This class requires studying and a lot of reading to do well, but the material is as interesting as it can be for a class called "communication theory" (this means I found it interesting). The professor is funny and charismatic, and really cared about the students understanding the core topics of the class. The midterm and finals are both worth 50% of the grade, which puts quite a bit of pressure on those tests, but if you study hard they shouldn't prove too difficult.

Thought the class was super interesting and applicable to other areas of comm studies. Bryant is a super funny lecturer and really dedicated to making sure his students know what's going on. LOVE HIM! <3

Slides generally highlight what will be important on exams, and the review sessions are great for understanding the main points of the course. The slides also generally cover whats in the readings, prob could get away with no course reader. The workload was very light - two short essays that are P/NP, and two short exams that count for 50% of the grade each.

Comm 100 was an interesting class but purely memorization for the midterm and final. The final you should memorize the examples in class However, there is a LOT of information to learn and something you don't want to cram. He highlights the main points to know in tests and tends to ramble in lectures though. By going to discussions, the TA really helps with clarity which is nice. Not the easiest comm course, if you want an A you really have to study and work hard, so don't go in thinking it's an easy A. I loved the course and what you get out of it reflects the work you put in the class.

Also, DON'T buy the course reader, only touched it for the reading responses. Didn't even use it for preparing for the exams.

Professor Bryant is amazing and the class is not too hard, just 2 exams (each 50% of your grade) and 2 short papers where you just discuss one of the readings from the course reader (pass/no pass, and if you don't do it correctly he lets you re-do it). Exams were 6 questions: 3 you have to answer, 2 you choose from a list of 3, and 1 you choose from a list of 2. Memorize every list in this class, because a lot of the questions involve you knowing and being able to explain a list and usually giving examples (4 questions of cultural evolution, 3 types of big data, etc.). You're probably fine just studying the slides, but the slides are all about the readings, so I personally found it better to study the slides first and then study whatever I highlighted in the course reader. Final is harder than the midterm, but that's mostly because the material for the second half of the class is a little more difficult.

TLDR; class is kinda boring but pretty easy. can get by with minimal reading

The grading breakdown for the class is 50% midterm and 50% final. The professor also requires that you submit two reading responses during the quarter; rather than getting a grade on these, they are just credit/no credit (if you fail to complete both satisfactorily your overall grade will be reduced by 20%).

The professor repeatedly said that the exams would be based on lecture and reading material, but I'm honestly not sure that there was anything on the exams that wasn't addressed in lecture. I just used the readings to help clarify the lecture concepts that I didn't understand, because there is a lot of overlap, but I don't think you need to do the full readings to do well in the class. You could probably get by without the course reader if it weren't for the reading responses; even then, he often tells you that something in lecture is from the reading so you could just write about those things for your response if you really don't want to buy the book. I thought the exams were pretty straightforward, both had like 7 or 8 short answer/short essay questions; I think they had 3 required questions and then for the rest you got to pick which ones to answer out of several options.

The reading responses are super easy, they're just a 3 page response to anything in the readings. As long as you bring in your own ideas and don't just summarize, you should get credit. And you're allowed to resubmit if you don't do well the first time.

I like Professor Bryant, he made things interesting and he's a funny guy. My only complaint is that he sometimes explained things in a confusing way and often confused students even more when they would ask questions... I think it's just because he's really intelligent and has difficulty not explaining things in a really scientific way. That being said, he was always willing to try to clarify thing.

I personally didn't find the material very interesting, but I guess it could be to some people. The class covers a wide range of topics so you'll likely find something to be of interest to you. I wouldn't recommend taking it if you're not a comm major who has to take it.

Discussion was not mandatory, but I found it pretty helpful for gaining clarity on confusing topics.

I enjoyed taking this class. If you go to class, take good notes, and listen to your TA, you are guaranteed an A. He posts slides online, but I still recommend going to class because he elaborates on the bullet points and explains things more clearly. My TA was very helpful, so be sure to go ask them for advice on test prep and the essay. Theory might not be the most engaging topic, but this class is a must for every comm major (literally), and Bryant is a great, funny prof.

Sometimes lecture is a bit confusing and he can take forever trying to explain something. Much of exam is just the major concepts he covered in class. He goes over them before the exams.
Midterm, know your definitions and examples. (You lose a lot of points for not getting a definition right)
For the final, know how to apply concepts and come up with your own examples!

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This class was one of the least interesting classes I’ve taken at UCLA, but it’s required for Comm majors. Bryant does his best to make the lectures engaging but I personally found it really hard to pay attention in this class. He sometimes explains things in a way that just makes them more complicated, so it’s really important to have a good TA to help explain the concepts.

The midterm isn’t bad, you just need to memorize the concepts. I think the class average was 91. Bryant repeated all quarter that the final was going to be hard because he was feeling pressured not to inflate our grades. I had a special situation because I took the class when school got moved online from the coronavirus, so the format of our final was different. I think he made it much harder than it would’ve been if we took it in class, and made it much more time consuming - basically a 6-8 page paper. Overall I didn’t enjoy the class at all, and wouldn’t recommend it unless you have to take it.

This class was very confusing and abstract, and Greg is not a great lecturer. He talks way too fast and explains things in a very confusing way. Grade is composed of a midterm (mostly memorization) and a final (coming up with examples and application of material), and 2 p/np reading responses.