Tons of homework in which they took your points off simply based on something minor and irrelevant. The midterm questions were poorly written and structured. Ling1 taught by this professor is by far the worst ling class I've taken. The other ling uppers are way better than this. However, the final was pretty easy.

Grade breakdown: Midterm (45 questions) is 30%, final is 45% (accumulative, but focuses on the second half of the quarter mostly, 75 questions), and homework is 25%.

i thought this class would be easy based on the reviews, but i just think linguistics isn’t for me. hyams is clearly knowledgable in this field, but i just couldn’t grasp it, which is entirely on my end.

my TA was wang, who was actually a lot of help for me. unfortunately our discussions were early AM so a lot of us were just sleepy and didnt participate, but she still tried her best to answer any of our questions or clear up any confusion. during her office hours, there might be other people she’s answering questions to, which was actually really helpful because i could get clarity of questions i didnt even know i had lol. she also has very helpful slides and worksheets that give you practice and focus on main concepts!

the textbook was actually pretty useful to me towards the last few lectures bc some of her slides could be pretty vague, and she follows the textbook and its examples closely. but for the most part, you can get most of what you need to know from her slides.

i got about a C on the midterm, and consistent A’s on homework. there is also an opportunity for extra credit if you do two SONA credits, so that’s an easy way to bump up your grade two percent if you aren’t confident.

because of corona virus, our final was online, open note, with a three hour limit. i can imagine the final would be a lot more difficult if it weren’t though, because i still struggled with it.

i just want to say kudos to hyams for actually communicating with her students during the weeks leading to our final, because i know a lot of professors didnt. she let us know fairly early of the changes to the final and how it would operate. you can see she truly cared about how her students were feeling, and i want to thank her for making a stressful time just a little less stressful. i wish i did a bit better in her class, but overall, i learned a lot of interesting things, and i think everything about her class is pretty fair.

I thought this was an extremely manageable and relatively easy GE. There is a midterm, a final, and 5 or 6 homework assignments. The homework assignments also take the place of an essay (so there's no essay!). You do need to have very basic knowledge of a second language for the homework, since the last question on each one requires you to compare English and another language.
If you have questions on homework, you can go to any TAs office hours for help. The answers are mostly standardized and graded exactly the same by all TAs.
The final mostly covers the second half, although it is cumulative. Both exams are multiple choice and if you study the slides and understand the concepts they are not difficult. I did not use the textbook at all after the first two weeks because I realized she covers everything you need to know in lecture. It's easier to get help on homework from TAs than from the book. I got the textbook and Hyams follows it closely (she is one of the coauthors). It can be humorous though. I highly recommend this class as an easier GE.

If you have already taken LING 20 and still need to fulfill a GE requirement (surprisingly enough, LING 1 counts as one of your Life Science GEs), then take this class. It will be a very easy A with a few new topics that you'd need to read up on in the textbook. Both the midterm and the final are all multiple choice. You only need to show up to section to turn in homework, so they won't grade you on participation. You can also earn extra credit by participating in up to 2 psychology experiments/studies, where each study you complete will result in 1% added to your final grade.

Ling 1 with Professor Hyams definitely gave me a better insight into how language works and I enjoyed taking this course. The homework was often confusing, but the workload was very light with there only being 5 homework assignments all quarter. Truthfully, a lot of people who attended the lectures would just be on their phones or laptops doing other things because they know that professor just posts the lecture slides on CCLE. I think that after the midterm, the content became less interesting and the lectures felt like they just dragged on, which lead to fewer people paying attention in class. The midterm and finals were not too hard, they were both multiple choice exams. There is no Section participation grade, but going to section can be helpful and they don't post Homework solutions so that's the only way to check your answers. I wouldn't say this is an easy class, though the workload is light and all the slides are posted online, it's easy to get behind on readings and lecture slides. I think Professor Hyams was kind of funny and sweet, I'm glad I took the class with her.

Ling 1 with Professor Hyams was an incredibly interesting class with manageable work. There is one midterm and one (cumulative, but second half topics more heavily emphasized) final, both multiple choice, as well as six homework assignments. There is the option to receive 2% extra credit for participating in studies–do it! The homework assignments are often vague, and are free response, so need more detail than the exams do. The textbook is useful in preparing for exams and to have open when completing homeworks, but not necessary to read before every class. It's expensive, but available online to rent for pretty cheap. Professor Hyams keeps the class interesting with guest lecturers and (almost funny they're so cliche) 80's style documentary videos. The material is interesting, and the course can count for life science GE credit, which is great for more north-campus oriented people. The midterm and final are fair, and easy if you have done the homeworks, gone to lecture and section, and studied a little. Great class!

Professor Hyams was a pretty good teacher and I did well in the class, but there is a lot of homework. It's not an easy science GE by any means.

I thought this class was very interesting and not very difficult. There was only 1 midterm and a research paper and the final was straight off the textbook. If you read the book and do the homework you pretty much have a guaranteed a

This class was tricky and it is not an easy GE. Every problem on the homework was graded and the final is fairly tricky with phonetics. Lectures are pointless, unless there is a video, just read the powerpoint notes.

Linguistics I is a straightforward class that is worth taking if you are willing to invest the time and energy into the course. Because this is a survey class on a subject nearly all students are unfamiliar with, you can not expect to automatically understand the concepts and theories without working. Professor Hyams is very knowledgeable and has been teaching the class for quite some time; there are no surprises in this class.

Midterm and Final are now multiple choice questions that test your ability to apply knowledge to linguistic examples. They are not easy, but fair. If you do the readings and attend lecture you will set yourself up for success in the class.

Professor Hyams also offers extra credit if you participate in a psychology study during the quarter. Take advantage of this opportunity! In the end of the quarter, completion of a study will raise your overall grade by 3%.