I previously took the Bible class and really liked it so it prompted me to take this class. Professor Smoak is a great professor who's really passionate about this subject and makes himself available after class and tries to help students the best he can. While this class may not be an easy A it's still really fun and if you're interested in ancient Israel, you'll do good and succeed so long as you put in the effort. One of the best professors I've had at UCLA.

Please take this class after taking 150 with him.
It is like a continuation of that class. If you didn't take 150 with him before, you may find the material progression to be a little jumpy.

With that being said, this was not a hard class except the final paper...
We had to do a 30-40 article research paper. Making the citations alone took me like 40 minutes. Don't procrastinate!
And be prepared to do some reading and writing. Every week or every other week, 1-2 page response for the reading is due.

I would not say this is an easy upper div. Only take this course if you like the subject.