Class is much harder than previous professors, midterm 1 was brutal for a GE, my hardest class despite having gotten As in prior art history classes :(

Grade Distribution:
Midterm: 20%
Final: 20%
Paper 1 20%
Paper 2 20%
Section (reading notes and participation) 20%

I wouldn't take this class ever again if I had the choice.

Midterms are 5 terms, 5 identification questions w/ short answer question, 2 long essay questions, and an extra credit short answer question. Study guide was provided for both terms and structures/art, though it was a LOT to memorize/study. For structures/art, you need to know the name, year it was built, who was the patron, and general knowledge about it. Making flashcards will be your best friend.

She relies heavily on slideshows, which is great, but they often lack information so you have to do outside investigation outside of class.

Midterm 1 was a disaster as the class average was a C, with some people on the verge of failing.

There are two papers for this class, I wish I could say that they were easy but your grade will depend on your TA. Paper one is writing about the Hagia Sophia and the second paper was about making a Gospel book in the perspective of a monk. Prompts were vague and had no structure to them. My TA was extremely forgiving, but I cannot say the same for others.

Only positive thing I have to say is that she provides the textbook readings so there's no need to buy any textbook.
Lessons learned?
Never take a class with a professor who has no rating.

This is probably the worst class you could ever take to satisfy a GE. I mean I really would like to know the appeal in majoring in Art History after taking this course. I'm a history major, and learning about medieval history was completely different than learning the art.

The lectures—boring and unclear. Not a good lecturer. The exams—impossible. You will be expected to memorize over 50 pieces of art only to be examined on five, no emphasis was given on which to pay close attention to for the midterm either. The assignments—not too bad, but depending on your TA, it could very well be an issue. My TA graded so harshly for everything and was even condescending in the submission comments. Finally, the expected notes—you are expected to submit notes for each of the readings for both classes as well as your section notes, which isn't too bad except they're graded on completion, or what your TA views as "completed" so even if you follow the outline expected for the notes, there is a chance it could still be marked incomplete.

Overall, I would not recommend. Both the professor and TAs treat this GE like its an upper div which is unfair and unnecessary.

the professor's lectures were hard to follow, she was usually hard to hear, and she often dropped italian/greek words and names I had never heard before as if we should know what they meant. however, overall the class was not as unmanageable as some of the reviews will make it sound. the people who texted on the groupme were always freaking out, but if you put in a little effort you would be fine. the midterm and final study guides had a ton of art pieces on them, but because my amazing TA Mal made slideshows with all the information we needed to memorize, the exams were manageable & it did not matter that the prof's lectures were confusing. the prof also puts a bunch of extra credit on both exams and marked important pieces to know on the final study guide, so it was not a big deal if you didn't memorize every single art piece. the prof didnt record lectures and her slides were not helpful and had no words, so it was difficult to make up missed classes, but it didn't really matter if you just memorized the art pieces before the exams. the grading did seem to be super different between different TAs though, and some of them graded super harshly for no reason so everyone in their sections did super poorly on every assignment.

Ngl the only reason I'm not complaining as much is bc of my amazing TA Oliver Ruhl but this class sucks do not take

DO NOT TAKE!!! I made an account just to rate this class go warn you. if you care about your mental health don’t take this class. class is heavily based on TAs. my TA did not believe in easy As so for every exam the class average for our section was a C while other TAs had a A- or B+ averages. He harshly grades the papers, final and midterms are horribly difficult by design. You need to memorize 200 slides worth of information with over 50 monuments just for 5 of them to be on the test. you need to have a deep understanding of every artwork to get the points. you have no idea what will be on the test and because of that you are forced to memeorize a bunch of useless information just for a fraction of it to actually be used. it is a literal GE… and she treats it like an upper div. she doesn’t do curves but she gives extra credit on the test and even with that people still fail. The papers take so long to research because the topics are niche and have no context. The professor sucks, the ta sucks, if you don’t have a specific ta your best bet is praying for a C. again… for a GE.

I made a BruinWalk account just to review this class. DO NOT TAKE IT with this professor. I'm an Electrical Engineering major and I had an easier time with my upper divs than this class. My TA was the only saving grace.

I have no kind words to say about this class. I have taken many art history classes in the past but none have been nearly as bad as this. The lectures are so disorganized and disengaging it almost seems pointless to attend. They aren't recorded and there are also no notes posted so there is no way to gage what information you may have missed or should focus on for tests. The tests themselves are a joke. It is all memorization for an obnoxious and unnecessary amount of sites which you have barely any information about. You also have to turn in reading notes to your TA each week for about 40-80 pages of reading per week. This class was the hardest and most stressful class I took this year AND I'M NOT EVEN A ART HISTORY MAJOR.

awful awful awful class
i'm sure you've seen everything, but mostly the problem is that the content is disorganized and hard to follow as there is a LOT that she goes over and its very generalized, more facts to know as opposed to teaching any visual analysis or way to recognize what you're looking at. there's no detail, no real attention or interest in the work from the professor, and she seemed to be disinterested in teaching. section is really your saving grace.
you do need to study pretty strong for the midterm and final, and the writing projects came seemingly out of the air. TAs were the only saving grace because they didn't even know what was going on.
if you want to be interested in medieval art and not super stressed about a grade, don't bother. but, if you can power through, all assignments could be done the night before (with a little editing day of), and just study pretty early on

tldr: not the easiest GE, but if you have a relaxed course-load, like to write, and need something to stress over / focus on, this could be ok for you

Pros: If you are interested in art, history, or religion, this is could be interesting to you. I definitely have a better understanding of what the Medieval period actually was so that's cool. The homework is sometimes a lot of reading but the notes are pretty doable. Discussion was more interesting because you get to go more in depth on some topics.
Cons: There is a lot of art to memorize and a lot of it looks very similar which can be confusing. The professor rarely puts information on the slides and it can be hard to tell what she is saying sometimes, especially because there are many words and names in other languages. Your grade could depend on your TA because some of them graded much more harshly than others. The tests are fairly difficult unless you memorize all of the art and its significance. If you are looking for an easy GE, this may not be what you're looking for.