TL;DR: The class was interesting and well taught, but only take it if you're OK with reading through a lot of dense academic papers. Otherwise, I thought the class was easy enough, but grades can depend heavily on the TA.

I took this class as a GE for my first quarter and enjoyed it. Lectures were funny and engaging, and I thought Prof. Smith explained things very clearly.
There are 2 midterms and a final, the lowest of which is dropped. The final is all multiple choice, and the midterms consist of MCQ, SAQ, and an essay. I felt all the exams were pretty manageable, but it seemed that scores depended heavily on how the TA graded the essay; I know a lot of people scored nearly perfect on the MCQ and SAQ sections, while missing nearly all the points on the essays. I think my TA was generous with points and graded easily, but I know people whose entire discussion sections got less than 50% on the essay portion.
Our final project was on AI image generation. It was very easy (generate a few images and write a few hundred words on each) and could be completed within a few hours for full points.
The main draw of the class was the quantity of reading. There was one reading assigned per lecture (3 per week) and they probably averaged around 15-20 pages each (ranging up to 40+ pages). You could get away with skimming the readings, especially because Prof. Smith went over it in lecture as well, but readings had to be cited using the author's name (by memory!) on the midterm essays. The vast majority of my study time was dedicated to memorizing lists of names and topics from the readings.
There is no extra credit offered as of Fall 2024.

Class was way harder than expected. Professor Smith is a good professor but the amount you had to study to do well on tests was crazy.

This class is not an easy GE. I signed up for this class thinking I would get a free A but I had to work for it.

But I don't regret it though. I felt like I learned how to study and adapt to UCLA as its my first quarter. This class is memorization heavy and as a pre-med, I think knowing how to study for these classes and using anki/flashcards is beneficial in the long-run.

Midterms were very difficult as it had 15 MCQ questions, 10 short-answer questions, and a full essay due in 50 minutes. But the final was very easy and you could use the final to replace a midterm score. Just go to office hours if you take this class, as she is very nice and caring and will explain all the topics.

If you're looking for easy GEs, this class is super manageable if you're willing to put in the work, but don't think it's a guaranteed A.

Grading:
The class is broken down into 240 points total, with NO EXTRA CREDIT as of Fall 2024.

Midterm #1: 80 pts
Midterm #2: 80 pts
Project: 40 pts
Discussion (mandatory): 40 pts

Optional "No-Harm" Final: replaces one of your midterm grades, only if you do better; if for some reason you do worse, you'll keep your original grade

Content:
Though supposedly an introduction to archaeology, this class is more of an introduction to the 20 something articles the professor wants you to read for class. Smith assigns a 15-20 page scholarly article for each lecture, and concepts and details from these articles make up the bulk of content on the tests.

The articles are sometimes interesting, but mostly tedious reads. You don't have to read them to do well in the class. Smith goes over all the content you need to know for each article in detail during lecture. At the start of each lecture, she also summarizes the key points from the previous lecture, which is incredibly helpful as a study guide, since this content makes up about 90% of material you're tested on. I didn't read the majority of articles aside from skimming the abstracts, and got a B+ on the first midterm and A on the second just from taking good notes during lectures (the lectures are all recorded, although I recommend watching them in person), and studying some flashcards a few days before each midterm. DO NOT overlook these midterms, though, as each one comprises a third of your total grade.

Smith's exams test mainly large-scale concepts, but do require you to memorize several random details that in my opinion are not important to understanding archaeology. For example, you need to memorize and be able to recite which author wrote which article, the main point of each article, and some specific dates related to historical developments (all of which are gone over explicitly in class). Midterms are not cumulative, but the optional final is.

Discussions are mandatory, but very easy and usually involve some casual discussion on the topic of the week. No prep work is needed. The final project is also incredibly light. This year's project was centered around generating and judging the accuracy of AI images based on a scholarly article.

Despite the somewhat boring content, Smith is an engaging and often humorous lecturer. She clearly has extensive experience in the field, given nearly every lecture she seemed to have a slide showing her own archaeological fieldwork related to the subject of the day, which was impressive and interesting.

