I would not recommend the freshman cluster. Essentially, your grade is determined by your TA more than anything. This isn't the most helpful thing because you choose your discussion without knowing how your TA is, and although this is the second portion of the course (you can switch TA's btw), the TAs will be more sympathetic to students they had in fall quarter. Also an issue because every TA is different, so some were extremely easier than others who were more knit picky. I had a friend who received an A and did every assignment the night before and didn't read any of the books/course reader articles lol... Also, lectures are a drag and not helpful whatsoever. I believe 20% of the class was attendance and you needed a clicker... I thought that Winter quarter would have been better than fall but as a whole, the cluster sucks. The lectures hardly relate to anything and provide a big history lesson, the discussions vary from TA to TA and are also useless, and then they'll give you an essay with a vague prompt asking about racial tensions in a book that was a memoir and hardly focused on race at all........ We had a class groupme and the chat consisted of confused students...................... You can spend your time doing so much more across three quarters.....

(I wrote a similar review for fall quarter, this one will be tailored to the winter quarter assignments)

For the winter quarter, the course was structured into lectures twice a week with a 2-hour discussion once a week. In lectures, the professors would rotate, and they would lecture on the material relevant to their expertise and areas of research. I personally think that lectures weren't helpful, but I still went because they tracked attendance with clickers. They do post slides online in case you miss something, however. Often times, Professor Ortiz would stand on the side of the lecture room and make sure that nobody was talking, which was pretty funny in my opinion. The unique thing about this cluster (and every cluster) is that discussion attendance and participation made up a significant portion of your grade (25%). Discussions were a seminar-style setting with a TA asking questions and facilitating responses. My TA made us do a presentation on one of the weekly set of readings from the course reader (will be discussed below), which counted for a good portion of our participation grade. The key to getting a good grade is to make sure that your TA likes you (will be discussed below too).

In terms of assignments, we had 2 papers and a final exam in the winter, in addition to weekly readings. These readings were out of a quite pricey course reader that you are required to purchase. These readings were often dry and boring, and the corresponding lecture had very little connection to the readings. While I haven't heard of any reading quizzes in discussions, many TA's could determine whether you read or not based on your amount of participation in discussion, which is why it is important to at least have some general idea of what the readings are about. The final exam was cumulative over both fall and winter quarter, and it consisted of several short response questions and an essay about topics discussed in class. Each question required you to cite a certain number of readings from both fall and winter course readers. So this is where you need to be up to speed with your reading. While you don't need to read every word of every reading, it is important that you at least understand the main idea behind each reading (I think there was around 70 total). But no need to cite lecture, which was why I never paid attention in lecture during the winter lol. The two papers were an analysis of race in historical newspapers and a literary analysis of the common book (VERY SIMILAR TO THE FALL QUARTER PAPER). In fact, the second paper was so simple and straightforward that I thought it would be a breeze. However, I believe it was graded much more harshly than the past papers, as your TA really wanted to see improvement in your writing. Overall, the papers are pretty straightforward to write, but here is where getting your TA to like you becomes very important. I have heard from my classmates with different TAs that each one grades differently, and often times, harshly. Because of that, I strongly suggest going to TA office hours to seek help and guidance, EVEN IF YOU DON'T NEED IT. This shows to your TA at least that you are taking the initiative to ask for help, even if you don't care. It is important that you and your TA maintain a good relationship because YOUR GRADE IS DETERMINED ENTIRELY BY THE SUBJECTIVITY OF YOUR TA'S GRADING. I had a somewhat harsh TA, but managed to do very well because of my persistence, and not much else.

Overall, the class isn't the best class you will take at UCLA, but if you are passionate about the subject or would like to knock out some GE's then it's worth a shot. Nothing is necessarily difficult, but as long as you and your TA are on good terms, then you'll be all set.

For winter 2017, the professors were Vilma Ortiz, Celia Lacayo, Jean-Paul Deguzman, and Mishuana Goeman. Deguzman was the highlight of the cluster, with engaging lectures and interesting readings. Goeman was the low of the cluster, with disorganized lectures and extremely long readings. I dreaded going to class when she was scheduled to lecture, but needed the clicker participation points. Ortiz and Lacayo were in the middle, about average. There were two papers and a final (cumulative for both fall and winter quarter, based on readings). Again, everything was graded by the TAs. The winter quarter was even more work than the fall quarter, and I could barely keep up. Readings were extremely long (the course reader was so big it was split into two booklets) and often repetitive, none were especially interesting except for Deguzman's readings. Lectures were really broad - I wish we had more deeply explored the topics, but everything was a quick overview of each subject. Even though I had a much better TA than first quarter, I still disliked the class due to excessive readings and assignments. The questions for the final were released 11 hours prior to the exam, because some students had found them and Ortiz wanted to make it a level playing field. Due to the mountains of reading and my overall burnout with the course, I don't think I would have done as well on the final if the questions weren't released. By the end of this quarter, I was done with the cluster, due to the excessive work (my friends in other clusters didn't seem to have so much work) and overall lack of depth on each topic. However, I decided to stay in the cluster for spring quarter and enjoyed that much more.

