Though I don't think this class was super easy, I really enjoyed it and I really like Professor KB. I think being interested in the material makes the class easier, so don't take this class if you have zero interest in fairytales/stories/reading. I actually learned a lot from this class and found KB's lectures informative. For the midterms, I recommend going through her slides and making flashcards about any information you could make a question out of. Also, it's much easier to raise your hand and get participation points in class rather than writing a writing response online. Finished with an A.

Do not take this class unless you love reading. The homework for every class consisted of reading a couple stories and so much happens in each one that it's impossible to remember by the midterm. Sure, the in person clicker questions are easy if you've done the homework, HOWEVER, the questions that are asked in the midterm and final are just crazy difficult. Just imagine trying to memorize the plots, characters, settings, languages, meanings, and symbolisms behind 30-40 different stories that are not even in ENGLISH. truly regret taking this class.

Course itself was not very interesting. I did not find Ball's lectures engaging. Her homework load is pretty manageable - just readings before class, usually they were not very long although there were a couple toughies. Daily quizzes are very easy if you do the reading. You need to speak in class a total of 10 times to get full participation points, and if you don't manage that then you make up by writing 350 word responses to a night's reading - one of these is equivalent to speaking once in class. MIDTERMS: 60 fill-in-the-blank questions and a response to a prompt in 50 minutes. Definitely not easy, but if you have a good memory and just go over the slideshows a day or two before (which is what I did), the FITB's are usually pretty straightforward and you should be able to do one every 30 seconds (leaving 20 mins for the response, which can be in bullet points if you like). Manageable if you can remember stories and class presentations well, and if you are ok with fast paced tests. Overall though, I wouldn't recommend this class. Take SCAND 50 with Patrick Wen instead.

This is not an easy class. The material is interesting, but more often than not, I dozed off because the professor usually read off the slides. There was a good chunk of reading and we had an iClicker quiz on it during the next class. Usually skimming through the reading was enough. Your grade is based on three essays, and each on progressively weighs more. I'm not the best as literature analysis so the essays were a struggle for me to write so if those kinds of essays aren't your thing, I'd probably find another class to take.

I thought that Professor Ball was strict, but fair, if a little bit intense. Her lectures were really engaging, I thought they were interesting all the way through. There was a fair amount of reading, but it was doable. The most stressful part of this class was the quiz that she has *every class*, which you have to buy a clicker remote for, and which makes up a significant part of your grade. But overall I really thought the class was manageable. If you're going to take this class definitely study using the PowerPoint slides. That's the focus of the exams. Don't just randomly read through things.

I'm a current first year taking Professor Ball's class as a GE and it has been pretty light so far. Here are the main points
1. the only homework is assigned readings you will have quizzes on every class. The quizzes are EXTREMELY easy. Do not stress about them.
2. You cannot use technology except for the quizzes on iclicker
3. in order to get full participation points, you have to raise your hand 6 times within the whole quarter which is light work. Professor Ball is incredibly kind and patient, and will legit call on basically everyone with their hand up. Coming from someone who is terrified to talk, it was mad easy.
4. The midterm and final are basically your grades. There are three sections: fill in the blank and two essay questions. For the fill in the blanks, the questions are easy like the quizzes or are straight off her lecture slides which you SHOULD memorize. The essay portions are just solely graded on analysis. She does not care about syntax, spelling, or anything that would matter in a normal essay. I got an A and the class average was a B. (yet to take the final but she said its the same structure)
5. Professor Ball is so soft-spoken and kind. Definitely recommend her.

Do not take this class if you want an easy upper division, but if you are interested in the Vikings you will get a lot of their history intertwined with the films. Expect to spend a decent amount of time outside of class- 2 movies a week which are sometimes 2 hours long each, and some articles. The movies were hit or miss. Some of the movies were really hard to get through, and you still need a pretty comprehensive analysis for the exam. I thought the exams were pretty detailed and difficult for a film analysis class. You need to take notes on all the slides, movie plots, articles etc. The essays are manageable if you watch the movies but the fill in the blanks are really really hard. I wish I had more good things to say because she is a nice professor but I have nightmares about the exams.

Very difficult and lengthy in-class tests, but enjoyable overall. Professor Ball makes these Nordic texts interesting and engaging and encourages discussion surrounding their themes. Grade is heavily impacted by participation so I don't recommend this class to anyone with social anxiety who is uncomfortable with speaking up in class. I took this class for my foreign language requirement and learned a lot.

The material of this class is very engaging as it focuses on analysis and interpretation over memorization of stories. Homework is manageable, but the amount of stories assigned can be quite inconsistent. Sometimes it's a few short stories or one long story, and other times it's a seemingly never-ending string of short stories. Exams are graded very fairly. Professor Ball focuses only on your display of understanding, not syntax or formatting. However, her lectures are not the most enthusiastic, so unless you love learning about storytelling, you might have trouble staying awake.

I took Scand 40W and really enjoyed the class. The readings are very interesting and the classes give a good recap and give students a better understanding of the course. We had 3 essays which accounted for our entire grade, and the grading was lenient. What was a little annoying was the i-clicker questions at the beginning of every class which was based directly on the readings assigned, so we had to show up for class on time. This class was overall very enjoyable and intriguing.

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