took this as a ge with no background in anthro which i would not recommend. there is so much nitty gritty information to memorize like specific primates, fossils, etc. i never attended lecture, only watched recordings because she refuses to post the slides before class which is super annoying as someone who takes notes by annotating over the slides (I actually recommend doing this though because there is so much information that if you try to take notes of everything on the slides + whatever she is saying during lecture, you will prob struggle to keep up). she also requires you pay for inquizitive (an online textbook) to do homework. for the midterm she gave us a study guide which was very helpful and i just made a quizlet to study, however she didn't have a study guide for the final (not cumulative) which was annoying but i still just made a quizlet. i didn't read the textbook or study the inquizitives and i still did well on the midterm and final, just make sure you watch the lectures even if on 2x speed because you will get a better idea of the main concepts that will appear on the tests.

As someone who lowkey took this class for no reason (I am not minoring in Anthro anymore), I don't really recommend it for anyone who can avoid it. It was not awful but it required significant effort. I personally enjoyed this class a lot, but if you do not have a real interest in primates and evolution and all that jazz, save your effort.

Review:
This class is content-heavy and purely based on memorization with a little application. The topics covered range from principles of evolution, primate diversity, human evolution, and origins of human behavior. While I found most of the content to be interesting, it got really dense as the quarter progressed.

Professor Fox is an okay lecturer. I primarily watched recordings and wrote down basically everything she said. The slides had headers that could be used as study topics, but were mainly filled with pictures so be sure to watch the lectures!

An online book is required along with an interactive "quiz" site. Definitely read through the book. That was my primary form of studying. The weekly quizzes could be completed any time through the quarter and you could get 100% on them as long as you completed the questions.

Discussion sections were somewhat valuable, depending on your TA. Mine was very invested in the subject and highlighted important parts of the content. They were mandatory attendance each week with one absence allowed.

GRADE BREAKDOWN:
- 30% Midterm
- 35% Final
- 15% Online quizzes (free points basically)
- 20% Discussion section (attendance + participation + written homework)
- 2% extra credit

The exams were very straightforward. Majority multiple choice with a few short written answers. You will absolutely need to review everything lectured AND read through the whole book in order to be prepared. Questions are specific and require you to pull knowledge from even tiny aspects of the course (which can get difficult during human evolution and species, etc.). Don't be like me and read the entire book the night before/day of lol. Do it early.

if you want to take this as a GE, DON'T! i took this because it's a requirement for my major, but i know so many people took this as a GE and i can't imagine why anyone would ever do that. there is SO much content, and prof fox expects you to know all of it. the midterm tested the first half of the class, and the final tested the second half, but even so, there was just way too much content. the discussions were such a waste of time and were required. they were also graded on both attendance and participation, so your grade is highly variable based on your TA.
the averages for the exams were mid to high 70s. the midterm was worth 30% and the final 35%
honestly, my motivation was at an extreme low this quarter so i barely studied for the midterm and mostly relied on my knowledge from LS7B (mistake lol) but still scored above the mean. i actually put effort into studying for the final by doing the inquisitives and taking notes on the questions and sections of the textbook for which they applied. i spent around 2 hours on each chapter and did significantly better on the final, so i highly recommend this method of studying if you don't have time to read through the slides and watch the lectures.
basically, only take this class if you're absolutely required to. there is way too much content and the structure of the class isn't very forgiving.

I went into this class because I loved LS 7B, and was an LA (learning assistant) for the course so I wanted to continue to immerse myself in similar content. I soon found out what a mistake this would be. I don't think this class is hard although I had prior knowledge on these topics which could skew my
opinions of such. I found this class an actual pain, the grading scheme was horrible 65% of the grades were made only from exams which was annoying considering this is a GE course and a first-year anthropology requirement so I'd expect them to be easier on the students. Likewise, the prof made it so that a 94 was an A, not a 93. Random grade deflation that made getting an A in the course so annoying. The content was interesting genetics was great, and the social race aspect at the end was also interesting. The mid part talking about primates, fossils, and types of hominins was boring but manageable nothing that was too dull. If you take this course I'd highly recommend against it unless you are an anthro major or want to spend a decent amount of time studying. Make sure to attend lectures. Honestly lecture is the most important piece for this course, many midterm/FInal questions were pulled straight from the slide's content or from her just rambling so definitely go. Reading was helpful but just so long and had so much information not needed so I stopped reading. Professor Fox as a professor could be a bit boring, but overall she wasn't bad very knowledgeable in the field, and did provide you with the materials to get an A. Discussions were worthless but you need to attend as it makes a good chunk of your grade so go if you want an A. She gives an optional 2% extra credit do it, as mentioned the minimum for an A is 94 so by completing the extra credit which max took 2 minutes to do lol you could make it way easier to get an A. You are only allowed on the excused absence that is all for the whole course, you may not miss any more days than this, you may not submit homework past its due date, etc. The professor tried to justify this with some lame excuse but it's quite sad how strict she was with the policy, especially with the whole encampment and strike with TAs that caused interference in the course. She would not make any changes and kept her policies the same. The last thing don't forget to submit your homework (It's a good portion of your grade) it's due on Saturday at 8 am for no real reason (I forgot to submit it because of this), they say it's for the TA to know where we need help but the TA truly didn't do anything with our HW so it was useless. Overall, this class made me regret wanting to take it to continue my passion for Human Evolution and Genetics. The material while being interesting was so annoying with having to go to worthless discussions, long reading, and easy quizzes that didn't prepare me. Couple this with a professor who was not accommodating at all and you have a very insufferable course for 10 weeks.

Average Midterm Score: 32.6/42 (~77.6%) Remember the midterm is worth 30 percent of your grade. So most people having this score would not be able to get anything higher than around a ~94 MAX

Average MCQ Final Score: 47.87/63 (~75.9) Remember the midterm is worth 35 percent of your grade.
Average FRQ Final Score: 3.98/6 (~66.3%)

Good luck Y'all I believe in you!!!

I didn't love this class and would not recommend taking as a GE. The test questions were worded in tricky ways and the amount of random nitty gritty knowledge covered and expected to memorize was a lot. Discussion was sometimes helpful with covering major topics, but again, the nitty gritty details were not really emphasized ever again. The class required an online textbook with interactive homework, which was really annoying. Homework also included short written responses (fine and typical of a GE) and two bigger assignments using the online interactive textbook. Grading was curved so that the student with the highest grade is the maximum grade possible in the course. Overall, not a great class but if you have to take it you'll survive if you really put in the effort to study every single detail covered because you never really know what will be on the midterm and final.

grading breakdown for spring 23:
70% EXAMS (35% Midterm exam, 35% Final exam)
15% Online quizzes using interactive textbook
15% Discussion section
+ optional 2% extra credit