I took Hist. 9E with this prof after looking at the grade distributions on bruinwalk. I expected somewhat of an easy A, but I had to work my ass off just to get an A- in the class. If you get Steve Rodriguez as your TA, you are fucked- he's the worst TA ever. During discussion he talks about things irrelevant to the class, and only started talking about our readings beginning week 8 -_-. The professor and TA's scam you on the midterm; for the identification terms you will need to have at least a half page of information on each term to get full credit on the term (they tell you you only need 2-3 sentences describing the term's location, significance, and definition). I would've got a B, but luckily for me I got some guidance from the OTHER TAs' review sessions. Overall, my TA gave maybe 4 A's and the other TA's gave about 20+ A's. Don't take this class, i'm not even kidding.

I took both SEA ST 1 and HIST 9E with Woods in the same quarter. I'd say that HIST 9E is a harder course in general than SEA ST 1. (The study guide for Hist 9E has more questions and ID's that you have to cover.) However, my TA for Hist 9E, Ziad, was AWESOME. He not only helped you see the big picture in regards to the study of history, but he was also really helpful with the midterm and final. If you get Ziad, take him! (even though his class was at 8 am in the morning.)

The differences between the two classes are that SEA ST 1 concentrates more on culture. We have lectures on theater and even a dance presentation from a Thai lady. Hist 9E naturally focuses more on history. The first two lectures between the two classes were exactly the same, as were the map quizzes. Some of the readings were the same as well.

If you take both SEA ST 1 and HIST 9E in the same quarter, beware that the 10-page research papers are due on the same day. I'd have been screwed if Woods didn't give us an extension on the paper for the Hist 9E class.

Woods was pretty good professor. His lectures were organized and it was really easy to take good notes. A tip: take detailed notes from lecture!! They really help with the midterm and final when you're given identification terms that seem rather out-of-the-blue. Woods was funny at times as well.

All in all, both are pretty good classes. Interesting, and not too much work (though there is a lot of reading). I also really liked that Woods put up all of his readings online, so there was no need to buy an expensive textbook.