Engaging Professor. Incredibly Difficult Tests.

I have mixed opinions about this class and Professor Jones, but overall, if you're a COMM major and you have to take 100, take this class with this Professor. The material is engaging and the lectures are interesting, but the structure of this class is BRUTAL. In previous years, Jones allowed students to submit papers once a week about the readings. However, this quarter, the grading was 45% midterm, 45% final, 10% participation based on discussion posts. I think he expected the same length and quality that he would get in previous years' weekly papers, who had access to the readings, as he did on our 75 minute bluebook exam. Let's just say that did not happen, 20% of the class got actual F's on the midterm before the curve. With the curve, I landed a C. Luckily, Jones offered a "midterm redemption" exam, which was to be turned in AFTER the final. While I was grateful for this, it meant 90% of my grade relied on the last week of school, which was inordinately stressful. Further, he changed the format of the final to a take-home, open note test. I earned an A on this exam, but my answers together totaled 15 pages single spaced, which is indicative of the quality and depth he expects you to go into. I probably spent close to 15 hours on the final and 10 hours on the midterm redemption. That being said, I gleaned the most knowledge out of a class than I ever have before. This is the first time in my UCLA career that I feel like the material is applicable to other classes as well as real-life circumstances. If you have the time and the grit, Jones is a great professor. If you're taking 3 other classes, wait until you have the time to take this class.

PROS
- Relevant and interesting content
- SUPER engaging lectures
- Tons of opportunity for office hours
- Very knowledgable professor

CONS
- Grading structure is very difficult
- A lot is expected of you
- MUST go to class and do ALL of the readings
- MUST study very hard/ Go to OH

I loved professor Gabe. I thought the topics were a bit challenging but he made everything pretty easy to understand with all of his examples. The sections are optional and don't take attendance, and what I thought was really nice is that because of this, you can go to whichever section best fits your schedule. The sections though are super helpful and help expand understanding of the lecture topics. The first midterm was pretty hard but it did have a curve and then professor Gabe made the final a take-home exam that we had 3 days to complete, which was super nice. Overall, the class is a bit hard but still interesting and fun. Would probably take again, he made me super interested in Comm!

Not a comm major. I thought this class is not science but pseudo science.

He goes by Gabe!
Grades:
This class was not what I expected, but not in a negative way. You're ONLY graded on three things: 10% weekly Discussion Posts, 45% midterm exam, and 45% final exam. The midterm exam was brutal on a lot of us. He said that he expected an 87% average, much like his previous years. However, I don't think he took into account that we were taking the exam in-person and it was a much more limited time, and so the class average was actually around 76% or something. However, he curved it SOOO good. The midterm was much harder since you had to do like a full essay for 8 questions within 75 minutes and the instructions were unclear, random, and a bit quirky. As long as you write what you know, you'll be good though. Remember to relate your answer back to the question. If he does in-person exams, memorize the content. The final was a take-home exam, he helped us a ton on it. You don't need to memorize anything or have a deep understanding for take-homes. Just connect it back to the readings (look at the abstracts, don't [re]read everything). It was much easier than the midterm, but far more time consuming. Study and show your knowledge and you'll be fine. I got an A for both, but again I only really studied for the midterm.

Professor:
Great professor, super funny, cute dogs. Hes super helpful and you can tell he cares about his students. He answered so many questions about the final and with speed. Lectures are super engaging, but extremely, extremely dense. Constantly felt like information over load (you could say it exceeded my channel capacity.. you'll understand later). On top of that, he talks quite fast. My brain could not handle it some times so thats why it's a good idea to look at the slides after class and record the lectures (he allows this). Despite this, I've never learned so much in a COMM class. Genuinely very interesting, just wish my brain worked faster. He covers so many topics like AI, technical communication, art, etc.

Tips:
Everyone says this class was really hard this quarter, and it's true. I told myself this was worse than Suman so many times, but it really isn't. Try your best on the exams, study, and it'll be good. Go to office hours, especially before the final/midterm. Don't feel overwhelmed by the technical lingo, you'll get through it.

