This class was definitely not as easy as I thought it would be. It was all light hearted and easy up till the exams, which were much harder than I expected them to be. You literally have to spit out everything you can think of in the FRQs to get as many points as possible--definitely go with bullet points rather than full sentences to add as many ideas as possible (speaking from experience...) A little side note, I was so stuck on the final take home essay because the prompt had like nothing to do with the stuff we analyzed in class and had to resort to looking through my high school English class notes... I do think she was more lenient on the grading of the final, though.

The class itself was doable. You had to submit a 350 word response and 150 word reply to a classmate to get 5 points towards participation every class or speak in class to get 2.5 participation points, for a total of 50 points max. As an introvert, I was grateful for the written option but, on a slight tangent, I think that she's a little too nice. A lot of people who spoke in class said one or two lines that literally repeated the person before them or added nothing meaningful to the discussion and still got points, which I found unfair. Her voice is also very slow and soothing(?) so I always got really sleepy in her class.

The readings weren't always the easiest to get through, but skimming them is generally enough to get through her pop quizzes. Also, do note you need to buy an iclicker (she doesn't allow the app) to take the pop quizzes. Overall, I wouldn't avoid the class but definitely be prepared for the amount of reading and prepping you have to do.

Grading Scheme: 30% Exam 1, 30% Exam 2, 20% Final, 15% Quizzes, 5% Participation

I took this class as a GE as I heard that it was super easy, but I believe scand60 may be easier. In order to do good in the class you really have to pay attention to the lectures and material that is given in class. The lectures are recorded as well, but you have to complete clicker questions in class. The two main tests were extremely hard, but I did well on the second one after studying for around 8 hours, The final essay wasn't that difficult, but I feel that it was graded a little harshly. I wouldn't recommend taking this class as a GE as it is the only class I got a B in, and it was supposed to be my easiest. Some of my friends have taken Scand60 and it seems easier.

Take this class!!
I am a STEM kid and I still LOVED this class. I took this class as a GE, and I completely recommend it. The content in this class is so different, and I learned so much. We talked a lot about heroes and fairy tales and monsters. It felt really manageable as long as I kept up with work. The teacher is passionate and patient.
Workload: Super manageable. There are readings due each class, but they are never over 30 pages and are very easy to read. Once we literally just read fun Nordic fairy tales.
Attendance & Participation: There are reading quizzes for attendance in each class that are SO easy if you just do the reading. You can miss 4 classes. For participation, you can participate live or do 10 reading responses that are 300 words and require you to respond to classmates. These are so quick once you're in the habit.
Tests: Our two midterms were online and open note. They were not too challenging as long as you go to the lectures and do the homework. There was a take-home final essay that was 1400 words.

- 40-50 pages of reading consisting of fairy tales and analysis (per week)
- 2.5 hours of in class discussion with participation mattering, unless you would like to write commentary about them before the class (per week)
- 2 midterms, one take home essay final. The midterms require a good amount of studying but are manageable, I believe the average was around an 89%.

Professor Ball was very passionate about the fairy tales, and I really enjoyed discussing them in class. She makes the content interesting and fun to learn. The midterms, without studying, would definitely be difficult to maneuver, but ample review of the presentations (very, very important) and general recollection of the tales we read should put you in the B+/A- range. Some people will say that the class may be harder than it should be, but I think a bit of effort makes this class super enjoyable and great to experience. Would 100% take again.

The lectures were slightly boring. The midterm was thorough but fair. She is a very fair essay grader. You should be able to swing an A with only some work. She is very interesting and understanding of the students.

I was not engaged by this professor at all. The material was very interesting but she was so boring that it made it hard to attend lecture and even pay attention. She seemed like a nice person though. She was a hard grader for the allowed time for exams. No curve. I would not recommend this class if you are someone looking for an easy A.

