As others have mentioned, this class is a LOT of work. There basically homework due every class (need to hand it in). On top of that, there’s a 5-10 min quiz almost every Friday where you have to memorize 1 or 2 noun paradigms or verb stems (this isn’t too bad). The midterm was really hard. By hard I mean I got an F but it ended up being curved to a B (she curves the final generously as well). There is not much transparency with the grading, however, as the professor mentions that she’d rather keep a flexible account of grading rather than sticking strictly to numbers/percentages. She makes it clear that if you don’t do well on the midterm or final, she’ll consider her record of your homeworks and adjust the weight of the homeworks to help your grade. The professor makes it clear from the start that the class is NOT an easy A, and she is definitely right about that. If you are taking this class alongside other difficult classes, I highly recommend you look into other language options (I took this with CS131 and was dying).

Professor Jamison was a great professor, considering the ambitious goals of the class. The classes are well planned, and although it is overwhelming in the beginning, you start to get the hang of things pretty quickly. Professor Jamison explains things thoroughly, has a quick email response time, and curves exams generously. She also makes funny comments sometimes and her love of the language really shines through. That being said, the class is pretty difficult and has a heavy workload. There are homeworks due almost every class that take 3-5 hours to complete, weekly quizzes, a LOT of memorization, and the midterm and final exams are really, really hard. Overall, Professor Jamison was effective in teaching the language and I recommend taking her class if you're really interested in learning Sanskrit, otherwise there are probably easier language electives to take.

She has homeworks for every class. These take more than 3 hours to complete. She also grades them harshly, writes wild comments on them, and doesn't give you a structured grading scheme for the class.