If you study hard and do the essays, there should be no reason for why you can't get an A in this class. I got an A+, meaning I could have slacked off a bit more. Number 1 rule: DO NOT BUY THE COURSEREADER! For over 100 bucks it is not worth it. I did not buy it, and I got an A+... You basically do not need to read any of the readings, except maybe for the two essay you have to do. I highly recommend that although you do not buy the coursereader, that you somehow get access to it by either finding a friend or checking it our from the library reserve. That al said, the essays were the biggest pain in the world to do. They require research, which is annoying for me. I did them both in one day (meanding ALL DAY), and ended up staying up till 4 am each time. Studying for midterm basically requires you to memorize 60 study images, and same goes with the final. For me it wasn't hard, since I am good at memorizing; however, it does still take a while. Personally, I say I spent at least 6 hours the night before to memorize. The final also had a map of Greece to study for (simple memorization), and an essay (He gives you the prompt beforehand, so you need to research a bit). That all said, the reason it is sooooooo easy to get an A is because he offers a crazy amount of extra credit. I got 120% on midterm, and that wasn't even a perfect score. I think perfect was like 130%. On the final I got 101%, which meant I missed more than the midterm but still got a ridiculously high grade. On my essays I got 81% on the first, and for some random reason I got 95& on the second (I think I actually worked harder on the first but whatever). Basically do well on the midterm and final so you can have a buffer against an low essay scores. I guess don't overstudy and get an A+ like I did, although this is the first A+ I've ever gotten and is kind of cool. Anyway, take this class if you want an "easy" A (IF YOU STUDY)! Oh and stuff BESIDES the grading...this class is fairly boring, with several people sleeping during it. This is NOT to mean that Papadopoulos is boring, because he does his best to make the material interesting. He says some jokes from time to time, and is extremely enthusiastic about the subject matter and is clear that he has a passion for it (which I can respect). I surprisingly ended up gaining some interest in the "art and archaeology of ancient Greece," so I am glad I took the class. The initial great boredom and the dumb research essays made me second guess my decision at times though, but that is because I hate research to a passion. If you don't, then for sure take this class.

Professor Papadopoulos is a fantastic professor, and delivers absolutely flawless lectures. Even if you know nothing about archaeology, he presents the material in such an organized and straightforward fashion that what he says on the first day of class is absolutely true: "I want everyone to get an A, and if you don't get an A, it's your own fault." He is almost overly generous with the extra credit on his exam, and so long as you put a decent amount of effort into the assignments and exams, you should be fine. There are 75 slides images for both the midterm and the final, which is definitely a lot of material (dates, names, etc) to memorize, so start studying those probably at least 4-5 days in advance, and then it won't seem as daunting. The only real surprise is that for the 2 essays (4-5 pages), you will probably have to do a bit of outside research, which is somewhat unconventional for a lower-division GE class, but again, as long as you put a decent amount of effort into it (and you can write a grammatically sound essay), it should be no problem to do well. Definitely a great professor, and an absolute must if you are at all interested in Greek art or archaeology!

Great professor, tried to make lectures engaging and interesting. He also has the greatest accent. This class is perfect for a south campus major-- all-in-all it is the most relaxing class i've had at ucla. The readings aren't necessary (only the ones needed for writing the papers) and the papers were easy to write (possible to write them the night before, but starting earlier is obviously better). This class requires little effort to get an A+ in considering all the extra credit given on the midterm and final. Highly recommended!

I took this class with Chem 14C and Math 3C, two really really hard science classes. This class was a nice class to have because it required little effort. His lectures are pretty good, but I stopped going after a while cause I didn't have the time. He posts lecture slides online. Discussion is mandatory (1hr 15 min long) and its worth 10% of your grade (participation, stupid quizzes). 40% of your grade is comprised of two papers (4-5 pages; 1.5 spaced). The first paper was pretty easy but the second was a little harder. DO NOT WAIT THE DAY BEFORE FOR YOUR PAPER. The Classics TAs are notoriously harsh graders (avoid Claire Collins and Emily Rush as they are VERY HARSH GRADERS). MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE GOOD TOPIC SENTENCES OR THEY WILL TAKE ENORMOUS POINTS OFF OF YOUR GRADE. MAKE SURE TO REVIEW YOUR ESSAY WITH YOUR TA. There was a midterm that consisted of you memorizing 75 slides (just little tidbits of info and matching up with picture). I would say it requires 2 nights of 4-5 hours of cramming. There is also the oppurtunity to earn extra credit on the midterm. People like to exaggerate how much extra credit he gives you..HE DOES NOT GIVE YOU SOOOO MUCH EXTRA CREDIT, BUT DOES OFFER A LITTLE. YOU WILL HAVE TO EARN YOUR EXTRA CREDIT. The Final consisted of an essay (he gives you the prompt 2 weeks before hand), slides (a little bit harder questions this time), and a map identification portion. You will need the coursereader for the essays, BUT OTHER THAN THAT DO NOT READ THE COURSEREADER AT ALL; ITS IS COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY. My final grade: A+

