Professor

Asma Sayeed

AD
4.3
Overall Ratings
Based on 30 Users
Easiness 3.1 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 2.8 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 4.3 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 4.2 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (30)

2 of 3
2 of 3
Add your review...
Jan. 8, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: B+

Pretty hard class if you have zero background in Islam. TA's said that the professor made the class harder this year, so the grade curves aren't the most accurate. Midterms weren't easy. I would have taken another GE if I had known.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
May 2, 2018
Quarter: Winter 2018
Grade: A

This class was one of the most interesting classes I have taken in UCLA so far. Professor Sayeed takes care to ensure that we learn outside of the classroom, and frequently invites different guest speakers to lectures so as to provide us with different perspectives. Her lectures and slides are incredibly clear and well organized, and she highlights key terms that would definitely come out for the quizzes and midterms. There was once she brought the first and only Muslim judge into lecture to speak with us, and many other times where she brought in various PHD candidates from other universities specialising in a variety of topics to teach us too. Grades comprise of 30% participation (in discussion sections only, not for lectures - but active participation is required i.e. students have to come prepared with answers for reading prompts. This really depends on your TA - I had a pretty strict one, where even though I attended all the sections and responded to every prompt earnestly, I received 97% for participation), 15% quizzes (there are 2 pop quizzes, normally given nearing the end of the course. Quizzes do require you to study beforehand), 10% midterm (requires memorisation of arabic terms, and ID and response for readings), 20% papers (2 papers 10% each, TAs tend to grade harshly at the start and more leniently towards the end) , and 25% of the final paper. The final paper requires a field trip to a local Muslim institution of your choice (note that transportation is not provided, although Professor Sayeed makes the effort to coordinate with select institutions beforehand). There is a lot of flexibility in the paper as long as you consult your TA/Professor before embarking on the project. There are many extra credit opportunities to take advantage of, many of which are extracurricular seminars where Professor Sayeed was the facilitator. Overall, even though the class was a lot of work, the assignments and lectures were all very interesting and engaging. Would definitely take this class again.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
April 4, 2019
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: A

A lot of work but fair grading. Take Evan as TA, fair grader and a great TA overall. Discussions are mandatory but very engaging. A lot of readings but skimming should suffice

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
June 23, 2019
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: P

I took this as a GE expecting it to be a lot easier than it is. If you are like me and REALLY hate reading, just know by not doing the assigned reading you really screw yourself. Luckily I switched to pass no pass and saved my GPA. This is because the midterm really ruined me. It was half multiple choice which was based off vocab terms (easy) and a second half based off reading. So don't expect an easy A. I wish I was more interested in the subject because every discussion I had to lie about doing the reading and try really hard to make something up about the readings to get the participation credit. There is no final which is nice but there are two papers you have to write. The first paper was really easy and is really short (like 2-3 pages). You have to visit a Muslim institution for the final paper but she arranges a lot of places you can go to for this so finding a place isn't a problem. Try and find somebody to share an uber with because I spent way too much money on that. If you are interested in the subject you'll enjoy this class otherwise, not so much.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
March 30, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2019
Grade: A-

This class was one of the most interesting classes I have taken at UCLA. There is a lot of reading but it is actually very interesting and I was able to get an A in the class without completing full readings (as in I missed a few). I came into this class with no background on the subject and the TA's were very clear as well as the professor so that was fine.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ISLM ST M110
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 14, 2020
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A-

This class would be phenomenal for an Islamic studies student, which I am not. Do not take this class as a GE. It is beyond interesting, but will take up an absurd amount of your time if you want to retain any of the information you are learning. Lectures are interesting and pretty engaging, but the texts assigned are long and dense - some up to 40 pages long of dense, premodern history. Overall, interesting course but not worth the long readings, tiring studying, and blow to your GPA

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ISLM ST M110
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Jan. 4, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A

The production value of Prof Sayeed's lectures is incredible. They are fully shot in a studio with a green screen and her slides come up behind her as she's talking and there are transitions to photos and it's just wow. A great class to take online.
The modules also have quizzes and activities (you can retake multiple times) in between lectures so they don't get too monotonous.

There are 3 equally weighed exams. There is a study guide given out with ~15 possible short answer questions on it and 6 of those are on the exam (you pick 5 to answer and you have 90 minutes). You can pretty much answer the exam questions before the actual exam (by doing the study guide) if you are worried about running out of time.

There were a lot of readings assigned but tbh i didn't do them all, just the shorter or more interesting ones. Some were more reviews of what we learned in lecture.

Overall would take this class again, especially online. I learned so much about Islam that I never thought I would.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ISLM ST M110
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Jan. 4, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A-

Overall, I really appreciated how well-structured this class was as an introduction to Islam. Professor Sayeed seemed very intelligent and concise during lecture. However, if you are simply taking this to fulfill a GE requirement, the workload is a bit much. There were a lot of assigned readings every week, as well as modules that make up a good portion of your grade.

