There are 3 writing projects out of which you submit 2 for grading. I barely did any work throughout the quarter, but Tamar basically tells you EXACTLY what she is looking for, you just need to pay attention and be smart about it.

Tamar is a tough grader but you can definitely manage the grade. I'm not the best writer and my first drafts were shit, but she really helped me improve my work and gave her exactly what she wanted in the papers.

The readings in the course reader are short and you don't even need to read, just annotate the pages. My course reader is fully annotated so you won't need to do any homework. I'm selling it for $40. The reader is also REALLY helpful because of the sample essays Tamar prints in it. Text me at **********.

Tamar is very passive aggressive and really only wants to hear what she thinks about the topic. She is not very clear as to what she wants out of you and is very out spoken about her opinions that it is overwhelming to the class. Moreover, she is not approachable for help at all and does not really give you your grade until the end of the quarter as she finds them "counter productive". The workload is slightly absurd compared to other professors that teach this class. I would not recommend taking this class with Tamar to anyone.

Grammar b is a joke. Few first-year students realize this: easy/interesting class ≠ rewarding class. I'm a sophomore now. After one year of taking other writing-intensive classes, I guarantee you that this class is useless. They can't teach you anything without bragging about themselves. For those of you who have taken her class, you know who the other person is.

Tamar is amazing. Her class is small and discussion-based, and a most of the discussions focus on some short assigned readings. The essays are all creative and fairly easy, and she meets with each student one-on-one to give feedback on the essays. I would definitely take a class with her again.

Loved having Tamar as a prof. she's very down to earth and knows how to engage the class. that being said, the class size is small and she does expect you to participate (attendance mandatory) so come to class prepared to engage in discussions. you have to read various chapters a very short e-textbook and write reflections on them as a weekly assignment. the big assignments are: two papers and one creative assignment. for every assignment, two thirds of the class meets with her in a one-on-one meeting for her feedback, and the other third shares their work out loud in class for the class' feedback. so expect to meet with her one-on-one at least once and to share you work with the class.

wish i could take this class again.

Highly recommend taking this class with Tamar! She really helps you write with a new perspective without making it boring and something you really don't want to do. Decent workload, very understanding teacher.

Participation counts for 20% of your grade in the class so lecture attendance was mandatory. We had to do three writing projects, two of which were conventional analytical essays and the last of which was called "Grammar B" where you basically use font, word art, and other stylistic techniques to discuss something you feel ambivalent about. You pick one of the two conventional essays and your Grammar B piece to count for your grade. The writing projects were not easy by any means, especially coming from a high school literature class which was highly formulaic, but if you heed the advice of the textbook, listen to Tamar's feedback, and put in the necessary work for your essays, you should be fine. The class is really participation based—you're expected to 'publish' one of your projects with your class, where your classmates give you feedback on your work, and we were put into breakout rooms for discussion and peer review almost every lecture. You meet with Tamar for a one-on-one conference twice for each of the two essays you submit for grading and she gives thorough feedback, so I'd make sure to take notes during these. I found that I became a more concise, genuine writer through the class, so, even though it was tough, I would recommend taking it again with Tamar.

Tamar is, hands down, one of the best and most genuine professors I've had at UCLA. She tries really hard to make you comfortable in her class and keeps a casual atmosphere. Her conferences are VERY helpful, and I really recommend you go to her office hours! I never thought that I was a good writer, but I learned more from her in 10 weeks than I did from any of my high school teachers.

Overall, I enjoyed having English Comp 5W with Tamar. This course requires completion of three full-length essays throughout the quarter (25% each * 3 = 75% of your grade), and the rest of your grade (25%) consists of participation in class discussions. Tamar is an engaging lecturer who does cuss occasionally (she says she got that from the Navy lol), but she always has interesting insights for discussions and provides great feedback on the essays, which you should take seriously in order to do well in this class. Her style suggestions are interesting, and one unconventional style she had us play around with is known as Grammar B. As other reviewers have mentioned, Grammar B can be confusing and difficult to master, but I learned to love it because nowhere else have I been able to put together a creative piece that could consist of a recipe, letter, interview, news article or the like and still call it an essay. Individual appointments for the essays are mandatory, but you will enjoy them and be able to spend them learning how to make your writing that much more effective. If you need a Writing 2, I would highly recommend doing Eng Comp 5W with Tamar!

Firstly I gotta say don't take her as a first option for any english class unless she's the only option available. She has this stupid policy regarding tardiness/absenses where your grade will be lowered a letter if your absense twice or are tardy. She wants everything printed and brought to class which is stupid since sometimes we needed to bring 30+ page articles just because she said so. She also is a total tyrant when it comes to participation because unless your telling your entire life story in every lecture you won't get the participation points which are a big source of the total points in class. My gripes with her were really on her reasoning for why we couldn't use technology and had to write everything down in a notebook which were "because paper is less harmful to the environment" which is dumb since she had us print hundreds of pages of articles from printers that cost alot of money and are plugged in 24/7 which seems more harmful to the environment than just using a damn tablet. One time she actually blew up on us because not enough people were sharing their life story's so she ended class 40 minutes early and gave everyone an absense which is a dick move. The only good thing I can really say is that she was decent grader and left semi helpful comments on essays but not all the time. She is easily the worst english teacher/professor I have ever taken from middle school up until freshmen year of colllege. She also goes on and one about how "off the grid" she is and its really annoying because it's like she's trying to flex that she shops at whole foods market and takes the bus.