Ball is an overall amazing person and professor however this class proved to be really confusing and difficult. I would say that I went into it with the impression that it would be easy and know previous knowledge would be required but that's not the case. It seemed that many of the students in the class had background on the subject even though this was a lower div. The readings are challenging and the tests are even more challenging. You really have to pay attention and just reading the text is not enough, a deeper analysis is required especially because the English is an older style from Old Norse. Participation is required and is a part of the grade as well. 1 midterm, 1 final and 1 final paper.

So glad that I took scan 40w as my writing II. If you are someone interested in Scandinavian culture and the story of Odin, Thor, giants and dragons, this is a perfect class for you. A lot of readings but all writing II have readings and trust me, this is probably the most interesting reading you've ever read for classes. She really cares about students and loves what she is teaching. Papers were fairly graded and be sure to always talk to your TA. There were required iclicker questions each time at the beginning of the class about the assigned reading, so be sure to read ahead of time and not late to class. She only counts 15/20 of these questions.
Please take it. It's such a great experience.

I absolutely loved this class and the professor. Professor Ball was excellent at explaining the material, and her class was always enjoyable. All the books and stories we read were interesting, and most were available online for free. For the class, attendance is required and checked with clicker quizzes that are very simple, but tied to the reading. I very much enjoyed how the participation was divvied up, allowing students to post on the discussion forum or speak in class. This was one of my absolute favorite classes, and Professor Ball remains one of my favorite professors.

I went into the class with zero knowledge about Vikings or Scandinavia in general, so this was my first exposure to the topic. I found the material quite interesting. The class is graded based on the following: reading responses, in-class iClicker quizzes, two exams (weeks 5 and 10), and a take-home final essay (4 pages, double-spaced).

The material covers a wide range of topics from social structure to religion. It's honestly very difficult to not be fascinated by the history. Most of the readings are taken from various sagas and can be read like any other fun story. The lectures are just like any other lecture, but they're interesting as long as you are paying attention. There are some details the professor goes over that aren't too specifically written out in the lecture slides, so you do want to pay attention, but it shouldn't be a problem since the topic is quite captivating.

There is some amount of reading due every day which can sometimes get rather lengthy, but you only need to do 10 responses in total, with a minimum of 350 words. It takes all of 5 minutes and if you do all 10 early, you won't have any left to do after less than 4 weeks into the quarter, giving you more time to focus on other things. The iClicker quizzes are incredibly easy; if you did the reading then you'll get the right answer, and you can miss up to 5 or 6 quizzes and still get full credit.

The two exams can be slightly iffy. You need to do 40 fill-in-the-blank questions and answer 2 essay questions within 50 minutes. But, if you had been writing decent notes in class through the lectures and go back to review them, there is absolutely no problem. It may seem like a lot, but it's honestly quite easy. The answers for the fill-in-the-blank questions should pop right out to you if you had done some amount of reviewing, and the essay questions are analyses/interpretations that you can very easily do if you had been paying attention in class. There is nothing in the exams that wasn't present in either the lecture slides, the reading, or the lectures themselves. Also, for the essay portion, it doesn't necessarily have to be a formal essay; you can use bullet points and sentences that aren't exactly full sentences. It's absolutely possible to finish the exam with a few minutes left over.

The final take-home essay actually kind of got me, as I scored significantly lower than I thought I would, but I don't think it was because it was difficult. It's only 4 pages double-spaced and doesn't take too long to do, so it's possible that I underestimated it. Overall, it shouldn't be too difficult to get an A in it if you spend more time on it than I did (a few hours).

I wouldn't recommend this class if you absolutely hate reading. If you can tolerate it, then I do recommend it. I'm not lying when I say they're interesting. The only real complaint I have is that there is an exam on week 10 and then a final essay, but it's not the biggest deal in the world since the week 10 exam is NOT cumulative and the essay doesn't take too much time, so honestly the total time spent for those two should be about equal to the time spent studying for any other one final exam.

Professor Ball is absolutely fantastic, though, so if you want to take a class that is quite easy and interesting with a great professor, this is a good one.