were essays that it you knew the material well enough, were easy to do.
Overall, the class was a breeze and I would definitely recommend it to those trying to fulfill their GE.

This was one of the easiest GEs I've taken. Participation is a big part of your grade, and you can easily get an A in that by chiming in during discussion and turning in the reading responses (my TA was very lax with the deadlines on those as well)

The two papers we wrote were pretty short, and very straightforward prompts. I did both the night before and got A's. I've never taken AP history or even paid attention in any history class during high school. You really don't need any background info, and it'd probably be even easier if you already knew what was going on. Definitely take this with Ford if you can

Not too bad of a choice for a GE. The workload consists of a midterm and final essay, which are around ~1800 and ~2700 words respectively, as well as weekly reading responses, which are pretty short at ~300 words each. Overall, pretty light workload if you don't do the textbook readings. I came in with no background in European history, and it was relatively easy to skate by without doing them.

This was my first class at UCLA after transferring and it went well. Pretty similar to AP Euro if you took that in high school. The textbook is 'required' but in my opinion you can get by without it. The only grades were a midterm, final, 6 weekly one-page responses, and section participation. The midterm and final were both essays, but Professor Ford gave generous time to complete and a number of prompts to choose from. She is a very knowledgeable Professor and seems very sweet. My TA was Rob, and he was pretty good as well.

This class was a pretty easy GE. There was a midterm (30%), final (35%) and participation in discussion which included 6 responses (35%). Discussion attendance is mandatory and you do need to participate to some extent. The midterm and final were both take home essays where you had options for prompts so it was pretty easy. Lectures were asynchronous but Professor Ford talks really slow so I watched them all on 2x. I didn't read the textbook, it got to be too much work each week but since I took AP Euro, watching the lectures was enough. Overall it was a pretty easy GE, albeit boring, I had Jack as my TA and he was awesome, highly recommend him! Selling the Western Civilizations textbook (brand new unopened) for $90, contact me at *************

This is a pretty straightforward GE. Lectures are really boring and can sometimes put you to sleep, but attendance isn't mandatory. However, it is in your best interest to go to class even though Professor Ford does post her slides online, there is not much useful information on them as most of her information is oral. The book is really helpful, but it can be overwhelming at times as the readings are a lot. Apart from the book you have primary source readings like speeches which she makes available to you. The class consists of two essays (one on Marx's Communist Manifesto and Ghandi's Indian Home Rule) they are pretty easy and graded fairly. The class also consists of one page weekly reading responses which depend on how your TA wants them (they usually just ask you a question to respond to about the primary source reading for that week). We also had super easy map quizzes which they give you a printout for and tell you the countries and capitals you'll be quizzed on in lecture. It is crucial you go to discussion, you can miss lecture, but if you miss more than three sections you fail the class- Professor Ford is very strict on this and the TA will repeat this to you. Overall it was a good class and I enjoyed learning about the history.

Class breakdown:
midterm 20%
final 30%
weekly responses and two papers 30%
map quizzes and section participation 20%

I have physical copy of the book required for this class Western Civilizations: The History & Their Culture, Volume C: French Revolution to the Present 19th Edition (W. W Norton 2017) for $70. Email me ************* if you're interested.