Only take this class if you want to be a Comms major, not as a GE. This class is extremely challenging and will take up a lot of your time so it's best to take it in a quarter where you think your other classes might have a lighter workload.

There are three books that you are given. You have to read about 6 chapters of one book (regarding difference in communication between men and women), the first part (pretty short and simple on how phones have affected communication) of another book, and finally a whole book on how the traditional news media has changed (pretty boring).

The class is split into two parts. The first is on what the professor calls intrapersonal communication, interpersonal communication, and small group communication. A lot of this is conceptual but is actually pretty interesting. The midterm consists of all of this stuff. During that first half, you have 9 readings to complete, all of which are pretty short except the last two. They all deal with things like the self and different ways to communicate. The midterm also includes material from the "Tannen" book (6 chapters). During both the midterm and final, you are allowed 20 pages of notes on ONLY the readings, no lecture content. TAs check your notes thoroughly during exams to make sure you have no lecture content and take your notes away if you have lecture content.

The second half of class is all about mass communication (newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, internet). This is where content gets way denser, reading the entirety of the "Jones" book (traditional news media) and the first part of the "Price" book (smartphone book). There are also 8 readings in this second half, 4 of which are relatively short and another 4 that are between 20-30 pages on the history of the different mass mediums. His lecture content gets a lot denser in this second half.

My recommendation for both midterm and final is to start writing those 20 pages of notes the first time around that you do the readings because waiting until the week of the midterm/final to make your notes is NOT enough. You need to give yourself time to study the huge amount of lecture content. The exams are made of 26-29 short answer questions and 2 (3 on the final) essays. Short answer questions are pretty simple but essays are on "structured lists" that he teaches in lecture. During class, he'll usually tell you which lists are potentially essay questions and which are more likely to be short answer. There are quizlets that have abbreviations for these lists which make them easy to remember, so as long as you can explain each term on the list, you'll be fine.

The only other graded assignment in the class is the essay. TAs say that the starting grade for an essay is a B+ (28/40). From there, most students go down in grade instead of up, making it hard to get an A on the paper. There are four potential prompts for the paper. The paper is not a research paper but a paper that is based on personal experiences with some form of communication. It's best if you can use one example throughout your whole paper to explain the form of communication that the prompt asks you about. A lot of students were disappointed with their grade on this paper so start the paper early and revise, revise, revise.

About Suman, he's a pretty difficult guy to get to change his methods. During the protests that happened, a lot of students emailed him to get him to change the midterm online due to the violence on campus. At first, he said "no", then he moved it a few days to accommodate classes going online. Then, when classes got canceled again the next week, he finally moved it online. For the final, protests started up again but this time, he refused to move the final online despite concerns from students about safety. Though it all turned out fine, it seemed pretty insensitive to tell students that he couldn't move his final online when a ton of other classes had already made the decision to do so.

Grading scale for this quarter was on a 20 point scale so 80-100 was an A, 60-80 was a B, etc. As long as you do good on the midterm and paper, you shouldn't have to worry tooooo much about the final but still study for both. However, you don't get your paper grade back until the day of the final so don't be too confident.

Finally, there's lecture and discussion. Lecture is 2 hours with a 10 minute break. Suman can be pretty engaging at times, especially in the first half of class as he uses funny examples and the content is actually pretty fun to learn. There is NO technology allowed in class, no slideshows used, and no audio recordings provided by the professor himself. He will call you out if you have tech out. However, he does let you put your phone at the front of class to record the class on voice memos if you want. Buy a journal or bring paper to take handwritten notes. Discussion is a review of the readings and then a Kahoot at the end of discussion that has both lecture and reading content. No attendance required but review is definitely helpful.

This IS a weeder class for the communications major, do not be fooled by the "intro" in the course name. It's definitely challenging but if you work hard enough, you'll get a good grade. Also, if you're not sure about something, literally just read the syllabus. Too many people were confused about some things and would constantly ask the same question over and over while the answer was literally in the syllabus. Pay close attention to everything and don't disregard anything as unimportant because anything can pop up on those exams. Good luck!

TLDR; Hard class, do NOT take it as a GE. If you're a comm major be prepared to dedicate time to this class. Three aspects of the grade: midterm (29 short answer, 2 essays; 45 points), paper (5-7 pages; 40 points), final (26 short answer, 3 essays; 50 points). I found the content interesting, not everyone does tho so that’s a personal preference. Section is helpful, optional attendance but you should go. I don’t mean to scare you if you have to take it, because honestly I think it’s pretty easy to pass, but you should be prepared to dedicate a decent amount of time to get a good grade.

