Professor McDonnell is an amazing lecturer. The subject matter itself is inherently interesting (to me, at least), but Professor McDonnell herself is what makes the class very worthwhile. She's funny and engaging, and is very approachable.

Don't bother buying the textbooks! I'm one of those people who always has to buy textbooks for classes because I get overly-concerned, but I opened these books maybe once or twice for reading, and really didn't need them at all.

The workload in the class is pretty heavy, at least for a GE. There are quizzes every few weeks where you have to memorize pieces of art/architecture from slides. It sounds daunting but they are very straightforward; honestly, if you put the time into it, there should be no reason for you to not do well on them. The tests were a little harder than I expected, but again, it's up to you to put the work in. Overall, the assignments and grading is very fair, and harder than your average GE.

Discussion sections were kind of unusually long (1 hour and 15 minutes), and function as any other GE section do — i.e., participation. There are other assignments that you have to do for section too, but they're very doable, despite essentially being busy-work.

After I did pretty meh on the midterm (79%), I worked really really hard so that I would end up with an A in the class — which I did get. Basically, as long as you do all the assignments, study for quizzes, and participate in section, you *will* get a good grade. Overall, I found this class to be one of the most interesting and fairest classes I've ever taken.

This professor was so good - her lectures were so engaging that I actually declared a classics minor. This is the best GE class I've taken at UCLA so far, and I highly recommend it. I felt like I learned so much in a decently easy class and I just loved the subject material. We learned a lot about Pompeii and I'm now obsessed with Ancient Rome. There are slide identifications which are quite a lot to memorize but definitely doable. Also, she gave hints for the prompts for the exams.

Professor McDonnell is a wonderful professor. She is an expert in her field, loves what she does, and makes it interesting for her students even if they do not necessarily have an interest in Roman Art and Archaeology. The course is not too difficult to manage, though I wouldn't classify it under "easy GEs." There are four slide quizzes, and which require you to study and memorize roughly 15-30 photos with names, dates, locations and significances. Luckily, several people from past classes have created flashcard groups specific to her quizzes on sites like studyblue, quizlet, and cram. Midterm and final are both writing but manageable with visual analysis, short answer, and an essay. For the essay, you are given the prompt(s) ahead of time, though this does mean your examples and thesis will expected to be better than if the prompt was only given on the test. As for writing, there are five responses but you are only required to do three. If you don't score as well on the first one, you may want to do four or five anyways. They are all short, 2-3 page position papers and they are not super difficult. Instead of being fact-based papers, they are more about your response to a certain idea or theme.

Overall, awesome class. Professor McDonnell and her TAs work really hard to make the class enjoyable! She jokes around with the TAs in class and really does make the material interesting. It is clear that they all truly enjoy what they are teaching and want you to enjoy it too! Highly recommend taking any class with McDonnell, as I'm sure anything with her is great!

I took Classics 51B because I needed a GE that I could take with my friends, and I was oh so pleasantly surprised! Professor Mcdonnell is easygoing, informative, and engaging; she has that sense of humor that everyone looks for in a professor. As for the class itself, there was just enough coursework to make me actually learn without being at all stressful. I definitely mastered the material and gained an interest in Ancient Rome that I didn't have before. I would recommend this class to anyone, even people without a remote interest in classics; trust me, you will be geeking out at the Getty Villa in no time.

A great professor overall. I ended up spending most time on this class though I took it as a GE.

Professor McDonnell is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic and her lectures are clear and really well-organized. You should definitely go to her lectures to take good notes, because important information will not be on the power points. Textbook is useless, DON’T BUY IT, and the reading for discussion sections is not important.

This class requires a lot of effort. You need to write 5 focused responses(choose 3 out of 5 as 20% of your grade), do 4 quizzes(only 3 will be counted if you do all 4) for 20%, discussion section for 20%, and a midterm+ a final. She offers several ways to boost your grade by visiting Getty and writing summaries.

Focused responses are related to what you are learning, and graded by TAs. Quizzes are more of pure memorization and visualized matching between pictures and names. Great deal of time required to study. Pay more attention on the bolded names on her handouts and those things are what should be on the quizzes.(Though she only tested 5 out of probably 40)In discussion you probably will have map quizzes and a presentation. The midterm and a final are fair if you study the materials and review things online.

Overall great professor and interesting class, but need to work harder than an average GE.

I took her class last quarter and I got a B (but that's cuz i slacked off and I don't really care for archeology aha). If you like Roman art, go for it. It was alright I guess and you don't have to do any of the reading because she only tests you on what she lectures. SO GO TO THE LECTURES!!!! One thing I really hated from this class were the slide quizzes. About every two weeks you gotta memorize about 50 slides (sometimes even 60). Need to know name, date place, and significance and she only quizzes you on like five of them. So there is a lot of memorization. But if you study early you'll do fine. But she is a good professor. She lectures VERY well and very clearly, but she can go a little fast sometimes.

Best. Professor. Ever.
The class is easy and she quizzes and tests you on things that you are very prepared for. Don't do the reading but you have to go to class because although she posts her power points, they're just pictures and dates and she says all of the important material in her lectures. She's really funny and obviously knows her stuff. Take this class!

Best professor I had last quarter! She is really funny and she really wants students to do well in the class. I thought it was going to be a boring class but it turned out to be super interesting. If you attend lectures you don't have to do the reading because she covers everything in class. You should definitely take this class if you have the chance.

Amazing professor! You're lucky if you take her class. Really well organized, gives out really thorough notes that are basically what her tests and quizzes come from. Puts all her powerpoints online so you can refer back to them. Also a really nice/funny person in general. Went to her office hours once and she knew my name the next lecture. Good class even if you don't have to take it for your major, take it as a GE!

Midterm and Final are very fair and she drops and she'll give you lots of chances to do well. Actually wants her students to do well. Definitely going to take another class with her.

Really a great professor, her lecture presentations are always extremely organized, she's very articulate, and clearly knows the material very well. Not only that but she's very funny and (shockingly) manages to learn a very large number of people in the class' name. (As a side-note, if you even speak to her once and mention your name I guarantee she will make an effort to remember it) Whenever someone asks questions in class she is able to produce an answer. Not only is she knowledgeable but she's also VERY understanding of student circumstances. Really a fantastic lady.

Her quizzes are a bit intense, but they are very doable. Just make sure you totally over-study for the first one so you get an idea of the format, and then gauge how hard you will have to study in the future. She also had a midterm which was very fair, but very writing intensive. She didn't have a final either (instead, we got an in-class essay) which had three different topics and we got to bring a page of notes.