This is definitely a weeder class for the Comm major. I'm a Comm major so I had to take this class and it was quite a lot of work. The information and class itself is pretty interesting and Suman is a great guy, but I don't recommend taking this class if you're looking for an easy GE.
Getting a B requires some effort and getting an A is very difficult.

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Professor Suman's lectures are good. His fast-paced, content-loaded two hours pass by relatively quickly and interestingly. You will learn a low of informative, good things you usually otherwise would never know. He uses anecdotes and examples all the time, which make lectures effective. They are good, in general, if you like the material. He can be funny at times, and makes things important.

The class is alright. Be prepared to take massive amounts of notes, study with a friend, and always attend and pay attention in lecture. The workload is pretty good: not much reading (some of it is good, some of it is a bit boring and predictable), but the tests are difficult. Pay attention to detail and memorize memorize memorize! That's all you pretty much have to do: lists, etc.

TAs tend to grade pretty hard, especially on the paper and essays. You need to stand out to get an A in the class, but getting a B isn't too difficult. The subject material isn't bad, but it may depend on your preferences. I enjoyed it, but it showed me I really didn't want to be a Comm. major simply because I'm not interested in the material. It's not an easy class, and probably not worth it for a G.E. but take it if you're interested or want a challenge.

Comm Studies 10 seemed like a weeder course for the major. Otherwise it was a freshman killer course. Though it is still easy to get a b.

Pros:
subject material is interesting.
nice curve to the grades.

cons:
He is not very concerned about each individual: He has taught this class for like 10 years, but the subject material hardly changed.
essential you come to class and not miss any lecture because the lecture notes make up a good deal of the exam.

I had Professor Suman when I took the class, and he was a great professor. He joked a lot during the lectures, which were never boring. I also appreciated the help my T.A., Matt Luckett, gave me when I needed help on my paper. It was a fun class, and I learned a lot.

Great professor! Lectures were always interesting and gives tons of examples to make sure students fully digest all subject matter. From my experience, all the TAs were great too...I personally had Matt who was first and foremost a really friendly, approachable TA, but especially as a TA he always went out of his way to make sure the students in his section always knew what was going on in/out of class, grasped the concepts, and he even arranged out of his own time, not required by Professor Suman for review sessions prior to both the midterm and final for his sections. Got an A- in the class...plenty of resources available to do well in the class.

He makes boring subjects pretty interesting with his examples. He's a good professor and the class is not that hard, contrary to what most people say. Take it!

I thought I would enjoy this class. Nope. Lectures were just waaaay too long--2 hours! --for content that I felt could be condensed into an hour. It was entirely scripted. He tells the same jokes in the same places every quarter, every year. I know he's an incredibly nice guy--you can tell. And he can crack a joke--he really makes the first lecture fun since it's about dating and relationships. But after that, it's hard to stay awake in class. It was a hard class to get an A in, but easy B. For the midterm, I remember making flashcards for his entire lecture. Final was a killer because you basically had to memorize the content and author of about 20 articles in order to write the essay. Also, on the first amendment essay, there were about 20 points that he listed out one-by-one that you had to hit in order to get full credit. I've never seen an essay format like that--and it drove me nuts. Choose your t.a. carefully--they really make or break your grade.

When I had Suman for Comm 10 I absolutely loved him. The material was so interesting and I looked forward to go to class even though it was a long class period. He's the teacher that inspired me to be a communications major. He was my favorite teacher at UCLA until I had him for comm 152- the effects of the mass media. That class was so dreadfully boring. I rarely looked forward to going to class, and I had trouble focusing in class. I feel that if someone else taught that class, it would be so much more enjoyable. The tests for that class were open notes, so you think it would be easy, but the grading was so much harsher. I don't know if I would take another class with Suman. I thought he did an amazing job at teaching comm 10 but he can be a bit dry and goes on with a million examples of the same thing. It gets a tad boring after a while.

Suman is a nice and funny guy, and his lectures are bearable. He writes key points on the board and makes note that only the stuff he writes on the board will be on the exams, so you don't have to copy down everything he says word for word because he does say a lot of stuff in the 2 hours of class. However, his tests are extremely harshly graded and the curve is stupidly low. In the end, he made the curve for the final grade of the class 80/60/40/20 rather than the normal 90/80/70/60. So most people ended up getting either a C+ or B- which is consistent with most professors. You may think, "80% is an A? I'm gonna take this class for an easy A." Well think again. I mean it when I say his tests are hard. There is so much crap to memorize, and if you're not interested in the material then you'll do poorly. The first half of the class is pretty interesting, he talks about people communication and a little bit of psychology. The second half however, is just plain stupid. The lectures are about mass media, and he spends time talking about shit like how television signals get delivered to your house. Who the hell cares? Worst of all, that stuff is going straight on the final (which is not cumulative, but that actually makes it harder for this particular class). There is also an essay that accounts for 30% of your grade. It is very harshly graded with the average being about 20/30, so I definitely suggest you take an English Composition class first before this. So my final verdict on the class: Do not take it. It is a weeder class to dissuade people from the Communications Studies major. And don't even think about taking this class for a GE requirement especially if you're a South campus major.