Don't take this cluster unless you're TERRIBLY interested in the topic. I find the topics interesting, but the lectures/material gets so repetitive and boring. The grading is extremely harsh, depending on the TA you get. My TA was one of the harder ones, and she wasn't very helpful when giving feedback. Professor Ortiz is merciless, and refuse to round grades even if we're just a fraction of a point away from the next grade up.

I also posted this on the 20A page too but I'm adding more information about the assignments in 20B and the final.
This class is really interesting and overall I really enjoyed it. It "debunks" a lot of the information that you learn about US History in high school regarding race (Slavery, Japanese Internment, etc.) and also talks about modern cases of racism. It really opened my eyes to struggles that other ethnicities face (I am half white and half Mexican so learning more about Asian, Pacific Islander, Muslim, African-American, and Native-American cultures were new for me). This class is cool because it's like you are taking a multitude of ethnic studies classes in one class because you really examine almost all ethnicities in this class. I think it was a great class for me to take for my introduction to UCLA.
The reading can be super intensive at times, it's not crazy, but basically every time you go to class a different professor will speak and depending on who is speaking that is how long the reading will be (Goeman and Kelley typically had longer readings). The lectures are usually very intriguing and most of the professors are pretty funny and engaging.
There are two essays throughout the quarter. The essays aren't too bad and if you go to your TA for help you'll be fine because your grade is pretty much based on your TA's grading. There is a final at the end of the quarter that covers information from fall and winter quarter and requires you to use the readings to write essays and short answer responses. The final questions for this quarter got released accidently by my professor so the final wasn't terrible but even if she hadn't released them I don't think it would have been that bad, the questions were pretty broad and open to ideas, not really a specific answer. Either way you should take this class!

I love this cluster! By far my favorite. It is a lot of work, but you'll love learning about it. Lecture is mandatory with clickers, but if you click once you're good. The professors are all so helpful and really go out of their way to help answer your questions. The class taught a lot about intersectionality within America and the various dynamics in society, such as with American Indians, Asian Americans, Latinos and African Americans. Sections are mandatory- try not to be late! this was always hard for me aha- and the TAs really are there for you to utilize so they're very helpful. This quarter the cluster breakdown is this:
Neighborhood paper: 25%
Media paper: 25%
Lecture participation: 5%
Section participation: 20%
Final: 25%
SO this quarter the final questions accidentally got leaked, so the final was pretty easy, and for the papers you should definitely meet up with your TAs and even ask professors in order to help strengthen the papers. I'm pretty sure I'm getting a B (just took the final, but as I stated, I already prepared for it well lol), because my essays averaged out a B and my participation is probably a B because I missed some lectures. It's a pretty simple class structure though and if you do your readings weekly- seriously do them, at least skim them because in section you don't want to look like a fool for not knowing anything- you should be fine for the final. The final is cumulative for BOTH quarters, so it's a lot of information to memorize, but it's all very interesting and you'll gain something from this class that you did not know before!

GE clusters are a LOT of work, but in my opinion are worth it in the end. This particular cluster takes care of 6 GE requirements in only 3 quarters! The assignment breakdown for winter quarter:
Section Participation - 25% (reading forms, attendance, how much you interact)
Ethnography Paper - 25%
Media Research Paper - 25%
Final - 25% (short answer and essay question)

The class was very very informative, and it really sharpened my writing and critical reading skills. The grade you get depends ENTIRELY on your TA, so make sure you get one that takes an interest in the subject! The hardest part about the class in my opinion was the readings (it takes a solid 8-10 hours per week if you want to do them thoroughly). Also, the class is not curved, you need a 93% average on assignments to get an A.

I am selling both course readers (for 20A and 20B), as well as the two novels (Bad Indians and Boarding School Seasons) for a cheap and negotiable price! Email me at uclabookseller@gmail,com !

Awesome class, I learned so much! I am selling the course readers for both fall and winter quarters for this class (20A and 20B). The course readers have a couple notes/highlighted areas but overall legible, and at a cheap price. Email me if you are interested at *************. Thanks!