This class has an insanely low workload. We only had two quizzes, a research topic proposal, and a final research paper. Attendance is not mandatory, and tbh, I never went since I thought the professor's lecture style was not engaging. Still, I managed to do well.

The two quizzes are take-home on BruinLearn with 20 true/false questions based on the readings. You are given 40 minutes to do it within a 1-hour window (in this case, the quiz opened at 5pm and closed at 6pm), so definitely make sure you are available when it opens.

The research topic proposal is 2 pages while the final research paper is 4-5 pages, so definitely very manageable. You have the opportunity to research anything as long as it's related to Brazil. I really liked how open-ended it was, and I got to write a paper I thoroughly enjoyed doing! However, I will say the TA was strict on grading. Although I did find his feedback to be valuable, and he holds multiple office hours to help with papers (although I did not go and was fine).

The grading scheme of this class is a lifesaver as a 96-100% is an A+, 95-85 is an A, 84-80 is an A-, 79-76 is a B+, and so on. While I did well on the quizzes, my grades on the research topic proposal and final research paper were in the high 80s to low 90s. Despite this, I was surprised to see that I received an A+ in this class.

I wouldn't necessarily say this class is an easy A as you do need to put in a good amount of effort for the papers. Therefore, I would recommend this class either if you're a strong writer or if you want a class with a low workload. The grading scheme is quite forgiving, and the TA is helpful, so it is very possible to do well in this class.