The professor was a very good and engaging lecturer. However, I do have problems with the overall layout of this course.
The course itself is ostensibly focused on finding trends and patterns throughout medieval art history over time. However, due to the content of the midterm and final exam, there is a LOT of pressure put on pure memorization. By that I mean that if one had the names, dates, appearances, places, and terms memorized, that person would only have to study for 15 additional minutes total in order to ace the exams. There is barely any insight required in this class. Because of this, studying for the class is very frustrating. When the professor brings up an example of an artifact it just feels like "great, more stuff to memorize."
(By the way, this means you don't need the textbook. At all.)
Speaking of the exams, despite the professor promising that they were just like quizzes and that we shouldn't stress out about them, they are extremely unforgiving and brutally written. For example, for the technical terms, rather than being given terms to define, we have to provide the specific terms provided their definition, of which there are a lot, most of which are not even in English.
The assignments also don't give an opportunity to show off one's knowledge and insight, except for I guess the ArtTok project. There's also literally no reason whatsoever to do any of the readings that you aren't doing a precis worksheet on, because they don't help you at all in the class.
It's a shame because the professor really is good at making clear and interesting lectures, but I feel stopped from enjoying and learning from them due to the overall content of the course.
TLDR: I would recommend taking this class, if you're good at and want to memorize tons of names and dates, as well as technical terms. Otherwise, give it a pass.

Dr. Cohen is not often the best lecturer and her voice is often quiet, but she is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about her subject (Paris and her beloved Sainte-Chapelle).

The readings for the class were extensive and difficult to grasp. Initially I read them all, but it became burdensome, plus we never discussed them in class, so I gave up reading them altogether after the mid-term.

The exams were relatively easy, slides, short answer questions, etc. There was a lot to memorize, but that's an art history course so I cannot complain too much about that.

I'm taking her again this quarter and am enjoying the class. After two classes with her, it seems like she teaches at a graduate level, perhaps that's just me, but that's what it seems like based off of lecture and reading materials.

This was my favorite class this quarter; if you like to memorize and regurgitate information, this is definitely the class for you. Lectures can be a little bit difficult to sit through sometimes. My TA, Wren, was amazing, but I think all the TAs were pretty good. Wren is definitely a huge part of why I loved this class so much, and after taking it, I am probably going to add art history as a minor or major. There were 2 exams, a final, and a project, and all were about the same level of difficulty - you memorize a map and a list of artworks (creator, date, location, significance). Random "quizzes" five times throughout the quarter in section that are very simple and one sentence long. Easy A if you go through the information and take the time to memorize what she puts on the study guide - absolutely no surprises on the tests.

A lot of people do not really like Cohen because they think the class is hard, but really, it is all memorization. Cohen is a really straightforward lecturer and I always knew what to expect, but her lectures can be a bit boring. However, I really enjoyed her as a professor and I am taking another art history class this quarter. Take this!!!!!!

The lectures were so long….BUT The TAs and professors really love art so discussions were fun and interesting. I got new perspective about old buildings and objects that I’m so excited to apply when I travel!

Honestly, you should avoid taking this class if you aren't interested in art history. It was an easy class with a light workload but learning about medieval art can be SO boring.

Dr. Cohen did a great job teaching though. I can tell how passionate she is about the subject by just listening to her talk about each medieval piece. She explains them in great detail, and as long as you pay attention during lecture, you won't need to even read the textbook. I thought the exams were pretty fair.

Discussion section attendance is mandatory and the TA gives you graded worksheets, but honestly I did pretty well despite not reading any of the textbook readings and barely reading the weekly required documents.

The course itself was pretty interesting, the assessments very VERY fair, and if you had a good TA you were pretty much set. HOWEVER, I ended up missing more classes than attending because I honestly did not have the attention span for Cohen. She was very sweet, and definitely cared about everything she covered. However, her lectures were incredibly disengaging. Her lectures were 75 mins and felt like 3 hours. She recorded the lectures and watching them on 1.5 speed at least made her talk at the pace of a normal lecturer.

The course itself had 2 assessments (midterms), a paper/project, a final assessment, and weekly section worksheets. The only homework was the listed readings; chapter readings which covered very similar content as her lectures, and articles related to the time period/pieces. I would recommend doing the reading and finding the thesis statements of each article in case your TA doesn't give participation for the worksheets. Definitely participate in section, and make sure your TA has a good grasp on the info. They can provide key insights.

** to note, there was a special exhibit at the getty that she made us go visit. this may be different for future courses in terms of projects.