(COVID-19 Review)

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Grading: 25 Quizzes with the lowest 5 dropped 12%, 2 Discussion Forum Posts per week 18%, 1 Homework assignment per week of varying sizes and difficulties 16%, Section Engagement (attendance for discussions) 6%, Group Effort (based on peer evaluations from group work) 2%, Exams 46% (1 "mini" exam aka midterm 1, 1 full-length exam aka midterm 2, 1 final)

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If you pay attention to the dates on the reviews, you might notice that some of the reviews with more complaints are from COVID times such as fall quarter 2020. I don't feel this particular class and its workload translated the best into online learning, at least not as an asynchronous class; personally, I sometimes found it difficult to manage and found that it sucked some time from my day (admittedly I'm not superb at time management though). Of course, I think some people are also coming in just expecting this class to be an "easy A" GE because they've heard that's how Sociol 1 is in general. I don't think you can come into this class with that mindset expecting that you'll just breeze through; don’t think you won't have to take it seriously. Some people are using this class to fulfill requirements beyond GEs, such as pre-major requirements for Socio and Comm majors and in some cases Med School Requirements, which probably factors in here. The other part of that is probably the type of person you are, like if you're more STEM-oriented and into problem-solving you'll like it less than someone who's more social science and humanities oriented and into keeping up with current events in the news or reading papers on social phenomena. I’m a south campus major and had some struggles with this class, though I did work hard enough to get the A in the end.

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Onto how the actual class was. This class was asynchronous this quarter so lectures were pre-recorded but discussions were live. Professor Collett is a sweet and kind person and she does seem to want her students to succeed. In her lecture videos, she made efforts to explain concepts as clearly as possible and give real-life examples that make sense. They were structured in a way that flowed and she didn’t use slides, but rather showed herself talking in a neutral environment with photos and video clips related to relevant examples edited in (I think these were actually professionally filmed somehow? Not entirely sure but she mentioned she had a few acting lessons in order to have more open body language and clear speech before shooting the videos). Sometimes I found that certain terms and concepts seemed very similar to each other and had trouble distinguishing them, but talking it out with peers helped, and while I didn't attend office hours many times I'm sure she'd be more than willing to help you with things that confused you. Some of the concepts will appear confusing, so get the clarification you need when you need it!

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Readings were probably one of the main factors that made this class feel heavy. There were usually at least 2 readings corresponding to each lecture video with 2-3 lectures per week depending on the topic. On the surface that doesn't sound like it's too bad and on the weeks where each reading was only 3-4 pages it wasn't. Unfortunately, some of those readings were rather dense, the longest one coming out to around 20 or so pages, which wouldn't be a lot if I was reading, say, Harry Potter, but the font size on the readings was small, there were usually 2 columns of text per page, and the subject was sociology rather than magical boy wizards. That's not to say the readings were uninteresting or unengaging, but all the same, it was school work and not pleasure reading, so I didn’t exactly look forward to all the 20 page readings. Some people expressed their feelings that the amount of reading was a bit too much, but Professor Collett maintained that it was an appropriate amount for a 5 unit class (not sure if I 100% agree but I digress). If you're invested in this subject or simply like reading just for reading's sake you'll get along just fine. If you don't like to read just to read, you'll want to manage your time well and make a schedule for when to do your reading so you aren't stuck trying to skim through it frantically at a weird hour, especially when the class is asynchronous and you have to schedule times to watch lectures on top of it. Try to find aspects of each topic you find compelling and concentrate on those to get yourself through it.

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Some people also found the quizzes rather tedious, which to some extent was understandable. Professor always told us to focus on the big picture rather than the details but sometimes the questions seemed oddly specific and detailed. When we pointed this out to her though, she altered the questions slightly which made it feel better. Typically there was one quiz per lecture+reading group. Quizzes were 5 MC questions on a 5 minute time limit, so even though you were technically allowed to look at the reading or your notes, that only helped so much. That said the 5 lowest scores were thrown out, and when over 50% of the class misses a quiz question, she gives back the point to everyone which ultimately helped me get full marks in the quiz category. Some homework assignments were easy, others were more like essays and were more time consuming, but ultimately none of the homework was particularly difficult in my opinion. Discussion forum posts were also easy, as long as your response was somewhat thoughtful and had some effort put into it. Discussion sections over zoom sometimes felt awkward, but that's just how things go. Just be sure to attend your discussion sections, participate when you have something to contribute, and try to communicate a bit with your group when you do group work.

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Exams were overall moderate in terms of difficulty. The questions weren't impossible, but there was nothing you could just look up on the internet to find the answer. They were open book open note, but the time limit made it so that this feature was only marginally helpful. If you want to be prepared for the exams make sure you're really engaging with the material, utilizing your sociological imagination, understanding how concepts apply to real situations, and how they're interconnected with each other. None of the questions have answers that can just be handed to you, but if you put some time towards studying for the exam and you really engaged with the material, you can get a decent grade.

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Ultimately I do think the knowledge I got through this class was solid and interesting and I will think more about what I learned when considering social situations as a result. That being said, I don't think this can be considered an easy A class. Don't take this class because you want an easy A, take this class because you have at least some interest in the subject and genuinely want to learn about it. If you're a procrastinator like me, make sure to improve your time management while taking this class, especially if it's online asynchronous. If you're more of a math/science person, beware the readings because those definitely took a chunk out of my time (again, time management! As mentioned before I, in fact, am a STEM major myself so this applied to me). Ultimately I might consider taking a sociology class with Professor Collett again, but only if I truly felt interested in the topic of the class and not because I wanted some easy class to fill units.

