This introductory class certainly didn't feel introductory. The assignments were graded harsher than any other intro classes I've taken before, and the class instructions were very vague. As an intro class that people take to fill GE requirements I was really disappointed in the requirements and grading strictness the professor held us to. I've taken upper division political science and international studies classes with easier grading than this.

As some people have mentioned before, the midterm, although not specified in the instructions, is graded on a tough curve. Meaning that you can only get a perfect score if your answers are the best in the class. The final and midterm are both graded in relation to other students, with questions meant to look easy but are deceptively difficult. Additionally, the instructions are incredibly vague on other things such as the number of sources you need to have in your answers, or how detailed your answers should be.

When I emailed the professor about questions I had on the grading and content of our exams, I never received a response back. This happened three times over the quarter, she never answered a single email I sent her. Which is strange considering she leaves us her contact email in the syllabus.

All the grading criteria, fuzzy instructions, coursework assignments, and participation requirements in this class were difficult to deal with. Some people really enjoyed the assignments and participating in section. I didn't. Your experience may vary depending on your preferences but I wouldn't recommend this class to anyone looking for GE classes. The difficulty of this class relative to other intro and GE classes is astounding, and I really can't say this class was a good choice to take.

The other review sounds more so that the student is upset over her grade and trying to find any sort of justification. So many students in that class were transfers, or people of color, me included. She was always inclusive and analyzed history from different perspectives. I will say, your grade is based on 3 essays and a project. I did not do the best on them, but I did not put a lot of effort. She definitely grades based on how much effort you put into the class, participation, and asking questions. She moved her office to accommodate & still taught through the TA strike, making it comfortable for us to not feel pressured to walk through the picket lines. She outlined events that we can go to learn more about topics & always asked for input. She excused absences as long as you tell her ahead of time, I went back home to help out my sister-in-law who was a new mother and she was so supportive, hence why I definitely don’t think she discriminated against the single mother. She also provided longer extensions than I asked as long as you give her an early notice (and not last minute). She is a harsh grader, but she is open to explaining grades and what not. The material was nice to learn and I plan to take another class of hers. I definitely think the creative project is what brought my grade up to an A-.

Professor Jung-Kim is a wonderful, extremely knowledgeable, and tolerant professor. Her course is well crafted and well executed and she is always looking to improve the class. Professor Jung-Kim utilizes slides in class and even makes recap videos after every lesson to help students keep up. She is one of the most understanding professors I’ve ever had. I had a personal emergency during finals week and when I emailed her for an extension she granted it to me immediately and told me I could take as long as I needed. She cared for me personally and was always happy to accommodate me on whatever way she could. Yes, her grading is harsh. I was discouraged when I received an 87% on my midterm when I knew most other professors would’ve given me a 90% for the quality I wrote at. But that doesn’t mean she was was unfair or discriminating against me. She left me detailed feedback and was happy to clarify any points she deducted from my score and help me improve. She was also very clear in her lecture about her expectations for the assignment and where we could get help with our writing. I took her advice and scored a 94% on my final. Professor Jung-Kim is a pleasant, professional, and good-natured woman. She has a close personal relationship with her former TA Jessica, who was very passionate about the strike and asked to present on it in our class, which Jung-Kim graciously allowed. Jung-Kim supported the strike however she could, but made it clear to us that she was not protected and couldn’t cancel class outright and that’s why she would feign sick so we could have class online. She was nothing but communicative and negotiable about the entire matter. She was always open to feedback and took our concerns seriously. She also tried hard to make class fun for us with impromptu raffles where we could win peppero on peppero day and korean face masks for reading the syllabus. Jung-Kim is a professor dedicated to her career and her students. If you apply yourself to her class and communicate openly with her, there is No Reason you shouldn’t succeed.

Overall, the course material was informative and the professor seemed fairly passionate about the class, which is good. This class, however, is one of the harder GEs in my opinion.

First of all, the readings she gives out every class is a bit much (around 40-60 pages). Secondly, the midterm and final, which are both based on the readings, are graded unnecessarily harshly. These exams are fairly straightforward: she gives us the prompts one week in advance and we're expected to write short answers to those questions during the allotted exam times.

