Professor Alim is one of my favorite professors. He is extremely helpful, passionate, and want all his students to do really well. The exams were all asynchronous and online on Canva, and the 2 essays were quite easy. The workload is very manageable, because there is only 1 discussion post every week. The readings are very option (I barely did them) and still did very well on the test because he summarizes the readings during the lectures. I would highly recommend this class with Alim.

This was a really great class, he did it asynchronously during my quarter (as a commuter I loved this). I would recommend attending lectures at the very least, as he goes over all the material that will be on the tests and they are not recorded. The reading is a bit heavy, but he says to do the reading after the lectures to know what to focus on. He explains everything that is on the test in great detail. However, be warned because some of the test questions are incredibly long and detailed. Make sure you know everything he has mentioned will be on the test. Honestly, if you attend lecture, take notes, and look up what he said you will need for the test you will get an A. The material is very eye opening, it discusses how language is used to discriminate minorities and how we can have better educational pedagogies to fix this.

This class had lots of interesting material which made the lectures and discussions pretty engaging. If you watch the lectures, pay attention, and do the readings, you will be able to get every question right on the two tests which make up 60% of the grade. He makes sure that every question on them is taught in class, so it's a really fair test. The rest of the course is fairly graded as well, from the essays to the discussion section participation and attendance. There is no extra credit offered. Professor Alim is a really nice guy and cool dude.

I took this class first quarter of freshman year during COVID-19 distance learning. Professor Alim is super helpful and super nice, and all of his TA's seemed pretty chill and interactive with the work material. Alim is not very strict (except about certain essay due dates) and likes to maintain a friendly class environment. His passion for the subjects discussed is apparent and really improves the class atmosphere. The coursework is very interesting and analyzes/criticizes relations between White normativity and spoken language. Most of the readings were very interesting, there were only a few that I did not enjoy. Not a difficult class as long as you stay on top of the readings and work with your TA groups. Definitely my favorite class first quarter. (To my understanding, the professor for this class changes every once in a while so if you get a chance to take it with Professor Alim it's definitely worth it!)

I took this class online and almost dropped it when I saw the syllabus. It looks like its going to be a ridiculous amount of work but it turns out that you really do not need to do all the readings. He basically goes over all of the important stuff from the readings during the lectures, so the workload is not bad at all. You write 2 essays that are less than 2 pages each and you take a midterm and a final. You also do a weekly submission to your TA that's only a paragraph long. I still did the readings because they are interesting and help with the submission but don't panic if you can't finish all of them (there are like 100 pages assigned a week). Alim is funny and pretty engaging and incredibly helpful with preparing for the exams.

I loved ANTHRO 4 so much!!! Professor Alim was super funny and engaging during his interactive zoom lectures and was always transparent on exam content, basically handing out As. I thought his exams, or celebrations of knowledge as he calls it, were fairly easy and a high or even perfect score is very attainable as long as you have a decent grasp of the readings. The readings were a little rough at the beginning of the course just because they were pretty theoretical and dense but they're genuinely interesting and you just need to understand the basic ideas. The workload was just the readings and one short weekly writing assignment for section, as well as 2 short papers that you were given at least 4 weeks to write. Overall a fun, easy, and insightful class, take ANTHRO 4 with Alim if you can!

First off, Prof. Alim is absolutely wonderful. He is so passionate about his work and super encouraging towards his students. I am taking this class as a 1st year English major, and this class is not hard at all. The lectures are recorded, so you just watch them on your own time, do the readings for the week and go to your discussion. Some week's readings are heavier than others, but overall it is manageable. Also, from Alim's lectures, you can see which readings you actually need to do.

Alim also hosts a Live Session Zoom each Thursday where he goes over the week's materials and hint at what will be on the "celebrations." The "celebrations" are your exams; you have one in Week 5 and another one in Week 10. Theses celebrations are multiple-choice and easy. If you do your readings, lectures and attend his Thursday zooms, these two exams will be a piece of cake.

Besides the exams, you have two short papers. Both papers are 1-2 pages (single spaced) and that is including your works cited. The prompts are very straightforward.

If you take this class, just read, watch/go to lectures, attend his Thursday Live Sessions and you will be on your way to an A.

Overall I really like this class, and Alim is amazing. His Zooms on Thursdays are things I look forward too. He always shares what snacks he has during the zoom and even showed us his dogs.

Take this class!!

This was my favorite class as a freshman during fall quarter! All the TAs and the Professor wants you to succeed. The reading can be overwhelming, but as others said, you honestly don't need to read them. Almost all of them were really interesting though, and I enjoyed reading them when I wanted to understand the week's materials better. The two tests (both multiple choice) are EXTREMELY easy if you just show up to the weekly online review sessions and take a few notes down. Professor Alim is very clear in what he puts on the test, so you should not struggle at all. Because of the TA strikes, the 2nd essay out of 2 essays expected of us was not required and was turned into extra credit, but expect to do both if the quarter goes normally. They are really short and also decently easy. I would totally recommend this GE to everyone!

Worst class ever and professor ever...the TAs suck too. Tons of reading and absolutely no guidance whatsoever.

Prof. Alim is fun to listen to and nice to look at! This class was interesting and I learned more about myself than in any other course I have taken here at UCLA. He is an extremely fair grader (as long as you show honest effort you pretty much get full credit). He is very down-to-earth.