If you're looking to take this as a GE, don't. There are easier GEs out there. I took this as a major prep course so I didn't mind the workload as much, but those who took it as a GE were disappointed when it turned out to be much harder than they expected.
With that said, if you want to take this class because you're majoring in sociology, then Professor Collett is the one to take! I developed such a great understanding about the field of sociology because of the way that she taught and explained the topics.
If you take this class, make sure to show up to her weekly Sunday Q&As!! Barely anyone went but I showed up as often as possible and these sessions really helped me solidify my learning. I think that these Q&As are the reason I did so well in the class. Because not many people showed up to them, the small group of people that came regularly got to know the professor very well and it helped me feel more comfortable to ask questions and develop a sense of community during online learning.
Because it's asynchronous and flipped, you need to be a little disciplined in getting things done early. I'm a big procrastinator so I often found myself doing the entire week's worth of stuff on Wednesday night, working right up to the midnight deadline.
I found the lectures very engaging, and because they were recorded, we had the added benefit of being able to pause them and replay certain parts to really get a better understanding. Get ready for a lot of reading! The reading is super interesting so sometimes I lost track of how much it really was, but it was a lot. There were also weekly timed quizzes that were not worth much but they made sure that you watched the lectures and read all the material.
One con was that the tests were a little too difficult. The tests consisted of 1/3 multiple choice, 1/3 short answer, and 1/3 essay. They were timed to be pretty short because she wanted to avoid any cheating, but because of this many of us struggled to finish them in time.
Finally, I didn't personally experience this, but I heard from some other people that she wasn't very accommodating when students had emergencies come up that conflicted with the class. If you know that you have a busy life where lots of things tend to come up, this might be something to think about.

Professor Collett made the transition to distanced learning amazing! All of her lectures were pre-recorded and it felt like I learned more about the world with every single one. There were readings due for each "class" that aligned with our lectures, and we had quizzes for each chapter/ section of our learning (these were not worth many points and were mostly for us to prove we were watching lectures). We had a mini exam and a postponed midterm due to the 2020 Election, which I very much appreciated, as well as a Final exam. All were fairly simple and had a large window of time to complete. If you watched all of the lectures and at least skimmed through the readings, you were bound to get an A in this class. I would definitely recommend taking it with Collett.

Professor Collet is an engaging professor and I highly recommend this class with her. There are readings and quizzes each week, so reading is necessary in order to do well on the quizzes. Her lectures cover very interesting topics and she is very knowledgeable about the subject. My TA was also extremely kind and engaging, and section discussions were well structured.

I thoroughly enjoyed this class as Professor Collett has structured the course in a way that is truly conducive to learning. Since I took this class over the summer A session, my experience may different than if it was over during the academic year, but Professor Collett held weekly kick-off videos and was extremely helpful in guiding us in what we need to prepare for in those zooms as well as her office hours.
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There is a lot of reading in this class which I probably would have struggled more with during an academic year quarter with other classes, but I was able to manage all the readings during the week (~9 readings) during the 6 week summer course. I definitely would not recommend taking this class with another reading-heavy course alongside this one.
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The quizzes are pretty straightforward, and the midterm and final are also pretty straightforward if you thoroughly engaged in the readings and the lectures. I was able to get a 101% on the midterm and a 92% on the final. What's nice is that she will drop questions if more than 50% of the class gets it wrong.
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Overall I would recommend this class, I wasn't particularly interested in the sociology before this class, but I definitely am more interested in it now.
And even though the requirement to get an A+ is >99.5%, I think it's very doable, and certainly very doable to get an A in this class.

this class was super difficult. not worth the stress of a GE. have hella readings each week, was the most workload wise of my quarter. the tests were super in depth about the readings, but the thing is that she doesn't go over the readings in lecture, only in discussion. The lectures themselves are interesting and I would totally listen to them in a podcast or something, but NOT when your GPA depends on it. Would not recommend, at least during COVID.

One of the best professors at UCLA

Great class, super interesting and I found Prof Collet really engaging. I took it async, so the class was super flexible with my schedule. There's one short paper (approx. 2 pages iirc), but it's not super complicated. Exams are true/false, multiple choice, and then there's a short answer section and an essay question. Not too difficult, but definitely review the main ideas of each of the readings before starting the test, that'll really help for the short answer/essay sections. The expectations for the class and each week are clearly laid out, and so as long as you pay attention and keep on top of the work you should get at least a B no problem.

This class was not necessarily difficult but it was overwhelming loaded with readings, but that is expected for this kind of class. The weekly quizzes are based off the readings and lectures from that week so those are easy points (25 quizzes, drops lowest 5). I am a TERRIBLE test taker, especially when it's timed, so the first mini quiz and midterm were not my best work. However, I was able to bounce back and did pretty well on my final! Overall, I recommend taking this class. It was very interesting and engaging! Just be aware, if you are looking for an easy GE this may not be the class for you.

Literally the best class I have ever taken at UCLA. It is a lot of work - a lot of reading, discussions, etc., but the lectures were so interesting to watch and so easy to understand (a lot of examples, explanations and stuff). I definitely recommend.