Richard Lesure
Department of Anthropology
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3.9
Overall Rating
Based on 15 Users
Easiness 3.5 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.8 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 4.1 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.3 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

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GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
57.8%
48.2%
38.6%
28.9%
19.3%
9.6%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

47.6%
39.6%
31.7%
23.8%
15.9%
7.9%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
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Reviews (14)

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Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Dec. 18, 2025

Professor Lesure is a great professor who is very passionate about archaeology. His lectures are pretty engaging, even for someone who tends to hate anything history-adjacent. The class is graded based on two midterms, a final, two papers, two quizzes, and participation in section. The papers are pretty easy and are pretty lenient depending on your TA; they're only about 2 pages long double spaced. The midterms are each 20 questions and are very reasonable if you study based on the study guide that he posts and do the readings. The final is the same but 40 questions (sometimes more that may give extra credit), and is semi-cumulative with most of the content being from the last 3 weeks of the class. The quizzes are pretty easy and sort of fun to do.

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Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Dec. 14, 2025

Yall steer clear from this GE i mean it...such a boring class. I didn't do any of the readings because they were so excessive and your boy has ADHD but like I had to put so much effort into this class. Midterms/finals were not curved and lectures felt disorganized and messy, sometimes he would run out of time and just rush the end of the lecture. The way I got an A was by listening to every single lecture pre midterm on 2x speed while walking my dog but it was incredibly mind numbing and such a waste of my time. It's by no means an "easy" GE save yourself and take something else

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Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: A-
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Dec. 13, 2025

Everyone who said that this class is manageable as long as you go to lecture and do the readings are LIARRRRSSSSSSSSS. The readings are usually 20+ pages a week, every week. Lectures are recorded (yay!) but are IMO, so hard to sit through you should just attend class bc you will not want to spend any of your time outside class watching it. The professor is funny, and is clearly very passionate about the topic.
You are given 72 hours to complete 3 papers with the most vague topic throughout the quarter, often right before midterms. Discussion sections (that make up 20% of your grade), are graded based on attendance and participation. Topics are confusing and you will need to spend time outside of class just to get a basic understanding of what the professor is talking about. Overall, spent more time on this class than my major classes, and will not ever be taking something with this professor or this department again.
With that being said, the class topics were enjoyable, and oftentimes interesting once you actually understood what Lesure was talking about ( FYI, I am a bio major). Both the TAs and Lesure are willing to help.
However, midterms are hard (first midterm had a C average), no EC, no rounding. Finals were significantly easier, but still requires a good amount of studying to do well.
Personally bombed the first midterm with a D, but was able to drag my grade up- so there is hope.
Good luck to the people who are going to take this class in the future. (quickly find any another GE unless you want to spend an obnoxious amount of time on this class)

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Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: B
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Dec. 12, 2025

This is by far the hardest GE I’ve taken. The professor does not curve the final grade at all, which honestly feels unreasonable. I put an enormous amount of effort into this class and still only ended up with a B. For context, I took two other GEs at the same time, put much less total effort into them, and still performed better than in this class.

The professor clearly loves archaeology, but the lectures are very disorganized and did not help me review the material in a structured or systematic way. The final exam being cumulative made this even more frustrating. The content is extremely boring if you are not an anthropology major, and no matter how much I studied, I feel like I forgot most of it immediately after the exam.

Some students did well, but from what I observed, they were genuinely interested in archaeology and were strong humanities students. As a STEM student taking this course as a GE, both I and other STEM students I know felt very confused and disconnected throughout the quarter.

The reading workload is excessive, and many of the readings are especially dull. Exams test very specific details that the professor briefly mentioned in lecture or minor points from the readings. Each lecture is accompanied by one or two readings, many of which are around seventeen pages long.

Overall, I would strongly recommend avoiding this class unless you are genuinely interested in archaeology and enjoy lecture-based courses in this subject. Additionally, the course introduction mentioned field trips, but there were none. We even had class in a room under a museum, yet the museum’s resources were never actually used.

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Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Dec. 11, 2025

His Anthro 2 lectures were engaging and helped expand my worldview on history through the internet. Felt like I had to give a review after missing the survey.

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Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: B
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Oct. 22, 2025

I see a lot of people complaining about how hard this class was but it truly isn't if you stay on top of readings and work as it comes in! I didn't try very hard for this class, had only ended up doing around 4 weeks max of the readings provided, and hadn't even showed up to the last 3ish weeks of lecture and still ended up getting a B in the class. Obviously each class is different for everybody, but this class truly is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Along with this, Prof. Lesure provides very detailed study guides for all of the exams taken in the class, which is very helpful.

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Quarter: Spring 2025
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 23, 2025

The professor is very funny, course content is interesting, exams were moderately difficult but if you study hard they're very easy. The TA I got (Robin) was awesome, he kept students engaged.

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Quarter: Spring 2025
Grade: A-
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 15, 2025

I took this for an easy GE but it was not that easy. Lesure is really passionate about archaeology and definitely cares about his students, but the lectures tended to feel a bit disorganized and could get boring. My TA was also really boring which didn’t help. I put in way more work than I expected to for an A- in the class, but assignments are fair and often curved a bit. I’d recommend this if you’re interested in archaeology but if not you can probably find an easier GE.

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Quarter: Spring 2025
Grade: B
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 8, 2025

Honestly, I took this class as an easy GE, but it was not easy. I'm currently studying for my final exam, which requires a lot of reading. I would not recommend this class, and if you're looking for an easy GE, you can definitely find other classes.

