Grading Scheme:
Short assignment 10%
Midterm 35%
Quizzes 6%
Participation 4%
Final paper 45%
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Professor Normore:
He can be a bit disorganized in lecture, as any philosophy professor actually. He puts up an ill-formatted word document on the screen riddled with typos. It contains extensive notes and excerpts from important texts. They're very very long and he never gets to the end of them. He often goes on tangents and can be hard to follow at times. Lectures were two hours, so it was hard to remain focused throughout the whole duration. He is also very disorganized with assignments and whatnot. However, he is one of the nicest professors I've met. He's very sweet and he cares about his students a lot. He got us cookies and orange juice for our midterms. Lol it was adorable. He can be a bit confusing but he is really understanding and wants to help you as much as possible. He's audiocasted and he also records himself as a backup for BruinCast and posts it on CCLE. He posts all the relevant texts he wants you to read on CCLE too, but I never really read any unless it was for a paper. I stopped going to lecture halfway through the quarter and just relied on his notes without listening to the recording.
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TA Zach Biondi:
I think Zach was the best philosophy TA I've had so far at UCLA. He doesn't go on tangents and he's much more focused than what I've experienced. He goes slowly and really stresses participation in discussions about class topics. He was also a fair grader too and was more focused on whether you understood what was going in in class for grading. I would recommend him as a TA if you can get him.
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Short assignment grade: 95%
So the short assignment was a maximum of 750 words about one of the given prompts. It was simple enough. For my prompt I just basically had to interpret a text. Zach allowed people to send in drafts to give comments on, so that was really helpful in clarifying a couple points in my essay. Overall it wasn't too bad.
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Midterm grade: 98%
So the midterm was 12 multiple choice questions each worth 3% and 8 short answer questions each worth 8%. It was curved 6 points, so I originally got a 92%. Normore gives you an extensive study guide with questions for each philosopher. I suggest making a group study guide on Google or something FOR SURE. I joined one and I didn't really contribute too much, though I did help out a bit. It's great to pool resources too like if Normore gave an answer for a question in a review session, etcetera. If you know the study guide, then you'll do well on the midterm. I honestly had no clue what the fuck was going on until I read the study guide. And obviously I did well. The multiple choice questions were trying to be tricky. Just be careful with terminology and wording in the questions and answers. And the short answers were basically the same questions as the study guide. But some may have been tweaked a bit. Regardless, STUDY THE STUDY GUIDE. And then you'll do fine.
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Quizzes grade: 6/6
So there were 4 "pop" quizzes throughout the quarter, and 3 scores were counted. But since my section was on Mondays, we missed a couple sections from holidays. Because of that, along with some delay from Zach with how to format quizzes, asking input from his classes, our 4 quizzes were in the last 4 weeks of the quarter. So they weren't really a surprise. Zach also emailed us before section about what topic the questions would be on. They were generally 2 questions each with very short answers. They were really easy if you read the lecture notes from what he's talking about. The last quiz was just questions about the final paper. So generally, these were easy points to nab.
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Participation grade: unknown
I didn't participate at all during discussion, so I dunno how I was graded or if Zach was very strict with that.
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Final paper grade: 95%
The final was roughly 2000-25000 words and was written about one of the given prompts. It was assigned like a week or so before it was due I believe. But I chose the prompt that covered the earliest topic so I wouldn't really need to pay attention to the material at the end of the course. However, if you're getting legit quizzed on it, then pay attention. I mostly used the lecture notes as a guide, but I also did a lot of my own digging in the text to make my case. Trying finishing before Finals Week just to get it over with. It can be a bit much if you're trying to get a good grade. But just start early.
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Overall grade: A
I'm honestly really proud of myself that I did so well amongst these hardcore philosophy majors. I held my own. I think in general following my method would be good if you want to get a good grade without necessarily delving too deep into understanding the content. Normore is a really sweet guy, but this subject didn't really interest me too much. Nevertheless, I needed it for my philosophy minor requirement. Normore is really fair and you can succeed if you go about the class the right way.

Honestly only went to the first lecture and then eventually they just became online and I still did not go to those. I will say I got very lucky in that I got a great TA and he carried the class. Discussion participation was required so I went to all except one where I was sick and I just let him know. You needed to have read like a short reading before each disc. but honestly you didn't have to but just show genuine interest and ask questions. Prof is a super sweet guy though who cares about what he is teaching. We had 5 hw assignments SUPER easy literally only 100 word long replies required, a 'midterm' essay also pretty simple, and a final essay on a prompt of your choice. Also literally gives you ALL the readings for free in bruinlearn and for each hw assignment and midterm he gave you the exact reading to reference and write about. So perfect take this class w him 100%

I thought that this professor really worked to accommodate students and that his homework assignments were super helpful for learning the material in an approachable way. Further, the midterm and final papers were very straightforward.

Normore was my favorite philosophy professor at UCLA by far, he lectures with his eyes closed which is both hilarious and very impressive. He is clearly very educated and full of wisdom, he gave engaging lectures that were full of interesting topics. There was a few small assignments, four total I believe, 5pts each. Two papers, one midterm and one final, super straightforward and honestly fun to write! His class was great. I recommend taking it.

He’s a good professor, who ensures that you’ll have access to all the material you’d need to study for midterms and finals (which are easy). Plus, he’s somewhat engaging!

Calvin Normore is one of the best professors and instructors on campus. He has a unbelievable depth and breadth of knowledge and cares a lot about his students. I highly recommend taking a class with him.

NORMORE IS THE MOST UNDERSTANDING PROFESSOR AT UCLA! he will go out of his way to help you if you are having trouble in his class. he is brilliant, and although he covers a lot of material for a philosophy class, he posts plenty of study guides and practice exams on the class website. he is very approachable, i highly recommend that if you take his class you visit him during office hours, he's entertaining... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND HIM!