Professor
Andrea Goldman
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2018 - Professor Goldman is very nice and helpful, but the class is a lot of work. I had Xiaowen as a TA and she was extremely caring. There is a ton of reading and two midterm papers along with a final. If you actually do the readings, it will take up a lot of time every week. However, if you work hard, you should do okay grade-wise. I got As on both papers. The study guide is very long and stressful to fill out but the terms/questions given on the final are reasonable. Selling all books (and will provide printouts of online readings if you wish) for $20. Text **********
Winter 2018 - Professor Goldman is very nice and helpful, but the class is a lot of work. I had Xiaowen as a TA and she was extremely caring. There is a ton of reading and two midterm papers along with a final. If you actually do the readings, it will take up a lot of time every week. However, if you work hard, you should do okay grade-wise. I got As on both papers. The study guide is very long and stressful to fill out but the terms/questions given on the final are reasonable. Selling all books (and will provide printouts of online readings if you wish) for $20. Text **********
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - I wish to write this review to help those who are considering to take this class as a history GE, talking about the grading, exams, essays, lectures, professor Goldman and other aspects of this class. - Grading Distribution: 25% Essay 1 + 25% Essay 2 + 20% Discussion Participation + 30% Final Exam. The two essays are based on the reading materials in class and about 6-7 pages each. To write good essays, you'll have to master the reading materials and the lecture contents very well. The discussion is mandatory and you have to ACTIVELY participate in this discussion (30% question posing + 70% in class participation) to get full credits. The final exam is in-person exam, which consists of three parts, including Part 1 Definition & Part 2 Essay (materials in lectures) & Part 3 Analysis Essay (reading materials). The final can be hard than expected. In other words, it is hard to get a 93% in the final, and you'll have to perform very very well in the previous two essays in order to get a final letter grade A. - About Grading: The grading of this class is based on ABSOLUTE SCALE. (93=A) The grading of your essays is completely up to your TA. Even though our TA is a good guy and I like his class, still he graded quite harshly and you can hardly get an A. In fact, geting a B+ or A- on each essay is very very common in class. He anticipated and expected a lot in your articles, so if you want an A it is better to go to his office hour and talk to him about what you are going to write. The final is quite hard and requires LOTS LOTS of preparation, including memorizing a great bunch of names, events, definitions, and dates, as well as pre-write the essays based on the review materials professor Goldman provided. Generally speaking, if you are not that good at Chinese history/not good at memorizing/just want a relatively easy GE, this class is definitely not a fine option for you. - Workload: Be ready for 100+ pages of reading per week (said in syllabus and this is true). This may be okay to history/literature related major students, but this is quite tough and hard for STEM students like me. Because the materials will be tested in the essays and final exams, you'll have to read comprehensively and thoroughly, and scanning through is not an option. The two essays require you to spend lots of time on them, so DO NOT consider this class as an east GE. You'll have to work hard enough and spend whole bunch of time to get an A. - About lectures and Professor Goldman: Professor Goldman is a very professional, nice, and caring instructor. Her classes are well organized and you can definitely learn lots about Chinese history in her class. She is a good lecturer and she cares a lot about her students, regarding the health issues, progress in class, etc. Generally I like her and the way she organized her class, and she has great knowledge in the field she teaches. - Conclusion: This history class, especially for those STEM students like me, is absolutely not an easy GE. If you want an A, you'll have to work very hard on the readings every week to master them, communicate with the TA to get good grades on your essays, while spend lots of time preparing for the essays and final exams. Even though professor Goldman is a great and nice professor, the workload is not light, and the grading can still be very harsh up to your TA. If you like Chinese history and ready to work hard on this topic, take this class and learn from professor Goldman. However, If you want an easy A GE, TRY NOT TO TAKE THIS CLASS. It is not worthy to spend that much time on a GE class like this one, while finally you might even have to PNP this class after you did so much just like me.
Winter 2022 - I wish to write this review to help those who are considering to take this class as a history GE, talking about the grading, exams, essays, lectures, professor Goldman and other aspects of this class. - Grading Distribution: 25% Essay 1 + 25% Essay 2 + 20% Discussion Participation + 30% Final Exam. The two essays are based on the reading materials in class and about 6-7 pages each. To write good essays, you'll have to master the reading materials and the lecture contents very well. The discussion is mandatory and you have to ACTIVELY participate in this discussion (30% question posing + 70% in class participation) to get full credits. The final exam is in-person exam, which consists of three parts, including Part 1 Definition & Part 2 Essay (materials in lectures) & Part 3 Analysis Essay (reading materials). The final can be hard than expected. In other words, it is hard to get a 93% in the final, and you'll have to perform very very well in the previous two essays in order to get a final letter grade A. - About Grading: The grading of this class is based on ABSOLUTE SCALE. (93=A) The grading of your essays is completely up to your TA. Even though our TA is a good guy and I like his class, still he graded quite harshly and you can hardly get an A. In fact, geting a B+ or A- on each essay is very very common in class. He anticipated and expected a lot in your articles, so if you want an A it is better to go to his office hour and talk to him about what you are going to write. The final is quite hard and requires LOTS LOTS of preparation, including memorizing a great bunch of names, events, definitions, and dates, as well as pre-write the essays based on the review materials professor Goldman provided. Generally speaking, if you are not that good at Chinese history/not good at memorizing/just want a relatively easy GE, this class is definitely not a fine option for you. - Workload: Be ready for 100+ pages of reading per week (said in syllabus and this is true). This may be okay to history/literature related major students, but this is quite tough and hard for STEM students like me. Because the materials will be tested in the essays and final exams, you'll have to read comprehensively and thoroughly, and scanning through is not an option. The two essays require you to spend lots of time on them, so DO NOT consider this class as an east GE. You'll have to work hard enough and spend whole bunch of time to get an A. - About lectures and Professor Goldman: Professor Goldman is a very professional, nice, and caring instructor. Her classes are well organized and you can definitely learn lots about Chinese history in her class. She is a good lecturer and she cares a lot about her students, regarding the health issues, progress in class, etc. Generally I like her and the way she organized her class, and she has great knowledge in the field she teaches. - Conclusion: This history class, especially for those STEM students like me, is absolutely not an easy GE. If you want an A, you'll have to work very hard on the readings every week to master them, communicate with the TA to get good grades on your essays, while spend lots of time preparing for the essays and final exams. Even though professor Goldman is a great and nice professor, the workload is not light, and the grading can still be very harsh up to your TA. If you like Chinese history and ready to work hard on this topic, take this class and learn from professor Goldman. However, If you want an easy A GE, TRY NOT TO TAKE THIS CLASS. It is not worthy to spend that much time on a GE class like this one, while finally you might even have to PNP this class after you did so much just like me.
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