Personally this class wasn't my cup of tea. This might not be the GE for you if you want something with minimal commitment since there is a lot of reading. I only kept up the first half of the quarter (pre-midterm) and after that the reading became too much for me. After the first midterm I completely stopped reading since the readings just got longer and harder to follow. Fortunately, Professor Ellis made the final optional and cancelled a term paper due to the strikes. I fortunately passed with a 91% solely based off a group project (which is easy) and the midterm. From what I have observed the people who consistently enjoyed the material and knew what was going on were people who already dabbled in mythology before. Professor Ellis isn't a bad lecturer by any means, he kinda looks like an older Andrew Garfield and he's British if that's an incentive to anyone (his photo here on Bruinwalk doesn't serve him justice IMO) and my TA Emma was really cool and made people feel welcomed. This might be a very easy GE for you if you enjoy reading and go to his lectures everyday, but again, as someone who had 3 other demanding STEM classes, this class became a drag for me and I was only lucky in the given circumstances.

I really enjoyed his class and the lectures were always very interesting. Sometimes I would say the workload was a lot but not out of the expected for a GE. It was just a lot of reading but a lot of the reading was very fun and the lectures would help clear up any confusion. The grading scheme was 20% section attendance, 20% midterm, 25% group essay, 35% final. However, there was supposed to be an individual 5-6 page paper, he had cancelled it and the final became optional due to the protests.

I would recommend this class to anyone with an interest in Greek mythology, otherwise the readings would not be fun to read. A little bit of prior knowledge of Greek myth is required to fully understand the texts.

There were a lot of assignments and reading for this class. Often times the readings felt unnecessary. The class can be fun, but when it comes to the assignments it can be confusing. I found myself wanting to get ahead when the assignments were posted, but then I would have to rework my drafts after he said something in class for what he was looking for from the assignment. He didn't go over the assignments with much detail, just briefly mentioning them in class and then moving on to lectures. The lectures have A LOT of text and it can be hard to keep up with what he's saying. He's very passionate about the topic and can keep you engaged, but I feel like this class would be more fun if the assignments weren't so hard. The study guide for the midterm had about 70 pictures to study and other key terms. It helps if you know greek, otherwise you will have to do a lot of flash cards and memorization. Quizlet was useful for the midterm and final for me. If this subject interests you I'd say it can be worth a shot taking this class, but I would only do this class again if I were only doing a maximum of 12 units to handle everything. There's a final paper and final exam so it feels like two finals around finals season, so keep that in mind too.

This class has so much work, blue book midterm and final, 2 writing assignments and final research assignment/paper. I don't know if it was worth it to take because the subject was really hard to find interesting. His lectures are not recorded and his slides are very text heavy. Lots of readings and many images to remember (ie: first midterm about 70 images to remember details about)

I really liked this class, and would recommend for anyone interested in mythology and people's belief systems. There was a moderate amount of reading to do, not too much but it would be difficult if another class you are taking also has a lot of required readings. The professor is really cool and makes the lectures pretty engaging. The workload isn't too bad, although there are two projects that require some creativity, which was challenging for me. The 'exams' were just timed analysis of some passages from what we had read and gone over in lecture.

I really liked Professor Ellis. His lectures are really engaging and he has a fantastic british accent. There are three PATs in this class, which are passage analysis tests where you have to respond to two quotations from the texts. If you go to lecture and read the texts, you'll be fine. It was kind of hilarious because my TA (Shoutout Lena) was lowkey beefing with him throughout the quarter over grading stuff, because he was apparently swooping in and giving people different grades than what the TA did. I didn't really notice any of this though, and didn't have any problem. Overall I really liked Professor Ellis, and he really cared about teaching and the subject matter.

I would highly recommend this class for anyone interested in learning more about ancient human beliefs and historical mythology. Professor Ellis' passion for the subject is wonderfully contagious, and while he can sometimes spiral into rants nobody quite understands at times, he always finds a way to circle back to the subject. The assignments are clear and manageable, and many of the TAs for this class are just hilarious and so helpful (I had Lena Barsky). Many of the stories we learn in class are fascinating and implement themes familiar in our modern life, revealing what patterns humans have gravitated towards since the dawn of storytelling.
I will miss this class's lectures and sections. If you can, take it!

I initially didn't have any interest in Greek civilization, but I took the class because I heard classics 10 is pretty easy. After taking the class I definitely have a much greater appreciation and interest in Greek civilization. Ellis' interest and passion in the subject make his lectures much more interesting. He's also very nice, which helps too.

Class structure:
Discussion: 15%
Three quizzes (lowest score dropped): 20%
Two response papers (2 pages each): 15%
Paper (6 pages): 20%
Final: 30%

Studying:
You HAVE to go to lecture in order to know what's important about certain quotes, images, etc. I recommend bringing a laptop just because you can take notes faster. His lectures are very well organized, so it's not too difficult to figure out what's important. There aren't any previous exams at the test bank except for maybe the short quizzes because there's no midterm and people don't usually get the final back. The exams are all writing, so if you're a fan of multiple choice, this probably isn't your kind of class. Ellis said the final should only take 1.5 hours, but I was writing for 2.5 hours straight lol. My wrist cried. :( :( I'll admit the exam was pretty difficult and there were definitely parts that I didn't know what to write (even though I did well on quizzes and prepared pretty well). But there's a very generous curve. The final was out of 92 points or some weird number in the 90s...There was a total of 250 points on the exam, so I don't know how that worked. Either way, with the curve I ended up getting over 100% on the final. So yeah...go to class, put in the effort, and you'll probably do much better than most of the class lol.

Overall: If you're going to take classics 10 and plan to put in the effort (just do the readings and pay attention in lecture), take this class with Ellis. He makes the stuff seem very interesting!

Your grade is completely dependent upon your TA. If you take this class with a friend and their TA seems chill, switch sections because mine was a hardass and graded as such. Ellis is is a quirky British dude who is very knowledgeable about the material and very approachable. His lectures are good but frankly boring unless you care about ancient Greece. He is lowkey pretty funny too because some of the stories the class deals with are plain outlandish. The grading scheme is different than most Writing 2 classes; You have three essays due throughout the quarter but you get a provisional grade on these. Your final grade is mostly dependent upon a "portfolio" you turn in finals week. This portfolio consists of two of the three essays you wrote (you choose the two) that have substantial revisions from the initial copies you turned in and a two-page commentary explaining your changes and why you chose those essays. All in all this class is one of the better Writing 2s imho but be weary of your TA

this class is easy as fuck for a writing ii. literally only 3 papers, and you get to hand in rough drafts and fix them, so at the end your grade is based on what you feel are your two best papers. you really don't need to read honestly, i didn't, just go to lecture and write down what he says. you have to do 4 discussion posts total which are nothing.

grading is also probably dependent on your ta, but mine was cool. ellis is a chill guy, he's british and looks like milo from atlantis and is super passionate about what he's talking about, which makes it easy to listen even if you don't care about the topic. overall, i highly recommend this class. ellis makes it very easy to succeed