Professor
Mark Jepson
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2017 - (I AM SELLING COMPLETED MIDTERM AND FINAL STUDY GUIDES: $20; email me if interested: *************) Professor Jepson was a great Sociology 1 professor. His lectures are incredibly engaging, despite having lecture at 8 am. All of the readings are done on articles. Three articles must be read every week; two for lecture and another for discussion. Try to keep up to date on articles, since it is easy to fall behind. Lectures are important to attend because he expands on the two articles read for the lecture. The final and midterm are difficult because a close reading of the articles is needed in order to do well. This class changed my mind on many subjects and made me be inquisitive, plus professor Jepson made himself available and welcomed students to ask questions during office hours. This class made me switch to a major in Sociology. Also, I would like to add, the TA Caitlin is great.
Fall 2017 - (I AM SELLING COMPLETED MIDTERM AND FINAL STUDY GUIDES: $20; email me if interested: *************) Professor Jepson was a great Sociology 1 professor. His lectures are incredibly engaging, despite having lecture at 8 am. All of the readings are done on articles. Three articles must be read every week; two for lecture and another for discussion. Try to keep up to date on articles, since it is easy to fall behind. Lectures are important to attend because he expands on the two articles read for the lecture. The final and midterm are difficult because a close reading of the articles is needed in order to do well. This class changed my mind on many subjects and made me be inquisitive, plus professor Jepson made himself available and welcomed students to ask questions during office hours. This class made me switch to a major in Sociology. Also, I would like to add, the TA Caitlin is great.
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Most Helpful Review
He was a really good professor. I enjoyed his lectures. His study guide for the midterm and final are really thorough and practically everything he says during lecture so if you did miss a class or did not do the reading, it's covered with the study guide. But it's better to do the reading and go to lecture since more of his test questions are not so much definitional but require you to use what you know (such as definitions of terms) and be able to apply it! A bit challenging, but great professor!
He was a really good professor. I enjoyed his lectures. His study guide for the midterm and final are really thorough and practically everything he says during lecture so if you did miss a class or did not do the reading, it's covered with the study guide. But it's better to do the reading and go to lecture since more of his test questions are not so much definitional but require you to use what you know (such as definitions of terms) and be able to apply it! A bit challenging, but great professor!
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Took Intro Sociology with Professor J. He's a nice and funny guy, and he tends to go on a lot of entertaining tangents, so lectures aren't too intensive(nice given the 8am time). He also encourages student participation in lectures for you vocal types. The writings are very simple; 5 one-page double-spaced essays - 2 reading summaries, 2 current events that relate to the readings, and 1 on how a sociological concept relates to your life. The midterm and final both consist of roughly 50-60 multiple choice questions and 2 one-page essays among 7 topics. Midterm is a cakewalk if you do the readings (which I neglected) and visit the testbank (see neglect), and the final only covers the other half of the readings, but is not in the testbank. Jepson gives thorough study guides for both tests the week before, so do the weekly readings and don't fall behind like dumbass me. With regards to TAs, Fox is highly knowledgeable and very helpful. Overall, easy GE course, just do the readings. I'm selling my course reader as well, no writing or marks, good condition, all that good stuff. Email me at ************* if you are interested.
Took Intro Sociology with Professor J. He's a nice and funny guy, and he tends to go on a lot of entertaining tangents, so lectures aren't too intensive(nice given the 8am time). He also encourages student participation in lectures for you vocal types. The writings are very simple; 5 one-page double-spaced essays - 2 reading summaries, 2 current events that relate to the readings, and 1 on how a sociological concept relates to your life. The midterm and final both consist of roughly 50-60 multiple choice questions and 2 one-page essays among 7 topics. Midterm is a cakewalk if you do the readings (which I neglected) and visit the testbank (see neglect), and the final only covers the other half of the readings, but is not in the testbank. Jepson gives thorough study guides for both tests the week before, so do the weekly readings and don't fall behind like dumbass me. With regards to TAs, Fox is highly knowledgeable and very helpful. Overall, easy GE course, just do the readings. I'm selling my course reader as well, no writing or marks, good condition, all that good stuff. Email me at ************* if you are interested.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - I normally don't write reviews, but this professor is awful. His lectures comprise of 10-15 minutes of actual information about the subject and the rest of the class is him ranting about current issues. His grading is awful as he only gives out a certain amount of A's, B's, and C's which means that you may get a lower score if your test is graded last even if you have the same answers as someone who got a higher grade and turned it in earlier (his tests are short answer). He is very sketchy with his grading and the final grades seemed kinda arbitrary. Also, he did not post what we got on our paper or our final which comprised about 60% of our grade, therefore I had to email him to figure out what I got. I did 1.5 points better than someone else in the class on the midterm and we got the same grades for all the other assignments and she received a B while I received an A-, so basically if you want to be graded fairly do NOT take this class. This class caused me so much frustration and I honestly have no idea how a professor like him is allowed to teach at UCLA because he is costing people their chances at grad school due to his stupid grading scale (which he refuses to explain to the students).
