Professor Jacoby is honestly not very good at teaching. He's inconsistent with the pace of his lectures. A lot of the time you're just sitting there wondering if what he's saying is worthwhile because it can be so random and unrelated sometimes. He goes on tangents that don't really have to do with the course and he doesn't always follow a chronological order, which can be a bit frustrating since it's a history class. The TA and the textbook were what helped me get an A in this class tbh. Try to get Sam Kelley as your TA he's great but he's a bit harsh grading the two papers. Sam gives out weekly reading responses which are a pain to do, but you'll be so glad you did them when you study for the midterm and final because they help you understand the key texts of the class. You also get marks just for completing the reading responses, and since one of them is counted as extra credit, your grade gets a boost. It's definitely not impossible to get an A in this class. For the 2 papers, get a draft done super early, show it to your TA in advance and go to the Writing Center. These papers are hard because of the 2-page limit. There's also a specific way the TAs want them to be written so get as much help as you can. I got a B and a B+ on them because I procrastinated a lot and never went to my TAs office hours. Don't do that. What saved my grade in this class was essentially the midterm and final, which I got As on, and the reading responses. For these tests, what you need to do is outline the textbook! Not the whole textbook because that's impossible, but outline everything that's been mentioned in class. That's why I think that despite the fact that professor Jacoby isn't very good at teaching, you should still attend lecture! Because at the very least the lectures will give you an outline of what you're going to be tested on. You should then go through the textbook and take somewhat brief notes on everything that was brought up in lecture. With your textbook, discussion and lecture notes you should be more than ready for the midterm and final :) It's definitely a challenging class, but I'm glad I took it. It gives you such a great perspective on the world and how modern history shaped it.

To be honest, I did not attend lecture much except for the first couple weeks and when we had to hand in our papers. The lectures were pretty boring in my opinion, but I did do every single reading for the class and found it to be sufficient enough to do well in the class. My TA made discussion very helpful, but a friend who had another TA had to do a lot more work for their discussion, plus her TA was much more harsh in grading (your own TA grades your paper, I believe they also grade your midterm/final). Most of the content was stuff I learned in AP Euro in high school, so if you took that class this is basically a review.

As for the overall grading, we had two 2-page double-spaced papers which were on specific topics, and I found these to be pretty easy. The midterm and final do require a bit of writing, but the topics covered were big ones from the class and I found these exams to be very fair. Overall I would definitely recommend taking this class with Dr. Jacoby, as long as you either attend lecture or do all of the readings from the textbook. Also I am an MCDB major, and it was still very doable with other hard courses.

Class was ok and doesn't take much effort, but the professor rambles on a lot and the grades can be a bit of a toss-up.

Honestly for the amount of effort I gave for this class sneaking away with an A- is very indicative of how easy this GE is. I will preface that I took AP Euro about six years ago so I had some background of the material that was discussed in the class.
If you have some background in Western Civilization or European History you don't need to attend lecture and it's not essential that you do the readings. Jacoby is a very dry and unstructured lecturer and I really didn't get anything out of his presentations. The readings only expound on the topics of the course and are seldom tested on.
To study for this class I recommend going over his "Not So Powerful Slides" as those are the main topics that are tested on. Do a cursory wikipedia search on every historical event or figure that is mentioned on the slides and know its significance in relation to the time period and you will be prepared for the exams. You can also solidify whatever you are confused with by referring to the textbook as it is very detailed. Jacoby will assign chapters of textbook to read, however, some topics within these assigned chapters (i.e the Korean War/Vietnam War/Asian-Pacific Frontier of WWII) are not going to be tested on and will subsequently be a waste of time to read.
As far as his tests go they are broken up into three sections: IDs, Short Answer, and Essay. For the ID and short answer questions you will be presented with a list of options and you can choose the ones that you are most comfortable answering. There is only one essay question that you are required to answer. Jacoby says the final is "cumulative", however the only thing cumulative about the final is the essay question (not the ID and short answer questions) which will ask you to expound on the overarching concepts of Midterm material (i.e compare the French revolution to other revolutions, discuss the general principles of enlightened despots, etc.).
There are two short, two-page essays that are assigned. The grading will mostly depend on your TA so I recommend finishing it a little early and taking it to your TA to get some pointers on how to improve it. If you completely answer all parts of the prompt, however, you will do great!

TL:DR- Take this class for an easy GE :)
For making it this far here is the link to the textbook: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SUSDu4a2CYLv0oSLZquNC0TCfKHM6gJZ/view?usp=sharing

I would definitely recommend this class. Although attendance and participation are not mandatory, it is helpful to attend lectures since there is not a lot of information on the slides that are posted. Discussion is also really helpful. Professor Jacoby does get off topic sometimes but it is often entertaining and funny. The two papers, midterm, and final are easy and manageable so it's not a class worth stressing over.

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The class itself is pretty easy. You will be able to get a good grade in the class if you do all the readings listed on the syllabus and attend discussion section to reinforce the material. The professor has a tendency to get off topic during lecture which makes it difficult to follow. Nevertheless I still recommend that you attend because the material that he discusses during class will give you an idea of what will be on the exams. Overall, you should be fine if you have the slightest idea about the broader themes of each chapter and how they are interconnected.

Great class, good professor. Two double spaced 2 page essays which are really easy. The midterm was easy too and so was the final. Good for a GE and helps balance out other heavy classes. Also, the material is actually pretty interesting which makes the class even better. 10/10 would recommend.

The class is pretty easy and low key. It consists of a midterm, a final, 2 short (2 pg double spaced) essays, and discussion participation (25% of the grade). So basically, your grade is heavily dependent on your TA. The essays are super straightforward, and my TA went over what we should include in them, so minimal effort. Jacoby's slides are posted, but they're pretty much just pictures and diagrams, so it helps if you go to lecture. Otherwise, read the textbook, but honestly, if you go to lecture and just read the parts that he covers, you're pretty solid for both exams. As he says, the textbook has too much info and it's easy to fall behind if you decide to read everything. Overall, easy class.

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