Also - Gabe literally didn't bash Trump. Not sure what that other reviewer is talking about. But in the last few weeks of the course, Gabe talks about political communication. He goes through this idea that people who are so devoted to the left/right see anything neutral as a direct threat to them. Looks like it's true.

I'm really liking this class so far! The material itself can be difficult to grasp but it's so interesting and really changes how you view the world. There's also barely any work: all you need to do is post 3 weekly discussion posts (10% of your grade), take the midterm (45% of your grade) and then take the final (45% of your grade). A lot of people were complaining about the midterm which was tedious and definitely fast-paced, but he ended up curving it a ton. Gabe is an incredibly engaging lecturer and I definitely recommend taking this comm req with him over anyone else

GABE JONES IS BY FAR THE WORST PROFESSOR I’VE HAD AT UCLA. He is worse than SUMAN and that is saying a lot!

I took this class because it is a requirement for my comm major, and was excited because Professor Gabe had good bruinwalk reviews. However, upon the first day of class, all Gabe did was talk politics. When he was supposed to be teaching us about communication science theories we would be tested on, Gabe bashed former President Trump and expressed his extreme hate for any right-leaning individuals. This was entirely unnecessary for a class not about politics at all.

He tried too hard to be relatable with our audience to the point it got extremely confusing for all of us. Seriously, there were a couple of lectures when all he did was show us videos of whales hunting or his dogs barking.

BREAKDOWN:
10% discussion posts (easy, although you have to make 3 posts a week)
45% midterm (IMPOSSIBLE. closed note, in class, timed exam. class average was a C-)
45% final (ALSO SUPER HARD. closed note, in class, timed exam)

All week before the midterm, Gabe told us the questions on the midterm would be highly applicable to real life. Instead, he asked us about a FREAKING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE and asked us questions about an Ancient Greek King. Everyone was completely thrown off. 16% of the class got an F on the midterm, and the class average was a C-. I scored an A on the Comm 10 midterm, but scored a B on Gabe’s Comm 100 midterm. This class tanked my GPA at UCLA.

I understand this class is a requirement for Comm majors, but if you have the opportunity, avoid Gabe Jones at ALL COSTS!

The material in the class is a bit complex, but Professor Jones does a good job at breaking things down in an engaging way. The class is mostly based on weekly discussion posts and response papers, which were more work than the average Comm class but not unreasonable by any means. Reading is necessary for this class in order to complete the response papers, but they're all posted for free on BruinLearn. Professor Jones was also incredibly responsive to students' questions. Overall I would recommend taking this class with him.

Dr. Jones was the reason I survived this class! He was thoughtful and there for his students. Couldn't recommend taking him more!

This is my first upper div for COMM 100 and I absolutely loved it! Mainly due to the professor as he was so sarcastic and truly engaging to learn from. The summer course followed similar guidelines as the previous reviews except there was no 4 page review paper. Instead it went like weekly discussions posts and responses, weekly essay prompts, and a final paper. Very manageable - if you do not receive an A from this prof/course, I would be surprised. Although a couple of the reviews for this course say that the science behind the theories are difficult to understand but I found it relatively simple - perhaps it is Prof Jones who makes it this way, but don't be afraid of this course. Personally, it was one of my favorite under the COMM department! A lot of the material is can be applicable to real life which should assist in your understanding.

All in all, great prof, great course.

My review of this class has nothing to do with the professor, but with the material. It wasn't what I expected. And, he used really great methods making us actually use the theories and come up with our own hypotheses and ways to test the theories, and much of it was a bit abstract and hard to apply to a real life situation. He gave a lot of great examples in the lecture. His lectures were very organized and great slides. This was a summer course, so the lectures were 2 hours and 5 minutes twice a week, and he used 2 hours and 5 minutes and didn't stop a minute early, and took no breaks. So, that was tough as the material was deep and complex and it was tough to still be soaking anything in during the second half. So, I spent a lot of time going back and having to spend even more time re-listening to lectures so that I understood the material. But, he is a great instructor, it's just the material was hard for me to understand.