Professor

Russell Jacoby

1 of 2
Easiness N/A/ 5
Clarity N/A/ 5
Workload N/A/ 5
Helpfulness N/A/ 5
Easiness 4.1/ 5
Clarity 3.4/ 5
Workload 3.5/ 5
Helpfulness 3.3/ 5
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2016 - Professor Jacoby is honestly not very good at teaching. He's inconsistent with the pace of his lectures. A lot of the time you're just sitting there wondering if what he's saying is worthwhile because it can be so random and unrelated sometimes. He goes on tangents that don't really have to do with the course and he doesn't always follow a chronological order, which can be a bit frustrating since it's a history class. The TA and the textbook were what helped me get an A in this class tbh. Try to get Sam Kelley as your TA he's great but he's a bit harsh grading the two papers. Sam gives out weekly reading responses which are a pain to do, but you'll be so glad you did them when you study for the midterm and final because they help you understand the key texts of the class. You also get marks just for completing the reading responses, and since one of them is counted as extra credit, your grade gets a boost. It's definitely not impossible to get an A in this class. For the 2 papers, get a draft done super early, show it to your TA in advance and go to the Writing Center. These papers are hard because of the 2-page limit. There's also a specific way the TAs want them to be written so get as much help as you can. I got a B and a B+ on them because I procrastinated a lot and never went to my TAs office hours. Don't do that. What saved my grade in this class was essentially the midterm and final, which I got As on, and the reading responses. For these tests, what you need to do is outline the textbook! Not the whole textbook because that's impossible, but outline everything that's been mentioned in class. That's why I think that despite the fact that professor Jacoby isn't very good at teaching, you should still attend lecture! Because at the very least the lectures will give you an outline of what you're going to be tested on. You should then go through the textbook and take somewhat brief notes on everything that was brought up in lecture. With your textbook, discussion and lecture notes you should be more than ready for the midterm and final :) It's definitely a challenging class, but I'm glad I took it. It gives you such a great perspective on the world and how modern history shaped it.
AD
1 of 2

Adblock Detected

Bruinwalk is an entirely Daily Bruin-run service brought to you for free. We hate annoying ads just as much as you do, but they help keep our lights on. We promise to keep our ads as relevant for you as possible, so please consider disabling your ad-blocking software while using this site.

Thank you for supporting us!