Two of the books that were required weren't listed, so I never ended up buying them, which made certain discussions more difficult. I don't know why they didn't list the required books in the first place.

The exams were pretty reasonable since we were given study guides of all possible questions. That being said, I got B's on all of them (due to poor time management) but managed to scrape by with an A-.

I'd take the class again because I personally found it very fascinating, but if it's not required for your major and you don't like religion/history I would go for something else.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ISLM ST M110
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Jan. 28, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A

Overall a very interesting and well-put-together, organized course. I took this with distance learning, but the video lectures were so professional and engaging. Definitely the best organized class in regard to having everything online, lectures were broken into short chunks with small activities in between. Professor Sayeed is also just genuinely a good lecturer. She is very knowledgeable and composed, and cares deeply about making learning about Islam rewarding and accessible. I learned a lot, but it was a pretty tough GE in terms of workload. There's a ton of required reading (2 books, many primary sources per week, articles, research papers, and documentaries), which can get tedious. That said, if you do your stuff, getting a good grade is not hard...The midterms/final were all open note, and you could choose 6 questions/prompts to answer from a list of 8. AND she gave us a list of (maybe 20 or so) questions that she would pull from a week beforehand, so you could prepare really well. The final paper was made optional for us. Overall, it was a challenging course, but it was engaging and rewarding. I don't regret taking it, and would recommend it to anyone who's willing to shift/broaden their perspective.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ISLM ST M20
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
July 23, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A

I took this class for my diversity requirement, so this was my first being exposed to this subject. Prof. Sayeed did a great job introducing and explaining the material to the class, and I really enjoyed listening to her lectures. As expected, there was a mandatory discussion, which was also very engaging and helpful because we went over the class material more thoroughly. Some of the reading materials were challenging to grasp but overall, it was not too bad. What I liked the most is the format of the exams - each exam had 4-5 essay topics but we were given study guides prior to that, which included all the possible essay questions that would appear on the exam. So, as long as you finish the study guide before the exam and answer those questions, you are pretty much set for the exam. There were also weekly quizzes and small assignments but they were pretty easy and short. The quizzes could be retaken multiple times until you get a perfect score, so they can be considered as free points.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
RELIGN M109
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: B+
Jan. 8, 2019

Pretty hard class if you have zero background in Islam. TA's said that the professor made the class harder this year, so the grade curves aren't the most accurate. Midterms weren't easy. I would have taken another GE if I had known.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
RELIGN M107
Quarter: Winter 2018
Grade: A
May 2, 2018

This class was one of the most interesting classes I have taken in UCLA so far. Professor Sayeed takes care to ensure that we learn outside of the classroom, and frequently invites different guest speakers to lectures so as to provide us with different perspectives. Her lectures and slides are incredibly clear and well organized, and she highlights key terms that would definitely come out for the quizzes and midterms. There was once she brought the first and only Muslim judge into lecture to speak with us, and many other times where she brought in various PHD candidates from other universities specialising in a variety of topics to teach us too. Grades comprise of 30% participation (in discussion sections only, not for lectures - but active participation is required i.e. students have to come prepared with answers for reading prompts. This really depends on your TA - I had a pretty strict one, where even though I attended all the sections and responded to every prompt earnestly, I received 97% for participation), 15% quizzes (there are 2 pop quizzes, normally given nearing the end of the course. Quizzes do require you to study beforehand), 10% midterm (requires memorisation of arabic terms, and ID and response for readings), 20% papers (2 papers 10% each, TAs tend to grade harshly at the start and more leniently towards the end) , and 25% of the final paper. The final paper requires a field trip to a local Muslim institution of your choice (note that transportation is not provided, although Professor Sayeed makes the effort to coordinate with select institutions beforehand). There is a lot of flexibility in the paper as long as you consult your TA/Professor before embarking on the project. There are many extra credit opportunities to take advantage of, many of which are extracurricular seminars where Professor Sayeed was the facilitator. Overall, even though the class was a lot of work, the assignments and lectures were all very interesting and engaging. Would definitely take this class again.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ARABIC M107
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: A
April 4, 2019

A lot of work but fair grading. Take Evan as TA, fair grader and a great TA overall. Discussions are mandatory but very engaging. A lot of readings but skimming should suffice

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
RELIGN M107
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: P
June 23, 2019

