This was one of the best classes I have taken at UCLA. I was so glad to learn something new every single day and to be wowed constantly. It's not an easy A but the tests are incredibly fair and he curved them both. It also comes with an essay portion that could not exceed five pages. Great class and great professor!

Michael Ross is one of the best professors I've had at UCLA. He is organized and actually knows and cares about what he is teaching. Plus he gives incentives to answer questions in class, so that's a plus. I thought the TAs and sections were effective, I had Lisa and she definitely kept us on our game with quizzes and discussions. I think this class is difficult but fair. You definitely need to keep up with readings, actually go to lecture and section, and make study groups in order to succeed. If you stay on top of it and actually put effort into it you will learn something valuable. Even if you don't get an A the class is still definitely worth taking

Ross is very organized and easy to follow. And you can tell that he genuinely cares about his students.

Everything that has been said about his tests is 100% true, however. They are structured so that you write 12 lines about an ID, and if you write any more it will not be graded. On top of that, the TAs aren't looking to see that you've grasped the main concept, they are looking for very specific facts. Even if you know everything there is to know about a specific ID, if you don't happen to guess which pieces of information the TAs are looking for in your 12 lines of ID, you're screwed.

I ended up with an A in the class, but I'm pretty sure it was more a matter of luck than anything else.

Ross is an expert in his field and an excellent lecturer. His downsides: mediocre TAs and asking 1 or 2 questions regarding obscure ids like unweighted vs. weighted measurements on inequality (for final or midterm) which was only lecture on for less than a minute and can not be read about in any of the readings.

Ross' TAs hold review sessions which are pretty much pointless as they aren't allowed to answer questions on the study guide but instead rely on students to answer their own questions. The utility of review sessions are limited and they should be improved by having the TA at least give a hint!

Lisa was my TA and in comparison to the others, she is the best option for doing well. At least she shows interest in if the student is actually learning. She is intimidating at first with her quizzes but they do help (more than those damn review sessions).

Another pro of Ross: gives out treats.
His quizzes which add to 20% of the class are super easy just study a day before or during the weekend prior to the quiz and you should do perfectly.

Hint: Start brushing up on your geography.

I have no idea what the two evaluators below are talking about. Ross was the best professor I have ever had at UCLA. His lectures are very clear and organized. In fact, he is probably one of the most organized professors I have ever seen. 20% of your grade are 4 little quizzes (he gives you the question the class session before) that are extremely easy so long as you have a pulse and actually take the 5 minutes needed to find the answers. The information was some of the more fascinating material I have ever learned. The two negative people spoke about how they did all the readings and the terms and still didnt do so well...the only thing I can say about that is that I merely skimmed the readings or skipped them completely and still got an A. Furthermore he gives you the ID's that will show up on the test! What more can you ask for. Yes, he gives you like 50 and only picks a few from that but many of them overlap and can supplement multiple terms. All in all this is a great class (with a great professor) and one of the easier ones so long as you show up to every class and take notes from his lecture slides.

I took IDS 100b with him and seriously i ve never had a professor who says so much random things that dont make sense. he makes you frustrated. I m usually a good student and esp love the subject he's teaching but his tests were so irrational. What the TAs meant by concise is just say the things they think its important but dont tell you whats important. Like the previous reviews, I spent so much time memorizing the 60 terms and prepare them, but the essay on the final was so irrelevant. You just hear a bunch of people go "what??" during the final exam. if you write more than 5 lines you get points deducted. Basically the tests are designed so they can have a easy time grading. This class makes me question the value of my education at ucla and why i m spending money and effort on something so not worth my time.

Professor Ross is an excellent lecturer and professor. His lectures are very interesting and informative. I received an A in the class because I worked hard to get it. I studied all the terms and I did all the readings. So getting an A is not impossible. The previous postings describing Ross as sub-standard professor is most likely nothing more than bitter lazy blame-others students looking for a easy A. You're in a top-notch institution, deal with it dumb-asses.

If you actually care enough, not go on facebook during lectures, do the readings, go to discussion, ask questions, and work hard, you will do well in Ross' course. By the way, Elizabeth "Liz" Carlson was my T.A, and she was great.

(IDS 100B/ Poli Sci 157C) I have to say Ross was a terrible professor. The information he was presenting was quite interesting but I never was able to pay attention to him. To top it off his tests are so poorly structured. He gives you about 60 terms you have to find the significance of and memorize- of those 60 terms, he will only test you on 5; not 7 and pick 5, 5 so if you can't remember an ID you're screwed. Then once you have racked you brain to try and answer those IDs, you have a take home essay as part 2 of your mid-term. The final was cumulative and he gave us 10 terms to memorize. 3 of the terms were from before the mid-term and he spent very little time discussing those IDs- he literally pulled out random terms- I studied for a full week on both exams (Im stupid) and I worked with over 10 people trying to create the best IDs possible but I ended up with only a B- in the class.

Professor Ross is one of the professors at UCLA that really matter.
I'm a Global Studies major, and his class (also IDS 100B) is the first to make me really appreciate my field of study.
It is not an easy class - it's structured so you have to do all the readings and attend every lecture, and his exams require you to fully understand the topics and synthesize them in papers and short answer format. The TAs are knowledgeable but demanding; lectures are very organized and clear; exams and quizzes are all fair game (no surprises); and Professor Ross himself is extremely approachable and a very, very good lecturer. He will supplement his lectures with stories and personal experiences, so it's never boring.
His class is one of the most worthwhile ones I've taken at UCLA, and he is definitely one of the best professors here.

Professor Ross is amazing. As a graduating senior, I decided to take this class after reading the good reviews that people had written of Professor Ross and of his class. I could have opted for an easy class where I learn absolutely nothing after ten weeks, but I decided to test this class out and I'm so glad that I decided to do so.

Never again will I look at the words: poverty, democracy, and developing country in the same way ever again. Ross really challenges his students to think, and I would not say that his class is easy at all. It is actually quite difficult. The in-class midterm covers a wide-range of concepts, and his take-home midterm is just as difficult. The final is cumulative, and there were times during finals week that I kept telling myself what a big mistake it was to take this class... especially during the last quarter of my senior year.. and on top of that, with a friday final the day of my graduation (which I literally finished 1.5 hours before the ceremony begin).

However, looking back, all the effort put into this class was well worth it. I definitely learned something of value, and I really did enjoy attending lectures [in the freezing room in Haines 39]. His lectures are extremeley well-organized and well-presented, and he never hesitates to answer any questions that students may have and never reprimands anyone if he/she did not understand the concepts the first time around that he explains it

Alot of material is covered in lecture, so I would recommend bringing a laptop to type notes. Also, be sure to be caught up with your readings because this is not the class to slack off and rely on lecture/discussion to go over them. KEEP UP WITH THE READINGS!!!

Alos, his quizzes were grade-boosters-the material is very straight-forward, and if you don't Ace them, then blame yourself for the failure. I also liked how he would ask a question during each class, and whoever that answered it correctly would be given some sort of prize (a yummy snack). I never had the guts to answer any of those questions, but it was cool to see how how much information my peers knew.

I am so glad that I had the chance to take a class with Professor Ross.. he is one of the Professors that actually matter here at UCLA, and I would recommend him to anyone that has a desire to learn and is looking for a challenge.