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.

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.

As someone who has a religious background from one of the religions, I would NOT recommend taking this class at all. I will give the professor props for having a lot of passion for what she teaches, but overall, she cannot teach. The lecture style was VERY disorganized, and she would jump from one topic to another. It would get very confusing and distracting when trying to learn the content. The workload was organized by having weekly readings before lectures and discussions, and you had two midterms with a final paper and participation. The two midterms were worth 30% each, and the final paper was 25%. Participation in the discussion was worth 15% as well. Your grade is entirely based on your TA, so pray that you get a good TA. I recommend watching some videos and visiting the professor during her office hours if you decide to take the class. But once again, I wouldn't recommend this GE (as a stem major) to my worst enemy.

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.

If you are looking for an easy GE, DO NOT take this class. The workload is very manageable as your participation grade comes from attendance, participation in discussion, and a short quiz during your discussion section. There aren't any outside assignments.

However, this means most of your grade comes from the two tests, each worth 30%. Some reviews will tell you there is no final exam for this class, but the first exam is basically a midterm and the second exam is basically a final, just with less time since it's during a class period. Prof. Bakhos gives a study guide of terms to know for each exam, but the fill in the blank and essay questions on the exams are extremely niche and random, so the exams end up being difficult.

There is a final essay worth 25% of your grade but it is pretty doable if you put a little effort (unlike the tests).

In terms of her teaching, Prof. Bakhos sucks. She just yaps all class about random stuff and has a rule against having devices out during class, so lecture is pretty unbearable. I went to almost all the lectures but there was no way to know what was important for the exams and what were tangents. Plus, she doesn't post any lecture slides, so you have to take notes on paper.

Overall, unless you have a strong background in one of these religions, especially christianity or islam, don't take this class. Prof Bakhos doesn't teach well and the exams are unnecessarily difficult.

2 exams, 1 paper, discussion and lecture attendance mandatory. Professor Bakhos is evidently very passionate about religion, and is the type of professor who makes an effort to remember faces/names to interact with the students. With that being said, she does not record or post her lectures, although she does post her notes which are usually just pdfs with a bunch of text on it. The syllabus says attendance is mandatory but they only really took attendance like once. Her lectures are very unorganized, and I personally found it very difficult to follow the timeline or even discern what topic she was talking about as she jumped around a lot. Youtube history videos carried me, and quizlet flashcards did too (there's A LOT of vocab). Would highly recommend doing at least the biblical readings so that you have an idea what is going on during discussion because participation is required. The exam week 10, and then 4-5 page paper due on Tuesday during Finals week was rough. If you have a background in at least one of the 3 religions, you'll be okay, but if you have no religious background like me, this class will be very difficult.

This class is entirely dependent on the TA you have as the professor doesn’t grade anything. The study guides are helpful but I would say the grading is pretty subjective. Not a super easy GE but the workload isn’t bad.

Horrible class. Too difficult for a GE and I ended up botching my entire GPA because of it. She's a nice professor but the grading policy is ATROCIOUS

I would not recommend taking this class especially as a STEM major. Very unclear and difficult for people without a religious background.

this class FUCKING CHANGED MY LIFE. I cannot emphasize ENOUGH how incredible this class is and how amazing Prof. Bakhos is. Yes, the readings are a lot, but you're still able to participate in meaningful conversations even if you didn't do all of them. I love this professor so much, she is also great at giving life advice so I def recommend attending her office hours.