I am a diligent student and I can definitely tell you she is among the worst of the Anthro professors. Her lectures are dry and she never gave her TA's access to the students. I wonder why. As for going to all her lectures - it does not help. She gives too much reading and then does not tell you what is imp. (or what to focus on). "Anything that is mentioned more than twice or takes up two paragraphs" is not focused enough! You end up trying to remember everything. Did not have any understanding/patience for students who sought her help. She just gave what little help was needed so she 'seemed' available for her students. Awful!

Professor Smith is a very good professor and teacher. I genuinely felt that she cared a lot about the students and our learning. Archaeology is a dense subject, and while there was loads and loads of reading, she managed to break it down pretty well for the lectures. The tests were so-so... I got a B- on the midterm, mid-range As on the papers, and thought I bombed the final, but ended up with a B+ in the class, which wasn't too bad considering it was my first quarter at UCLA. In retrospect, I could've worked harder and probably gotten an A. Overall, I'd say this course is tough but enjoyable, and Professor Smith is truly one of UCLA's best. I'd take this course again in a minute.

Going to the lectures was especially helpful since the textbook was packed with (untested) information. Her lectures can be a bit monotonous but it's very clear and the material is interesting if you like history and science. Memorization is quite critical for your grade, but nothing a few flash cards won't fix. I went to a few of Professor Smith's office hours and she was very nice and helpful. One last thing: keep up with the readings!

I am a science major at UCLA and I took Smith's Anthro 8 class as a prerequisite for my minor in Anthropology. I have to say that she is probobly one of the best teachers I have had at UCLA thus far and I am a sophomore. Do NOT listen to other reviewers and believe that she is an approachable, amiable teacher who truly cares about the plight of the studesnt if you would just go to her OH. Honestly I thought she condensed all of world history pretty well and honestly--for these classes it does take memorization, and if you are trying to get around it don't take this class because thats the only way you will get an A. The people who are just lazy will take her and call her the worst teacher possible because they probobly didn't even go to class or read the material. For me however, I thought the tests were REALLY fair--missed one or two questions each--(compared to science classes)--and lectures were very interesting if you were genuinely interested in the material. Hope this helps.

Professor Smith must be among the worst teachers I have ever had in my entire academic career, and probably THE WORST professor I have had at UCLA so far. The way she conducts a class is not conducive to a good learning environment. Her lectures are incredibly dry and uninformative. She mentions many obscure names yet does not write much information up on the overheads, and then expects you to recognize and memorize them for the midterm and final.

In addition, she speaks to the class as if we are children. She repeats the same SIMPLE concepts, much of which are just plain common sense, over and over again, and even has us fill in the blanks for her. Also, when she feels a bit more expressive, she uses this voice to sound more dignified \361 \354I am Hammurabi!!!\356 \361 and continues to aggravate and irritate the students even more. By this time, if you have maintained your sanity and have not left her classroom, you begin to dose off because you realize that you are learning absolutely nothing and should have just read the book instead.

Furthermore, her tests do not seem to cover many of the overreaching concepts of the class and only focused on ludicrous detail. Moreover, she thought that a good studying technique would have been to \354use your syllabus.\356 Well, thank you Professor Smith, that really narrows it down. She also grades the essays really harshly; she says \354summarize the article\356 in the prompt and then marks you down for summarizing! You better hope that one of the TAs grades your\355s!

Also, Professor Smith refuses to give the TAs too much information about the tests beforehand, making it incredibly difficult for them to prepare the students for the exam. Although most of my learning occurred in the discussions, I still feel that the sections could have been designed to be more conducive to the \354material\356 presented in lectures.

She has made the class so unenjoyable that I have started to hate everything about the it, even the classroom; walking by Fowler Museum sends shivers down my spine. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN EASY GE! Only take it with Professor Smith if you absolutely have to. And don\355t let the course description mislead you; you do not actually get to go to a dig site!

Dr. Smith treats her students as though they are in elementary school, by asking incredibly simple questions multiple times in lecture then waiting through extended periods of silence for answers. This awkward tactic begins to grate against your nerves by 2nd week and will fully drive you towards insanity by 10th week. Furthermore, she is the most unyielding, unflexible professor I have ever had at UCLA, as she refuses to consider earnest personal issues that hinder academic performance. Take her class only if you have the ability to space out for extended periods of time (to avoid the annoyance of the question-silence periods) and plan to never speak with her.

This is hardly a bitter post- my grade in the class was an A+- but rather an honest summary of my Anthropology 8 experience. I, an Anthropology major, refuse to take a class with Dr. Smith again.

Dr. Smith's lectures are generally interesting and super easy to follow. Pay attention, take good notes, you will be tested on EVERYTHING. Her anth 8 class is pretty difficult. She claims there is no curve, but then offers extra credit. I got a C+ on the midterm, studied like I've never studied before and ended up with an A+ in the class (as did many other people I spoke with). I think the key to her class is talking to her and your TA on a regular basis. They are ALWAYS available. Also- talk to each of the four TAs, you never know who will grade your paper. She told me herself that they look at each person individually and assign them a grade at the end of the quarter. If they know you are trying they will help you out. Make sure to memorize everything. She tests on the very very specific and of course everything you decided wasn't important enough to waste time studying, ie dates, dates of dating techniques, locations of fossil artifacts... You are not given nearly enough time for the midterm, so if time gets close use bullets (they won't tell you beforehand but the people that did that got full credit). Also- be very specific in your essay answers, include dates and brain sizes and locations.

This is not an easy A GE course. Take it if you need it for the major. It's enjoyable if you keep up.

DO NOT TAKE HER... UNLESS YOU WANT TO SUFFER! Although it was an interesting class from which I learned an emmence amount of material I think that her grading on the tests was not fair at all. Her questions were not clear and the grade you recieve on the tests are basically determined by which T.A you have. Save yourself the heartbreak of getting a horrible grade despite your hard work! To her credit however, she was willing to regrade and add a few points here and there but it was not worth all the trouble!

Prof. Smith is a tough but fair grader. Her grading scheme was very nit picky, but she tells you exactly what she's looking for (with the exception of some vague short answer questions on the midterm). As long as you follow her formatting and answer all the questions on the guided research papers (30% of your grade) you'll do well. As for the midterm/final, be sure to be detailed in your short answer (e.g. if it's worth 8 points each, you better put down 8 factoids). As for lectures, Prof. Smith's soothing voice made it hard to stay awake sometimes, but her lectures were very organized and she always provides you with a summary of her previous lecture. Overall, the course covered a broad amount of material, but Smith's organized approach makes the class a good intro course.

Anthro 8 was a nice introductory class. Sure, the material did not go in-depth, but that's expected of a class that covers several million years of pre-history. Sometimes the lectures can be a bit hard to stay awake through, but it's not that bad. The only real downside of her course were the midterm and final -- the multiple choice and fill-in-the blank portions covered varying specifics that could be easily skipped over when studying. The long-answer portion of her tests are pretty harshly graded, you need to make sure you write down every possible thing you remember about the subject. The guide research papers are straightforward, and are fairly graded. There's a lot of memorization involved, so if you want a supremely easy GE you might want to look elsewhere.