Unclear grading as professor did not give back any grades except our first and last quiz grade. When asked for our presentation grade he said he wasn’t going to post it. Did not post a single grade on canvas so your grade is just a mystery. A huge load of readings and quizzes are extremely hard as you have to remember obscure details from the novels. The novels are also already hard to read considering that they’re old and translated from Russian. I personally was frustrated because I wasn’t worried about my grade as I came to every class and did well on the first quiz and on the presentation (I think). So to my surprise I got a B+ and reached out for an explanation of my grade he just told me to “see him next quarter”. Still have no idea what I got on the final essay and test, which were both due the same week.

This class has an insane workload in which students have to speed read 400 to 600 page novels every couple of weeks. The professor also required us to submit an 8 to 10 page final essay on top of a final written exam. He gave out a couple of quizzes that asked obscure details from the novels that are easily overlooked when you're trying to manage information from a large text. When students asked for the final exam to have a longer window of submission, the professor said we should "skip" work if we have conflicting schedules and that this is the reality of having bills and rent due when we're enrolled in school.

The entire grade depends on the final and a final paper which was rather stressful not knowing his grading style, but he was surprisingly kind in his grading. Professor Vroon is incredibly knowledgable and the lectures are decently interesting--just be prepared to be asked questions and for awkward silence. The books, while a lot to read, were very interesting even though some were difficult to analyze on the first read. As someone who randomly took the class, I am glad I was exposed to the books I read (The Silver Dove, Dr. Zhivago, The Master and Margarita, We). I recommend this class if you are genuinely interested--or even mildly interested--in Russian Lit!