Selling History 1C Textbook
(The Making of the West, Vol C and Sources, Vol II)
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Most boring lectures, fell asleep almost every day until I just stopped attending and read from the book instead. Overall it was an easy class, and discussions can be fun and very informative if you get a good TA. My final grade was an A- because I got lazy and BSed the paper which was a large portion of the final grade, but the midterm and final were very fair and fun if you enjoy essay tests. Definitely recommend as a GE if you enjoy history.

I'm a non-History major and I took this course as a GE. I'll be quite honest, I didn't feel too engaged in lectures. Professor Ford is definitely knowledgable and passionate about history, but the lecture does become monotonous after the first 5-10 minutes and I usually couldn't help but fall asleep. This is where the book saved me -- not only is the book an exact guide to everything she covered in lecture, but it also gets to the critical analysis of the historical events that you'll need to know for the tests.

The midterm and final were both the same format: Identification from a bank (where you write a few sentences on each ID term of your choosing, defining what it is and why it's significant), and longer essay questions. I received a B+/A- on the midterm and an A on the final. There is also a short paper, which isn't too difficult at all if you put some thought into it (scored an A- on this). Definitely try to choose the right TA, I cannot stress that enough. I had Sarah Walsh and she was excellent -- she really helped us get the material down in discussion and she gave us a practice assignment so that we would know what to expect on the paper. Oh yeah, last thing I forgot to mention -- there were 3 discussion sections where we had "map" quizzes -- you have to literally know where the important European cities/countries are and how that evolved over time. If you're a little bit off, you will get docked a point, so make sure you can pinpoint the locations. (And know the oceans for, you know, extra credit -- hint hint.)

Overall I'd recommend this class as a GE if you're not completely lazy and don't mind essay tests instead of MC.

Final Grade: A

I really enjoyed the History 1C with professor Ford. I found the course material enjoyable and the class fairly easy. To do well I would highly recommend actually doing the reading. I would say that the lectures are optional but they do reinforce the material. Discussions are mandatory so pick the time wisely. (I had 8am on Thursday lol) The class consists of a midterm, one short essay, and the final. The tests are quite easy, but the essay requires some time. I highly recommend this professor.

The evaluation before me (Posted 01/27/2011) is pretty much an accurate description of Professor Ford. One thing I want to add to the evaluation is that in lectures, Professor Ford pretty much lectures from the assigned pages in a textbook. The assigned readings given online were just a supplement that she did not really touch but could be something that help you on your exams and the paper. Your TA pretty much determines your grade for History 1C, so choose wisely.

Her lecture is dry, but then again what did you expect from a history course? All in all, I actually enjoyed it. She's a rather sweet, old lady that's obviously impassioned with her work, and that's something worth appreciating. She came to our discussion once, and it was fun talking with her. I made an A+, but I'll say that was rather because I had an awesome TA and discussion class. I know I was supposed to read the text and analyze the small details pertaining to the impacts of nationalism(blah blah blah), but you can get away with not doing a lot of it if you participate in the discussions and do study groups with classmates. TA's are very generous, and it's something you can definitely take advantage of. With a grade based off of one midterm, one final, a paper and your overall participation in discussions, I recommend this class to anyone who's good at understanding the significance of events and concepts. Great class!

Best professor ever! I got an A. Her Ta alex zevin is awesome. Ford is very fair, her grading is basically up to the T.A. Her powerpoints are cool but long. Just make sure you get an awesome TA and you will be fine. I had the most amazing time in discussion, highly recommend this class.

It's a fairly easy class. I got an A+ with minimal effort. To get some sort of A you can probably get away with either going to lecture and skiming the textbook or skiping lecture and reading the textbook carefully. I mean, this is late period European history, not exactly groundbreaking material here folks. If you learned it in high school this class should probably be like one big review session for you.

Ford is a decent lecturer, but if this class were any earlier in the morning I would have fallen asleep instantly. Praise be to 11:00am lecture slots.

There was a midterm and final, which consisted of several IDs (you get to choose from a bank of them) and a few short essays, again with a bank of prompts to choose from. There's also a five page take-home essay that's relatively straightforward. I really don't understand how it would be possible to screw any of these up unless you literally did no work and never went to lecture.

Get Kurt Guldentops as a TA if you can. He's from Belgium, and I wont lie - you'll probably have to restrain yourself from laughing because of how stereotypically European he is. But you'll get used to his antics after a section or two, and he's an easy grader, so who cares.

tl;dr - easy class, may as well take it.

She is incredibly boring, to the point where you fall asleep. I stopped going to lectures once I figured out I would just end up falling asleep. Other than her amazing lullaby powers, the class is pretty easy. The material is pretty much basic European history and the midterm consist of term identity and short answer. The final is the same as midterm but with the addition of an essay. The paper was harder than I expected but I ended up getting an 88. My TA was amazing though, make sure you get Chien-ling. She is the BEST.