Professor
Carol Bakhos
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Most Helpful Review
Such a great professor! I only had her for a Fiat Lux (Religion 19) but had a blast. She but so much time into getting to know us individually and was always very insightful. She is very well-versed in all of the Abrahamic religions, not just Judaism. Whereas most highly intelligent professors don't care much about interacting with the class, Professor Bakhos invited us to dinner and would stay for usually 1-2 hours talking about the class, current events, and life in general. I definitely recommend taking her for any class.
Such a great professor! I only had her for a Fiat Lux (Religion 19) but had a blast. She but so much time into getting to know us individually and was always very insightful. She is very well-versed in all of the Abrahamic religions, not just Judaism. Whereas most highly intelligent professors don't care much about interacting with the class, Professor Bakhos invited us to dinner and would stay for usually 1-2 hours talking about the class, current events, and life in general. I definitely recommend taking her for any class.
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Winter 2025 - This class is not an easy A, especially if you don’t have a background in religion. Professor Bakhos is a good lecturer—she clearly knows her material and is passionate about what she’s teaching. That being said, I sense that she doesn’t seem to manage time very well. She spent a lot of time on the early religions but rushed through the later ones because we were running out of class time. The amount of reading assigned was too much, and that made it unclear what was important or what to focus on. Fortunately, the tests were reasonable and straightforward. The only downside is that (as far as I know) there was no answer key, so your grade depends heavily on your TA. I wouldn’t recommend this class if you’re looking for something easy or low-effort. But if you’re genuinely interested in the topic and don’t mind putting in the work, it’s worth taking.
Winter 2025 - This class is not an easy A, especially if you don’t have a background in religion. Professor Bakhos is a good lecturer—she clearly knows her material and is passionate about what she’s teaching. That being said, I sense that she doesn’t seem to manage time very well. She spent a lot of time on the early religions but rushed through the later ones because we were running out of class time. The amount of reading assigned was too much, and that made it unclear what was important or what to focus on. Fortunately, the tests were reasonable and straightforward. The only downside is that (as far as I know) there was no answer key, so your grade depends heavily on your TA. I wouldn’t recommend this class if you’re looking for something easy or low-effort. But if you’re genuinely interested in the topic and don’t mind putting in the work, it’s worth taking.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - If you have no knowledge of religion (which I did not) I would make sure you understand the amount of work you are getting into when taking this class. You truly do learn a lot about all 3 religions which requires reading and lots of memorization. Not the easiest GE but the professor is nice and has office hours you can attend. Interesting concepts but slides were sometimes boring and in trying to have a "discussion based class" it often ended up with tangents answering religious students very complex questions that had nothing to do with the concepts and were not understandable for other students. Attendance is randomly taken like three times throughout the quarter and she posts very helpful study guides for each exam that truly have everything you need to know on them. Consists of 2 exams and a final paper where you choose one of around 3 topics. Overall take the class if you have an interest and are not afraid of reading, but keep in mind it is definitely not the easiest GE out there.
Winter 2025 - If you have no knowledge of religion (which I did not) I would make sure you understand the amount of work you are getting into when taking this class. You truly do learn a lot about all 3 religions which requires reading and lots of memorization. Not the easiest GE but the professor is nice and has office hours you can attend. Interesting concepts but slides were sometimes boring and in trying to have a "discussion based class" it often ended up with tangents answering religious students very complex questions that had nothing to do with the concepts and were not understandable for other students. Attendance is randomly taken like three times throughout the quarter and she posts very helpful study guides for each exam that truly have everything you need to know on them. Consists of 2 exams and a final paper where you choose one of around 3 topics. Overall take the class if you have an interest and are not afraid of reading, but keep in mind it is definitely not the easiest GE out there.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - Not sure if Professor Bakhos changed her curriculum during Covid or if I’m taking the wrong class, because the class I took is MUCH more difficult than the class all the other reviewers were talking about. I took this class as a GE thinking it would be fun and interesting like everyone said, but boy was I wrong. This course's grade was mostly comprised of 3 different sets of take-home essays throughout the quarter, each of which had you writing at least 7 essays (5 short and 2 long). On top of that, you also had an additional paper to write in week 9. There is SO much writing, this class should've honestly qualified for a Writing II class (except it's not, so lose-lose). Furthermore, it seems like she was looking for very specific answers for these essays, but also didn't want to "give away the answers". I honestly felt that she wasn't that helpful during office hours or Q&A sessions, but considering these essays are basically our midterm and final, I can somewhat understand why she might not be too keen on handing out answers to people. However, her lecture style (which mostly involves talking/getting sidetracked on people's questions while flipping through a handful of slides with scarce information) has not held up well over zoom and imo wasn't very helpful when it came to writing the actual essays. Which means that, in order to find the answers for each essay, you're going to have to be re-reading the textbook thrice over, scanning your minimal lecture "notes", and deep-searching Google for more information. Is this an interesting class? Certainly some parts are fascinating to learn about. But the biggest flaw with this class is that there is too much information and not enough time to learn it all, which made the take-home essays a wonderful, "on-your-own" experience for me. Before you take this class, ask yourself: Am I willing to sacrifice my entire sleep schedule over the course of 4 separate weeks for a GE? If the answer's no, then maybe avoid it and get some sleep. Sidenote: Participation is MANDATORY in this class. They had some policy where if you missed 2 or more discussion sections, you couldn't pass the course, which I felt was kind of unforgiving, especially during Covid.
Winter 2021 - Not sure if Professor Bakhos changed her curriculum during Covid or if I’m taking the wrong class, because the class I took is MUCH more difficult than the class all the other reviewers were talking about. I took this class as a GE thinking it would be fun and interesting like everyone said, but boy was I wrong. This course's grade was mostly comprised of 3 different sets of take-home essays throughout the quarter, each of which had you writing at least 7 essays (5 short and 2 long). On top of that, you also had an additional paper to write in week 9. There is SO much writing, this class should've honestly qualified for a Writing II class (except it's not, so lose-lose). Furthermore, it seems like she was looking for very specific answers for these essays, but also didn't want to "give away the answers". I honestly felt that she wasn't that helpful during office hours or Q&A sessions, but considering these essays are basically our midterm and final, I can somewhat understand why she might not be too keen on handing out answers to people. However, her lecture style (which mostly involves talking/getting sidetracked on people's questions while flipping through a handful of slides with scarce information) has not held up well over zoom and imo wasn't very helpful when it came to writing the actual essays. Which means that, in order to find the answers for each essay, you're going to have to be re-reading the textbook thrice over, scanning your minimal lecture "notes", and deep-searching Google for more information. Is this an interesting class? Certainly some parts are fascinating to learn about. But the biggest flaw with this class is that there is too much information and not enough time to learn it all, which made the take-home essays a wonderful, "on-your-own" experience for me. Before you take this class, ask yourself: Am I willing to sacrifice my entire sleep schedule over the course of 4 separate weeks for a GE? If the answer's no, then maybe avoid it and get some sleep. Sidenote: Participation is MANDATORY in this class. They had some policy where if you missed 2 or more discussion sections, you couldn't pass the course, which I felt was kind of unforgiving, especially during Covid.
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