I took this class over the summer, and thank god it was open notes, but not open book. Suman is a harsh grader, points are subtracted for no apparent reason. He teaches from a biological/evolutionary perspective, and one of the books he uses (Gender Gap) has the nerve to speculate men are better at math and more creative than women. Bottom-line, men are geniuses, while women are merely muses whose job is to applaud the men???!!! Wow,they actually allow this B.S. to be preached in CS classes where 80% is female? Evolutionary psychology reinforces gender stereotypes, promotes homophobia, and justifies the status Quo. This is a pretty disgusting pill to have to swallow being a feminist myself. Be prepared to spit out every insignificant detail on the exams, because just like CS 10, it is all about memorization. One might expect that upper-division classes are designed to stimulate our critical thinking skills, but alas, regurgitation it is.

As long as you take detailed notes, you'll do fine. The class consists of a midterm exam, essay, and final exam. The exams consist of a little less than 30 questions and an essay. The professor provides guided questions for book notes and for lectures, so all you have to do is search for the answer to take your notes. Some of those book note questions are in the short answer question section of the midterm and are asked word for word just like they were in the guide. The short answers are pretty easy to answer because of this. It was definitely easier to take tests during quarantine because you were able to have all of your notes right in front of you. The essay portion of the exam just requires you to explain a set of concepts and provide examples for each concept. You can easily predict what the essay on the exam will be about. It's usually based on a numbered list of related concepts provided in your note guide. And for the assigned essay, it's best to focus on only 1-3 concepts and explain those concepts and how they relate to the example you have with extreme detail.

Took this class online during Summer 2020. Midterms and final were short answer questions that were a mix from lecture and book with one essay question at the end. I'm not sure what his rubric for his TA was but definitely think I was docked points on both exams when I should not have been. There was also an essay that is basically a long reflective journal entry about a past or current relationship of yours using concepts from the class. I thought I should have gotten a better grade than I did, but I guess that was up to the subjectivity of the TA as most Comm classes are. The book guide was really helpful for the exams but holy the book was so long and it took forever to do it and get notes done.

Selling 5th edition of "Intimate Relationships" for $20. Text **********

This class is archaic and sexist and all the info covered is well known in just being a human and of a certain generation.