Overall Vibe: I had a positive experience in Soc 1 with Dr. Villarreal. It was quite a large lecture with at least 200 seats. Soc 1 is a required pre-requisite for sociology majors, and I'd feel confident recommending soc majors or pre-majors take it with Dr. Villarreal. However, I would not recommend this course to non-soc majors just looking to knock out a GE; I think you could find a slightly more engaging and topical course that is less theoretical. The lectures are not highly engaging, and as suggested by some of Dr. Villarreal's other reviews he is not the most "thrilling" lecturer, but he gets the job done. Soc 1 content is just dry and theoretical in general, nothing you can do to avoid that.

Exams: 1 midterm & 1 final, both in-person and closed-notes, all multiple choice. I thought the difficulty of these tests was perfectly reasonable. I managed to earn an 84% on the midterm without studying at all. I studied for the final for about 3-4 hours and earned a 93% (missed 1 or 2 questions). I was still able to earn an A in the course despite these scores. I'm sure if you put in the effort and studied more than I did, you'd ace both the midterm and final. Note that I attended every single lecture and took thorough notes, which surely helped me on the exams. If you do not attend lecture, you will have a challenging time in the class.

Readings: We were assigned textbook readings each week. They were extremely dry and I stopped doing them after week 2. Dr. Villarreal covers all of the important information from each reading in his lecture material. So, go to lecture, take notes, and you will not need to complete the textbook readings. There were 1 or 2 academic articles assigned throughout, I would recommend at minimum skimming them because he did ask 1-2 questions on the exams directly from the articles.

Papers: 1 paper graded by your T.A. It was short and straightforward, I believe 5 pages double spaced. Earned a solid A and did not have difficulty answering the prompt or incorporating the lecture material into my paper.

Participation: Participation is only graded in your discussion section, so attending section is mandatory! However, I view this as a positive because it provides an extra cushion for your grade and also is a great environment to reinforce your learning from lecture. My T.A. prepared us very well for the exams by holding in-depth reviews during the class before the exams. In addition to just showing up for discussion, we had to submit a small written reflection after each section in which we collaborated for the last 15 minutes of discussion with 2-3 other classmates to answer a quick prompt related to what we were learning that week. As long as you put in an iota of thoughtfulness and submit same-day, you will get full points on these reflections. Word count requirement was 300.

Additional advice: Take the Honors 89 seminar!! I LOVED the seminar far more than the lecture. There were only about 10 students, so it was discussion based and a nice small learning environment. I feel I was pushed to engage in much more critical thinking than in the lecture. Dr. Villarreal was an excellent discussion leader and created a positive learning environment. We read really interesting studies each week. I wrote a separate review of this course that you should read if interested. Also, Dr. Villarreal was flexible and understanding in my experience: I got quite sick with a flu before the final and he was very willing to reschedule it for me without making a big hassle or asking for medical documentation.

Key takeaways:
-Dr. Villarreal seems like a kind & respectful instructor (see my sickness experience above)
-I would recommend this course to sociology majors & pre-majors, but not to those just looking for a GE (mostly because you could find something more interesting, not because the class is "bad" or "too difficult")
-You do not need to complete textbook readings if you attend lecture
-Lecture attendance is not technically mandatory, but I would very very strongly recommend it
-Attending discussion section is mandatory
-Grading of papers was perfectly reasonable
-Difficulty of exams was perfectly reasonable (again, as long as you attend lecture)
-If you have any interest in social science research, take the additional honors seminar that goes with this course!