I treated this a little bit like a diary entry (very detailed and informative) so excuse the length! This may seem like a broken record when scrolling through these reviews, but it's something that must be said: do NOT take this class unless you have to. It’s not a horrendous class if you do have to take it, but it's definitely time-consuming and takes a lot of memorization. Notes have to be completely handwritten, which I personally didn't hate, but he also didn't use any slides or even record his lectures for us to refer back to later, so if you missed something he said or (god forbid) you missed a class, basically your only option was to beg on the GroupMe for someone to share their notes. He did allow you to record his lectures personally with your phone, but that isn't very helpful if you get sick or have to miss a class for some reason. (A personal gripe about this is that he has all lectures already recorded from the async version of this class during the summer but only let us have access to the two from the week we were online due to protests.)

The first half of the class is on interpersonal communication, and the second half is on mass communication/the media/the First Amendment. The readings weren’t awful, but could definitely be if you leave them to the last minute. Half of them were written by the professor and he underlined what concepts could be on the exams, which was super helpful. I think the first half of the class had ten readings (anywhere from 5 pages to like 30), and six chapters of a book which was actually pretty interesting. The second half had nine chapters of one book and half of another, and eight readings (ranging from 1 page to 30). Normally for the midterm/final, you’re allowed 20 single-sided (or 10 double-sided) pages of notes ONLY on the readings. They do come around and read everyone’s notes during the exam so don’t try to be sneaky and hide lecture content or they’ll take them away. Highly recommend doing these early and doing as many as possible (I did 18 pages for the final), because they’re extremely helpful! I did leave it to the last minute for the final and my roommate can attest that I spent three days straight in the lounge writing these and even stayed up until five am one night to try and get these done so I would definitely do it differently if I could go back.

The main (and possibly only) good part about this class was that I found the content interesting, so if you are interested in being a Communication major this is a great litmus test to see if you actually like Comms as a subject. Don't get me wrong, Professor Suman seems like a good guy who genuinely likes Comms, but the class was unnecessarily crammed with info that you needed to have memorized to do well.

The grading curve on its own sets you up to do poorly. He followed a 20% curve this quarter (idk if he does that all the time bc he said it depends on the midterm grades) so 100%-80% was an A, 80%-60% was a B, etc. While that seems generous, on the first day of section the TA said to us that the average grade in the class was going to be a B- (so about a 60%), and to expect your grades to reflect that. The grading is based on three (three!! so little) components: a midterm, paper, and the final. Section is helpful (I had Brett Hu as my TA, who was extremely helpful even through the strike) as it basically summarizes the readings (you can use technology here) and helps you narrow down what to focus on for the final and then you play a Kahoot to review the readings.

Our midterm was online and fully open-book due to us going online due to the protests, but the average was about 75%, equivalent to a high B. It was 29 short answer questions and 2 essays in 1 hour and 50 minutes, and I heard that a lot of people had trouble finishing even though ours was online. I will say that during the protests this quarter, getting answers or accommodations for the circumstances was like drawing blood from a rock. For the midterm, he originally told us to "bring earbuds" if the helicopters or other noise was bothering us, even though we were in Kaplan Hall (literally right next to the encampment on Royce Quad with the press right outside). After classes got canceled on Wednesday, he was still planning to have the midterm in person the next day until class got moved online for the rest of the week, when he moved it to in person the next Tuesday (which eventually had to go online because classes were still online).

The paper grade stats haven't been posted so idk the average, but we were told that if you did everything correctly, you got a 30/40 (or 75%). You could get higher than that if you “exceeded expectations” but the instructions on how to do that were incredibly vague and kinda just a guessing game, and it was much easier to lose points than gain them. The paper was actually kinda fun to write personally; he gave us four topics to choose from which were actually pretty interesting and I liked writing it. It was around 5-7 pages, all based on observations though which was definitely a different type of essay to write as you weren’t really supposed to use sources other than your own experiences and observations.

The final was normal this time, so handwritten in person. It was 26 short answer questions and 3 essays, and it’s not cumulative so only the stuff after the midterm on mass communication. We haven’t got the grades yet so idk how people did but the notes were definitely super helpful.

Overall, I found this class interesting but definitely difficult. It made me more confident in my decision to pursue comms as a major because I made it through this class and still was interested!

As a first-year student who is trying to get into the communications major, this class was not only very challenging but also very interesting at the same time. Professor Suman is a great lecturer, and the content he teaches is pretty interesting/relatable. However, you must be fully committed to doing around 240 pages of online readings that he wrote, more than 400 pages of the book readings written by various authors, and able to study a whopping 40-60 pages of handwritten notes; phones or technological devices are not allowed in this class what so ever. If you cannot devote this much amount of time, do not even think about taking this class.

