This was an interesting GE. Appropriate workload for a GE and no background knowledge in the subject was needed to do well. Understanding and thoroughly doing the reading was necessary to do well on the in class quizzes but as long as you did the reading they were a boost to your grade. Discussion sections were also very helpful in understanding and remembering the material. Lots of guest lecturers and films shown in lecture which kept it interesting. I took it my first quarter at UCLA and still got an A. , I would like to sell the book needed for this class at a low price, contact me at ********** if you're interested.

This class was a very tough GE. It requires lots of work and about 50 pages of readings per week. The readings should be done because there are pop quizzes in lecture and you have to site the readings in the midterm and final. Also, there are pop quizzes in discussion so attendance is also mandatory there. Although she posts her slides online, they’re only pictures. Would not recommend if you want an easy GE.

This class was absolutely amazing for me because I am interested in indigenous American cultures. The fact that I have visited a good number of the sites covered made it even better.
That being said, it requires a fair amount of effort in terms of readings and paying attention in class. Attendance is somewhat mandatory due to the pop quizzes she gives. But she drops quite a few and she never gives them out on guest lecture days.
She and her TAs are fair graders but they are not particularly easy either. She is very helpful and vested in your success in her class, provided you reach out to her during her office hours.
Exam questions are given out ahead of time. There is just a fun paper that accounts for 5% of the overall score; it can be done pretty quickly.

I took this class as a GE but it was definitely not an easy 'A'. Take this class if you are willing to do all of the readings. I took this class expecting it to be an easy GE but it was a decent amount of work. As long as you pay attention in lecture and do all of the readings you can make a good grade. Also make sure you participate in discussion and ask your TAs questions. Attendance was mandatory as we had pop quizzes in both lecture and discussion. Lectures can be kind of boring but take good notes and it will help you with answers for the exams. The prompts for the midterm and final are given out so go to your TA and ask for help. I got a C on the midterm but studied really hard for the final and asked my TA a lot of questions and ended up with an A-. Overall the material in the class is not hard but it is not that interesting so as long as you keep up with the work you will be fine. Finish all of the readings and take good notes so you are prepared for the pop quizzes (the quizzes are very basic and easy as long as you read). I also think that your grade depends on your TA so if your TA is really strict then consider dropping the class. Lastly, professor Nair is really nice and wants her students to succeed so do the work and you will earn the grade!

As long as you do the work for this class, you will do fine. There are lots of readings, and you also have to attend lecture for pop quizzes. The professor is not lenient with tardiness and will not let you enter the lecture hall if you are 15 minutes late or let you return from using the restroom after the first 15 minutes of class. Additionally, the professor's slides only contain pictures, and her lectures are not podcasted. Therefore, you must either attend class and take good notes, or you need to have a friend take them for you. Fortunately, before the midterm and final she gives you 6 questions which may be on the exam, of which 2 will be chosen. You also need to write a 5-page paper, which is worth 5% of your grade.

I suggest taking the class only if you are really interested in the material simply because there is lots of reading to be done, which may appear quite daunting if you do not care about the material. Granted, if you do the work you'll do fine regardless of your interest the subject matter.

Do not take this class if you're just looking for an easy GE. You will have about 20 pages of reading to do before each lecture and the final will require quite a bit of studying. However, coming from a South Campus major, this class is very interesting and I ended up enjoying it. Professor Nair is very sweet and passionate about the topic. I would recommend going to her office hours even if you don't have a specific question because she has some fascinating stories. As far as the class goes, it's very interesting because you learn about Ancient American cultures that aren't typically taught about in detail.

While the midterm and the final require a lot of studying they end up being fairly easy because she gives you possible essay prompts a couple weeks beforehand. Out of the 6 essay prompts she will end up picking 2 for the exam, making it easy to do well as long as you're prepared.

Overall, this class is not easy but it's definitely interesting and valuable in the long run.

Honestly, if you are looking for a professor who will hand out As to whomever, this is not the class for you. Art History 27 was not an easy A whatsoever, but it was a rewarding class to take. Dr. Nair genuinely cares about each of the students' learning experiences and was always helpful. If you go to her office hours before the midterm and final, she will go over each question with you and tell you points you should mention.
The class consisted of a midterm, worth 30% of the grade, and a final, worth 35% of the grade. There was also a paper, worth 5%, and participation/discussion was the remaining 30%. On the midterm and final, she gives out six essay questions prior and puts two of them on the exam. There are five to seven subquestions within the question itself, but it was not as bad as some of the other reviews make it seem. As long as you do the readings and answer the prompt directly, you will do fine on the exams. For the most part, the majority of the six questions were straightforward (one or two required a bit more thinking). In addition, there were pop quizzes in both the lecture and discussion, but none of them were difficult. As long as you do the readings, even just skim them, you will get 100%.
In regards to Dr. Nair and the TAs, they were exceptional. Dr. Nair was very tolerant of tardiness towards the beginning of the quarter, but then implemented a rule, that if a student showed up fifteen minutes late, they could not come into class. In addition, if someone left class, they would not be let back in. The reason for this rule was because people kept walking in and out of lectures while there were guest speakers there. As soon as people found out we had a guest speaker, which meant no pop quiz, they left; I can't even imagine how embarrassing that must have been for Dr. Nair. The TAs also sat towards the back of the class to ensure that people were using technology for the right reasons, which was reasonable (it was very distracting).
While this class required the most amount of work and reading out of the other classes I took this quarter, this class was the one I learned the most from. I would definitely take it again.

I wouldn't describe this class as an easy "kick your feet back" and do nothing GE. This class requires a decent amount of reading but there are in class quizzes on this reading and she does these randomly. So you have to pay attention to details in the reading. The class includes quizzes, participation, a midterm, a final paper and a final. The midterm and final both consist of two essay questions, the final is just longer. She gives you a list of 6 potential questions to study from and she picks two for the tests. The final paper is also relatively easy, only 5 pages. Overall this class was an easy A if you payed attention in lecture and discussions and did the reading.

I would not recommend this class at all to anyone looking for an easy, interesting GE. The professor's lectures are disengaging as her slides have no text, making it difficult to keep up with what she says. The readings are very long and tedious, but are essentially required as there are random quizzes in lecture along with quizzes in discussion based on images shown in one of the previous lectures. The midterm and final weren't too bad since Nair gave out 6 possible essay prompts from which she would choose 2, although each prompt had several questions that needed to be answered in our essays. Overall, this class was not my favorite and I would stay away from it as much as possible.

Trust me. DONT TAKE THIS BS CLASS. Way too harsh of grading on exams, quiz in lectures with no makeup, the material is taught in typical dry slideshows, TA's in the back of the lecture hall watching peoples computers and will approach you for doing anything other than taking notes. If I haven't already convinced you to avoid this class then let me tell you about the exams. In the hour and fifteen minutes given for the midterm, you are required to answer two essay questions. Each question is comprised of at least 10 sub questions. IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO ANSWER ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS within the given amount of time. You will be marked down if you do not hit all of them well enough and its not just two or three measly points, I hadn't gone into enough detail on ONE of the questions and got a D on the essay. Save yourself the time, stress, energy, and grade by not taking this class.