Ultimately, this class is very doable if you're willing to put in the work needed, but don't expect to get an A by watching half the lectures the day before, especially now that the EC has been replaced by the "no-harm" final.

I went into this class thinking it would be an easy GE (it is not). The format of the class change where you have two midterm (each 80 points), discussion (40 points) , and a project (40 points) (240 points total and uses a normal grading scale). The professor is very sweet and sometimes I can find the way she speaks very wordy at times. Discussion is mandatory but very easy you just have to be there. The project is very easy as well, it doesn't take a crazy amount of effort. You're given three articles a week, that can be 10-20 pages long depending on the day. There's no homework, no extra credit and class is recorded and lecture is not mandatory. The only hard thing about this class are the exams, so you're given midterms and which is heavy memorization, where you remember dates, authors, examples, animals, and more details. I wish the professor would clarify more on what we should study, in the beginning of the lecture the professor would give some bulletpoints that served as a "study guide", which was based on the previous lecture. But I felt that didn't really reflect on the midterm, however she offers a "no-harm final" where it can replace one of the midterms or you don't have to take the final if you did good on the midterms. I did well on the first midterm, but I didn't do good on the second one so now I have to take the final. The average on the midterms were a C, and not many people got an A out of 300 people in the class. If you take this class, be prepared to have to study and memorize every little detail mentioned.

Class is not an easy A, but definitely not a bad/boring class. Lectures are usually interesting and bruincasted, however there is no review session for the very weirdly difficult exams. It’s very hard to know what she does and doesn’t expect you to know, and the readings are absurdly long and difficult to comprehend. You’re tested on things that aren’t covered very well, but one exam is dropped if you took the no harm final, which was much easier. Discussion was easy but totally useless, and the one project was super easy and you’re guaranteed an A if you talk to your TA. Class is worth taking, but take studying seriously and go to office hours!!

Lectures and discussions are fun and low-pressure, but don't adequately prepare you for the memorization-intensive midterms. Don't take if you want a chill GE. Smith was nice, midterm average scores were like 71% and she still wouldn't curve them. We had a no-harm final but also no extra credit, which was nice, but I was borderline A- on every single test so it didn't do much to help me. Lectures optional--they were interesting, but more productive for me when I watched from home so I could speed up and screenshot slides.

The only reason we had a no-harm final was because our final was the very last time slot. Midterms were mcq, frq, and essay; final was all mcq (i did not take final).

Professor Smith is a nice person, she gave us a no-harm final this year because our final got scheduled for the last day of the quarter and she understood that many had to move out the dorms. But I just did not like the way she structured her class. If you are a freshmen do not take this class your first quarter. The structure of her class is completely different now, there is a lot of memorization. There are 2 midterms, a final and a project. The midterms consist of multiple choice questions that are extremely specific; approximately 15 short answer questions and an essay to do in 50 minutes. And other than the project she gives due at the end of week 10, there are no other assignments to boost your grade. She also does not give any extra credit. She intended for this class to hard to receive an A.

So, if this this is your first quarter, I think this class would not be the best choice. Your are adjusting to the new environment, the new system, so I don't recommend this course.

If youre looking for an easy GE (especially as a premed), do not take this class. Although there are little assignments, there are extensive readings before every lecture (MWF) that are highly tested on the midterms in detail. Both midterm averages were around 70% and the professor was unwilling to curve because of the "optional final" that, due to the low class average, is not so "optional."

The discussion sections are mandatory and did not help prepare for the exams.

I initially took this class for an easy A but the professor seemed to be aware that this is why her students were taking it and decided to make it harder.

This class was a very easy class in terms of workload and lectures. There were three readings a week and you really did not have to do them or remember them at all until the midterms. The class consisted of the readings, two midterms, a final project (very easy), and a final. The professor is very engaged in the subject and has a very well established background with archaeology and anthropology. She makes the lectures as exciting and clear as anyone could with the content given. The only slightly difficult part to this class was the midterms. The first was significantly harder than the second midterm, but overall if you put the work in and study the lectures and the readings you will be fine.