I have never taken Philosphy in my life so initially I didn't feel so confident about this course, but it turned out to be that I really enjoyed this class. Although it was early I personally enjoyed going to lecture and hearing Smith's jokes, I think it made lecture much more interesting. The material was definitely not difficult since Professor Smith always handed us a copy of his own notes. These notes helped me with the midterm and final. I think if you study his notes, along with going to lecture and taking notes of his in class examples then you should have no trouble in getting a good grade. Perhaps the hardest assignment was the written paper but as long as you ask your TA or Professor Smith for clarification, then you will be okay as well. Overall, this course was pretty awesome, and did not give me a headache, considering the fact that I did not have prior knowledge of philosphy.
P.s- I have never written a review before, but I think this class, along with Professor Smith deserve a review.

Dr. Smith is an awesome lecturer who uses clear examples from the textbook to support what he is teaching. He also prints out handouts each lecture for students, and these are great supplements to lecture. I took this class as a major requirement, but found it very interesting and I definitely learned to think and analyze in much different ways.

The midterm, term paper, and final exam were all weighted equally (33.33% each.) the midterm was very reasonable (10 multiple choice, five short answer, and three essay questions) and if you do all of the readings and look at the handouts you will do well.
The term paper is about a topic of your choice (from a list of prompts he gives) and if you work with your TA on your outline and invest time into the clarity of your arguments, you will do well. My TA was Chad, and he was always willing to meet outside of class to help with my essay and in reviewing for the midterm.
The final exam was not cumulative, and had the same format as the midterm. The class does not appear to be curved, as I got an A on the midterm, an A on the paper, and an A- on the final (and wound up with an A- in the class.)
Overall, I think this class was great and would highly recommend it.

This class was so boring and I found all of the topics we learned incredibly dumb and useless. It was an 8AM so nobody ever showed up. I studied hard for the midterm and the final but the TA's grade the essay's really hard. In terms of attendance this class is great because you're not required to show up to lecture or discussion- but, I still would not recommend this class.

The class, professor and material is all good, manageable and easy BUT IF YOU ARE TAKING THIS CLASS WITH CEDAR GREEN AS YOUR TA DROP OUT IMMEDIATELY OR SWITCH TAs.
I got graded terribly on the first midterm in which I got all multiple choice questions and short answer questions correct yet I somehow forgot all the material on the essay portions (???).
He also just confuses all the students during section and I found that everyone would just skip it instead of going because the professor didn't count participation points.
I think maybe he got butt hurt that no one went and decided to just grade harshly.
TAKE HOME MESSAGE: This class is good if you want an easy grade/class but if you have CEDAR GREEN, enter at your own risk. You have been warned.

this class is an easy A if you just show up to lecture and take notes. yes, he has a book, but buying it is unnecessary since everything, i mean everything, you need for the class is on the handouts. Dont rely on just the handouts though, i think being in class and listeting and actively taking notes is easier than cramming everything on the handouts at the end to study. Class does get a little boring, but i found that he mainly lectures the first hour really, and the second hour he answers people's questions, or goes over the material he just taught again in more detail..so i mainly only found myself taking notes during the first hour, and just sitting and listening during the second hour. overall, pretty good class, easy if you just show up and actively take notes, but was a little boring.

So I don't know how I ended up with an A- considering I did terribly on both the midterm and paper.
Got a low C on the midterm and a low B on the paper and ended up with an A-.
The grading scheme was 33% for each.
You do the math...

Not gonna complain though.

If you learned anything from this post, it's an easy grade.

This professor is good. You can tell that he cares about his students learning and wants them to achieve greatness. On the other hand, your grades are all up to your TA. Be careful because this will screw you in the end. iF YOU HAVE CEDAR GREEN, I WOULD ENCOURAGE THAT YOU DROP THE CLASS OR SWITCH TAs. It seems like he wants to fail people. Almost screwed up my whole career. I had a 3.78 gpa and this class dropped it. I just wish the TAs were there to help :'(

Awesome class, SO easy. Lectures are incredibly boring, but Professor Smith does try to make them more lively by throwing in a couple of jokes here and there as people have mentioned. He distributes handouts every lecture (and posts them online), so as long as you have those, you're set. He literally types out everything you need to know and then reads you the handout in lecture.

The only reason lectures were so long was because people asked so many questions and got into arguments over details of the philosophical concepts he was discussing. As a South Campus major, I really didn't care all that much about philosophy and I just wanted an easy GE. He gives you a study guide with everything you need to know and if you get past exams from the test bank, I'm pretty sure he reuses test questions. The essay is worth a large percentage of your grade, so make sure you talk to your TA beforehand. Justin was a really chill TA and thank goodness I got him, because I heard some of the other TA's were picky about grading.

This class was just stupid. I stopped reading the book because everything was on his handouts. You'll learn crap that you'll probably never ever need to use in real life. Class was easy is true. Not that much work. But, even if you work, you'd end up with just an okay grade. Rarely anyone get A's. I got a B+ and everyone I talked to either got a B+ or lower. The TA's grade so subjectively and they pretty much expect every single detail to be in the essays. Boring class. I stopped attending lectures. Handouts are a necessity. Book is not. If you want a chill and boring class, take it. But it's not an easy A.

I agree with the below reviewer. The class materials were easy (yet boring--one of the midterm problems was that if we can trust a microscope or not, for it can distort our view, or something like that), but the grading was too rigorous. And trust me, that makes this class 'extremely annoying.'

I really don't want to say these kinds of things, but I recommend you to think SERIOUSLY about dropping the class if your TA's name is Sarah... before it is too late. First-handedly it's my fault that I got Bs on my midterm and essay, but she is too meticulous and expects too much for students taking the introductory course, in my opinion.