(copy paste of my Ancient Near East m110a review because it's the same class). The Iranian history series has some of the best/easiest classes I've taken at UCLA. This is coming from someone who took 110A with Shayegan and 110C with Nabel. The workload is light as all hell. It's 1 midterm (35%), 1 final (50%), and attendance (15% ?) . I may be off by 5% or so for these grade breakdowns, but that's roughly what it is. The format is the same for the whole history series, everything I'm about to say will pretty much apply for 110C (and 110B according to my friends).

The main thing you have to take seriously is attendance. I am paraphrasing, but Shayegan told us "I don't care if you sleep, but you have to come." You sign in for attendance in the beginning portion of class (within 10-15 minutes or so). Apparently students were caught signing in for each other, and I'm not sure how. You're allowed one unexcused absence. It's unclear how further absences will affect your grade but they make it clear that it will. It feels like attendance matters more than they say on the syllabus, based on anecdotes from other people saying they got higher overall grades than they expected. Shayegan will learn your name and he will call you out if he sees you talking/creating a ruckus. We had a big lecture hall and the man still saw and heard everything like an owl.

The midterm and the final are both a combination of 1. short answers, which can range from identifying terms, to providing dates, to answering brief questions (i.e. reasons why x battle was won), and 2. multi-paragraph essays (I can't remember if it was 1 or 2 essays). There is a study guide for each one that tells you everything that might appear on the exam. I highly recommend making a classroom document for those. He tells you which questions require the dates. There is a review session in the class before the midterm/final where he'll answer all your questions/explain what he's looking for on XYZ portion of the study guide.

There are readings, but you really don't need to do them. Just refer to the lecture notes and the slides, which he conveniently provides online. Paying attention in class will help, he'll mention when something's important for the exams. The only time I lifted a finger for this class was right before the midterm and right before the final. It was great.

If you have a problem with the grading on your midterm you can take it to a TA and they might mark you up a few points from your original exam if you have a solid case.

Shayegan is a pretty fun lecturer. I've heard people have trouble understanding his odd British-Persian accent, but I didn't have problems personally. He knows a lot and he'll answer your questions in/after class. He is a brilliant man.