I would highly recommend this class to anyone. It is so easy and the material is, for the most part, interesting. It is so easy to get an A and the required writing/essays are very manageable. Discussion is required but it is very easy. The lectures are in person, on zoom, or recorded, whichever you prefer, however, I found that attendance was not necessary. It is both an interesting and easy class that's based on "required" readings/listenings and writing assignments.

Professor Upton was AMAZING! The Beatles were definitely a subject I didn't expect to become so invested in. Class was online, but the TAs and other students made it fun chatting and reacting to her lecture. She shows a good amount of music videos and documentaries so the slides aren't boring. Our grade consisted of weekly discussion posts with one reply, quizzes corresponding to each lecture, a research paper, and a final reflection in place of an actual final. Overall, I'd highly recommend this class as a GE. Also, Alex was the best TA I've had. Super funny and understanding when it came to deadlines!

Professor Upton is truly the sweetest, most caring professor I have ever had. She deserves a 6 on bruinwalk. Upton was so accommodating with online schooling - we got 10 minute breaks during lecture, the midterm was cancelled and we were given full credit, the final was given as a 1-3 page reflection paper, and the analysis paper deadlines were often pushed a week to give us extra time. Professor Upton was very clear that she intended for this class to give us as little stress as possible and she delivered. The class material was SO engaging, and the analysis essay gave us room to pick a niche topic of interest which made the whole experience that much more enjoyable. The homework for this class is listening to the Beatles albums, movies and short readings on the Beatles. While it is not necessary to complete the readings and homework to do well in this course, I completed them all simply because they were interesting and I truly enjoyed this course. I feel so grateful to Professor Upton for making this quarter easy and enjoyable in such difficult global times.

Take this class! Not only will you have a chill and amazing time, you will learn so so much about art, history, and just pop culture. I didn't really care about the beatles before this class and now i'm a huge fan. I see beatles references everywhere. This class is truly life changing

If you are looking for a GE that is not only very engaging but is a class that will not take away too much time from your other major related courses, this class is for you. Overall, if I could take this class again I would, it was not only easy but fun to go to.

Lectures & Discussions:
Professor Upton is so dedicated and passionate about the Beatles and it shows throughout her lectures. She does record lectures but it is worth it to go to lecture because she cracks jokes, and although the class is long, she does give a 10 minute break which is nice. Although one thing to note is that you do not need to go to every lecture to do well in the class ( I missed a couple of classes and did fine). What is amazing about her lecture style is that she leaves little information on the slide and does the rest of the teaching off the slide, so its more engaging then just having all the information on the slides. In regards to the discussion sections, those are the ones that if you are going to miss either lecture or discussion, miss the lecture. They don't take attendance for lectures but they do for discussion sections (you are allowed to miss 1). Discussion sessions are short so they go by quick and if you have a fun TA like I did then it won't feel like a burden to go to. During these sessions you mainly just talk to your peers and listen to Beatles songs.

Workload:
The workload for this class is light compared to other GE courses. You only have one weekly discussion post and you get full credit if you write anything that relates to the prompt. They are very nice on grading. These discussion posts are best to get done earlier because a lot of them require you to watch movies or listen to a couple songs so they might take longer. You shouldn't spend more than 2 hours a week on this class, since there is nothing to really study or memorize.

Exams:
One thing to take away from this review is that this class is all about interpretation. There is no multiple choice, just essays that are completed for both the midterm and final. Both exams are taken home and you re given the prompt a week before it is due (essentially having a week to write your essay). There are very easy prompts and the word count is not high, definitely doable. As long as you show that you understand what the prompt is asking and answer it to the best of your ability you are going to get a good grade. YOU DO NOT NEED ANY PRIOR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE BEATLES TO SUCCEED.

Please please please take this class if you need the GE. I had some prior knowledge on the Beatles prior to taking this class but honestly you don't need to know anything about them in order to do well. This was by far the easiest class I have taken at UCLA so far. Lectures were not mandatory but I'm pretty sure they were recorded so you could always watch them later, but you do not even need to go to lecture to succeed. There was a 50 minute discussion once per week that was mandatory to go to but the TAs are very accommodating and I had to miss two of them and my TA excused both of my absences. Each week there was a weekly online writing assignment where you had write literally 100-150 words about a specific Beatles song or documentary or something and as long as you write down anything relevant to the topic question then you would get full points. There is a midterm exam where you had to write two short essays (500-600 words each) and I did them in less than 2 days and got full points, so I'm pretty sure the TA's are pretty lenient with grading. There is also a final exam where you had to write three short essays and it was on interesting topics, however, you are required to cite material from lecture or other sources if you choose so definitely review the lecture slides when writing the exam essays. Lastly, there was a final paper that you had 1-2 weeks to write and you literally chose any Beatles song and did a lyrical and musical analysis of it so it was pretty fun to write. There is also lots of chances for extra credit opportunities, but as long as you do all the assignments on time you probably won't need it to get an A. The discussion sections were pretty enjoyable and while sometimes they could be a bit boring it was interesting material and sometimes you would just listen to a Beatles song or a cover and talk about it the whole time. By far the easiest GE I have taken and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who needs it fulfilled.

guys i loved this class. i took it since i'm a musicology minor and even though i went into it not being too much of a Beatles fan, now i LOVE their music. material is very interesting and engaging ! you can either go in person to lecture, watch remotely through zoom, or watch the recording on your own time (however, I always went in person since I loved this class). the material starts getting really interesting around week 6 onwards since you get into their more psychedelic stuff. professor upton is a sweet professor who gives you all the scoop on this amazing band and also teaches you how to analyze music :) both midterm and final are take home essays and you also finish the class with an essay writing about any beatles song you choose. tons of extra credit are opportunities are offered so i finished the class with an 103%. sometimes workload might pile up but overall it's worth it. would highly recommend this class to anyone looking for an easy ge or for anyone who is studying musicology. also ta kristy is the BEST she is so nice and is flexible with the work !

I really enjoyed this class and highly recommend it! Dr. Upton offered me a new perspective on The Beatles and this class encouraged me to contemplate new aspects of the music I listen to. I didn't find this class hard, although throughout the whole quarter I think I wrote 5 different papers. I had Morgan as my TA and they are the most caring TA I've ever met. They were always checking in on how we were doing and very helpful. The only con of this class was that Dr. Upton would take a while to send out the paper assignment sheets so although she would push back deadlines, it left us with a week of uncertainty about what we should be writing the paper on.

This is my favorite class I've taken at UCLA. If you're a Beatles fan, it's an absolute must!!
But lowkey the workload is a bit heavy for a GE. Since I enjoyed the content so much I didn't mind, but I don't recommend taking this as a GE if you aren't a Beatles fan and wouldn't be interested in the content of the extra work

Just as a class on the Beatles should be, this class was engaging, fun, and informative. Professor Upton knows the Beatles like the back of her hand and getting to learn more about their backstories, careers, and music was incredibly intriguing. The workload was very minimal as the readings were not really essential to the course. No midterm or final, just two final papers. Definitely recommend taking this course.