Good things about this course:
- If you took AP Euro in high school, this course is essentially exactly that. If you excelled in AP Euro (4 or 5 on the exam), you'll definitely come into this class with a strong advantage.
- You really do learn a lot. I'm not much of a history person but it was actually pretty interesting.
- Grading for homework is pretty lax.
- The book is so helpful. Read. The. Book.

Bad things:
- There is a one-page reading response paper due every week. These aren't that hard, but they definitely are tedious and count for a large portion of your grade.
- The lectures are really dry. It's so hard to pay attention but I heard that they do help. It's up to you!
- Although, if you decide not to go to the lecture, you absolutely must read the textbook.
- Speaking of, there are so many readings, it's ridiculous. I got into the class a little late so I had a lot of reading to catch up on plus all the reading that I was assigned, and it was all just too much. I gave up eventually. So, I strongly recommend against taking this class late because if you don't read, you will be behind.
- Also everything in this course is writing, there are no multiple choice questions. It may seem obvious, but really ask yourself right now just how good you are at writing. If writing isn't your strong suit, I recommend finding another history GE that doesn't require as much writing.

Tips:
- Read the book.
- The slides are helpful when studying for midterms and finals, but, again, textbook contains the meat of the material.
- When writing your papers, bring your own voice into it. Really figure out the difference between summarizing and analyzation, and learn how to formulate your own opinion.
- The tests in the online test bank helped me a lot. Some of the questions were word for word. But don't rely only on it.
- If you don't like the grade you got on a paper, appeal for a better grade! I did, and I got a 2% bump. I think it helped.

Overall:
I recommend this course if you're good at writing, you read fast, and you did well in AP Euro.

Decent GE to take. If you have an appreciation for history and are good at memorizing, take this class. It is a good class to take to balance out a busy schedule that might be filled with upper divs. Lectures can be bland and hard to stay engaged in. I understood all the material without reading a single page of the textbook. If you are a quick learner DON'T BUY THE TEXTBOOK. Professor Ford has a robotic and impersonal teaching style so it may depend on your TA to explain some information more clearly. Jackson Welch was my TA and he was excellent and easy going.

- Assignment workload was great (short weekly reading responses, 2 essays, 1 midterm, 1 final)
- Material was pretty dense and will take time to sort through
- TAs are helpful and realistic in expectations
- Ford is a friendly professor and relatively helpful

selling textbook in good condition
*************

I am a big fan of history and I found this to be the most interesting of the time periods available. I took this class fall quarter of my freshman year and it was an enjoyable experience because the subject was interesting. The essays were annoying, but not too difficult. I thought that Karl Marx and some of the other primary source readings were a bit dense, but I appreciate being able to look at a few primary sources per week. As for Professor Ford, she comes off as a very nice person. Her slides are a bit basic and bare-bone, so they alone won't get you far in the class. I think that Mrs. Ford is very knowledgeable on this subject and is essentially a Francophile. She is not afraid to show off her ability to pronounce in French.

PROS:

* Easy grading (probably depends on the TA)
* Straight-forward exams
* It is possible to cut corners in homework

CONS:

* Textbook not available online/in a pdf
* "Required" primary text readings can be lengthy and difficult to process
* You can get your grade dropped by an entire letter if you miss two discussions iirc

TIPS:

* You can get the textbook at Powell Library in the reserves section
* The textbook has a website that is pretty helpful because it has chapter outlines and quizzes
* When studying, pay a bit more attention to the French stuff (Old Regime, Revolution/Enlightenment, Napoleon, etc.)

Selling textbook for $64.
*************

Great class, textbook was very helpful.
Selling Textbook for $65
Text me if interested: **********

The class is very balanced and fair.

There are two essays, both no longer than 5 pages. The midterm and final are both just ID of key terms and essay questions. Not a demanding class at all. Exactly like AP Euro.

Don't buy the textbook. All the editions are the same. Just buy a loose-leaf one.

Hit me up for the loose-leaf for cheap.

*************

Ford knows a lot about history, and ultimately it's just AP Euro, so it doesn't hurt too much that she doesn't do the best job of making the material easy to digest. Lectures are bland, slide based, and easy to zone out in. Reading is heavy in every sense- 80+ pages per week with weekly responses of 300ish words. 2 essays, each no more than 5 pages, are relatively easy and straightforward and they do their best to offer help. Final/midterm consist of essays and short answer questions, somewhat pointed but salvageable. The book, if you can palate it, is your best friend.

Like most of the reviews say - this class is fairly reasonable if you do the readings each week, and of course review them from time to time (I recommend taking thorough notes on each chapter reading, so you don't have to read the chapter over when doing the review). Class is graded based on midterm 20%, final 30%, weekly short reading assignment writings + 2 short papers 30%, and 3 small map quizzes + discussion participation 20%. The midterms and finals are very fair (as long as your TA is reasonable at least); they consist of identification of terms from a choice bank, and then 2 short responses for the midterm and 3 for the final (which you also choose from a number of prompts)- with both having a very ample amount of time to write. Ford often emphasizes possible short response questions which may appear. For the papers - GO to your TA for help since they are grading your paper. For the midterm GO to the test bank - look at all the past midterms (they will almost surely have repeated midterm questions). For the final there is nothing in the test bank - though there is an online test bank if you google, that has the 2013 final (which also gives A LOT of help - so check that out). Map quizzes are easy to study for, but can easily be messed up if you are a few inches off and are on the wrong side of the border, etc (not as easy as you may think - since the map you may study and the blank map may be slightly different, changing the whole perspective, nonetheless they weren't hard). Good thing is map quizzes may only be a small part of the 20% and the rest of the 20% being discussion participation which is easy. My TA was Jeff, he was a chill dude and was eager to help in office hours, on papers and midterm/final review, going past his scheduled time if the student needed; fair grader also. Like most history classes, it's pretty straightforward as long as you do the work (typically requires effort, but never really that stressful at this introductory level at least).

Professor Ford had one of the most interesting classes of my freshman year. Perhaps it's my disposition toward 1700-2000 European history, but it offered interesting discussions on intellectualism and socio-political change. If you've taken AP European History (and passed the exam) in high school, it should be a breeze. Her door was always open, and she was always open to answering any questions after lecture. I highly recommend this class to any people interested in history.