Spanish44 w/ Professor Calderon was one of the first classes I have taken at UCLA as an incoming freshman. The content is easy to understand, and the professor's lively and passionate lectures were engaging at first, but me and probably half of the class stopped going to class b/c participation didn't matter (technically it sorta did b/c professor said she would bring up a grade by one grade scale if a student had perfect attendance) & the TAs just went over all the content in discussion sections. Also the professor uploads the powerpoints on CCLE (although she doesn't write all the notes you need for certain topics or pictures that are tested). You do need to attend discussion sections b/c the TAs do take attendance & participation. I think there were like 3-5 pop quizzes that were mostly pretty easy if you read the readings but I did struggle for one or two of them b/c the reading was sometimes confusing. I'd say the content is pretty interesting, but as someone who dislikes learning history in general, I gave up trying to understand and learn the course material after my midterm. If I gave more effort to my film review assignment thingy & final, I definitely could've gotten an A. However, this is a very easy GE class that also fulfills your diversity requirement.

I absolutely love Profesora Calderon, she was such a sweet and kind lady and so incredibly well read on all topics and the information in her class. She taught the class so well and although the lecture could feel long and there was a lot of information and note taking I really enjoyed all of the course content. There are assigned readings for each lecture every week and although they may seem like a lot and yes sometimes they can be lengthy I loved the readings because I thought that I learned a lot from each one and she chose them very well. There are a few quizzes but they are pretty easy if you do the readings and pay attention, there are 2 film reviews which aren't very hard to do and I really enjoyed them because I learned a lot from each of the two films that I watched. Both the midterm and final weren't too difficult, they are just on the content she taught in class so you do need to study the course content but it isn't challenging. Overall she is an amazing teacher and person and if you take her class I suggest engaging with her and talking to her because she has great stories and is overall an amazing person and I really did take away a lot from her class.

Absolutely love Calderon! She is such a sweet person and really wants you to succeed in her class. Her lectures are super engaging and your learn a lot in such a short period of time. Overall had a great experience in her class. Her midterm and final study guides are scary and they basically tell you to memorize everything but if you just make a timeline of events and people and get most of the general concepts you should be okay! Also she provides extra credit opportunities throughout the class and I highly suggest you do them as they are usually super interesting! Would take again (:

I took this class as a way to get extra units and a grade bump since I've taken similar classes before, but I did not realize the workload for the exams in the class. The class had 2 tests, a midterm and a final, and 6 pop quizzes, which sound relatively light in workload but required much reading to do. The pop quizzes required you to do the readings and remember almost all the details because it would test you on the most minute detail i.e how old is one of the characters in this story? this wasn't hard sometimes, but even when I did do the readings I couldn't remember some of the questions she would ask. they weren't a huge part of a grade and she would drop the lowest grade, but it still was nonetheless impactful for the difference between an A and a B. the midterm and the final were both structured the same, 5 matching, 4 short answers on people or events, 4 short answers on a photograph, and a long essay. the tests were a nightmare, I would freak out with the amount of information we had to memorize, the study power points she would give us would be like 20 pages of straight terms and photographs to study. I was freaking out, and the tests would be only on a few terms that she would spend days on in class, which was nice, but frustrating because she gave us so much to study. She takes attendance on some app, which is open up until halfway into the class to sign in which is nice. it does require you to be in the physical classroom though. overall, the professor was really nice and helpful, but her lectures were so drawn out and boring that I would hate going, although I did learn a lot because I was forced to study so much information. if you aren't willing to spend hours to study for the final and midterm and to do the readings, don't expect an easy A.

Took this course as an elective, my first quarter at UCLA. There are 6 unannounced quizzes based on assigned readings. Quizzes are straightforward, very short and simple, usually just one question sometimes a very specific question so make sure to read all readings since you never know when she'll give a quiz. She uses super lengthy power-points during lecture like 20+ pages, one midterm and one final. She gives a very long study guide basically telling you to memorize EVERYTHING for midterm and final and doesn't even test you on all of it. The workload to prepare for exams in this course was stressful and gave me anxiety but exams turned out to be not to bad, makes you memorize different periods and time frames.

Exams are structured in the following way:
matching column, select from a series of photos and give description of the photo (time period produced, what does it represent and its importance to Latin American history), select 2 terms or people from a list to also give the same description of, and one essay!!

FYI the essay is worth have the exam grade so the more you know and study the better prepared you'll be for this part. Also, attendance is taken via an App, this app is different than others as you can only check in to the class ONLY if you are within a certain parameter of the classroom. So, attendance is pretty much mandatory and you wont want to miss either because you never know when she'll give a quiz.

I thought this class was pretty tough when it came to the exams because of the workload of material you had to study but it is very possible to get an A as long as you work hard for it. It was not an easy elective in my choice.

I took this class thinking it was going to be a really boring Spanish history class. I was mistaken. This was probably the best GE I've taken so far. Patricia is very clear and extremely engaging. While there are readings each week that she posted on CCLE, they weren't very difficult or long. She usually summarizes them in class, and the TAs summarize it during discussion as well. We had quizzes every two weeks in discussion. Generally, the TAs reviewed answers right before the quiz so they weren't horrible. Her tests are all free response, but aren't actually that bad. Generally, there are picture section, matching sections, and an essay. I thought grading was pretty lenient. Patricia is also very approachable and understanding.

The subject of the class is interesting but she presents it in such a boring way.

She just reads off the slides the whole 2 hours and sometimes she'll add more to the lecture but its mostly whatever the slides say. Your grade is determined by the TA, I had a nice TA but she was extremely hard on grading. I asked the professor about my final grade and she had no idea on why I got that grade or how it was calculated and that was annoying since she approved it as my overall grade for the course.

The class isn't difficult by any means, you just have to hope your TA isn't a hard grader.

The breakdown of this class is as follows:
30% Midterm
40% Final
30% Attendance and Section

Grade is pretty much determined by the TA since they grade all the tests and they make the pop quizzes for section.

Alli was my TA and she was amazing, would definitely recommend.

Midterm and Final have the same format with one difference:
Multiple Choice
Picture Identification and Significance
People/Term Identification and Significance
Long Essay Based on Broad Topic
Personal Reflection Essay (Final Only)

The tests are SUPER EASY since the professor gives you a study guide, the only things to be wary of are making sure you thoroughly explain the significance and to write about all they ask for.

Professor Calderon is a very clear, passionate teacher although the class can get a bit boring at times if you aren't super passionate about the class like I was. Attendance is measured through an app, but in my quarter there were so many problems with it I think they just gave everyone 100% on attendance.

I'm a little torn as to whether or not I would recommend going to class as slides are posted every week and as long as you just memorize what's on them you'll probably get an A. The thing about going to class, besides that its graded, is that on the test she has pictures which you'll need to be able to identify and explain the significance of. While these pictures do appear in the slides, the significance and things you need to know do not and are verbally said.

READ THE ASSIGNMENTS
Most of the assignments aren't long at all, ie a poem or a song, but some do get superrrrr long. However, they are all necessary since the test requires you to reference class texts.