It was a pretty easy GE, requiring not much work, only a moderate amount of memorization. Compared to ethnomusicology 50A AND polisci 40 (2 easy ass GEs) it was a little bit harder. The Professor is really nice and if you are on the waitlist, YOU ARE GURANTEED IN THE CLASS:

The MAXIMUM time investment needed to get an A:
Midterm prep (2 days of 4-5 hrs) = 8-10 hrs
Time For both essays = 15 hrs
Final prep (13)

40 hours needed to 100% gurantee you get an A (its probably a little less if your smarter, or a little less if you want to not have a 100% gurantee of getting an A)
or more hours if you're a dumbass and you decide to read the coursereader for some odd reason

A good, stupid, easy GE that requires very little effort. I'm happy and so will you be :D

The class is called "Greek Art and Archaeology" on all the official documents, but this is actually wrong. The real course title is "Automatic Points." Papadopoulos hands out so much extra credit that by the end of the quarter you feel like the night of Halloween when you've eaten way too much candy. If you are capable of rote memorization and you put effort into the essays, you don't even need to pay attention to class, although Papadopoulos is an excellent lecturer so you may as well get your money's worth. It is very, very easy to get an A+ with minimal effort.

I'm a science major and I took it to satisfy a GE. This class was heaven compared to my science classes. I only went to lecture once a week. I would start memorizing the slides two days before each midterm, and would read some of the book and coursereader starting a couple nights before. Same goes with the final. The essays are straightforward. I got an A+ in the class with little to average effort put in, so def take it if you want an easy GE.

As an engineer, I thought this class was going to be a little hard, but Professor Papadopoulos was an AMAZING professor! His lectures might have been boring every once in a while, but he always tried to make them interesting so that his students would actually go to lecture. Several students missed out on his AMAZING lectures. I especially remember one of his statements about the essay on the final exam: Good students can write about 2 pages of elegant arguments, but other students just write 15 pages of worthless crap (and he really used the word "crap" in that sentence)!

Papadopoulos is VERY nice AND generous in terms of grading. He is aware that students tend to come in late for class (sleeping in, losing track of time, etc.), so he ALWAYS starts class five minutes after the scheduled starting time (although I would have rather ended five minutes earlier than start five minutes later). Also, on his exams, he always reassures pressured students (like me at the time) that "there are plenty of opportunities for extra marks." You'll probably not find another professor who will give as much extra credit as Mr. Papadopoulos himself.

The two essays, however, took up A LOT of time: First, you had to choose one of two topics Professor Papadopoulos gives you. Then, you had to form an outline. Next, you had to gather all resources necessary and choose your concrete details; Professor Papadopoulos wants you to actually go to Powell Library and check out some reserved readings, but I never did, and I still got decent scores on the essays. Finally, you had to polish your essay with numerous commentary as well as transition sentences. It was a pain in the butt, but it's really important to do the essays because each essay was actually worth more than the midterm!

The midterm was a slide-ID exam. I had never taken such an exam before, but I did extremely well because:

1. Papadopoulos asked REALLY easy questions like "Where was so-and-so found?" and "When was this made?"

2. Papadopoulos, in addition to the 15 slides for regular credit, added 2 more slides that were solely for extra marks, and those 2 slides were really easy.

3. The TAs reminded us that if we catastrophically screwed up the midterm, but made significant improvements on the final, Papadopoulos will bump up your grade.

The final had 3 parts: a slide ID portion, a map portion, and an essay. The final's Slide ID portion was a little harder because Papadopoulos expected you to do the readings from his pretty expensive course reader; to be honest, I think you can get away with not doing the readings at all and still get an A, although you'll need the readings to write your essays. In the map portion, they give you 11 locations, and you had to identify what city each location is in. Finally, on the last day of lecture, Papadopoulos will actually GIVE you the two essay topics that will be on the final exam so that you can prepare for it (but you can't write it in your blue book because before each exam, he collects all the blue books and redistributes it out to prevent students from scribbling notes on their blue books before the exams).

All in all, it was easy to get an A in his class. Over half of the class got A's and A+'s! I didn't spend too much time on this class, and I still ended up with an A.

So if you are a Classics major, TAKING PAPADOPOULOS IS A MUST! If you don't take him, you'll be kicking yourself in the butt for the rest of your life.

He is incredibly nice and passionate, and knows his material. I was always amazed by how many dates he could remember. The material was kind of dry if you ask me, but the class was easy. Professor Papadopolous wants everyone to get As. His exams were very straightforward and you get plenty of hints before hand. The only reason I got an A- was because TAs grade the two papers (very straightforward also) and I got B+s on them.