Class is much harder than previous professors, midterm 1 was brutal for a GE, my hardest class despite having gotten As in prior art history classes :(

This is probably the worst class you could ever take to satisfy a GE. I mean I really would like to know the appeal in majoring in Art History after taking this course. I'm a history major, and learning about medieval history was completely different than learning the art.

The lectures—boring and unclear. Not a good lecturer. The exams—impossible. You will be expected to memorize over 50 pieces of art only to be examined on five, no emphasis was given on which to pay close attention to for the midterm either. The assignments—not too bad, but depending on your TA, it could very well be an issue. My TA graded so harshly for everything and was even condescending in the submission comments. Finally, the expected notes—you are expected to submit notes for each of the readings for both classes as well as your section notes, which isn't too bad except they're graded on completion, or what your TA views as "completed" so even if you follow the outline expected for the notes, there is a chance it could still be marked incomplete.

Overall, I would not recommend. Both the professor and TAs treat this GE like its an upper div which is unfair and unnecessary.

Grade Distribution:
Midterm: 20%
Final: 20%
Paper 1 20%
Paper 2 20%
Section (reading notes and participation) 20%

I wouldn't take this class ever again if I had the choice.

Midterms are 5 terms, 5 identification questions w/ short answer question, 2 long essay questions, and an extra credit short answer question. Study guide was provided for both terms and structures/art, though it was a LOT to memorize/study. For structures/art, you need to know the name, year it was built, who was the patron, and general knowledge about it. Making flashcards will be your best friend.

She relies heavily on slideshows, which is great, but they often lack information so you have to do outside investigation outside of class.

Midterm 1 was a disaster as the class average was a C, with some people on the verge of failing.

There are two papers for this class, I wish I could say that they were easy but your grade will depend on your TA. Paper one is writing about the Hagia Sophia and the second paper was about making a Gospel book in the perspective of a monk. Prompts were vague and had no structure to them. My TA was extremely forgiving, but I cannot say the same for others.

Only positive thing I have to say is that she provides the textbook readings so there's no need to buy any textbook.
Lessons learned?
Never take a class with a professor who has no rating.

I am an Economics major and took Art History as a GE Requirement and would not recommend it; my least favorite class I have taken at UCLA so far. The Professor was very passionate about the material but had a very thick accent and would just zoom through lecture slides which made the class super confusing. She would not record lectures and would not include the information on the slides, so you literally had to grasp everything right when she said it and make sure you had it down or noted. The worst part about the class was the exams. Both the midterm and the final were super short but very broad. We were told to memorize way too many images of past statues, paintings, buildings, etc., and were randomly given five to write a response about. It was genuinely just very boring and hard to study but if you are interested in medieval history I feel like it would not be too bad.

This class was horrible to endure. My TA was a God send for me, they helped out so much and boosted our grades because they knew how hard the class was. The professor would stop so many times during lecture to get water which made her lose her train of thought and her lectures were never clear.

Only take this class if you hate yourself. It's not an easy GE, and I have taken many art history classes before. The midterm is from another planet, and the TA took weeks to update grades/respond. Just don't even bother.

the professor's lectures were hard to follow, she was usually hard to hear, and she often dropped italian/greek words and names I had never heard before as if we should know what they meant. however, overall the class was not as unmanageable as some of the reviews will make it sound. the people who texted on the groupme were always freaking out, but if you put in a little effort you would be fine. the midterm and final study guides had a ton of art pieces on them, but because my amazing TA Mal made slideshows with all the information we needed to memorize, the exams were manageable & it did not matter that the prof's lectures were confusing. the prof also puts a bunch of extra credit on both exams and marked important pieces to know on the final study guide, so it was not a big deal if you didn't memorize every single art piece. the prof didnt record lectures and her slides were not helpful and had no words, so it was difficult to make up missed classes, but it didn't really matter if you just memorized the art pieces before the exams. the grading did seem to be super different between different TAs though, and some of them graded super harshly for no reason so everyone in their sections did super poorly on every assignment.

DO NOT LISTEN: TAKE THIS CLASS

i made an account NOW simply because i knew how the comments would be. the people in this class as a whole were not willing to put in even a smidge of effort. the groupme for this class was full of individuals who refused to study for the midterm for even 45 min, despite every term and question being provided in a study guide. do NOT listen to people who do not care about their grades complaining! in addition, many of these people laughed at this woman’s accent and refused to follow any directions (leaving and obstructing the screen during the final exam… despite being told to sit down 2 min prior.)

this was my EASIEST UCLA CLASS I HAVE TAKEN (i am a neuro major!). here’s the breakdown:
- weekly readings with reading notes (100 words. most TA’s don’t care if you even read the whole thing. skim the texts! they reiterate important things during lecture).
- two papers that were informal in style and were creative writings
- one midterm
- one final

This is a memorization heavy class, so just write down everything she says or record it like I did. Also, I will say that for the midterm and final, there was excessive amounts of content on the study guide when the tests themselves were very short and simple. But I studied for both of these only two days prior, and I received over a 100% on both. She provided extra credit, content was fair if you attended a few lectures prior, and the TA’s hosted review sessions and made study content prior. not a very engaging lecturer so a bit of a boring class, BUT NOT HARD.

anyone who tells you this class is hard is lazy and wants to blame their instructor for their lack of effort. try to get into a discussion with a kind TA, and put in like 15% effort and you’re good.

Ngl the only reason I'm not complaining as much is bc of my amazing TA Oliver Ruhl but this class sucks do not take

DO NOT TAKE!!! I made an account just to rate this class go warn you. if you care about your mental health don’t take this class. class is heavily based on TAs. my TA did not believe in easy As so for every exam the class average for our section was a C while other TAs had a A- or B+ averages. He harshly grades the papers, final and midterms are horribly difficult by design. You need to memorize 200 slides worth of information with over 50 monuments just for 5 of them to be on the test. you need to have a deep understanding of every artwork to get the points. you have no idea what will be on the test and because of that you are forced to memeorize a bunch of useless information just for a fraction of it to actually be used. it is a literal GE… and she treats it like an upper div. she doesn’t do curves but she gives extra credit on the test and even with that people still fail. The papers take so long to research because the topics are niche and have no context. The professor sucks, the ta sucks, if you don’t have a specific ta your best bet is praying for a C. again… for a GE.