I was never fond of history courses, especially after my miserable encounter with AP European History, AP World History, and AP U.S. History while I was in high school ( I got 4's on all those stupid tests :( FML ). I've always preferred the sciences over the humanities, but this course, WOW. This course changed my entire perspective on learning history, history courses in general, and history professors. In fact, because of Professor Ruiz, I think history is one of the most significant and integral subjects a student should learn throughout their academic career because of the fact that it is so applicable to our own personal lives!!! But, I won't get into the specifics.

The course: History 2C is all about magic, and witches, and crazy religious people. It goes through the details of why these people were as they were, and the legacies they've left behind. Also, when it comes to grading and the relative difficulty of the course, I would advise against using the reviews on this page, mine included. Students should take these evaluations with a grain of salt because we are all different, and therefore we treat certain courses much more differently than others, but here are my two cents anyway. Your grade is composed of a 25% midterm (take-home), 25% essay OR performance, 30% final (also take-home), and 20% discussion attendance/participation. Take the extra credit opportunities that are offered throughout the duration of the course, such as having the history writing center review your essays, and be sure to have your TA read your essays as well in order to ensure you get an A on them, after all your grades is solely based off written papers/exams.

The Professor: Professor Ruiz, oh gosh where do I begin. He is phenomenal. He is just down-right amazing!!!!! I'm surprised he doesn't have a rating above a 9. He made history fun for me, and to the degree where I just couldn't get enough! He has a way of explaining concepts in a way where you are just down-right intrigued. Also, he is extremely funny, and will do anything it takes to ensure that the students absorb as much information as possible. He truly cares about his students. Frankly, I find that every student should take this professor at least once before graduating. I have the privilege of taking another course with him next quarter. You go Professor Ruiz (I mean Teo ;D).

Final Grade: A

Good luck you guys!!!

XOXO Gossip Girl

(HAHA, just kidding it's Gary)

Ruiz is a GOD.

Hands down, the best professor at UCLA. I feel honored and blessed that I took a class with him.

Grade: A+

Selling the required text
- Course reader: $35 (originally $54 before tax). It has highlights but in good condition)
- The Pursuit of the Millennium: $15 (originally $25, condition is brand new)
- The Night Battles: $15 (originally $23, condition is brand new)

The course is easy as long as you do the readings. But be smart about reading. You certainly don’t need to do all of them.

You can reach me at ********** or *************.

This class is hard. Not easy. The readings were impossible to be finished. Take home midterm essay and final. It is quite boring. U might not have to read to get an A in the class

Selling required texts for the course:
The Little Flowers of Saint Francis
The Life of Saint Teresa
The Return of Martin Guerre

Text for more info **********

Selling required texts for the course:
The Little Flowers of Saint Francis
The Life of Saint Teresa
The Return of Martin Guerre

Teo himself is an absolutely wonderful man. His lectures are extremely insightful and he presents the course material in a way that is enjoyable and easy to understand. In my opinion though, his TA's ruin the entire experience. I often found myself stressed out over my TA's harsh criticism for wrong answers in discussion. I ended up focusing more on her preferred writing style rather than on actual content or expanding my own opinions while writing the essays. This class has extreme potential to be an eye-opening analysis on the nature of history, but you find yourself caught up in workload too much to thoroughly enjoy this class. I think I'll make it out with a B+, but that came at the price of many long nights of reading and essay writing. I'm upset that my TA gave me a negative impression of this class because Teo is truly a wonderful man. If you are luck enough to get a good TA, or are even luckier and get into Teo's section, this class will be outstanding. However, my personal experience with my TA has ultimately made me regret taking this class, and I will be happy once it's over.

If you are taking this class solely because it is easy, be warned that this class is not really all that easy. If you plan on not reading, not doing an extra credit performance during lecture, or in general not really putting much effort into the class, this class is more of an easy B+ for you. This class is an easy A if you do a performance in front of everyone during lecture. And if you are slightly interested in the material.
If you have zero interest in the class, will read nothing, then this class may be a little more difficult than you suppose. Also depending on your TA, your experience in this class could be hell. The TA could force you to read 200 page books every other week, and make you write paragraphs. I had a fairly easy TA, but I think I'll barely make an A- with my 20% efforts.

TAKE HIM. TAKEEEE HIM!!!!!!!

Selling brand new History 2C course reader
text ********** for more information