Professor
Andrés Villarreal
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Alright, let me get this straight. This man is so mad that students at UCLA are doing better on his weekly quizzes than the other community college he teaches at that he PURPOSEFULLY makes the midterm exam more difficult. (BTW, he changed his midterm the night before giving it out, so there were numerous typos that made it difficult to understand questions, and had a few questions that had multiple answers that were correct when only 1 was marked as the correct answer). Also, he REFUSES to accommodate other students when we simply asked for a little bit more time than 5 minutes on weekly quizzes (he eventually FINALLY caved halfway through the quarter and gave us 1 extra minute to answer even more vague questions he puts on his quizzes). He instructed his TAs to grade our final paper on a strict grading rubric that was EXTREMELY vague since the beginning as it was supposed to give us "creative freedom," yet he enforces a strict grading policy??? Let's talk about the final I just took. He claims that due to his fears of students cheating during online teaching, that he puts in place sequential testing (where you can't go back to check answers after you click to go to the next question, and you can't skip ahead to another question). This was an okay policy, personally; I can deal with that. Yet while he says he's afraid of students cheating, he puts a question on the final that requires you to look at your notes for the graph or just straight up guess because it's such a random detail from one of his lectures. There is also no graph to go alongside the question to help you answer it, so you either guess, or quickly look through your notes on a closed-book exam. I guessed and probably got it wrong. The interesting topics that this course goes over were completely ruined by this professor's weird test-taking policies and strange stubbornness to accommodate students DURING A PANDEMIC. I actually really like sociology, but it is not my major and I took this class as a GE. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS FOR A GE. It's not worth it unless you take P/NP. I would actually rather write 5 papers like the other sociology professor does than take this class again with Villarreal. This class was STUPIDLY hard for no reason when the topics were actually interesting. I know the core concepts for this course (as stated by the learning objectives in the rubric), yet what is actually tested are random, fleeting details from lecture. Awful all around. Class grade breakdown: Midterm: 25% Final: 25% Weekly quizzes (lowest 2 dropped): 20% Essay: 20% Participation: 10%
Fall 2020 - Alright, let me get this straight. This man is so mad that students at UCLA are doing better on his weekly quizzes than the other community college he teaches at that he PURPOSEFULLY makes the midterm exam more difficult. (BTW, he changed his midterm the night before giving it out, so there were numerous typos that made it difficult to understand questions, and had a few questions that had multiple answers that were correct when only 1 was marked as the correct answer). Also, he REFUSES to accommodate other students when we simply asked for a little bit more time than 5 minutes on weekly quizzes (he eventually FINALLY caved halfway through the quarter and gave us 1 extra minute to answer even more vague questions he puts on his quizzes). He instructed his TAs to grade our final paper on a strict grading rubric that was EXTREMELY vague since the beginning as it was supposed to give us "creative freedom," yet he enforces a strict grading policy??? Let's talk about the final I just took. He claims that due to his fears of students cheating during online teaching, that he puts in place sequential testing (where you can't go back to check answers after you click to go to the next question, and you can't skip ahead to another question). This was an okay policy, personally; I can deal with that. Yet while he says he's afraid of students cheating, he puts a question on the final that requires you to look at your notes for the graph or just straight up guess because it's such a random detail from one of his lectures. There is also no graph to go alongside the question to help you answer it, so you either guess, or quickly look through your notes on a closed-book exam. I guessed and probably got it wrong. The interesting topics that this course goes over were completely ruined by this professor's weird test-taking policies and strange stubbornness to accommodate students DURING A PANDEMIC. I actually really like sociology, but it is not my major and I took this class as a GE. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS FOR A GE. It's not worth it unless you take P/NP. I would actually rather write 5 papers like the other sociology professor does than take this class again with Villarreal. This class was STUPIDLY hard for no reason when the topics were actually interesting. I know the core concepts for this course (as stated by the learning objectives in the rubric), yet what is actually tested are random, fleeting details from lecture. Awful all around. Class grade breakdown: Midterm: 25% Final: 25% Weekly quizzes (lowest 2 dropped): 20% Essay: 20% Participation: 10%
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - This class is definitely recommended. It's one of the most engaging and enjoyable courses I’ve taken, where genuine discussions with classmates are a regular part of the experience. Everyone comes from diverse backgrounds, which brings in a variety of perspectives that make our conversations truly enriching. I also really appreciate how approachable and helpful the professor is. He genuinely cares about his students and often surprises us with interesting comments or even the occasional "cold joke". In terms of grading, the professor is fair and consistent, generally giving grades in the 90–95% range. Personally, after the first week, I’ve been consistently scoring 95%, and there was even one occasion where I received a perfect 100% along with encouraging feedback, which was incredibly motivating.
Fall 2024 - This class is definitely recommended. It's one of the most engaging and enjoyable courses I’ve taken, where genuine discussions with classmates are a regular part of the experience. Everyone comes from diverse backgrounds, which brings in a variety of perspectives that make our conversations truly enriching. I also really appreciate how approachable and helpful the professor is. He genuinely cares about his students and often surprises us with interesting comments or even the occasional "cold joke". In terms of grading, the professor is fair and consistent, generally giving grades in the 90–95% range. Personally, after the first week, I’ve been consistently scoring 95%, and there was even one occasion where I received a perfect 100% along with encouraging feedback, which was incredibly motivating.
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