After getting the midterm scores back, I was disappointed with my overall grade and decided to ask what I needed to work on for the next exam. Basically, she had told me that I needed to write more. Personally, I felt that I had answered the questions well enough and it was unfair for her to grade based on how much I wrote. Additionally, (though I may just be a really slow writer) I was writing nonstop for the entire exam. Even if I did not write in enough detail, she doesn't give us a rubric so it's hard to do well if you don't hit the mark from the get-go.

It's an interesting class, and I found the readings and topics chosen to be interesting. Jung-Kim is a clear and articulate lecturer, though if you do the readings and take notes from them beforehand, you don't really need to take any notes during lecture, which is good since she goes through her slides at a pretty quick pace.

The midterm and final questions are given about a week before each exam, though the grading standard for them is really high, and to be honest, fairly inconsistent. However, 45% of the grade comes from an easy group project and writing some posts on CCLE for discussion, which more than makes up for your exam grades if you don't get A's on them. Overall, it's probably not the easiest GE, but I'd take again.

Professor Jung-Kim, while a tough grader, is extremely knowledgeable about the subject matter and consistently works to have engaging and content-filled lectures. Furthermore, she is very accommodating, both in terms of deadlines and office hours, and strives to make the lecture setting a welcoming and accessible one. While the assignments do have some difficulty, she includes a creative project to offset the difficulty of the essays.

Jung-Kim is not only supportive of her undergraduate students, she also took measures to stand in solidarity with the graduate students during the 2022 strike. All in all, she is a tolerant, accommodating, and understanding professor with deep knowledge of the subject; I highly recommend taking one of her classes given the opportunity!

It was pretty interesting class. You receive your questions for midterm and final one week in advance so that you can prepare them beforehand. However, I found the grading of the exams random. She doesn't give you criteria for exams. But it is not difficult to get over 90% overall so that you can get some form of A if you do the readings and listen to lectures.

I was a student in Professor Jung-Kim's course in Fall of 2022 and I absolutely loved it. Professor Jung-Kim can be a tough grader on assignments, but your overall grade tends to be much higher because she adds creative assignments that are more fun and interesting to do. I got an A and so did my friends so its not hard to get an A if you put in the effort, just like any other class.

That said, I am surprised to read the other rating from another student because in my experience Professor Jung-Kim has always been accommodating, kind, and willing to help you if you ask. Her lectures are also very informative and she is very knowledgeable in her field. If you are receiving a low grade, its most likely because your analysis was weak or the writing was poor and not because of any sort of discrimination. My friends and I who took her class all received high grades and I am honestly appalled to see that she would even be accused of something like that because I am a first gen student of color and my friends also come from diverse backgrounds and situations and she has always treated my friends and I with respect and even helped me when I had a hard time and needed an extension. She also provided great advice for how to improve my paper when I came to office hours and I believe my grade improved because of this. If you need the help you can reach out and she is always there. She's won a distinguished teaching award because of how great a professor she is and I believe it was well deserved!

As for the TA, I am also a graduate student and know them personally, and they asked Professor Jung-Kim if they could speak about the strike as part of undergraduate outreach. They were not forced to speak to the class and it wasn't crossing the picket line. From what I've seen Professor Jung-Kim was very supportive of the strike (I even saw her on the picket line!). Certain professors were unable to cancel class because they are not protected by a union, so transferring the class to online was the best way to not cross the picket line so we graduate students understood that and I personally appreciated her having done that in solidarity!

The midterm, final, and perusall assignments were graded harshly, not sure if that is the TA or the professor, but it felt very harsh, especially for an intro course. The lectures were really random in the beginning of the quarter (basically summaries of the assigned readings) and got more interesting/relevant later in the quarter. Overall, a decent class but would not recommend unless you are really interested in East Asian Studies because it is a lot of work/not that easy for just GE.

I felt like I didn't learn anything from this class, and She insulted me for my faith. I am Christian, and I was truly offended multiple times throughout the quarter. I do not respect her, and basically if you are Buddhist you will enjoy her class. I am a feminist and I enjoyed the feministic aspect of the class. Be ready to write a lot and know that there is a bias in her grading. Tip for people taking her: Pro-feminist Pro-Buddhist papers will get As.