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Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: B+
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Oct. 21, 2024

Professor Lesure is very passionate about the subject of anthropological archaeology. It definitely motivated me to be more engaged during lectures and to keep up with all the reading. The readings he assigned each week was a bit much though. The readings are also super important in your success for the exams. So, if you're planning on taking this class, be ready to read a ton. Overall this was a solid GE and the content was genuinely really interesting.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: A
Dec. 18, 2025

Professor Lesure is a great professor who is very passionate about archaeology. His lectures are pretty engaging, even for someone who tends to hate anything history-adjacent. The class is graded based on two midterms, a final, two papers, two quizzes, and participation in section. The papers are pretty easy and are pretty lenient depending on your TA; they're only about 2 pages long double spaced. The midterms are each 20 questions and are very reasonable if you study based on the study guide that he posts and do the readings. The final is the same but 40 questions (sometimes more that may give extra credit), and is semi-cumulative with most of the content being from the last 3 weeks of the class. The quizzes are pretty easy and sort of fun to do.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: A
Dec. 14, 2025

Yall steer clear from this GE i mean it...such a boring class. I didn't do any of the readings because they were so excessive and your boy has ADHD but like I had to put so much effort into this class. Midterms/finals were not curved and lectures felt disorganized and messy, sometimes he would run out of time and just rush the end of the lecture. The way I got an A was by listening to every single lecture pre midterm on 2x speed while walking my dog but it was incredibly mind numbing and such a waste of my time. It's by no means an "easy" GE save yourself and take something else

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: A-
Dec. 13, 2025

Everyone who said that this class is manageable as long as you go to lecture and do the readings are LIARRRRSSSSSSSSS. The readings are usually 20+ pages a week, every week. Lectures are recorded (yay!) but are IMO, so hard to sit through you should just attend class bc you will not want to spend any of your time outside class watching it. The professor is funny, and is clearly very passionate about the topic.
You are given 72 hours to complete 3 papers with the most vague topic throughout the quarter, often right before midterms. Discussion sections (that make up 20% of your grade), are graded based on attendance and participation. Topics are confusing and you will need to spend time outside of class just to get a basic understanding of what the professor is talking about. Overall, spent more time on this class than my major classes, and will not ever be taking something with this professor or this department again.
With that being said, the class topics were enjoyable, and oftentimes interesting once you actually understood what Lesure was talking about ( FYI, I am a bio major). Both the TAs and Lesure are willing to help.
However, midterms are hard (first midterm had a C average), no EC, no rounding. Finals were significantly easier, but still requires a good amount of studying to do well.
Personally bombed the first midterm with a D, but was able to drag my grade up- so there is hope.
Good luck to the people who are going to take this class in the future. (quickly find any another GE unless you want to spend an obnoxious amount of time on this class)

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: B
Dec. 12, 2025

This is by far the hardest GE I’ve taken. The professor does not curve the final grade at all, which honestly feels unreasonable. I put an enormous amount of effort into this class and still only ended up with a B. For context, I took two other GEs at the same time, put much less total effort into them, and still performed better than in this class.

The professor clearly loves archaeology, but the lectures are very disorganized and did not help me review the material in a structured or systematic way. The final exam being cumulative made this even more frustrating. The content is extremely boring if you are not an anthropology major, and no matter how much I studied, I feel like I forgot most of it immediately after the exam.

Some students did well, but from what I observed, they were genuinely interested in archaeology and were strong humanities students. As a STEM student taking this course as a GE, both I and other STEM students I know felt very confused and disconnected throughout the quarter.

The reading workload is excessive, and many of the readings are especially dull. Exams test very specific details that the professor briefly mentioned in lecture or minor points from the readings. Each lecture is accompanied by one or two readings, many of which are around seventeen pages long.

Overall, I would strongly recommend avoiding this class unless you are genuinely interested in archaeology and enjoy lecture-based courses in this subject. Additionally, the course introduction mentioned field trips, but there were none. We even had class in a room under a museum, yet the museum’s resources were never actually used.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: A
Dec. 11, 2025

His Anthro 2 lectures were engaging and helped expand my worldview on history through the internet. Felt like I had to give a review after missing the survey.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2025
Grade: B
Oct. 22, 2025

I see a lot of people complaining about how hard this class was but it truly isn't if you stay on top of readings and work as it comes in! I didn't try very hard for this class, had only ended up doing around 4 weeks max of the readings provided, and hadn't even showed up to the last 3ish weeks of lecture and still ended up getting a B in the class. Obviously each class is different for everybody, but this class truly is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Along with this, Prof. Lesure provides very detailed study guides for all of the exams taken in the class, which is very helpful.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2025
Grade: A
June 23, 2025

The professor is very funny, course content is interesting, exams were moderately difficult but if you study hard they're very easy. The TA I got (Robin) was awesome, he kept students engaged.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2025
Grade: A-
June 15, 2025

I took this for an easy GE but it was not that easy. Lesure is really passionate about archaeology and definitely cares about his students, but the lectures tended to feel a bit disorganized and could get boring. My TA was also really boring which didn’t help. I put in way more work than I expected to for an A- in the class, but assignments are fair and often curved a bit. I’d recommend this if you’re interested in archaeology but if not you can probably find an easier GE.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2025
Grade: B
June 8, 2025

Honestly, I took this class as an easy GE, but it was not easy. I'm currently studying for my final exam, which requires a lot of reading. I would not recommend this class, and if you're looking for an easy GE, you can definitely find other classes.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: B+
Oct. 21, 2024

Professor Lesure is very passionate about the subject of anthropological archaeology. It definitely motivated me to be more engaged during lectures and to keep up with all the reading. The readings he assigned each week was a bit much though. The readings are also super important in your success for the exams. So, if you're planning on taking this class, be ready to read a ton. Overall this was a solid GE and the content was genuinely really interesting.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 2
3.9
Overall Rating
Based on 15 Users
Easiness 3.5 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.8 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 4.1 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.3 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

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There are no relevant tags for this professor yet.

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