Professor
Cesar Ayala
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Overall, Ayala is a super great professor and is incredibly smart about the topics he covers. The work definitely isn't easy, and you have to put in the effort to watch the lectures and take notes. The exam and midterm aren't bad at all and most of the questions are well-prepared for during the study guide. Some options will be answers like "the dodgers suck" or something hilarious. I took this class during COVID-19 so all of his lectures were recorded online, while he also gave a live lecture in person. Participation is required for discussion and lecture participation is done through weekly quizzes. The quizzes aren't bad either but you definitely need to pay attention. It's an easy A, as long as you put in the work, and there aren't many tricky questions compared to Sigmon's exams. I'd definitely recommend taking this class with Professor Ayala if you can keep up with the work. He's very underrated and IMO, he's not as bad as the other reviews say he is. If you're able to attend office hours or honors sections, he's incredibly knowledgeable and insightful.
Winter 2022 - Overall, Ayala is a super great professor and is incredibly smart about the topics he covers. The work definitely isn't easy, and you have to put in the effort to watch the lectures and take notes. The exam and midterm aren't bad at all and most of the questions are well-prepared for during the study guide. Some options will be answers like "the dodgers suck" or something hilarious. I took this class during COVID-19 so all of his lectures were recorded online, while he also gave a live lecture in person. Participation is required for discussion and lecture participation is done through weekly quizzes. The quizzes aren't bad either but you definitely need to pay attention. It's an easy A, as long as you put in the work, and there aren't many tricky questions compared to Sigmon's exams. I'd definitely recommend taking this class with Professor Ayala if you can keep up with the work. He's very underrated and IMO, he's not as bad as the other reviews say he is. If you're able to attend office hours or honors sections, he's incredibly knowledgeable and insightful.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2019 - Just... dont take this professor. I am 100% sure that there are better people. He's not a bad person. Just unnecessarily tough. His slides are unclear, they're so wordy, it's boring, he doesn't engage. He takes attendance and has so many clicker questions. He told on some students who were clicking for their friends. Readings are long af.... just no. Harder than it needed to be
Spring 2019 - Just... dont take this professor. I am 100% sure that there are better people. He's not a bad person. Just unnecessarily tough. His slides are unclear, they're so wordy, it's boring, he doesn't engage. He takes attendance and has so many clicker questions. He told on some students who were clicking for their friends. Readings are long af.... just no. Harder than it needed to be
Most Helpful Review
I took Soc 101 (not 184...101 wasn't on the dropdown list) with Ayala...DON'T DO IT. It's only 7th week, but I'm angry enough to do the review now. His lectures are AWFUL. He reads straight off of the slides, which are just quotes from the readings. He then comments upon them, but mumbles so quickly that you can't understand what he's saying at all. This is the worst organized course I've ever taken. He's too preoccupied with making his Powerpoint titles spin and dissolve that I think he's forgotten entirely how to teach. He grades on a 4.0 scale...BEFORE the final grades are calculated. It makes no sense. You can not show up to the midterm at all and get the same grade that you would have if you got a 50%. He's an idiot. Seriously. WORST CLASS I'VE TAKEN AT UCLA.
I took Soc 101 (not 184...101 wasn't on the dropdown list) with Ayala...DON'T DO IT. It's only 7th week, but I'm angry enough to do the review now. His lectures are AWFUL. He reads straight off of the slides, which are just quotes from the readings. He then comments upon them, but mumbles so quickly that you can't understand what he's saying at all. This is the worst organized course I've ever taken. He's too preoccupied with making his Powerpoint titles spin and dissolve that I think he's forgotten entirely how to teach. He grades on a 4.0 scale...BEFORE the final grades are calculated. It makes no sense. You can not show up to the midterm at all and get the same grade that you would have if you got a 50%. He's an idiot. Seriously. WORST CLASS I'VE TAKEN AT UCLA.
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Most Helpful Review
echoing everything in the post from 3/2/07, this class is incredibly boring. this is much more a consequence of the format than the teacher. since it's a class designed to improve language skills while learning about latin america, there is heavy emphasis on practicing speaking and writing in spanish. throughout the qtr each student presents 2 times. so 90% of the time you are listening to another student present on the reading they were assigned for that week. language ability varies and some people are just HORRIBLE presenters. we only discussed 3 countries with particular emphasis on the caribbean. the class should be called caribbean colonialism, neoliberal reform and the el salvadorian situation. since that's all we got around the learning about. i would have preferred a little more breadth since it is supposed to be desarrollo de LATINOAMERICA. i also got an A-.
echoing everything in the post from 3/2/07, this class is incredibly boring. this is much more a consequence of the format than the teacher. since it's a class designed to improve language skills while learning about latin america, there is heavy emphasis on practicing speaking and writing in spanish. throughout the qtr each student presents 2 times. so 90% of the time you are listening to another student present on the reading they were assigned for that week. language ability varies and some people are just HORRIBLE presenters. we only discussed 3 countries with particular emphasis on the caribbean. the class should be called caribbean colonialism, neoliberal reform and the el salvadorian situation. since that's all we got around the learning about. i would have preferred a little more breadth since it is supposed to be desarrollo de LATINOAMERICA. i also got an A-.
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