Awesome class! Professor Smoak is a great lecturer and he is always willing to help students. The essays were a bit demanding but I mean this class does satisfy the Writing 2 requirement (as well as another GE). If you are just a little bit curious about religion, you would love this class! I think I'm going to get a minor in Religion or something because of how interesting I found the course material.
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Great Lecturer! all around awesome professor. Selling story of writing textbook email me if interested at G*************

CLASS AN N EA 10W: Lectures go into depth. Really made me think about religion and why Jerusalem is so important to religions. Liked the class. Class consisted of two 8 page papers a midterm and a final. The midterm is a bit of everything, essays, multiple choice, and dates. Overall, he's a wonderful professor and well his class fulfills your writing 2 requirement. So go for it. Good luck! If you need the books e-mail me. *************

Sorry for the spam. This was for ANE 10W.

Great class, but grades mainly revolve around TAs. That may be an issue to some of you.

Selling all course textbooks for cheaper, email me at *************.

Prof Smoak is hands down one of my all time favorite professors! He is very knowledgeable on Jerusalem and creates a very engaging and though provoking curriculum. He also seems to genuinely care about his students which I think is lacking in a lot of other ucla professors. This class has a decent amount of writing and reading but given its a writing 2 class I wouldn't say its anything excessive. The main textbook is interesting but overall I feel like its not super prominent in the class and assignments mainly come from the other weekly readings, especially biblical ones.

The class content was alright. I didn't find it the most interesting but the workload wasn't too bad. We had weekly one-page responses about the readings, a midterm, 2 essays, and a final. For the second paper, we had to research a religious site, and Smoak was so nice about it. He offered to help us out with finding sources, skimming drafts, etc. Adjustments were made because of the strike. Smoak was the most accommodating and transparent professor I had. He cancelled some of our assignments but also made it clear that he stood with the academic workers and would not be the one to grade them. Even before the strike, you could tell that he cared about our success in the class. He offered multiple extra credit opportunities after the midterm.

Overall, I'd give Smoak a higher rating than I would the class.

Course: Jerusalem 10W Spring 2011

I have not even finished the quarter with Professor Smoak but I have to say that he is one of the most pragmatic professors I have had. The class becomes extremely simple with his lecture style, he is very transparent of what he expects and does a great job at lecturing main points and not trivial info. I don't know why he has not gotten many more positive reviews but if you have a chance to take his GE Jerusalem 10W you should it is a very straightforward class in which you will actually learn something but not be super pressured.

I actually took AN N EA 10W with Professor Smoak.

Professor Smoak is a really good teacher. Although the course may seem like it could be boring, Smoak makes the material interesting and he's a really good lecturer. If you pay attention and take good notes during the lectures, then you really don't have to do the readings. Good notes will also really help you with the 2 essays. The midterm was straight forward and easy based off of the study guide. The 2 essays are basically graded off of the fact that you turn in a draft and your TA tells you to change what you need to change in order to get a good grade. Listen to your TA because they are the ones who are grading your work.

If you're looking for an easy GE that also fulfills your writing 2 requirement, then I highly recommend this class!

He is such a good lecturer. He is so organized and so easy to understand. He also makes it very easy to take notes. No regrets if you have a chance to take this class DO IT NOW.

I adored professor smoak. the lecture material was interesting, and he worked to make it even more engaging. Easy midterm and final, and a fun (surprisingly not terrible) group project. Smoak is very approachable and amiable. I would take any class again with Smoak.