Grading Scale:
2 two-page papers - 5% each
life review paper (13 pages max) - 25%
2 exams - 25% each
discussion - 5% attendance & 5% posts
film review - 5%

Class:
I honestly just wanted a cluster and didn’t even pay attention to what the class was about when I enrolled. I was not too thrilled to find out it was about older people. However, this class is fairly interesting, at least more than I thought it was. This quarter was really biology heavy and I have no experience with biology, but I crammed before the test and did fine. It definitely changes your perspective a little on older adults, though I would say that, being in LA, the older adults here are less representative of most older adults that may be on the news or even in our own communities/towns. With that, I will say that this class is politically charged. There is a lot of content on policy and such, which I personally have no problem with. Other more close-minded individuals (ahem someone else in these reviews) have difficulty hearing other perspectives, so keep that in mind when enrolling. Overall, I don’t regret enrolling in this course (but this may weigh heavily on the fact that I did well grade-wise). However, it does mean this class is not difficult to pass if you study!

Workload:
There were two short and easy papers. The first one was less formal (since it had some reflection) so it was very easy. The second was very similar except it was more formal and about policy. These two were spaced out and we were given the assignments early on, so you have a lot of time. The bulk of the life review is an informal biography, and we are given this project early on too so just space out your assignments. Life review we were only given one week, and it was a group project so it was complicated finding times for everyone to work together, but it is graded extremely easily. Exams were online for us, but we had to be in class. They were very fair and not difficult if you studied—however, there are a lot of questions so that you cannot cheat. You are allowed three absences in discussion and must make 5 posts, but you cannot post multiple in a week.

Lectures:
Hsu - Funny guy, interesting content. No complaints with his lectures.

Soroosh - Biology lecturer; lectured the most this quarter. Good at keeping lectures interesting. He can talk very fast at times, and it can be difficult with no biology background. However, if you pay attention and review the slides or pay attention to the lecture summaries in discussion, the material isn’t too bad. He’s also great at answering questions.

Hahm - Social/Policy lecturer; lectured a lot at the end of the quarter. Often very monotone/quiet and does not follow slides as strictly. Material, however, was easy to follow. Again, just a little boring.

Grading:
This class takes foreverrr to grade. When the class ended the only thing in the gradebook were the two papers, life review (which is just graded on presentation and that grading is done on the spot but they still took weeks to upload the scores), and one exam. Everything else was only uploaded like the day before grades were due. For discussions, you can email your TAs to find out if you got full credit for posts. You can also email them for the rubrics from your papers. Exams were graded with a curve for us; for the first exam they took out two questions that were difficult but kept the points for students who got them right. Not sure about the final.

Textbook:
It can be found online, but because the textbook is interactive and the online one is a pdf, sometimes there are sections that can’t be read. However, the exams are not textbook heavy. There are maybe like 5 questions on the textbook. If anything, focus on the lectures and any other required readings that are not the textbook.

Exams:
We had one midterm and one final. However, the final was more like a second midterm (same weight and not cumulative). There were multiple choice, T/F, and short answer. The short answer questions were graded pretty easy.

Extra Credit:
We were given extra credit at the end of the quarter for completing surveys for each lecturer, our TA, and the course. There was also extra credit for answering a google form from the service learning coordinator.

My biggest advice to anyone considering taking a cluster is DO NOT do it unless you are extremely interested in the subject matter. For this class, the grade was 2 papers at 5% each, a group presentation at 5%, discussion posts at 5%, attendance at 5%, 2 midterms (open note this quarter) at 25% each, and a 13 page paper at the end of the course at 25%. The TAs are extremely slow graders and you really won't have a good idea of your grade until you actually get it. I'm not dropping the cluster because I'm afraid of how that will look on my transcript and I got an A, but this class is tedious and boring. The professors are ok, I never went to office hours or anything but they were never amazing lecturers or super approachable. They got the job done, though and most of the content made sense to me. I was not close with my TA either but she did a good job reviewing the lectures. I do think that they grade fairly and the exams aren't too bad if you have good notes from lecture and the PDF readings and have skimmed the textbook readings. Also, there are a lot of biology concepts and as a business econ major it felt like I was already expected to know them and I did not. Getting an A shouldn't be too bad if you put in the work and meet the requirements on papers.

