this class was genuinely one of the easiest classes I've taken at UCLA. i didn't find it super interesting, but the topics were cool to learn about. the class covered a lot of material, all from history to languages to culture. the midterm and final was super easy, and the prof is generous with extra credit. there is a final paper that is due for this class, which again is super chill and is graded by the TAs. attendance for lectures is not mandatory, and honestly wouldn't even recommend attending lol, all I did was sleep during lectures. just take notes on your own time and you should be fine. discussions are mandatory, but are decently chill. would 100% recommend taking this class.

One midterm, one final, and one final essay
All material needed to know for exams was highlighted in blue on the lecture slides that are also posted on canvas. Heavy memorization but manageable. Professor could sometimes seem boring but he really cares about the topics and always managed to make the class material relevant to current history which was interesting.
Would recommend.

An easy class but I recommend staying far away from it if you are not good at memorizing or have any time to. Advice is to make a study guide on EVERY bold blue definitions or events in the slides. He doesn't make questions about the textbook, only the slides. There is way too much to memorize: dates, people and what they did and literature. I stopped going to class entirely after awhile and still got A's on the exams because everything on the exams was in the slides. Also gives 8% EC and lecture is not mandatory but discussion is.

Easy GE definitely take it. He gave our class basically a guaranteed 9% extra credit meaning you needed an 84% or above to get an A. 20% of the grade is participation, 25% is the final paper, and both of these are pretty much an automatic 100% if you are present at discussion sections/turn in a half decent paper (wrote my entire paper at 3 am the night before it was due and got 100%). After extra credit, paper, and participation, its basically just the midterm and final. I didn't go to class once at all. and just dialed tf in before the final and got a 103% on the final. I recommend the same thing; don't go to class or open the book for the whole quarter, just lock in before the test and you're good.

Basically, you don't do a damn thing for ten weeks, dial in for the final and midterm, and you get a free A. All the other reviews about 'too much work" or "too much memorization" are dumb, you don't need to do any work until finals week.

Horrible class. Would not recommend. Unnecessarily difficult for an intro class. Also the grade distribution for Spring 2020 is so inaccurate. P.S. I’m selling the textbook..... hit me up @ *************

Had no interest in Russian history going into the class, and after still don't really. One of the most boring classes I've ever taken, he just reads off slides that you need to memorize and it gets very overbearing. That being said, Igor posts the slides on bruin learn.

After the first 2 weeks of hell of sitting in the classroom watching lectures, I smarted up and did not attend another lecture. Honestly just read the slides and make a study guide with all the highlighted info and you will be fine.

I ended with a 104% in this class. He gives up to 8% extra credit if you do some optional quizzes and essays. Essays are really short and easy. There is a final paper that I'm pretty sure they just give everyone 100% on. Honestly an easy GE and would highly recommend, just be ready to memorize a lot by yourself. Don't waste your time going to lectures.

Do NOT take this class if you are looking for an easy GE. The professor does give 8% EC, but the exams are extremely hard. You are required to memorized minute details from the lectures, each of which consists of 30-40 powerpoint slides. I ended up spending more time studying for this final than ochem. The required reading is also pretty dense, and the final consists of a lengthy research paper and in-person exam. I definitely don’t see myself taking Russian 90B

Teacher has a super thick accent so hard to understand what he says and the textbook is super thick and boring but it's not a hard class but there are easier GEs unless you're into Russian History starting in 800 BC.

Okay SO. Only take this class if you are either a) Russian or b) super interested in Russian culture and history. The curriculum of the class is something I'm truly interested in and even so the lectures were not able to keep me super engaged in the class. The TAs were all marvelous lecturers, but Pilshchikov would spend the entire hour and 45 minutes (+15-20 minutes on top of that, he always went overtime) reading off the slides. It made me so sad because I was so excited for this class, but since his communication skills are limited (completely understandable as English is not his first language) it was difficult for us to understand and digest the copious amount of information necessary to succeed in this class. There is so much material covered in this introductory course-- you have to read so much in order to keep up (pages of the history textbook, plays, articles, etc., around 80 pages per week) which is a lot for an introductory course. I'm still very glad I took it, but if you're looking for a GE that's an easy A, I do not recommend this course.

I really enjoyed this class and learning about Russian history. The content was very interesting and always held my attention. You do have to read a novel, but I actually really liked it and the novel is relatively short. One downside to this class is that the professor has an accent that can be occasionally difficult to understand. It was very helpful that the lectures were pre-recorded for this online quarter because I was able to pause and rewind. Also, there is a ton of extra credit given in this class. This makes up for the fact the midterm and the final are pretty difficult. I earned 6% extra credit for taking a few practice quizzes and writing an analysis of a Russian film.