This is for the Cluster 60 in general. I decided to take this cluster for its credit (satisfies 4 GE, writing II, diversity, etc). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS CLASS. Clusters do have the reputation of having a greater workload but it is not the case for this one. I'm so glad that I stuck with this cluster for my freshman year. It's pretty interesting and definitely a GPA booster in my opinion.
It's not the easiest A as you do have to pay attention to lecture, do the readings (at least for the first quarter. I stopped using the course reader after the midterm of fall quarter and was perfectly fine). This class helped me adjust to college along with making new friends and strong bonds with my TA.
Another benefit for this class is that you get priority for Eng Comp 3 (if you need to take it) for your winter/spring quarter. Based on what I heard from my peers, Eng Comp 3 and writing classes general are EXTREMELY hard to get in since everyone needs to take at least one writing class. You won't have to worry about it as you receive your writing II credit during your spring quarter, which is basically a three hour seminar one a week. You also don't have to worry about not getting a class since you are guaranteed enrollment to the course for winter and spring .
I assume that you are reading this review to decide to take this class or not. Well I would like to say TAKE IT because it is extremely rewarding and you won't regret it. I benefited a lot from this class and it satisfied most of my GE requirements as a STEM major.

Professor Fink was my second favorite professor from this cluster. In this class he focuses on 60s music and lectured a good amount. He's very active during his lectures, singing, dancing, and engaging with students. I found his lectures to be extremely informative and interesting, it's a good idea to remember the different songs he plays as on the midterm you'll need to identify two songs. In general Professor Fink was a very fun professor who made learning fun, his slides are well made and his interest in music makes him a great professor.
Onto the class in general, I recommend this cluster for those who are interested in history, politics, and culture but also can deal with some more dense long readings. While the readings are helpful to understand lectures better, the reading isn't too important until the midterm when they expect you to cite some readings in the timed essay. When it came to the workload I would say it was pretty light, the first two weeks you are assigned reading forms to encourage doing the weekly readings and can be finished in 15 minutes. After this you have only two assignment, a political science paper explaining the choices you made in making a 15 second campaign ad from any president between 1955-1975. The final assignment is a literature paper on a one of two books due in December. The class is not recorded but lecture slides are posted on BruinLearn.
The only serious downside to this cluster would be grading, grading is completely up to your TA. Some TA's may grader stricter than others. In general your TA will make this class pleasant or difficult depending on their grading. I will highly recommend this cluster but do recommend you take into consideration the long readings and TA grading.

Taking this cluster is one of my best experiences here at UCLA. For those of you who are deciding whether or not to take this class: there will be 2 lectures (75 minutes each) and 1 discussion (1h50min, ik it's long). There will be 2 essays (poli sci 30% + English literature 30%), a midterm (20%), and discussion score. For 60A, there is no final, but for 60B, there is no midterm but a final that is cumulative. Now I've finished taking 60B, and I'm grateful for how much I learned from this class. This class is really interesting and enriching if you are interested in this period, but the workload can also be pretty big (that's expected for a 6-unit cluster, though). Personally I think if you are a humanities/social science and good at writing, go for it. But if you are a STEM person and hate reading/writing, you would probably have to spend more time considering whether to take this class and going over other reviews. Here are some suggestions: (a) I don't do the reading ever since week 2. Trust me you don't have to do the reading because professors will cover all you need to know during the lectures; b) go to lectures and take notes; c) your essay scores are TA-dependent, so go to their office hours and ask for suggestions; d) some TAs are strict about grading participation in discussions but some are not, but I would say participate; e) for each of the professor: Vavreck (polisci) is clear and interesting and organized; Avila (history) is clear but sometimes boring; Fink (music) is really interesting but sometimes unclear; Decker (English) is the most boring prof, but try to stick to his lectures as he is also knowledgable.

#Real Rating

I'm going to be honest here. I was unhappy over my A-, but I am going to try to be as objective as possible. The class is not that hard, but you have to participate in the discussion (I was marked off pretty heavily). The reading is way too much (like 40-50 pages on a normal day and more on other days) and absolutely ridiculous for a GE class. Me, personally, I skipped a lot of the reading and was able to do well on the essays and midterms - except for the last essay which I guess I did not understand the prompt and my TA did not make it clear what they wanted us to answer (as you can see, pretty salty). Just show up to lectures and take notes, you will have all the info you need for the midterm, but your overall grade is super TA dependent (One of my friends had literally no idea what was going on in the class, but his TA handed out A's like Oprah we both still joke about it). As for the teachers, Fink's and Vavreck's lectures are pretty cool. Avila and Decker are a little bit less cool, but they care a lot about what they are teaching they are just hella confusing.