Winter 2020 - I normally don't write reviews, but this professor is awful. His lectures comprise of 10-15 minutes of actual information about the subject and the rest of the class is him ranting about current issues. His grading is awful as he only gives out a certain amount of A's, B's, and C's which means that you may get a lower score if your test is graded last even if you have the same answers as someone who got a higher grade and turned it in earlier (his tests are short answer). He is very sketchy with his grading and the final grades seemed kinda arbitrary. Also, he did not post what we got on our paper or our final which comprised about 60% of our grade, therefore I had to email him to figure out what I got. I did 1.5 points better than someone else in the class on the midterm and we got the same grades for all the other assignments and she received a B while I received an A-, so basically if you want to be graded fairly do NOT take this class. This class caused me so much frustration and I honestly have no idea how a professor like him is allowed to teach at UCLA because he is costing people their chances at grad school due to his stupid grading scale (which he refuses to explain to the students).
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - Professor Jepson is a very traditional lecturer. He doesn't use slides and doesn't record his lectures. However, I like this style because it forces me to listen to what he is saying during the lecture. His class consists or a midterm worth 40 points, a final worth 40 points, a paper worth 30 points, and discussion participation worth 18 points (I believe). On the midterm and final, we were provided with 10-15 questions regarding lectures, readings, or discussion questions that our TAs provided us prior to the discussion. We were told to choose 4 to answer in our blue books. The paper is on a sociological idea and theorist that we touch on in class. I found the paper to be very easy as I chose to write about Anomie. I would recommend Jepson as a professor as he is very clear about his points. However, make sure your TA is a good TA because if they are good, you basically have the answers to the questions on your midterm and on your final.
Spring 2024 - Professor Jepson is a very traditional lecturer. He doesn't use slides and doesn't record his lectures. However, I like this style because it forces me to listen to what he is saying during the lecture. His class consists or a midterm worth 40 points, a final worth 40 points, a paper worth 30 points, and discussion participation worth 18 points (I believe). On the midterm and final, we were provided with 10-15 questions regarding lectures, readings, or discussion questions that our TAs provided us prior to the discussion. We were told to choose 4 to answer in our blue books. The paper is on a sociological idea and theorist that we touch on in class. I found the paper to be very easy as I chose to write about Anomie. I would recommend Jepson as a professor as he is very clear about his points. However, make sure your TA is a good TA because if they are good, you basically have the answers to the questions on your midterm and on your final.
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Spring 2024 - I took Jepson's class for Political Soc last quarter and found the material easy to understand, though the class organization was inconsistent and unclear. To do well on exams, focus on the main points and arguments from the readings discussed in class, and study the provided study guide outline thoroughly. Memorize discussion questions as they appear word-for-word on the exam. Specific details from the readings will help you score high.Jepson posts a lecture outline weekly; copy and paste this into your notes and fill it in during class instead of writing everything word for word. He does not record lectures btw. However, the class organization is poor. For the 134 course, there were no rubrics for the five required journal entries, and Jepson notes it's rare to score a perfect 6/6, which is unhelpful and discouraging. The grading of the exams was also unclear. Although I received positive feedback like "Great!" from the TA, I never scored a perfect 10 and wasn't given reasons for being marked down on parts of exam where I scored a 9 or 9.5, but never a 10. I did well on the exams and midterm, but mandatory discussion points lowered my overall grade. Unlike Political Soc with Jepson, this time for 134 he didn't allow make-up work for missed discussions, which was frustrating and inconsistent. I missed discussions due to illness and death in my family, however since these were not "medical emergencies" according to his syllabus, I had missed these points.
Spring 2024 - I took Jepson's class for Political Soc last quarter and found the material easy to understand, though the class organization was inconsistent and unclear. To do well on exams, focus on the main points and arguments from the readings discussed in class, and study the provided study guide outline thoroughly. Memorize discussion questions as they appear word-for-word on the exam. Specific details from the readings will help you score high.Jepson posts a lecture outline weekly; copy and paste this into your notes and fill it in during class instead of writing everything word for word. He does not record lectures btw. However, the class organization is poor. For the 134 course, there were no rubrics for the five required journal entries, and Jepson notes it's rare to score a perfect 6/6, which is unhelpful and discouraging. The grading of the exams was also unclear. Although I received positive feedback like "Great!" from the TA, I never scored a perfect 10 and wasn't given reasons for being marked down on parts of exam where I scored a 9 or 9.5, but never a 10. I did well on the exams and midterm, but mandatory discussion points lowered my overall grade. Unlike Political Soc with Jepson, this time for 134 he didn't allow make-up work for missed discussions, which was frustrating and inconsistent. I missed discussions due to illness and death in my family, however since these were not "medical emergencies" according to his syllabus, I had missed these points.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - Had an asynchronous class with him, absolutely horrible. He was so monotone and made it as difficult as possible to follow the lectures. His lack of enthusiasm has drained already a very draining academic year. He grades on a curve and he does not give any indication of how you did on exams. (I got D on midterm because I "misinterpreted" one of the prompts"). I do not recommend at all.
Winter 2020 - Had an asynchronous class with him, absolutely horrible. He was so monotone and made it as difficult as possible to follow the lectures. His lack of enthusiasm has drained already a very draining academic year. He grades on a curve and he does not give any indication of how you did on exams. (I got D on midterm because I "misinterpreted" one of the prompts"). I do not recommend at all.