Professor
Lilia Illes
3 of 4
Most Helpful Review
I took both Geog 112 and 135 with Illes this past quarter, and loved both, especially 112. I was pleasantly surprised at what a great lecturer she was - she is one of those rare people who has an infinite amount of knowledge about absolutely everything the class is about, including the tiniest details, so she was able to lecture for the full 3 hours of lecture with no notes or reading off of anything. She just talked about what she knew, which made the lectures much more interesting and animated. That being said, she would give at least one, usually two breaks during the lecture because it was 3 hours long, which I really appreciated. So by the end of the week you didn't have a crazy amount of material. She was also very reasonable with homework assignments, with a very manageable reading load and just a one page response each week. Exams were very doable, completely based off her lecture and graded very fairly. I really appreciated how concerned she was with students, being one of the only professors I've had who didn't assign extra reading and work on midterms and finals week to let us study. Overall, extremely knowledgeable and a great lecturer and fair teacher.
I took both Geog 112 and 135 with Illes this past quarter, and loved both, especially 112. I was pleasantly surprised at what a great lecturer she was - she is one of those rare people who has an infinite amount of knowledge about absolutely everything the class is about, including the tiniest details, so she was able to lecture for the full 3 hours of lecture with no notes or reading off of anything. She just talked about what she knew, which made the lectures much more interesting and animated. That being said, she would give at least one, usually two breaks during the lecture because it was 3 hours long, which I really appreciated. So by the end of the week you didn't have a crazy amount of material. She was also very reasonable with homework assignments, with a very manageable reading load and just a one page response each week. Exams were very doable, completely based off her lecture and graded very fairly. I really appreciated how concerned she was with students, being one of the only professors I've had who didn't assign extra reading and work on midterms and finals week to let us study. Overall, extremely knowledgeable and a great lecturer and fair teacher.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - Yall do not take a class with this professor. I actually took GEOG 146 (originally with Juan Herrera), however, Illes took over the class a couple of days before the start of the quarter. She completely changed the content of the class and made lectures asynchronous. I've taken another class with this professor--so have a few of my friends--and she usually makes her classes asynchronous (out of laziness). Her workload is a lot and offers no help or sympathy. On the first day of class, she made it known that this class would be challenging as most students taking this course were seniors. She is not helpful if you have questions over email and gets offended that you even had questions to ask. During pivotal moments through the quarter (the attack on the Palestinian encampment), she made it known that the midterm scores that week were unexpectedly low but she didn't care. Her tests are weirdly hard and challenging as she takes small details in each lecture to put in the exams. During week 7, she randomly let us know that we'd have a final even though she mentioned on the first day of class that there would most likely not be one. This class was originally meant to be fun and interesting but because she hates joy, she wanted to ruin it for everyone.
Spring 2024 - Yall do not take a class with this professor. I actually took GEOG 146 (originally with Juan Herrera), however, Illes took over the class a couple of days before the start of the quarter. She completely changed the content of the class and made lectures asynchronous. I've taken another class with this professor--so have a few of my friends--and she usually makes her classes asynchronous (out of laziness). Her workload is a lot and offers no help or sympathy. On the first day of class, she made it known that this class would be challenging as most students taking this course were seniors. She is not helpful if you have questions over email and gets offended that you even had questions to ask. During pivotal moments through the quarter (the attack on the Palestinian encampment), she made it known that the midterm scores that week were unexpectedly low but she didn't care. Her tests are weirdly hard and challenging as she takes small details in each lecture to put in the exams. During week 7, she randomly let us know that we'd have a final even though she mentioned on the first day of class that there would most likely not be one. This class was originally meant to be fun and interesting but because she hates joy, she wanted to ruin it for everyone.
Most Helpful Review
Geog 116 This class was so fun and interesting! Im always using the information I learned in this class in other classes and in the real world. I wish I could retake this class just for fun. There was reading and lecture was long (3hrs) but the time goes by fast and the powerpoint are very interesting.
Geog 116 This class was so fun and interesting! Im always using the information I learned in this class in other classes and in the real world. I wish I could retake this class just for fun. There was reading and lecture was long (3hrs) but the time goes by fast and the powerpoint are very interesting.
Most Helpful Review
Summer 2020 - Prof Illes was funny and engaging. The class was very accommodating for remote learning as it was asynchronous, minus weekly quizzes on the lecture material. There were three 3-page papers we had to write about movies in different eras of LA history. The final and midterms were solely based off lecture, multiple choice with one or two short essays and were open note. Overall the class was super interesting and made so much sense as someone who has always lived in Metro LA. This class has forever changed my view of LA and it's history. Thank you!
Summer 2020 - Prof Illes was funny and engaging. The class was very accommodating for remote learning as it was asynchronous, minus weekly quizzes on the lecture material. There were three 3-page papers we had to write about movies in different eras of LA history. The final and midterms were solely based off lecture, multiple choice with one or two short essays and were open note. Overall the class was super interesting and made so much sense as someone who has always lived in Metro LA. This class has forever changed my view of LA and it's history. Thank you!
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Most Helpful Review
Illes is a very funny, engaging professor in lecture but acts more cold & disinterested in office hours. This course definitely pushed me from being an ArcGIS novice to actually understanding a lot of the things you can do in the program. There are weekly projects which are pretty straightforward because she presents them in a step-by-step tutorial way. She's a fairly easy grader and this class is a great way to walk away with UCLA with a tangible skill that shows that you are capable of learning technology & analyzing data--even if you don't end up pursuing a career that uses GIS.
Illes is a very funny, engaging professor in lecture but acts more cold & disinterested in office hours. This course definitely pushed me from being an ArcGIS novice to actually understanding a lot of the things you can do in the program. There are weekly projects which are pretty straightforward because she presents them in a step-by-step tutorial way. She's a fairly easy grader and this class is a great way to walk away with UCLA with a tangible skill that shows that you are capable of learning technology & analyzing data--even if you don't end up pursuing a career that uses GIS.
3 of 4
