Grade breakdown: 40% midterm paper 40% final exam 10% attendance 10% presentation on midterm paper

I found the class and content really interesting as someone who has taken previous courses about Latin America. I think giving us the space to explore Latin American countries and focus on the demographic and health issues and healthcare was a great part of the class.

However, I found the structure of the class a bit unfair. The exam holding 40% of our grade meant an emphasis on testing. However, the exam's longest portion was an essay worth 24% of the entire exam which was broken up into parts that called for multiple pages of writing and a longer focus on the essay. However, the multiple choice took less time and held a larger portion of the points. We were also told it would be a lot of matching & multiple choice. However, the "matching" section was more fill in the blank without options or a wordbank and it held almost the same amount of weight as the essay portion.

I think it would have been more fair to separate the essay to a separate assignment and hold a larger weight than the exam with multiple choices/"fill in the blank" portions. It also felt unhelpful that the exam was focused on small details that didn't focus on our understanding of the actual content. The explanation of the exam felt unfair as it was stated our understanding would be tested, not our ability to memorize small details and population numbers within different Latin American countries. We were also told that the slides wouldn't be much help or give us much direction and the exam was focused on lecture rather than the slides, but it was difficult since each session was 3 hours long and the lectures went unrecorded. We also were not given permission to take pictures or record which made it difficult to review lecture content.

Biggest qualm with this class has to be the exam. There was only one final exam for the whole quarter, which was nice to not have a midterm, but I felt that the questions were really specific and focused on statistics and random knowledge memorization (ie. prevalence of diseases per country). There was some multiple choice and some free response but I ended the class not sure where my grade would land because I definitely guessed on some. And it's not like more studying would have helped me, I did review a lot of material and some questions that were asked simply were not emphasized in class. There were also 2 papers which were .. doable I suppose?

Dr. Taub is a decently nice person, but for some reason doesn't like it when students take notes on iPads or laptops. This was discouraging because there were instances where activities were only allowed to be submitted on paper and students were told in class to put their note-taking devices away (to ensure we wouldn't be distracted during class). I felt this policy was strange and left many students staring at the slides, unable to take notes or retain much information from the 3 hour seminar. Also the way individual lectures were structured was disorganized and didn't facilitate much discussion (which I was hoping to experience from a class of only 20 people) but a list of words on a blank white slide did little to fully illustrate the magnitude of suffering and health problems in Latin America. Small point but it also felt like the "savior complex" was promoted in a couple lectures and that just didn't feel right.

If you have other options, I'd only recommend to take this class if you're really passionate about Latin America, natural disasters, etc. Food is mentioned but I feel that the class is more about structural issues and disease than malnutrition.

Professor Taub is an expert in Latin American health studies. Her expertise provides wonderful insight to this course. Workload entailed a midterm essay on a health problem of our interest and take-home final assignment.

Textbook was interesting, but not necessary. Additional books, i.e. Farmer's Haiti After the Earthquake, however, were a fascinating read and very relevant throughout the class.

Dr. Taub is an amazing lecturer. She is passionate about Latin American health, and gives engaging lectures. I strongly recommend this class to anyone who is interested in public health or pursing a career in the health field. There is a lot of reading in this class, but it is really interesting. If I could, I would love to take another class with her. She truly cares about her students, and she can be a great mentor!

132 was one of the hardest class to take. I am a neuroscience major taking this class for fun, but the material was downright boring, extensive, and unneccessary. Taub is dry, not funny, and simply needs to retire. AVOID THIS CLASS and take it with another professor. I received a B- in the class

Hard Class and Hard curve. Professor was super boring and dry. DO NOT TAKE! THE ABOVE CURVE IS NOT TRUE!

I loved prof Taub. She is such a nice and caring professor, something which I find rare at UCLA. She really wants her students to learn the material, and she makes it very easy to enjoy learning it. Though the class is 3 hours, we normally got out after 2 hrs and 15 min. There are a lot of guest lecturers, but most of them are pretty interesting and they bring a lot of diversity to the class. The class is pretty easy, but I still ended up learning a ton. I would definitely recommend both her and the class.

Prof. Taub is a wonderful lecturer. She organizes a lot of guest lecturers to come in and talk about the health issues that are usually overlooked in your Daily Bruin. She's very concerned about student learning, approachable for office hours, and cares about her students. Don't slack in this class, you'll be missing out on interesting lectures and dialogues. Midterm paper isn't bad, and the getting the general concept of major health issues and important names will help you for the final. Visit her office and appreciate how much knowledge/kindness she has to offer.