I really enjoyed Professor Perez-Montesinos's class. His lectures were very engaging and well-organized. Both the readings (and he gave pdfs of everything, we did not have to purchase anything) and the assignment load were very manageable. It was one discussion post a week where you would summarize the big ideas of the readings and pose a question. Both the final and the midterm were take-home assignments. He also offered a few extra credit assignments. In addition, Professor Perez-Montesino really cared about his students and wanted to see them succeed. Especially with all the uncertainty this quarter, he always listened to students and did his best not only to keep us informed but also to make sure that we could continue to learn and do well in the class with everything going on.

This class was so boring. It was to the point that the vast majority of the class stopped showing up. We would have "reading" quizzes every few weeks, but they didn't correspond with the actual assigned readings nor the lectures. Don't waste your time doing the readings. I see no point if they don't actually help you with the class, I was upset after I had done all the reading and took the first reading quiz just for none of the material to correspond. Also, I had Sophia Yazpik as my TA and she was just a mean person. Not a harsh grader though, but when one of the other TAs did a guest lecture, after she finished Yazpik said "just give up" under her breath. She also laughed at one of my questions... I don't know why you would even sign up to be a TA if you dislike helping students so much.

Wonderful class. I was genuinely hooked on Latin American history by the end of it, and that is entirely due to the structure of the class. There is an even split of textbook and primary source readings, which expands your knowledge far beyond just reading the textbook. Note that the readings can be pretty long, over 50 pages per week often. The midterm is great, as it is a creative short story. The final is a take-home free-response exam, and quite lightly graded. Overall, I would highly recommend.

This class is cool for anyone really because it is pretty relaxed I would say. It is the kind of class where you just get a lot of information but you don't have to remember all of it, even most of it, if anyone was looking for a doable GE. The quizzes are all take home, as well as the final and the midterm, the final being a take home of 4 prompts that can get a little tricky but pretty easy to track where in the textbook you can find your answers, and the midterm being a short story about Latin America. Lectures, honestly you can skip here and there, just because the class is structured in a timeline sort of way, and so the stuff you are required to read, which isn't too bad or long week by week, is of the same timeline and roughly related to what he talks about in lecture, but it doesn't always relate, it can just be of the same time. He can be a little hard to hear sometimes and none of the lecture notes are provided, but honestly for the short stories, quizzes, and final, all you really need is the textbook and reader (which for our class he provided). Definitely if anything, attend your discussion session (he will say that as well), because a big portion of your grade is participation and the TAs, at least for my quarter, all seemed pretty nice, and they are the ones grading your writing ultimately.

It was refreshing to finally have a Latino professor at this school which made me really found of professor perez-montesinos but the lectures got so boring sometimes. Don't get me wrong, the material is very interesting when you really sat down and discussed it, but the lectures felt like they just dragged. We were assigned readings from two books each week which you needed to discuss in discussion section, with that being said, you don't really need to go to lecture to learn the material. Even just skimming the book is enough. Vivian is the best TA and is so refreshing again to see a fellow Latina in higher education. He assigns take home quizzes spread out through the quarter but they aren't very hard to find iykwim. What i really enjoyed tho was the extra credit he offered if we attended presentations related to latin america that were given on campus. I found myself attending and learning a lot of really cool things. Midterm was a short story that had to be set in 1800-1920s latin america so if you know just the basics of the class, its really easy. Final was 4 short answer questions, each a page long that were take home. Cake.
Overall I would recommend this class because its very easy to get by in and it is very interesting to learn about latin america. Hopefully his lecture style becomes less dense , if not, just save your NYT Games for this class.

Would highly recommend taking this class as a GE! Lectures are easy to follow and honestly even if you miss a few lectures, you do not risk losing marks because there are no in person exams. Quizzes are there every alternate week and the midterm consists of a short story on the topic of your choice, and is pretty easy to complete. I would definitely recommend taking Elizabeth Landers as your TA, she is extremely helpful and kind! The final is a take home essay based on content given in the lecture as well as in the textbook.

I like the format of the class, watching film every week was very relaxing and fun. My TA really helps a lot. He was very informative. The professor was sometimes vague during the lecture, some of the guest speaker he invited wasn't really helpful in helping us understand the material. Overall the class was easy. All you have to do is submit weekly discussion post, do weekly quiz about the film which was very easy, and a final paper. I would recommend this class.

I took this class for a Historical Analysis GE, and I would not recommend it for that purpose if you're looking for minimal effort. It was a great class if you're a History major, and I loved learning history that was not included in our curriculums in depth growing up. However, the discussion sections were very tedious and required deep knowledge of extensive historical texts, as well as constant participation, so it is not an easy way to knock out the GE.

His lectures aren't organized since he tends to ramble from one topic to the next. However, his assignments were pretty easy from a fictional interview to the take home final, they were pretty straightforward. I barely did any of teh readings and still managed to get a good grade. If you dont mind being lost and rushed in lecture and doing the class based on your own structure take this class.

AMAZING class. The class was split into a 3 hour lecture, which usually consisted of a short lecture from the professor and then a film screening, and a 1 hour discussion. Most of the films were really interesting and related well with the readings. There were 2 essays: a short film review (5-6 pages, can be considered the "midterm") and a long film review (8-10 pages, the "final"). There was a lot of reading sometimes, but you don't really need to do all of it unless you plan on doing one of your film reviews about that week's film. Discussion was mandatory and worth 30% of our grade, but it was easy, and it was very engaging. The rest of your grade was those two essays (worth 60% total) and easy in-class quizzes (worth 10%). The topics covered in this class were eye-opening and grading was very easy, overall I'd 100% recommend this class if you're looking for a worthwhile GE that's also an easy A.