Summary: If you are looking for an easier cluster to take for STEM majors, take a different cluster like the violence one or the race and indigeneity one. This one ain't it. But if you like this part of history go for it, it's not too hard just a lot of time.

Selling all the novels and course readers for both quarters. If anybody is interested, you can email me at *************.

I'm not going to try to convince anyone to take this class because if you're looking at BruinWalk for 60B then I'm guessing you've already taken 60A and you know that it's an interesting class and that Fink is a literal GOD.

I will say that I'm selling the course reader for this quarter. I paid $60 for it and I'm willing to sell it for $40. It's only got a few notes throughout but its in great condition. If for some reason you didn't see my post for 60A, I also have pdf's of all the books you need for the year so if you realize that you need the writer's handbook or any of the others, I'll share it with you for free.

If you're interested in the course reader or any of the books I have to offer, just shoot me an email at ************* and I'll be happy to help you out.

I really enjoyed the cluster as a whole and the 60s one is a lot easier than most of the others. Theres a few papers but other than that it's just a matter of participation in the discussion and midterm so there's not a lot of outside work. There's reading every week that isn't super important for discussions or lectures but it comes into play during the midterm so it's important not to get behind. There's three novels that you read during the quarter but they're pretty short. I only read two of them but they were both interesting. If anyone wants it, I'll send out pdf's of all the novels for free. As a whole, the class is really interesting, but day to day enjoyment depends on who's lecturing that day. Fink and Vavreck were both great lecturers. I would definitely recommend you take this class both because of the subject matter but also simply because it fits so many GE's and it's a lot easier than the other clusters.

I'm selling my course reader for the class (it has all the readings for the whole quarter except for the novels ). I paid $60 for it but I'll sell it for $40. It's in great condition with only a few notes in it throughout.

If you're interested in the course reader or pdf's just email me at *************

Selling course reader for GE 60B,

Text me for more details if you are interested :) **********

A fun and engaging class to start your freshman year off at the University of California, Los Angeles. Lecture was not mandatory and held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 am to 10:45 am in the De Neve Auditorium on the hill so its convenient for those living in the dormitories, although a bit early. Discussion was mandatory and varied from teaching assistant to teaching assistant. The content was interesting and manageable, although there were an excessive amount of readings in my opinion. To combat this I resorted to skimming most of the texts (sometimes even glancing at only the first and last page) and watching most of the videos at two times speed (sometimes even playing them in the background while doing other homework although I am not sure how effective of a use of my time and efforts this way...). There were easy reading assignments due every week, one paper due week six (I believe), and one final. The paper was manageable assuming you manage your time wisely, as with every class. The final was relatively simple, despite seeming like a huge deal. General review of key concepts and a more precise knowledge of the music should suffice in terms of preparation (I know there are many spotify study playlists available although the songs may differ with each iteration of the class). There was one mandatory movie viewing outside of the regular class time at the De Neve auditorium in the evening and while it is relatively easy to get an excuse it was pretty entertaining so I would recommend attending if time allows. As for Professor Fink himself, I thought he was pretty hilarious as the music expert of the panel of teachers. He always had great energy for class, even though that passion sometimes resulted in us being let out a couple minutes after our designated dismissal time.

Taking the 60s cluster was by far one of the best decisions I made during my first year at UCLA. Although it is a six-unit class, it definitely has a very manageable workload (especially if you don't spend too long on the assigned readings). The lectures are generally very interesting, especially if you are already interested in the era's music, culture, and history. All the professors did a nice job integrating major course concepts into their respective fields (Decker—Literature, Fink—Music, Avila—History, and Vavreck—Political Science). While the assignments are the same across the board, how your papers and exams are graded is very TA-dependent. The TA I took the course with for both Fall and Winter quarters is known to be one of the stricter graders, but I still didn't have much trouble achieving an A in both quarters. So long as you manage the deadlines well (there are two papers per quarter, each around 4-5 pages), you should have no issue succeeding in this class. The cluster is also a fantastic opportunity to make friends, especially since you will be in class with the same people for your entire first year. Of all the professors, Fink's lectures stand out to me the most as undeniably the funniest and most engaging—I couldn't recommend him enough!