GEOG 3
Cultural Geography
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Introduction to cultural geography of modern world, with examination of key concepts of space, place, and landscape as these have shaped and been shaped by connections between societies and their natural environments. Examples from variety of landscapes and places since 1800 and especially from Los Angeles region. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
So this class is not exactly what you would call a geography class. Most of the literature focuses on philosophical writers throughout the 19th and 20th Century. Professor May delivers the information is a well thought out and intelligeable way. He is probably one of the best professors I have ever had in my 3 years at UCLA so far. He can get a little wordy in his lectures and talk so fast that you can barely understand what he is saying but if you stop and ask questions, he is more than happy to repeat/ rephase what it is he is saying. Your grade is determined by your TA, they do all the grading. 40% of the class is based on going to discussion. They ask you to write up a weekly summary of the readings for the week and although it is a total pain it actually is really helpful. I got a c+ on the mid term, worked hard in discussion and the final and ended up getting a b+ in the class. Definitely take this class with May if you can.
So this class is not exactly what you would call a geography class. Most of the literature focuses on philosophical writers throughout the 19th and 20th Century. Professor May delivers the information is a well thought out and intelligeable way. He is probably one of the best professors I have ever had in my 3 years at UCLA so far. He can get a little wordy in his lectures and talk so fast that you can barely understand what he is saying but if you stop and ask questions, he is more than happy to repeat/ rephase what it is he is saying. Your grade is determined by your TA, they do all the grading. 40% of the class is based on going to discussion. They ask you to write up a weekly summary of the readings for the week and although it is a total pain it actually is really helpful. I got a c+ on the mid term, worked hard in discussion and the final and ended up getting a b+ in the class. Definitely take this class with May if you can.
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Most Helpful Review
She's fun, she's passionate about her work, but take away her notes and the class is useless. She practically reads off her notes during class, sometimes even pausing because she forgot her place in the page. I don't think she's taught that many years so she still needs time to lecture from her mind and experiences, and not soley from her sheets of notes. She's not the best at explaining things, but she does try. She encourages class interaction which is good...her reader was relatively short and the readings were reasonable...and she shows a good amount of videos which is always a plus. She does give you an outline of everything you need to know for the midterm and final, so there isn't much room to complain if you do poorly. I wouldn't recommend her unless you're a geography or social science major; otherwise it's not the best class for a GE (material is too dry) and it's definitely not an easy A.
She's fun, she's passionate about her work, but take away her notes and the class is useless. She practically reads off her notes during class, sometimes even pausing because she forgot her place in the page. I don't think she's taught that many years so she still needs time to lecture from her mind and experiences, and not soley from her sheets of notes. She's not the best at explaining things, but she does try. She encourages class interaction which is good...her reader was relatively short and the readings were reasonable...and she shows a good amount of videos which is always a plus. She does give you an outline of everything you need to know for the midterm and final, so there isn't much room to complain if you do poorly. I wouldn't recommend her unless you're a geography or social science major; otherwise it's not the best class for a GE (material is too dry) and it's definitely not an easy A.
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Most Helpful Review
He isn't very organized with his lectures and tends to go on tangents about specific topics. It was pretty boring, it's not like the class was hard, just kind of boring. I was excited going into it and left disappointed. I did, however, have a fantastic TA. Even though my TA graded kind of hard (because he knew everything) he really helped us understand the main points of the readings. I didn't really do any of them so this was very helpful. I got an A in the class so even though my mind sometimes wandered in the class, everything turned out all right. Also he's a really nice guy, so that helps too.
He isn't very organized with his lectures and tends to go on tangents about specific topics. It was pretty boring, it's not like the class was hard, just kind of boring. I was excited going into it and left disappointed. I did, however, have a fantastic TA. Even though my TA graded kind of hard (because he knew everything) he really helped us understand the main points of the readings. I didn't really do any of them so this was very helpful. I got an A in the class so even though my mind sometimes wandered in the class, everything turned out all right. Also he's a really nice guy, so that helps too.
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