Dr. Kennedy is an amazing professor--if you are truly interested, read her curriculum vitae. She has such an understanding about the material that she is presenting, and although her lectures are a trifle slow, they are enjoyable and well worth it. Her tests are very fair, and she presents the material in a methodical, easy to commprehend format that is very professional and informative. She has great presence in the lecture hall--you can learn a lot from her!!

Thank goodness this class is OVER! Professor Kennedy really made this class dense and boring. First of all, because I sought her outside of class, I understand that she is intelligent and a kind, interested person. But her lectures are the worst. They're very unstructured... she puts up a few overheads on the web but that's about it. Be prepared to take some hard-core notes in this class. But even that's difficult because your mind is going to wander SOOO much ... I seriously wrote my name 1000 times in my notes just because I was that bored. Her voice is really soft and shaky, she is very awkward, and she just didn't capture my interest at all in class. I also was in her Honors discussion section... which was even more unstructured... no specific questions asked... just general ones that didn't seem to have any answers.
When I was studying for the exams (more the 2nd midterm and final... the first one was easy) I didn't even know where to begin studying. The book is useless because it's outdated so it's all based on lectures which I've already said are quite painful. As for the exams... they're CRAZY! It's like A., B., C., A&C, B&C, none of the above, all of the above..... and the answer is just B...... it's very tricky and it makes you doubt yourself a LOT.
I did the paper... what a waste of an entire weekend. But I think it's really important that you do her grading option number three which is to take all the exams and do the paper. She'll drop your lowest score (trust me... you'll have one) and give you 10 extra points which will prove to be very VALUABLE!!!!
I just did not enjoy this class at all... it wasn't organized the way I would've liked it to be and we didn't really go in depth on a lot of the things she brought up. I got an A in the course because I worked hard and I refused to do poorly just because she was so dull... but if you lack this motivation, and the hominid FEMUR doesn't excite you, do yourself a favor and take a different course.

Not the most animated professor .. actually a bit boring. But if you are interested in anthropology at all then this is an excellent course to take. I learned an amazing amount about evolution. As for difficulty? I could see it being very tough to get an A in this class. I took it P/NP, but that still wasn't a walk in the park.

I really enjoyed Dr. Kennedy's class; I found her lectures to always be quite interesting.
Her tests are indeed challening, but lecture notes are available to help you prepare. Dr. Kennnedy gives you options of how to earn your grade which include writing a paper and having your lowest score dropped.
In my personal experience with her, I found her to be available and always willing to help out...like others have said she seems intimidating at first, probably due to the fact that she is a highly noted expert in her field (I hear she's the foremost authority on the femur), but when she is a very nice person to speak with.
My advice is to not miss discussion; she tests you on material you learn in there and it is very helpful. Do not put off studying until the night before...you have to know the material well.
Overall, I would recommend Kennedy highly if you want an intersting class which you will get something out of. NOT FOR THE SLACKER; grades are NOT handed out on silver platters.

I really enjoyed this class, but beware it is time consuming. Dr. Kennedy presents so much detail in her lectures that it's sometimes hard to keep up with her. This is an active note taking class, sometimes during my notetaking I would forget when was the last time I looked up. If you want an A, you're going to have to really put in the time and effort. Out of conceptual physics and stats, anthro 12 took up the majority of my time. Her tests are often times confusing--she definitely uses options D and E to their full potential, so you have to really know your stuff. After it is all said and done, I really feel like I have learned something significant and valuable. It is easy to get intimidated by Dr. Kennedy because she is practically a walking encyclopedia, but this is what UCLA is all about, being taught by the best.