Gurval is great. I really liked his course. Lectures were interesting and same with discussions. Basically, you don't need to read the text book you have to get for the class. As a matter of fact, dont even buy it. He tells you straight up in class that we dont need to read the book unless we want clarification (which you wont need). Let's see, the quizzes, i thought, were easy. But i know a lot of people didnt think so. What I did to prepare for them is read all the readings BEFRORE section (i even used sparknotes to help me with some of the texts). In section, I took notes on what the TA put on the board and made sure I noted all of the quotes we talked about in section (which showed up on our quizzes). I also made sure I knew all of the lecture terms. Those were harder to study for because there are a lot of them. There are 2 essays in the class in addition to 3 quizzes. The first essay, for my TA, was graded the hardest. I got a B. The second paper was graded MUCH more leniently ( i , and most others, got an A+). They just want you to try harder on your second paper. Also, my TA said that the grade is mostly based on improvement. So most people do well in the course. Studying for the final was harder than actually taking it. Its a lot of stuff to remember (you have to know like 300 ID's...18 of which are on the final...15 of which you have to answer). The rest is recognizing passages, identifying the speaker, author and literary work.
Basically, I slept through most of the lectures (not because it was boring...i just usually get no sleep...no one else slept...) and i did really well. I recommend this class even if youre not a classics major (im physiological science).

He was a VERY good professor. So far is my favorite class at UCLA. Of course at times, lectures were a bit boring with certain material that was covered, but overall, the topics were very interesting. Quizzes were a bit difficult to study for, especially since there were so many terms, but they weren't too difficult. As long as you know the lecture terms and the readings[amount of books required may seem overwhelming at first, but only parts of each book are assigned, so it's not bad at all]. There are two papers, but are on topics that are heavily focused on in discussion, therefore making them easy. I would definitely recommend this class, especially if you want an easy GE :)

I didn't like Professor Gurval's lectures. To be honest, they were hard to take notes from and not that interesting. I am really interested in the Romans but he tends to skip over the interesting things and move on to the boring things. eg: does not talk about the lead up into the civil war where Caesar takes over Rome (such as, wait a sec, when did Caesar and Pompey start being rivals again?) but in that same lecture spends a lot of time talking about the villa of papyri... a villa that was found with tons of papyri, all written by the same obscure philosopher. He has good insights about the culture but I feel that there is something lacking. Instead of being told a narrative it's like being hit with a stick and then walking out going.. ugh. what was that? Just overall unsatisfied. I mean... how can you make a lecture about gladiators boring? I don't want to be negative, but I get out of lecture and I don't feel very satisfied and I can't quite pinpoint the reason... maybe too many tangents, I don't know.

Gurval is an extremely good lecturer that put me to sleep, but I think it was just me because everyone else stayed awake. The lectures that I did manage to make it through, information was organized, precise, and understandable. The only reason I did mediocre in the class was because of my TA - Palaskas; if you get her, transfer out because she grades everything insanely hard because she's just so into the class herself. Just do the readings and memorize the reader and you'll get an A.

There is a lot of memorization, but it's not that hard. The quizzes are really easy if you study and my TA was really nice and funny. His lectures tend to get a bit boring at times, but if you listen closely, he puts in an occasional joke. It's not bad for a GE and I recommend it.

Awesome class, awesome professor. Gurval is SOO funny sometimes I don't know how he keeps such a serious face. I think the main reason I liked the class so much was my TA:Young Kim. He is simply amazing, caring, funny, and one of the main reasons I didn't drop the class at the beginning of the quarter. As long as you do your readings and goto discussion sections, you will do fine. Our final was easy:)