Perez-Torres is really funny and engaging, and all the books were interesting. The class was a midterm and two essays, plus participation. He's a pretty easy grader, but the midterm question and paper prompts were less open-ended and more about repeating information from lectures.

174B, American Literature since 1945 for Fall 2014:

Easy A. Perez-Torres lectures well, has good slides, mostly interesting book choices, gives pretty good feedback, and invites active discussion. Most people don't take him up on that last offer, but there's something about crowded classrooms (40ish students) that makes you (or maybe just me) not want to speak.

Attendance is part of the grade (25%), but thankfully this part also includes any assignments, of which there were 4 (half to one page long quote analyses). If you're too lazy to attend or have a busy schedule but do well on everything else, you'll be fine.

The midterm was 5 short essay questions (with passage & author identification). When he says "short," he actually means it. I did only three sentences with some of them, left early, and still got a 97.

There was also a midterm essay (bummer, yeah) due about a week later, but it was only 4 pages.

The final essay was 8 pages, and a comparison between 2 of the later works in class was necessary. The prompts were limited for this one, giving only two pairing options (though with different topics), so I'd recommend making your own prompt, if possible, for this one. Unlike most professors (in my experience), he kept the assigned final exam deadline rather than allow you to send it in, online only, at the end of the week. He's very serious about not accepting late papers, apparently.

All in all, I'd take his class again, especially in a 4+ courses schedule.