I took the course as a hybrid meaning that all my lectures were posted online and I only had to attend discussion once a week. The lectures were incredibly interesting and easy to follow as she presented all the material as a story rather than just reducing history into dates and names. In terms of grading, depending on your TA the essays varied in difficulty but as long as you go to office hours to figure out what your TA is looking for, you can get an A!

I'm selling all the required books as a bundle for a total of $28! Email me at ************* if you're interested!
Books:
-The Woman Who Would be King
-Cleopatra-A Biography
-The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations
-The World Until Yesterday (PDF doc)

When taking Prof. Cooney's class, it is important to consider her as a professor and the class itself as two separate aspects. She herself is engaging and entertaining as a lecturer, she speaks very informally and in layman's terms, so you feel like you're having more of a conversation than a boring drawn out textbook narration. However, since her classes are very based on her lectures and speaking coverage, its very inconsistent. She is definitely knowledgeable and the class does try to cover various subregions, but you can definitely tell that her focus and interests are heavy towards some, so I felt like some days of the class were just not necessary. Also, due to some day offs in the general quarter's calendar in addition to some lectures going into the following ones, we were off schedule according to the syllabus and the last civilizations (China/India) were definitely just squeezed in. The main assignment in this class is a research essay or podcast (something they were testing out as an option my quarter) that you have until the end of the quarter to submit, so your personal time was more focused on whatever you chose and likely didn't really think deeply towards the others. It is necessary to pay attention though because the final itself were 2 critical analysis essays of any region, but she gave the possible prompts ahead of time so you can review for yourself. Overall, a good class that doesnt take a lot of stress if you can time manage yourself and not be too reliant on in-class/TA help. They didn't regulate how TA's prepared you for the essay writing, so others had more feedback and mini due dates while others were kind of just a ask-me-if-you-need-help. I ended up switching discussions to have a more helpful TA and that surely made a difference in the course of the class.
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Selling required texts:
Cleopatra: A Biography by Duane W. Roller
The Woman who Would be King by Kara Cooney
The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond
text ********** that you're inquiring about AN N EA 15
(Kept the books because I bought them, but definitely not necessary to buy full price to do well in the class!)

Selling The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations ($10) and The World Until Yesterday ($15), both needed for the class. **********

The lectures were really interesting but she wasn't able to cover China because she spent a lot of time talking about Egypt (her specialty). There's a lot of readings assigned and then there's the research project which is a pretty heavy load for a GE course and you can't really use the reading material for the class as a source because they want new sources. There's no midterm but there is a final and she'll post a list of possible questions she might ask and choose maybe 4 from the list. I just studied the answers for those questions the night before and did fine for the final.

Selling "Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations" textbook
text: **********
or
email: *************

good luck with the class

Loved the material of this class, but it does come with a LOT of reading.

Cleopatra -$4
The Woman Who Would be King - $10
The World Until Yesterday - $12

email for books: *************

Professor Cooney's class is a bit all over the place and unorganized, however it is easy to get a passing grade in the class. We were graded based on the midterm, section participation/attendance, final research paper (or final podcast), and a final. Your grade really depends on your section TA, I had Nadia Ben-Marzouk, she really helped by going over what professor covered and clearing up any questions. The sections focus on the lectures and after week 3 they're basically workshops for your 10-12 page final research paper- make sure you choose a topic you're interested in or else it'll just be terrible. In section, you'll be turning in some short prompts or outlines every two or three weeks that will all help you start your final paper weeks in advance rather than wait last minute. For the final, Professor Cooney will share about six essay prompts but will ultimately end up choosing two, so you know what you're final is about and can be prepared on what to mention. The class overall is alright and although she posts her slides online her commentary in class is more useful. The workload for this class is very manageable, however, as I said before, this class lacks a bit of organization so if you're a strong writer and do good on your own I recommend it.

I'm selling all 3 of the books required for this class for $20 all together, please feel free to email me and inquire:
*************

This class was one of my favorite GEs taken at UCLA. Professor Cooney is so funny and so engaging. She's just an awesome person and her enthusiasm during lectures only makes the material more interesting for us. The class itself was not too hard. There is one midterm, one final, and one research paper where you pick a topic of your choice relating to women in power throughout the ancient world. The tests itself are easy to prepare for - she gives you potential prompts and your TAs will even go through the prompts before the exams to give you points to talk about in your essays. Overall, great class, great professor and an easy GE, especially if this topic seems interesting to you.

I also have the required texts you need for the class. I'm selling all 3 books together for $35. Message me if interested! **********

ACTUAL COURSE: Ancient Near East 15 (Women in Power)
SPRING 2015

She's the most entertaining professor I've had at UCLA so far. Seriously, she's funny and engaging and explains things really well. I don't love history classes, but this one was pretty great.

I would say it's a moderate workload for a GE--not too bad. There's not a TON of reading, but it's regular and you should do it. You don't get quizzed on it though--just talk about it in section. (I had Jacob Bongers as a TA and DEFINITELY recommend him! He was great.)

The research paper wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Of course I didn't like doing it, but pick a topic you like and you should be fine. I totally procrastinated. I started the week before and wrote the actual paper in a few days, finishing it the very day it was due, but I still got an A in the class. DON'T do this though, it's hell. Start early.

Midterm and final are fine because you get the questions beforehand. Studied / outlined the day before and got an A- on the midterm (not sure what I got on the final).

Prof. Cooney is all about systems and patterns, so no memorization of minute details. Just the basics. Midterm and final is basically just spitting out as many facts and big-picture ideas as you can remember in a mostly organized way (research paper isn't like this, though).

Selling the Historical Atlas and "Woman Who Would Be King" book together for HALF off original prices, so $25 (instead of $51). Email ************* if you want to buy :)

CLASS: Arts and Architecture 100 - Selected Topics in Arts

I have so much to say about this professor, I found out recently that this class has good reviews because Cooney writes them herself! This class was unorganized and it was just a waste of money and time. It's like what are you suppose to get out this class, did not learn anything.

Class requirements : It is a doable class, and you just submit everything on canvas. Midterm: 5 page research paper, and a 10 page paper for the final.

Overall, this class is a great and straightforward Writing II + GE class to take. It was fully asynchronous for this quarter, with there being weekly lectures, readings, one page activity journals (basically writing reflections), and TA videos. It was interesting to look at the ancient world in a different perspective as well. There is only one full paper and the way planning elements of it are due make it not too stressful to complete.
Your grade is made up of the following:
Participation 20% : Watching all the videos, peer reviewing for final paper, two mandatory TA meetings
Activity Journals 20%
Mann Synthesis Assignment: basically a summary/reflection of this paper which you will constantly refer to 10%
Research Paper/Podcast 45%: You can either write a 10-12 page research paper or record a podcast for the final project. 5% Thesis/Annotated Bibliography, 10% Rough Draft, 30% Rough Draft
Final Presentation/Podcast Audio 5%: basically a verbal summary of research paper (5-7 min) or something else if you did podcast.