One of the best classes to take here. Very interesting with a cool professor as well. If you like greek mythology you should take it.

This class was super fun. I was already enrolled in the class and around week 2, I realized that my discussion clashed with another class so I went to my TAs office hours to ask if I could switch discussion sections. They were super understanding and immediately introduced me to the TA of the new discussion section I wanted to switch into. I thought it would be a long process, but they immediately gave me a PTE and walked me through the process, without the involvement of the professor! They just asked me to email him after. Professor Borst was funny and engaging; I didn't attend too many lectures but it's a pretty interactive class. Two quizzes which relied on class material but those were take home, over the weekend and were pretty easy. Most of your grade depends on two papers you write in discussion section. Shoutout to JuliAnne, the best TA I've had yet since coming to UCLA! My discussion sections were so fun, she takes attendance with these short reflections about our readings, and she's very funny and understanding. Readings were all super cool as well. She also hosted an additional open office hours type thing where we could get her to review our papers before submission. Super fun, 10/10 would recommend, and would do it again.

This class was very rewarding, especially for people who love Greek mythology. It's great for those who want to learn more about Greek myths, even if they don't know much about the topic yet. Professor Borst was a fantastic teacher who provided a lot of help. The amount of work was reasonable, with just reading assignments and no extra homework besides essays and short essays. Sometimes the reading might seem like a lot, but you don't have to do every reading to do well in the class. It's a good idea to attend all the lectures to really understand everything. During my quarter, Professor Borst recorded the lectures which made everything easier. But, discussions are mandatory. Instead of tests in the classroom, we turned in essays and short papers online. The class wasn't too hard. The only issue I had was with my teaching assistant who graded very strictly, usually giving me low A's. Even though that bothered me a bit, I still had a good experience with the class and would recommend it for anyone interested,

The only negative of this class was that it is at 9am, but even that isn't much of an issue because all of his classes are recorded, attendance isn't graded, and he offers a zoom that runs during his lectures so you can still attend from your dorm. Overall Dr. Borst is a wonderful professor and this is one of my favorite classes I've taken, definitely an easy GE. There is a lot of reading assigned but I found you don't really need to do all the reading to get a good grade. You don't have to read the actual textbook at all if you go to lecture and pay attention and the rest of the assigned reading is classical texts of the time like plays. These you will need to know more about for the two take home quizzes and discussion so it's best to be familiar with these texts. All of the assignments are take home writing assignments and the final is building off of the paper you write for the midterm. My TA wasn't an 'easy grader' but not unnecessarily hard either. How light the grading is really depends on your TA, but if you have Dr. Borst for your discussion he grades more generously. Attendance and participation are graded in discussion, but my TA would pass out exit cards where you could write your thoughts and get points for that day if you don't like speaking in class. I would definitely recommend this class with this professor.

At the start of the quarter I thought there was too much writing for a GE that doesn't get Writing II credit, but by the end I realized it wasn't that much. But it definitely is a writing-based class, so be prepared for that: there's a 2 page paper, a 3-4 page paper, and a 4-5 final paper that is just an extension of the 3-4 pager. There are also two quizzes with 2-3 parts which comes out to a total of about 2 pages per quiz. Dr Borst is concise and mostly sticks to his reading schedule. Readings before each lecture usually was a textbook chapter and a primary source, although there was sometimes only the primary source, and there were usually no readings for Fridays which gave a nice mid-week break.

Professor Borst is absolutely excellent. He is funny, knowledgeable, and very approachable. He is also pretty lenient on grading, so if you are looking for a good GE course, this course would be a great choice.

This is not a hard course at all. All the tests are take-home and open-book. No final exam. There will be some essay writing though. The reading material for this course is rather heavy, but I still got A+ without really reading some of the materials. Professor Borst does give very good lectures and he would post them on canvas/bruinlearn. He also post the slides too, which is very helpful.

Overall the course was pretty easy for me, and it was also very entertaining. It is a class that I would take again. I wouldn't really call this an easy GE because you still need to try to get an A, but it is definitely on the easier end. If you are interested in Greek and its culture, definitely consider taking this class!

I took this winter '22, so half of the quarter was online. The readings were a lot, but if you kept up with them, you were okay. The grading was split between short papers, quizzes (take-home, short answer, and a passage analysis), participation, and a final exam. Not my favorite classics course at UCLA; if you're looking for a GE, I'd recommend going with Classics 10 instead, but if you're a classics major, I would recommend you take it with Borst over any other professor.

I took this class fall quarter of freshman year with no rating available, however, upon taking it I absolutely love this class. Dr.Borst is incredibly engaging and will often throw in comments or jokes during his lecture that keep you entertained. Although the material can be a bit boring at times, it is overall incredibly interesting if you've ever shown an interest in Greek history or mythology (percy jackson was referenced several times). I will say there is a ton of reading material but honestly reading summaries will suffice. There was no final and midterm, instead there was a short paper and a longer paper that were not difficult at all to complete. Overall I really do recommend this class.