Time consumption is not only a big issue in this class, the grading and assessments are a big issue too. As mentioned in previous reviews, this class is a GPA killer and the professor doesn't believe in any easy A's. He purposefully enforces his T.A.s to grade exams and papers super harshly and gives them all the time in the world to grade your assessments. Basically, you are hitting shots in the dark and won't know your final grade until God knows when. Going back to the exam questions, they are ONLY free response and essay questions, no multiple choice questions at all. These questions are super-specific and detail-oriented. He likes to nitpick at content that you might not even remember from the lecture, so make sure to take well-detailed notes along with examples he provides you (and review your notes every week). For the papers, there are multiple prompts, and are very fun to write about. But, easy A's aren't given out either. You may think you have the best paper on earth, but you will get your paper back as a B (with the curve).

If you want to do well in this class, my best piece of advice is to study 1-2 weeks before the midterm/final and start those 20-page open-book exam notes early. Also, go to discussions- a lot of people do not tend to go since it isn't mandatory- because the T.A.s do a good job helping you review the assigned reading material and lecture content. I totally wish I went to discussion more and didn't procrastinate because I could've gotten a better grade by doing so. The open-book notes are time-consuming and can take you a day or two to complete depending on how much you write. I bombed the midterm because I did my notes during week 5 and only had 2 days to study for the exam; it clearly wasn't enough time. However, I clutched up after the midterm and was able to get an A- on the paper and a high B on the final, which turned out to be harder than the midterm. There is definitely room for improvement in this class so don't doubt yourself. If you do poorly on one assessment, you always can do good on the next one if you learn from your mistakes. You got this!

I enjoyed the Comm10 MATERIAL (because I was very interested in the class material), but I struggled with the workload and style of this class - so I would not take this class as a GE if you want an easy A. I am taking this class because it is a pre-requisite for the Communications major, and it is designed to weed kids who are not interested in communications out of the major. In lectures, you are not allowed to use electronics at all and have to take hand-written notes, which I actually liked because it helps you engrain the material better into your minds. There is only one midterm and one final (which are all short-answer style questions, with no multiple choice), and one paper as well. There is no extra credit allowed. These tests involve a mastery of all the lecture material covered over this course, not to mention the many online readings and book readings assigned for homework. There are 3 books you read over the course of this class, along with 14 total online readings (which span from 1 page long to 30 pages long). If you put hard work into this class, you can get an A.

only take this class if you want to be a comm major!! DO NOT as a ge! Class is made up of a midterm, paper, and final. There is so much information you have to memorize for this class but the content is definitely interesting. be prepared to dedicate a lot of time to this class.

I honestly really liked the content of this class and found the workload to be manageable. Professor Suman was a great, clear teacher and is very easy to learn from. The grading of this class was not my favorite and even though I believed I had done very well on the final and knew all the content, I did not get the grade I think I deserved on it. That being said, I would definitely take the class again.

COMM 10 is hard asf for no reason!!! the material is actually~ very interesting, and i think professor suman is pretty passionate about it, LOL BUT no slides makes it so hard to pay attention bruh!!! you HAVEEE to go to class AND section because they teach different things. it's only two midterms and a paper if i can rmbr correctly.. but study study study

Okay, this class is tough, but I feel like this class taught me the most this quarter. He is very clear on what he expects from you on tests and the paper - follow the instructions and you will do well. START MEMORIZING FLASHCARDS STARTING WEEK 1-2. There's tons of Quizlet sets for this class specifically online. Memorizing a few of them each week is better than crunching them all in last minute. Same goes to writing your 10 pages of notes for the exams. He got a better sense of humor than I expected lol. In my opinion, he did not do anything unreasonable - yes this class is pretty fast paced, but it's also very informative about the communications field. If this class is not mandatory for your major - I'd recommend avoiding it, but if it is - you got this! START STUDYING EARLY and you will be fine :))

I would not recommend this class as a GE, but if you’re looking to be a Comm major, it’s not as bad as it’s made out to be. The information is actually really interesting and the lectures are engaging. The hard part is the amount of information you need to accurately memorize for the tests. It’s super important to take really clear and detailed notes, which is tough. If you can do that though and study way in advance, you’ll be totally fine

I would not take this class unless you are sure you want to major in Communications. The content is very straightforward and easily digestible but the testing is difficult. Not a lot of understanding but mostly memorization of various lists and examples.