Prof. Goldman and her TAs are very knowledgeable on Chinese history and you can tell that they are genuinely passionate on the subject. That being said, this class personally was not really worth it as a GE. At times, Prof. Goldman can be a confusing lecturer because she does not really use a traditional slideshow and instead makes her lectures more audio-heavy. This can be kind of confusing especially when there are a lot of different Chinese names that are difficult to spell intuitively. The class was easy enough during the quarter but the final was so exponentially more difficult than the rest of the class. Prof. Goldman gave us a list of 103 terms and put 8 of them on the final, 6 of which we had to write paragraphs about (you can safely assume that these terms will be relatively 'important' ones). The second and third parts of the exam were essays that also required a lot of preparation. I say take this class if you genuinely want to learn about Chinese history from 1000-2000, but not simply as a GE.

Know that in this class they really want you to get a good knowledge of Chinese history. The weekly readings, both textbook and for discussion, are a lot and take a lot of time to do. But if you do like history you will find the readings all pretty interesting and worth the time. If you don't then don't take the class. The two papers, the final, and discussion participation compose your grade. In the papers they really want you to be analytical. Professor Goldman holds office hour very regularly and she gives very insightful help for papers if you go to her. Because of COVID, the final is two 5-page papers, which is a lot. But if you work hard you will be fine. During the entire quarter there were never any recall quizzes or exams whatsoever, it's all about analyzing, which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. I think an A is by no means easy, but I feel I've learned a lot. Professor is very good at lecturing, she is very clear.

An extremely rewarding class to take if you are interested in learning about Chinese history! Professor Goldman is extremely passionate about the subject and is super thorough and organized in her lectures. This class is a LOT of work, upwards of 150+ pages of reading each week and I wrote about 23 pages worth of essays (two 5-7 page assigned papers with 2 weeks to complete each, final was a take-home test of two 5 page essay questions that we had 2 weeks to complete). Taking this class during a covid quarter online, each paper was worth 25% of your grade, the final 30%, and attending discussion was the last 20%. The papers and final were based on the primary source assigned readings, so make sure to understand those well—my TA, Mindi Zhang, was EXTREMELY helpful in analyzing the readings during discussions especially if I was unable to keep up with the reading that week. Prof. Goldman also requires you to attend her office hours at least once over zoom, but I came 3 times during each paper assignment as she was amazingly helpful in constructing my arguments each essay, and a genuinely pleasant person to get to know. So far this is the toughest class I have taken, but definitely worth it!

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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.

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The professor tries her best explaining her material and overall, her class is very doable as long as you do the readings. The readings are very important to make sure you get full credit for participation (20%) during discussion. It is also the main thing tested on the final exam questions, so definitely, don't procrastinate on those. But other than that, she is a friendly professor and nice person to get to know during office hours.

The professor's a good lecturer, and she does a solid job covering the fairly broad swathe of material. The readings are interesting and relevant, and never felt like a waste of time. Your grade is determined by two essays, a final, and section participation. The essays prompts are pretty tough tbh, but the final's easy.

Professor Goldman is GREAT! I earned an A in the class. Her class has lots of readings besides the textbook itself. If you go to every single lecture, take good notes, and have a familiar background of Chinese history, I don't see the need of buying a textbook. It's best to record her lecture if you can't take notes fast because she talks very fast and jump around the topics a lot. She has two 5 pages essays. The topics are narrow and both of them are based on your weekly non-textbook reading, so make sure to keep up with the readings. Also, since the TAs are grading the essays, it's best to write the draft and ask your TA for help before the due dates. On the exams, she really wants you to think critically. All you need to do for the final is to reread all the notes and study every single terms and question on her study guide (yes, 100 terms on her study guide, but only 10 will appear on the exam). I studied really hard the night before the exam and got a 96. Overall, she emphasizes much more on the cause and effect of the history instead of the fact of the history.

History 11B is not a class that just hands out As
Professor Goldman is very passionate about Chinese history, and is very willing to open up and help you out in the class if you're willing to do the work. The professor is very available and very concerned for her students.

The class itself is very intensive when it comes to reading.
The syllabus says to expect 100-150 pages of reading a week, but it's more like "above 200" range.
It does require a lot of studying and a lot of effort. Whether this is good or bad for you is up to your interpretation. I found the readings to be very interesting.

Only 2 papers (each 5 pgs) are assigned. TAs can sometimes be a bit incompetent, so I found myself actually asking the professor for help, and she was much more helpful.

The final exam requires a key term section, along with 2 essays.
For the key terms, you're given 10, and have to identify 6, however, these 10 come from a pool of 100.
Each essay comes from a choice of 2, but Goldman's study guides give you 8 possible prompt for each of the two essays. Her class however, is very straightforward. She throws no curve balls on her exams, and if you stay on top of things, you will survive.

All in all, I found the class to be VERY rewarding.