Professor Sigmon is one of those Professors that you either love or hate. His lecture style consists of mainly reading off his slides, adding comments on the slides, and rinse and repeat. Occasionally he will show a video to demonstrate the concept that is he is going over, but they are really rare. Do I like his lecture style? At first no, I thought it was really boring. Then, the more you realize you don't need to read at all for his class AND his comments usually summarize the slides in a succinct way, the class just clicked for me. This is not universal though. Not everyone will have it "click" like it did for me and be wary that this is how he will lecture for the entire quarter. He tells you everything he needs to tell you and you honestly only need the slides to get through the course.

Structure of the class was midterm, paper, and then final with the paper due a few days prior to the final. For both exams, it's going to be short answer question. Since the TA strike happened, the final became multiple choice. As long as you study the slides you really don't need to worry. The paper was just a compare and contrast analysis of two sociologists that Sigmon asks you to compare. Not hard at all. I'd recommend the guy; he's genuinely a cool dude, but his lecture style is not for everyone.

Sigmon is literally the easiest professor ever. His lectures are lowkey boring but he says the information necessary to get an A on the midterm and exam, and that's all that really matters. There's no homework besides weekly reflections that only need to be 250 words. He wears the same button-up flannel every day and I love it. I'm also taking SOCIOL 102 with him this quarter so I would totally recommend taking him again. I've seen some mixed reviews about it and I guess you either love Sigmon or you don't, but tbh as long as you pay attention during lectures, you literally don't have to do anything else.

I really loved sigmon’s class. A king. I’ve taken theory courses before & absolutely remembered NOTHING but in sigmon’s class I have retained almost 90% of the information. I, for some reason, never understood concepts by theorists like Marx & Nietzsche, but he made me be able to understand everything. It was an interesting class... sometimes boring tho haha

Some people were complaining about his exam this year (it was all multiple choice) & how it didn’t test on conceptual facts but rather specific facts directly from his lecture... but personally I think this is easier. I took detailed notes in class & copied his lecture down word for word then read my notes after every class.

I mean I don’t like short answer exams so maybe I’m biased towards his exams.

Professor Sigmon also does an excellent job at summarizing & going into detail about the specific readings we had to do. A lot of the readings are dense so even after reading, I tended to not understand everything that was talked about but after watching the lectures, everything made sense.

We also had an essay which really just depends on who you have for your section TA.

Basically, if you want to pass this class, watch & take notes on all the lectures (don’t procrastinate) & then read the lecture notes so you can retain the info. Skim the readings before lecture though so that lecture makes more sense rather than you trying to learn all this new info by yourself.

Sigmon wants us to succeed!! Good luck

HE IS EXTREMELY BORING. he's like a robot and his voice makes me so sleepy. I went to every class before midterm but i didn't think it was useful. after midterm I basically skipped all the classes (Luckily he didn't take attendance LOL). However, his slides are clear and studying his slides on your own after class will get you an A in midterm and final. His discussion grade depends on how the TA evaluates it. The weekly assignment is to read the material and answer questions on canvas. Honestly, I don't think my TA was any help. But I would still take soc102 with him because his SLIDE IS EVERYTHING.

Professor Sigmon is by far my favorite professor at UCLA. His class consists of weekly discussion posts, a midterm exam, and a final exam. His lecture slides are very easy to follow along with and cover everything that will be on the exams, which are all free response questions. Participation matters for the discussion section but is not mandatory for the lectures. The discussion questions are based on the reading but I've learned to do the reading as I'm answering the questions. He posts his slides at the end of the week so missing a class or two won't be an issue. To prepare for the exams, the TA's provide additional office hours and review sessions to go over the topics that will be covered. Note that this class is not one that you can simply memorize. Instead, it's critical to thoroughly understand the concepts and different sociologists discussed in order to do well on the free response questions. Overall this class is super easy to stay on top of and doesn't require a ton of work in comparison to other classes. As long as you study for the exams while putting effort into the weekly discussions, you will do great in the class!

Professor Sigmon is an above average lecturer, if you remember most the content of the lecture slides, you basically get an free A.

He is an a******. The TA is tough grader as well. If you are international student, he will destroy your GPA.

this is a review for soc 102 with sigmon, but also 101 because i took him for both. i love sigmon!!! the way that he structures his tests makes it that you can literally have a guaranteed a in the class- as long as you put in the work. the questions on his tests are literally verbatim from what he puts on his slides, no more, no less. he will literally ask you to fill in the blank for a random quote that you're unlikely to remember- unless you study the slides. no reading is required either- both classes i did reading the first few weeks but it doesn't help you much on your tests because all you need to know are the words written on his slides. i studied for his tests by combining all of my lecture notes- this being the notes on his slides typed out word for word- put on a complete google doc. i organized each one by their theory and theorist, if there were multiple, and then also added the info that my ta gave us in section. i then made these concept maps that included the theory, theorist, and all the terms with definitions. others in this class may have just reviewed the slides but i have a really hard time memorizing things unless i do it extensively so as long as i did this, i easily recognized each question on the final. the tests are curved by a couple points too, so that should help. i got a 97 on the midterm, and a 91 on the final because i didn't study the slides enough. there is also an essay but its really easy and he gives you the prompt at the start of the quarter, so start soon that way you have more time to study since the essay is due a few days before the final. its five pages double spaced, but he also asks you to pull from outside resources. not only do i love sigmon because of the predictability of his tests- and my grade in the class- but he also makes understanding theory so much easier. he basically just breaks down the reading into digestible content in his lectures, and pulls from his own life for examples. he also recalls other theoriests in soc 102, from soc 101 so it helped me recall the theories i learned last quarter too. he's also just a really nice guy, i never went to his office hours but it was clear that he loved talking to students and wanted them to succeed. also- this class is not podcasts, however i would miss class a couple weeks because he basically reads his slides word for word, and posts them at the end of each week, so id just take all the info from the slides and copy it down in my doc if i had to miss- but i recommend going in person, he loves when students show up and it also just makes it easier to stay on top of all the info you need.

Professor Sigmon is a great professor here at UCLA. He does all of his lectures on lecture slides. They do come in very handy for studying for the midterm and final. His lectures can get a bit boring, but since he does not record them I suggest going to every class even though attendance is not mandatory. One suggestion I make is to go to his office hours. He is so helpful during them and really makes everything a lot clearer. Ultimately, be reminded this is not an easy class. But as long as you put in effort, time, and study, you should relatively well.

I am an international student and I found this class pretty manageable. I agree that some of the course material is challenging and can be hard to digest. Professor Sigmon helped us to make sense of the sophisticated readings in his lectures. I had Jorge as my TA and he is super helpful.