Do not take this GE unless you're really interested in the subject. I took this course for all 3 quarters and it was the worst time of my life. Although it fulfills a lot of requirements, it was not worth my time and I could have taken other courses that I was actually interested in. Clusters are usually a scam though since they are a lot of work. Textbook is not really needed: I never read it since there are only like 2 questions on the multiple choice part of the test. Also, your TA matters since mine was a harsh grader.

This review is for the entire cluster. Honestly, when I was at orientation I was a bit unsure about taking a cluster because all the NSAs were really pushing the cluster program which kinda made me not want to take a cluster. But having taken this class, everyone should take this cluster, ONLY if you are genuinely interested in the course. As a pre-med, the material is very interesting and very applicable to real life. I really enjoy Dr. Hsu's lectures as they are very engaging. The class is a lot is you procrastinate the papers at the end of the quarter-- but overall, workload is not bad for what you are getting out of this. Also, winter quarter you do service learning at a nursing home or senior center which takes up some time but is worth it. Honestly... TAKE THIS CLUSTER! it is not as much work as the others are-- especially the philosophy heavy ones! and I am very glad I took this course. So if you are a freshman at orientation like I was, and if you are interested in learning about aging, then i 100% recommend!

This cluster teaches from many different perspectives, which makes the topic of aging much more interesting. However, at times, I feel as though the perspectives weren't easily balanced all the time during the different midterms. The class does involve a lot of assigned reading, but if you attend lectures, they clarify everything you need to know.

The cluster is a lot of work but not hard to get an A
Make sure you go to the lectures and take notes and review slides before tests. If you want, read the textbooks. It doesn’t help with class content but there may be 1-2 questions on the test relating the textbooks.
I took all three discussion/seminar with Daniel Whittaker. Some people say he is a harsh grader, and he does follow the rubrics and strict about citations. His seminar is a lot of work too, which is weekly assignments that requires reading 2-3 journals and several videos, sending him reflection. No final but a final paper that has multiple parts such as the main essay about cutting edge research, policy memo, research record and all that. I still like him though, because his seminar is interesting and help me live longer.

Fall 2018 was instructed by Drs. Hsu, Effros, and Merkin.

Not a hard course, just time-consuming given that the bulk of the work is reading and writing. From what I hear it's one of the more work-intensive clusters, but I'm okay with it since it covers all the requirements (like diversity and writing II) and GEs I need.

The exams are largely based on the lecture and discussion slides which are uploaded online the day after class. However, you will always be asked a few questions on something the lecturer stated aloud but didn't put on their slides, and on the assigned readings, so pay attention and take notes.

Overall I've probably never been more indifferent about a class; the material is dull but not intolerably irrelevant, getting a good grade is time-consuming but not difficult (given that your TA is a pretty easy grader), the professors aren't necessarily good nor bad, etc.

Hsu is very engaging in his lectures. The other two professors, not so much. But the class as a whole is pretty easy as the TAs are easy in grading papers (a majority of students get 90%+ on their papers). Also I don't know if this is common every year, but this year, barely any reading was tested. I still read just in case and everyone should (there isn't a huge amount if you're keeping up properly). As for tests, they are a lot of memorization of facts and processes (as this quarter is mostly biology and a some policy). I recommend this cluster because you knock out three social science requirements (which is how many you need to complete the GE req for social science for the School of letters and sciences) and because it is overall not that hard compared to other ones I've heard of.

This was an interesting class as the material we learned was applicable to real life. Professor Hsu was in my opinion the best professor and lecturer out of the three. His lectures were often engaging and not as boring as those of the other two professor, and he was approachable and helpful. Overall, the class has a pretty heavy workload. A lot of reading from the textbook and there is a midterm and a final along with various types of papers, projects, and presentations. I spent a fair amount of time on this class, but at least the material wasn't too difficult to understand, the assignments just took a long time. It's a lot of work, but it isn't too hard to get an A and most of the TA's aren't very harsh with their grading.