Professor
Seyed-Ali Mousavi
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - Take the class. Before the midterm and the final you're going to hate yourself and feel like you've put yourself on overload (especially if you wait to the last minute like me) but learn the material, be good at chronology and names. He is a very kind grader and he really wants all his students to do well. ABSOLUTELY do not cheat because he will catch you. He is a great professor and I'm happy I took 2 quarters or Iranian Civilization with him.
Spring 2018 - Take the class. Before the midterm and the final you're going to hate yourself and feel like you've put yourself on overload (especially if you wait to the last minute like me) but learn the material, be good at chronology and names. He is a very kind grader and he really wants all his students to do well. ABSOLUTELY do not cheat because he will catch you. He is a great professor and I'm happy I took 2 quarters or Iranian Civilization with him.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - Overall, not a difficult class at all, but also not a particularly interesting one. It consists of a final exam and a short 5-7 page midterm paper. The paper is on a topic of your choosing related to archaeology, and the final is very very clear, short, and straightforward. You would have to actively try to fail to not get an A in my opinion. Prof. Mousavi is a little dry and boring, and often too serious, and he has a very strange obsession with proper pronunciation, to the point where he gets upset if you have the slightest American accent when pronouncing an Iranian term, which is ironic because he speaks English with an accent (which is obviously fine, just ironic that he gets so perturbed when somebody doesn’t say something like “Naqsh-e Rostam” perfectly). Overall, he’s not a bad prof or a bad guy, just stern and sometimes a little strange, and his class is straightforward and fairly easy to get an A. Just attend lectures, take notes, and study the material that he emphasizes in the review.
Spring 2020 - Overall, not a difficult class at all, but also not a particularly interesting one. It consists of a final exam and a short 5-7 page midterm paper. The paper is on a topic of your choosing related to archaeology, and the final is very very clear, short, and straightforward. You would have to actively try to fail to not get an A in my opinion. Prof. Mousavi is a little dry and boring, and often too serious, and he has a very strange obsession with proper pronunciation, to the point where he gets upset if you have the slightest American accent when pronouncing an Iranian term, which is ironic because he speaks English with an accent (which is obviously fine, just ironic that he gets so perturbed when somebody doesn’t say something like “Naqsh-e Rostam” perfectly). Overall, he’s not a bad prof or a bad guy, just stern and sometimes a little strange, and his class is straightforward and fairly easy to get an A. Just attend lectures, take notes, and study the material that he emphasizes in the review.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - I wasn't the biggest fan of the content taught in this class personally since I don't love history and geography, but Professor Mousavi made it very bearable. It is crucial you attend class as lectures are not recorded and the slides don't really have words on it, mainly just pictures. The midterm and final were very fair and consisted of the topics he said would be on it during midterm review sessions. He also allows students to do an additional assignment if you don't perform well on the midterm (which is 40% of your grade). Attendance is taken randomly and counts for 20% of your grade. There are no homework assignments, just readings which you can get away with not doing if your engaged in class lectures. Honestly this was a really chill class and would highly recommend if you're someone interested in history/geography/archeology.
Fall 2024 - I wasn't the biggest fan of the content taught in this class personally since I don't love history and geography, but Professor Mousavi made it very bearable. It is crucial you attend class as lectures are not recorded and the slides don't really have words on it, mainly just pictures. The midterm and final were very fair and consisted of the topics he said would be on it during midterm review sessions. He also allows students to do an additional assignment if you don't perform well on the midterm (which is 40% of your grade). Attendance is taken randomly and counts for 20% of your grade. There are no homework assignments, just readings which you can get away with not doing if your engaged in class lectures. Honestly this was a really chill class and would highly recommend if you're someone interested in history/geography/archeology.
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