Professor
Katherine Marino
1 of 3
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2026 - The class is okay at best. It's a really easy GE and definitely not hard to do well in. If you took APUSH, it's the exact same course content. The content Dr. Marino covers is somewhat interesting. It does lean pretty progressive if that interests you. However, she has a monotonous voice that will put you to sleep at 8am if you took it when I did. Her slides aren't helpful, as they are mostly just historical paintings and photographs. She brings in pretty interesting guest lecturers, which I appreciated, especially from other parts of the History department. The readings were okay, and the historical documents were interesting – that's basically what you do in Discussion section. For me, personally, if I wanted a more interesting class, I would not take this, but if I wanted an easy GE and GPA booster, I would take this class. Grading scale: 20% quizzes with unlimited attempts, 30% Discussion post, 20% in-person midterm, 30% in-person final. Midterm and final both include definitions, short paragraph responding to a historical document, and long essay response.
Winter 2026 - The class is okay at best. It's a really easy GE and definitely not hard to do well in. If you took APUSH, it's the exact same course content. The content Dr. Marino covers is somewhat interesting. It does lean pretty progressive if that interests you. However, she has a monotonous voice that will put you to sleep at 8am if you took it when I did. Her slides aren't helpful, as they are mostly just historical paintings and photographs. She brings in pretty interesting guest lecturers, which I appreciated, especially from other parts of the History department. The readings were okay, and the historical documents were interesting – that's basically what you do in Discussion section. For me, personally, if I wanted a more interesting class, I would not take this, but if I wanted an easy GE and GPA booster, I would take this class. Grading scale: 20% quizzes with unlimited attempts, 30% Discussion post, 20% in-person midterm, 30% in-person final. Midterm and final both include definitions, short paragraph responding to a historical document, and long essay response.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Professor Marino is one of my all time favorite professors at UCLA. She genuinely cares about all of her students and will go above and beyond. For this class, there was a Wikipedia group project where you make a Wikipedia page for someone or something that does not have one yet (with the topic being related to the course). This project was so interesting and super cool! I loved it! The class itself is fascinating and the workload is doable. Professor Marino genuinely wants everyone to succeed and will help you get there! She is absolutely amazing, and I definitely recommend taking a class with her!
Fall 2023 - Professor Marino is one of my all time favorite professors at UCLA. She genuinely cares about all of her students and will go above and beyond. For this class, there was a Wikipedia group project where you make a Wikipedia page for someone or something that does not have one yet (with the topic being related to the course). This project was so interesting and super cool! I loved it! The class itself is fascinating and the workload is doable. Professor Marino genuinely wants everyone to succeed and will help you get there! She is absolutely amazing, and I definitely recommend taking a class with her!
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - Definitely would recommend taking her as she is very sweet and always willing to help. The main points in the class came from the Wikipedia assignment and discussion posts. For the Wikipedia assignment, you find either a person or topic that is not on Wikipedia or one with a very short page. With your group (you got to pick members) you then research and add to it and do a very short (4 minute) presentation at the end of the quarter. I definitely enjoyed doing this and am proud to have contributed to Wikipedia. For discussion posts, you have to do the readings for the week and then reply to the prompt. It was often a question or two about the reading and then you were asked to form your own question. The TA graded this and she was often very unclear on what she was looking for. This meant getting marked down, but luckily if you met with her on zoom she would allow you to edit it and turn it back in (and you'd likely get full credit). I assume it's a different TA every time she teaches this, so it's not a major issue. The lectures themselves were interesting and cover a lot of different countries. My only other problem was how much reading was assigned. You only have to do five discussion posts for the quarter, so once you finish that, you honestly don't have to keep up with reading. There are no tests or essays about it, so you can read if you have the time, but if you don't you'll be fine.
Fall 2025 - Definitely would recommend taking her as she is very sweet and always willing to help. The main points in the class came from the Wikipedia assignment and discussion posts. For the Wikipedia assignment, you find either a person or topic that is not on Wikipedia or one with a very short page. With your group (you got to pick members) you then research and add to it and do a very short (4 minute) presentation at the end of the quarter. I definitely enjoyed doing this and am proud to have contributed to Wikipedia. For discussion posts, you have to do the readings for the week and then reply to the prompt. It was often a question or two about the reading and then you were asked to form your own question. The TA graded this and she was often very unclear on what she was looking for. This meant getting marked down, but luckily if you met with her on zoom she would allow you to edit it and turn it back in (and you'd likely get full credit). I assume it's a different TA every time she teaches this, so it's not a major issue. The lectures themselves were interesting and cover a lot of different countries. My only other problem was how much reading was assigned. You only have to do five discussion posts for the quarter, so once you finish that, you honestly don't have to keep up with reading. There are no tests or essays about it, so you can read if you have the time, but if you don't you'll be fine.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - This class was by far my favorite class I've taken at UCLA. Professor Marino genuinely cares for her students, not just for their success in her class but also as human beings. I love the format of this class, the class is so small so it's not intimidating to speak up and converse with your peers. However, get ready to read in this class--readings are mandatory to succeed in this class. On heavy weeks I was reading 200-250 pages for this class alone. Also, you must participate at least twice each class as participation is a large portion of your grade so if you are shy, that is something to consider. Professor Marino is amazing and I recommend her to anyone!
Spring 2021 - This class was by far my favorite class I've taken at UCLA. Professor Marino genuinely cares for her students, not just for their success in her class but also as human beings. I love the format of this class, the class is so small so it's not intimidating to speak up and converse with your peers. However, get ready to read in this class--readings are mandatory to succeed in this class. On heavy weeks I was reading 200-250 pages for this class alone. Also, you must participate at least twice each class as participation is a large portion of your grade so if you are shy, that is something to consider. Professor Marino is amazing and I recommend her to anyone!
1 of 3
