Prof Kirkland always gave really engaging and fun lectures that covered all the material you need to know. Readings are helpful but you could probably get through the course without doing them since the lectures are so in-depth. Your grade is based on a midterm and a final that are really easy and 2 essays that are pretty short. Would highly recommend it, especially for GEs.

This class has a lot of readings, so is a little time consuming in terms of preparing for the discussion sections. However, taking the time to do the readings and participating is super rewarding, and I felt like it was time well spent!

If you do the readings, pay attention in lecture, and study for the tests, this class is very rewarding. Kirkland is super accessible for questions, incredibly understanding, and so passionate that it’s contagious. I went into Classics 10 not caring or knowing a lot about Ancient Greece, but left it genuinely interested in the material and feeling like I learned so much. If you can get Mary as your TA, definitely do so! She was fantastic, led great discussions, responded to emails quickly, and was a super fair grader.

TL;DR, there are a lot of readings, but they’re worth spending the time on in my opinion, 10/10 professor and TA!

Other than exams, this class was fine as a GE. The two essays were both fine, depending on your TA, and the material was not too complicated, although you were sometimes expected to know some material already which was not covered, which was a bit frustrating for a beginner class. However, the exams were extremely stressful and probably the hardest tests I have ever had to take for a GE. The midterm was purely memorization-based and covered so many terms and images that I spent over a week reviewing Quizlet and preparing for each which felt very extreme for this class which I was told was going to be an easy GE. I have taken other Classics courses in the past and I had never experienced anything like this. The final also had an additional essay on top of the memorization section which we were given the prompts for ahead of time.
Overall, probably would not recommend as an easy GE just because of the exams to avoid the unnecessary stress especially if you have test anxiety or have trouble memorizing a lot of information in a short amount of time including terms, images, time periods, definitions and examples for over 100 terms.

this was such a fun class and a great GE to take as a freshman. it was "easy" but not in the way i expected it to be. i thought "easy" meant i would just have to show up to lectures and not really study that much for tests, when the opposite was true. you don't have to go to a single lecture (although you should because he's such a great lecturer), but you have to really grind for a couple days for the midterm and final. studying is just pure memorization though! look up the quizlet for the class. overall i really recommend this class! i've actually been able to recognize and "analyze" art pieces at the getty and hammer museum after all the slides on pottery. everything is super interesting.

Professor Kirkland is amazing! He makes every single one of his lectures engaging and is super passionate about the material. He covered all of the most important aspects in lecture, so just skimming the textbook was enough for some additional context. However, readings for discussions definitely have to be done, but they usually aren't very long and I personally found them much more enjoyable than the textbook.

Here's how grades were determined:
- 15% participation
- 15% 500 word essay
- 20% 3-4 page essay
- 25% midterm
- 25% final

My TA (Andrew) gave plenty of opportunities to participate in discussion and was also very helpful. He gave lots of feedback on the first essay and made his expectations clear despite the fact that there wasn't a provided rubric for it.

The essays themselves were a bit challenging. Though there is a lot of freedom in choosing your topic, all of them required a strong understanding of the course material and your own analysis. Paying attention at lecture and discussion will definitely prepare you to do well on them though.

The midterm and final were both based mostly on memorization, but Professor Kirkland makes it clear what you need to study beforehand by posting the instructions for the exams. There was a lot of memorization involved since you are asked to define vocabulary, identify images, and identify readings as well as provide the time period and significance of each. If you give yourself at least a few days to study before each exam, it will feel like a breeze, especially since you don't have to identify/define every single thing on the exam (and there's extra credit at the end too!) For the final, there is also an essay on top of the other questions, but the prompts are provided beforehand so you can prepare for it.

I would recommend this class for those looking for a GE, but it's not necessarily a super easy one. As long as you're willing to put the work into memorizing, however, getting a good grade is very possible.

Professor Kirkland is a great professor whose lectures are interesting and full of information. Everything you will need to know for the midterm and finals is taught in lecture, as well as found in the readings. The readings for this class are engaging and do not feel like "extra work" at all. I greatly enjoyed being exposed to Greek literature and getting to discuss in lecture and discussion.

Overall, this course is very manageable work load wise and a great GE to take.

LOVED THIS CLASS. It's a great GE, especially if you like Greek history. Lectures aren't mandatory, but Prof Kirkland is so good at his job that you'll still want to go anyways. He's funny and very engaging. His tests are EXTREMELY fair because he tells you exactly what to study.

Don't buy any of the smaller books for the class because you can find all of the plays/texts online for FREE. You can definitely just skim most texts for section because the goal is to understand themes/context rather than memorizing specifics. As for the actual textbook, definitely rent it online from amazon because it's so much cheaper that way. Lectures are SUPER helpful. I cannot stress this enough. The class focuses on the more social aspects of ancient Greece rather than the political, which kept things a lot more interesting. Overall, Kirkland is fantastic and the whole class really liked him. I'd take another class with him again in a heartbeat.

Professor Kirkland is an incredible lecturer. Even though I wasn't super interested in everything he lectured about, he was so passionate about the material that I paid attention anyway. The class is 15% participation (in your discussion section), 15% mini-essay, 25% midterm, 20% essay, 25% final. His tests are very fair and straightforward: for example, on his midterm, he just had 3 sections (vocab, images, passages) and you would only have to talk about around 1/2 of the words, artpieces, and passages that he listed. You didn't have to go very in-depth for your explanations either. There was also very easy extra credit offered on both the midterm and final. There is a lot of assigned reading every week, but honestly if you pay attention during lecture you don't really have to do it; Kirkland will never test you on anything that was in the textbook but not in his lectures. Overall, I would definitely take this class again; it was a really cool and manageable GE.

Classics 10 with Professor Kirkland was one of my favorite classes that I took this quarter. I personally found that the assigned primary source readings were interesting, and they are important for discussion as participation is included in part of the grade. Weekly readings were manageable with only 1 or 2 weeks requiring significant time to complete. As long as you study, the midterm and final are very straight forward and easy to do well on. While it is not necessary to attend lecture if you do the readings, I highly recommend attending anyway as hearing Professor Kirkland present the material was the most interesting part of this class. His passion for Ancient Greece and care for his students are clear. Take this class if you want the perfect combination of low difficulty and an interesting subject.

I loved Prof. Kirkland -- his lectures were so engaging and you could really tell that he loves what he does. The class, however, does require a fair amount of reading from both primary texts (like Herodotus, the Iliad, Antigone...) and also from the textbook. (The primary readings were actually quite enjoyable, but the readings from the textbook were long and overly detailed). But overall, I did enjoy the class mostly because of Kirkland's lectures which actually make the material interesting.

Also, Camille was a great TA -- she's very understanding and a reasonable grader.