The first two lectures about economics, anthropology and game theory were highly interesting.

He lost my attention after that as his points weren't as interesting as they were during the first lectures. Most of the points were relating archaeology and it was hard to see how practical this was compared to the first few lectures

His exams were 6 essay questions midterm and 12 essay questions final, if i remember, and he lets you do a 6 or 12 paper to adjust the weight of your final exam grade
if you choose to

I really didn't think he was that interesting and the course got tedious with the readings thereafter. For the exams, it was just too much writing and seemed to be based on whether you can pull interesting facts from the articles.

For each article pull at least 5 main points and for each essay you can throw out all the points then you'll get a good grade.

I should've gotten a better grade on the final but the latter half of the course wasn't as clear as the first half so I got a B

Bleh class and least memorable, except for when he gave $20 away that's the only thing I'll remember

Stanish is a great teacher! He knows what hes talking about but he is also very entertaining. Because he was so excited about the material, it made me excited about it. The material was no difficult to understand and the readings were interesting. He goes over the material in class as well, but skimming over it will be useful for the midterm and final, for extra detials, he loves that. There is only one midterm and one final composed of short answer questions, around 7 or 8, i cant remember exactly. However, if you take good notes in class and skim the material you will do real well. I got an A in the class, not gloating, just saying i didnt spread myself thin trying to reach that, probably cause i really took an interest in what he was saying. He was one of my favorite teachers at UCLA.

Professor Stanish is quite interesting.

Basically, this is the deal. Until you do all the readings, you really won't get what the HECK is going on in the class. He goes off tangents (with some crazy stories) and doesn't really explain very clearly (or in order) the ideas that follow. I would recommend going to his office hours or asking him to repeat each idea. With that said, he is an incredibly interesting and fun person.

The readings- DO THEM! He will have EXPLICIT questions on the readings as well as the notes. However, it shouldn't be that intense. I went to all the lectures (the first class I actually did it for) and I did the readings the day before the midterm and got an A- on the midterm. Make sure to highlight and remember interesting information and that will get you the points you need. Students didn't do too well on it because they didn't do the reading but it is NECESSARY. The readings (except of a couple) is usually short and not too dense.

Grading- the midterm was EXTREMELY long to write and very little time. The final was about 15 to 16 pages and followed the same format. Students disliked the fact he put quotes and those were the ones students did very bad on. It is quite insane to write 15 to 16 pages but doable. Again, I didn't have so much time to study for the final (since I was taking 17 units) but I got an A in the course.

If you do bad on the midterm, he gives you a few plans you can chose from (along with a more weighted cumulative final). If you do well, your final will not be cumulative.

Summary- He is a good professor to take but make sure to take good notes, do the readings, and review everything thoroughly before the exams.

Prof. Stanish is the worst professor I have ever had, albeit one of the easiest. I could not tolerate his lectures primarily due to his tendency to mumble and go off tangent and start telling us his life story for half an hour at a time. Incidentally I did not learn anything in this class that I found useful or relevant to my life, and by the end I was so frustrated that I switched out of the anthro major. Basically if you manage to go to every lecture and jot down all the little details he mumbles, skim over the readings, and spend some time studying the lecture notes for the two exams, you should get an A no problem.

BEST CLASS EVER!!!

Great teacher, very passionate about the subject. He assigned a decent amoount of articles, nothing really overwhelming, and his tests are very manageable.