The information and topics taught are interesting. However, the way Professor Suman lectures is painfully boring and hard to follow. Constantly jumping around from different topics during lecture making it extremely easy to get lost. He isn't very clear in what he expects from you in your final project or his test. Also, the T.A I had was awful! She did not like my topic for my final project and was very bias with my grading, even though Professor Suman had approved my topic and given me examples of questions that I used in my survey. I had to have my projet regraded. Do not take this class!

Suman, Suman, Suman... THE most dreaded communications professor in the department. Honestly he is a CS celebrity. Is this class hard? Not necessarily. Is there a heavy workload? Absolutely! For our midterm we had to read 8 chapters of our reader and take handwritten notes on it we could use for the test (both final and midterm are open notes so take good notes!) for the final, we had to read an entire novel, the last 8 chapters in the reader, and read 100+ pages of news articles he compiled for us that we took notes and were tested on. (I’m not a reader by any means but the material for this class was so interesting that I finished the novel in 2 days and I genuinely enjoyed it) It is a lot of work and you absolutely must do it and do not slack off if you want to do well in class. He is literally one of the best lecturers I have ever had and the information he assigns and discusses has truly stuck with me. Never at any point in his class was I unclear about anything. He is a prompt emailer, too. He’ll call you out for having laptops and phones in class but it is for the best. I don’t think I would recommend taking this course if you already have a full load since the amount of material is immense and can seem intimidating, however he tells you everything you need to have read/notes on from day 1 of class. There is one research paper that you have to survey 100+ people for and analyze the data but he gives you an example paper to go off of so it is not too difficult. Always go to the TA if you have paper questions since they are the person who will be reading it. (I made this mistake and got a 70 on it which could have been avoided had I talked to the TA). A lot of my friends in the class didn’t do so hot on the paper (D’s) but I believe he offered them an alternative option to improve their grades but I’m not 100% sure.

Professor Suman does have a curve that guarantees that if you do the BARE MINIMUM you will get units for this class. You have to get something around 19/95 points to get a D-. The issue is if you are like me and your grades are above the class average the curve does not help much. It is actually impossible to get an A in his class. He mentions things on tests that he hardly talked about. Way too much reading, way too many notes, no electronics allowed (he will call you out if he sees you on your phone or computer). His office hours suck because he has so many students. You have to get there super early otherwise there are 10-15 people in line. Paper was easy but the tests were so hard.

Mr Suman is a great guy who really helps you learn the material. It is open note on the tests so make sure you take good notes during lecture. Not an easy A, but I I learned A LOT from this class!

This class is horrible. Granted I took this class my first quarter at UCLA so I was still adjusting, but still no. The material itself is quite interesting - I Aced all my exams, HOWEVER, Suman literally provided little to no instruction on the final paper and I ended up with a C on it. (I actually got an F on it, but majority of the class did as well so he curved it to a C). His graders (under his direction) grade extremely hard. I ended up with a B+ in the course, so I really can't complain that much, but avoid at all costs if you can.

Boring. Course material is outdated and for every study he points out, he give another one that contradicts it. Exams were open note so if you showed up to class and took good notes, it was definitely doable. There is a sure and 2 exams. Exams are all short answer. Not a fan of his teaching style and most of the class was bored out of their minds. I wouldn't put this class on the top of your list to take...

Hi hi! (:
I took Comm 152 with Suman during Fall quarter 2015, and it was my favorite class for that quarter. It was my first quarter at UCLA, and as a transfer student I was excepting the courses to be wayyy more intense and difficult than I'm used to. That being said, Comm152 fit my expectations in a perfectly good way. Suman's class is, not gonna lie, pretty challenging. You are presented with a decent amount of material/reading to understand and retain, but it is all both applicable and interesting. I genuinely feel that Suman and his lectures have helped improve my study habits and way of thinking. The Shallows book is so eye opening! And as for doing well in the course (I got an A-): You MUST take notes. I wrote down nearly everything he said/mentioned during lecture (even when he said not to take notes haha). His exams are open-notes, but that only means he expects more from you. For example, I technically provided correct answers for all the short answer questions that I had missed on the midterm, but I was marked down because my answers weren't the ones he was looking for. So yes, be sure to take good notes, and try not to miss class.
Also, try not to procrastinate with the survey research paper. I talked to four people who waited until the last week or two to start and they got C's (which I guess isn't too bad for starting so late haha, anyways). Suman's a great professor. He doesn't use ppt, he's a straight up lecturer, and I think it's totally appropriate for the course material that you'll be learning :)

Course material is outdated and for every study he points out, he give another one that contradicts it. Exams were open note so if you showed up to class and took good notes, it was definitely doable. There is a sure and 2 exams. Exams are all short answer. Not a fan of his teaching style and most of the class was bored out of their minds. I wouldn't put this class on the top of your list to take...

Suman is a cool guy. He is a good lecturer because he repeats main concepts over and over. The problem comes in with the tests.

For sitcoms and mass media effects, his tests are open note. This seems like a blessing, but I think it actually works against you. His TAs are SUCH HARD GRADERS and he provides no example essays to show you how you should write. I have no idea why points were taken off my tests, and I never will.

The tests consist of 10ish short answer questions from lecture, which are easy if you go to every lecture and note the main points.

The essays on the tests are either based on readings or episodes from sitcoms. There is SO MUCH DENSE READING for com 152 that I recommend you find a buddy, split up the reading, and take detailed notes. Again, I lose most of my points on the essay everytime and have no idea why.

There is an additional essay that is graded just as hard. I've given up trying to get an A in suman's classes. I got a B and I put minimal effort and kind of enjoyed it so I guess it's cool.