I had him for English 171B as well. Overall, the course was pretty difficult because he teaches very valuable information and he expects you to perform at a college level that is supposed to be on par with the "excellence" of UCLA. Personally I don't find most classes here that challenging. I have no problem getting A's but found I had to put more time and effort in Dimuro's class. It's imperative to attend lectures. The information he gives will be on the mid term and the final. I did find the book selection to be a bit boring, but that's because I'm not into this genre, but at least I got a "Peep Show" reference. In general, the books are very wordy, long, and boring. However, I wish more classes could be as challenging and informative. I learned about Transcendental Realism and the difference between Free Indirect Discourse and Focalization just to name a few. YES! You actually learn things in this class that you can apply towards other literature. Although I didn't fully enjoy the class, I look back on it and realize how valuable it was. I have stayed away from enrolling in his other classes because I didn't want to do that much work again, but my mind has changed on that. What you gain from his lectures far outweighs the time and effort you have to put into the class. After all, aren't we here to learn and push ourselves?

I took English 171B w/ Prof. Dimuro. Although on first appearance he seems sweet and charming, this was a very frustrating and slow class. We read the usual American "Classics," but he added nothing new to the analysis or discussions. In fact, discussions were very annoying as they were interspersed with outbursts from a few very outspoken, opinionated (AND STUPID) students.

In terms of grades the class consisted of 2 Essays, 1 midterm, and 1 final. Each was 1/4 of the final grade which he averaged at the end. He takes attendance for every class but this does not count towards any part of the grade. Basically you are forced to come to every class (his syllabus says that if you miss more than 3-4 classes you will NOT pass the class).

The midterm was difficult only because half of it consisted of multiple choice questions. Multiple choice questions for an English class? Really? He changed it for the final, but the curve was so low that he added 10 points to each test grade (more than half the class got a D or F).

So to sum up, this was an unremarkable and very boring class. He didn't even bother to grade the last essay (and had a reader do it) which just adds to the misery. I ended up with a C+ in the class (by just barely caring) and it seems like any grade from C to B was the average. If you are only taking this class to fulfill a requirement look elsewhere, this was a horrible way to end my senior year and English career. And one more thing, do NOT take Looby either. These two boring profs were made for each other.

Professor Dimuro was one the first professors I had at UCLA and after having taken classes with a variety of other professors, I'm going back for more. Yeah, he canceled class a couple of times, but is it that big of a deal? Catch up on reading at Powell. Considering what you get with Dimuro--humor, lively discussion, concern for his students--the good outweighs the minimally irritating.