Speer is a great professor, who clearly cares about his students. The structure of the class is meant to help students truly learn, and this topic was incredibly though provoking. I can confidently say that I left the course with a greater understanding of race and ethnicity relations in the United States, both from a historic and current perspective. The class has a midterm and a final, which are typically multiple choice and short answer responses. There is also a 6-8 page essay. Speer is very easy to understand, and does a good job explaining concepts. This was my first class with Speer, and I already plan to take a few more classes with him during my time at UCLA.

I came into the class with a degree of indifference and feel as though I came out the same way. Very reasonable coursework with the easiest exams I have taken since high school. Professor Speer is extremely passionate about what he elects to discuss but that occasionally leads to tangential narratives that have less relevance to the coursework. In short, Sociology 1 with Professor Speer is a solid, well-around course.

Great class to meet your Soc requirements. His class is very structured and organized, assignments and expectations are clear, and he does care about student's success. In my opinion, his lectures are not very engaging and because attendance to lecture wasn't mandatory, not a lot of people always showed up. The readings he assigns are interesting and connect well with class material. He gives a lot of time to work on the research paper and we had a midterm and final. MC questions and a short written response. I could have been a more productive student, going to class every week, taking better notes, studying more, but I still was able to get an A-. Also, the TAs are so helpful, shoutout to Rohan!

Very manageable if you do some light studying before exams and participate in discussion sections. Doing homework well is also helpful even though it's only graded for completion.

Very very easy and the content was somewhat interesting/applicable. Average on the midterm/final (in-person) was literally like a 95%. Mandatory weekly discussions.

One of the sociology department's gems. I don't understand the slander of the review below mine because this class was so standout to me. Not only are Professor Speer's expectations clear, but the structure of his class is very fair. If you work hard, it pays off. If you slack off, don't expect a good grade. I think that should go for any class at UCLA, although it doesn't always, as so many classes don't feel that your work actually translates to your overall grade. I also appreciated how he didn't let students use the restroom during the final, mandated masks/pushed for testing, and even provided pencils if we forgot them...can't say my other professors have been as applaudable with any of that. He was also very responsive via email and was always available to provide feedback or help where needed. His class was very interesting. I would definitely recommend any of his classes and look forward to taking more with him in the future.

Very boring lecturer so it’s hard to stay engaged. Doesn’t give back grades on research paper, final, and other until minutes before the deadline, long after class is finished. TAs weren’t consistent with grading. This was a non math methods course but if it weren’t for that, I would stay away from this professor

Sociology was the first GE that I took here at UCLA, and definitely one that I would take again. Speer was an engaging professor who really tried to help us understand the material he was presenting. In addition, his TA's were all top notch and really helped clarify anything that we didn't get in class. Soc 1 was a great class, and I would definitely take this again.

Would definitely take this class again. Professor Speer is an amazing lecturer and is young so he understands students better than older professors. The material is a tad confusing but he does a good job of getting you to read and comprehend through homework questions that are very specific to the readings!

The class was very straightforward. If you do homework and study, you can easily get an A.