Professor
Lauren Derby
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Most Helpful Review
Derby is passionate and well-intentioned, but overall a very poor professor. Unfortunately, Derby's love for Latin America and the Caribbean does not translate into anything comprehensible in lecture- her lectures are random and extremely unorganized, often with Powerpoints of only keyterms and a picture or two. Fortunately, TA's are understanding of Derby's terrible lecture skills and really help the students to understand the material, which spans many countries and several hundred years. An interest in Latin America before Hist. 8C helped me to get through the class, but others were not as fortunate. The class consists of three essays (two for the midterm), which are all doable, and one broad final on the hundreds of keyterms throughout the quarter. Not the worst class I've taken, but certainly not the best.
Derby is passionate and well-intentioned, but overall a very poor professor. Unfortunately, Derby's love for Latin America and the Caribbean does not translate into anything comprehensible in lecture- her lectures are random and extremely unorganized, often with Powerpoints of only keyterms and a picture or two. Fortunately, TA's are understanding of Derby's terrible lecture skills and really help the students to understand the material, which spans many countries and several hundred years. An interest in Latin America before Hist. 8C helped me to get through the class, but others were not as fortunate. The class consists of three essays (two for the midterm), which are all doable, and one broad final on the hundreds of keyterms throughout the quarter. Not the worst class I've taken, but certainly not the best.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - Professor Derby is not an amazing lecturer, but her grading is fairly lenient. The class consists of a small map quiz as well as a midterm essay and a final project. The grading scheme was somewhat unclear as the class decided not to include participation in section into the final grade and the two pop quizes listed in the syllabus never occured. Derby's lecture's were very detailed, she is cleary an expert and very passionate about the subject area however it was often presented in a somewhat disjointed manner. I would suggest this if your looking for a class with a low workload however the lectures were not always the most engaging.
Winter 2025 - Professor Derby is not an amazing lecturer, but her grading is fairly lenient. The class consists of a small map quiz as well as a midterm essay and a final project. The grading scheme was somewhat unclear as the class decided not to include participation in section into the final grade and the two pop quizes listed in the syllabus never occured. Derby's lecture's were very detailed, she is cleary an expert and very passionate about the subject area however it was often presented in a somewhat disjointed manner. I would suggest this if your looking for a class with a low workload however the lectures were not always the most engaging.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - Well a lot has changed from the past couple of reviews lol. I would recommend this class to anyone who loves reading and is good at analyzing. If you're not someone who is, don't take this. For me, it was the easiest GE I've taken because of that fact. I love analyzing work so I got by simple. Her lectures have DEFINITELY improved from what the past people have been saying. However, it still has the feeling that she's trying to cram every little information about everything in her lectures. Also, they're pretty long so I found myself skipping to the future slides and doing other class work before the required film starts (she plays them in lectures in the last 1 hour 30 mins or so). There's one 3-page midterm and one 6-8 page final. Discussion sections are mandatory, but other than that theres not else to be graded. If you're able to write well, you'll be in good hands. It's just that the TA's don't really check your work so you'll find yourself going to the UCLA writing center a lot. Nonetheless, regardless of how weird Spring 24 was, highly recommend this class if you like that kinda stuff.
Spring 2024 - Well a lot has changed from the past couple of reviews lol. I would recommend this class to anyone who loves reading and is good at analyzing. If you're not someone who is, don't take this. For me, it was the easiest GE I've taken because of that fact. I love analyzing work so I got by simple. Her lectures have DEFINITELY improved from what the past people have been saying. However, it still has the feeling that she's trying to cram every little information about everything in her lectures. Also, they're pretty long so I found myself skipping to the future slides and doing other class work before the required film starts (she plays them in lectures in the last 1 hour 30 mins or so). There's one 3-page midterm and one 6-8 page final. Discussion sections are mandatory, but other than that theres not else to be graded. If you're able to write well, you'll be in good hands. It's just that the TA's don't really check your work so you'll find yourself going to the UCLA writing center a lot. Nonetheless, regardless of how weird Spring 24 was, highly recommend this class if you like that kinda stuff.
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