I took this as a GE expecting it to be a lot easier than it is. If you are like me and REALLY hate reading, just know by not doing the assigned reading you really screw yourself. Luckily I switched to pass no pass and saved my GPA. This is because the midterm really ruined me. It was half multiple choice which was based off vocab terms (easy) and a second half based off reading. So don't expect an easy A. I wish I was more interested in the subject because every discussion I had to lie about doing the reading and try really hard to make something up about the readings to get the participation credit. There is no final which is nice but there are two papers you have to write. The first paper was really easy and is really short (like 2-3 pages). You have to visit a Muslim institution for the final paper but she arranges a lot of places you can go to for this so finding a place isn't a problem. Try and find somebody to share an uber with because I spent way too much money on that. If you are interested in the subject you'll enjoy this class otherwise, not so much.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ARABIC M107
Quarter: Spring 2019
Grade: A-
March 30, 2020

This class was one of the most interesting classes I have taken at UCLA. There is a lot of reading but it is actually very interesting and I was able to get an A in the class without completing full readings (as in I missed a few). I came into this class with no background on the subject and the TA's were very clear as well as the professor so that was fine.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ISLM ST M110
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A-
Dec. 14, 2020

This class would be phenomenal for an Islamic studies student, which I am not. Do not take this class as a GE. It is beyond interesting, but will take up an absurd amount of your time if you want to retain any of the information you are learning. Lectures are interesting and pretty engaging, but the texts assigned are long and dense - some up to 40 pages long of dense, premodern history. Overall, interesting course but not worth the long readings, tiring studying, and blow to your GPA

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ISLM ST M110
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
Jan. 4, 2021

The production value of Prof Sayeed's lectures is incredible. They are fully shot in a studio with a green screen and her slides come up behind her as she's talking and there are transitions to photos and it's just wow. A great class to take online.
The modules also have quizzes and activities (you can retake multiple times) in between lectures so they don't get too monotonous.

There are 3 equally weighed exams. There is a study guide given out with ~15 possible short answer questions on it and 6 of those are on the exam (you pick 5 to answer and you have 90 minutes). You can pretty much answer the exam questions before the actual exam (by doing the study guide) if you are worried about running out of time.

There were a lot of readings assigned but tbh i didn't do them all, just the shorter or more interesting ones. Some were more reviews of what we learned in lecture.

Overall would take this class again, especially online. I learned so much about Islam that I never thought I would.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ISLM ST M110
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A-
Jan. 4, 2021

Overall, I really appreciated how well-structured this class was as an introduction to Islam. Professor Sayeed seemed very intelligent and concise during lecture. However, if you are simply taking this to fulfill a GE requirement, the workload is a bit much. There were a lot of assigned readings every week, as well as modules that make up a good portion of your grade.

Two of the books that were required weren't listed, so I never ended up buying them, which made certain discussions more difficult. I don't know why they didn't list the required books in the first place.

The exams were pretty reasonable since we were given study guides of all possible questions. That being said, I got B's on all of them (due to poor time management) but managed to scrape by with an A-.

I'd take the class again because I personally found it very fascinating, but if it's not required for your major and you don't like religion/history I would go for something else.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ISLM ST M110
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
Jan. 28, 2021

Overall a very interesting and well-put-together, organized course. I took this with distance learning, but the video lectures were so professional and engaging. Definitely the best organized class in regard to having everything online, lectures were broken into short chunks with small activities in between. Professor Sayeed is also just genuinely a good lecturer. She is very knowledgeable and composed, and cares deeply about making learning about Islam rewarding and accessible. I learned a lot, but it was a pretty tough GE in terms of workload. There's a ton of required reading (2 books, many primary sources per week, articles, research papers, and documentaries), which can get tedious. That said, if you do your stuff, getting a good grade is not hard...The midterms/final were all open note, and you could choose 6 questions/prompts to answer from a list of 8. AND she gave us a list of (maybe 20 or so) questions that she would pull from a week beforehand, so you could prepare really well. The final paper was made optional for us. Overall, it was a challenging course, but it was engaging and rewarding. I don't regret taking it, and would recommend it to anyone who's willing to shift/broaden their perspective.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ISLM ST M20
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
July 23, 2021

I took this class for my diversity requirement, so this was my first being exposed to this subject. Prof. Sayeed did a great job introducing and explaining the material to the class, and I really enjoyed listening to her lectures. As expected, there was a mandatory discussion, which was also very engaging and helpful because we went over the class material more thoroughly. Some of the reading materials were challenging to grasp but overall, it was not too bad. What I liked the most is the format of the exams - each exam had 4-5 essay topics but we were given study guides prior to that, which included all the possible essay questions that would appear on the exam. So, as long as you finish the study guide before the exam and answer those questions, you are pretty much set for the exam. There were also weekly quizzes and small assignments but they were pretty easy and short. The quizzes could be retaken multiple times until you get a perfect score, so they can be considered as free points.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
2 of 3
ADS

Adblock Detected

Bruinwalk is an entirely Daily Bruin-run service brought to you for free. We hate annoying ads just as much as you do, but they help keep our lights on. We promise to keep our ads as relevant for you as possible, so please consider disabling your ad-blocking software while using this site.

Thank you for supporting us!