I wish to write this review to help those who are considering to take this class as a history GE, talking about the grading, exams, essays, lectures, professor Goldman and other aspects of this class.

Grading Distribution: 25% Essay 1 + 25% Essay 2 + 20% Discussion Participation + 30% Final Exam.
The two essays are based on the reading materials in class and about 6-7 pages each. To write good essays, you'll have to master the reading materials and the lecture contents very well. The discussion is mandatory and you have to ACTIVELY participate in this discussion (30% question posing + 70% in class participation) to get full credits. The final exam is in-person exam, which consists of three parts, including Part 1 Definition & Part 2 Essay (materials in lectures) & Part 3 Analysis Essay (reading materials). The final can be hard than expected. In other words, it is hard to get a 93% in the final, and you'll have to perform very very well in the previous two essays in order to get a final letter grade A.

About Grading: The grading of this class is based on ABSOLUTE SCALE. (93=A) The grading of your essays is completely up to your TA. Even though our TA is a good guy and I like his class, still he graded quite harshly and you can hardly get an A. In fact, geting a B+ or A- on each essay is very very common in class. He anticipated and expected a lot in your articles, so if you want an A it is better to go to his office hour and talk to him about what you are going to write. The final is quite hard and requires LOTS LOTS of preparation, including memorizing a great bunch of names, events, definitions, and dates, as well as pre-write the essays based on the review materials professor Goldman provided. Generally speaking, if you are not that good at Chinese history/not good at memorizing/just want a relatively easy GE, this class is definitely not a fine option for you.

Workload: Be ready for 100+ pages of reading per week (said in syllabus and this is true). This may be okay to history/literature related major students, but this is quite tough and hard for STEM students like me. Because the materials will be tested in the essays and final exams, you'll have to read comprehensively and thoroughly, and scanning through is not an option. The two essays require you to spend lots of time on them, so DO NOT consider this class as an east GE. You'll have to work hard enough and spend whole bunch of time to get an A.

About lectures and Professor Goldman: Professor Goldman is a very professional, nice, and caring instructor. Her classes are well organized and you can definitely learn lots about Chinese history in her class. She is a good lecturer and she cares a lot about her students, regarding the health issues, progress in class, etc. Generally I like her and the way she organized her class, and she has great knowledge in the field she teaches.

Conclusion: This history class, especially for those STEM students like me, is absolutely not an easy GE. If you want an A, you'll have to work very hard on the readings every week to master them, communicate with the TA to get good grades on your essays, while spend lots of time preparing for the essays and final exams. Even though professor Goldman is a great and nice professor, the workload is not light, and the grading can still be very harsh up to your TA. If you like Chinese history and ready to work hard on this topic, take this class and learn from professor Goldman. However, If you want an easy A GE, TRY NOT TO TAKE THIS CLASS. It is not worthy to spend that much time on a GE class like this one, while finally you might even have to PNP this class after you did so much just like me.

For nonhistory majors, or if you're not interested in any Chinese history, or you just need a ge, you're probably desperate searching for ge class because all the other ges you want filled up. Now that you are here, in this "history of china" class, don't even think about this class and just remove this class from your option of ges. Professor Goldman is a W human and such a nice and helpful professor, but the class itself is just garbage. There are so many names, events, and ideas you have to memorize, I didn't even think I was learning anything. The class begins to pick up the pace after weeks 2-3 when you get your first paper. You also get another paper around week 7 or 8. And then you get the final, which is the hardest final ever!!! Serious, if you don't want to stress the whole quarter about ruining your gpa, don't even think about this class. Don't listen to the other reviews about this class, they were probably history majors who loved history and were interested.

This course is really reading intensive, but the reading material is really intereting and I really learned and enjoyed the class. Its like a fast paced crash course on Chiniese history. I did most of the reading an got an -A. My T.A. (Wu. H.) was also very helpful and insightful.

The professor makes the course really intrestig, epecially because she is really passionate about the subject. However, it is your T.A. that determines your grade. So read and participate and you will pass the class with stellar grades.

Also, if you are a Chiniese international student and think that taking this course will be a breeze because your already know Chinese history, be warned. Your version of history may be very diffrent from the one taught by this course.

Overall, I reccomend this course to student who enjoy history and excell in hummaninites, but not for math or science majors whose writing skills are lacking.

Professor Goldman is GREAT! I earned an A in the class. Her class has lots of readings besides the textbook itself. If you go to every single lecture, take good notes, and have a familiar background of Chinese history, I don't see the need of buying a textbook. It's best to record her lecture if you can't take notes fast because she talks very fast and jump around the topics a lot. She has two 5 pages essays. The topics are narrow and both of them are based on your weekly non-textbook reading, so make sure to keep up with the readings. Also, since the TAs are grading the essays, it's best to write the draft and ask your TA for help before the due dates. On the exams, she really wants you to think critically. All you need to do for the final is to reread all the notes and study every single terms and question on her study guide (yes, 100 terms on her study guide, but only 10 will appear on the exam). I studied really hard the night before the exam and got a 96. Overall, she emphasizes much more on the cause and effect of the history instead of the fact of the history.

One of the most reading intensive classes I've ever had. Too much work required as a GE class. Her tests are straight forward and she gives you a study guide but the material to be covered is too broad to grasp entirely

History 11B is not a class that just hands out As
Professor Goldman is very passionate about Chinese history, and is very willing to open up and help you out in the class if you're willing to do the work. The professor is very available and very concerned for her students.

The class itself is very intensive when it comes to reading.
The syllabus says to expect 100-150 pages of reading a week, but it's more like "above 200" range.
It does require a lot of studying and a lot of effort. Whether this is good or bad for you is up to your interpretation. I found the readings to be very interesting.

Only 2 papers (each 5 pgs) are assigned. TAs can sometimes be a bit incompetent, so I found myself actually asking the professor for help, and she was much more helpful.

The final exam requires a key term section, along with 2 essays.
For the key terms, you're given 10, and have to identify 6, however, these 10 come from a pool of 100.
Each essay comes from a choice of 2, but Goldman's study guides give you 8 possible prompt for each of the two essays. Her class however, is very straightforward. She throws no curve balls on her exams, and if you stay on top of things, you will survive.

All in all, I found the class to be VERY rewarding.

The professor's a good lecturer, and she does a solid job covering the fairly broad swathe of material. The readings are interesting and relevant, and never felt like a waste of time. Your grade is determined by two essays, a final, and section participation. The essays prompts are pretty tough tbh, but the final's easy.

The professor tries her best explaining her material and overall, her class is very doable as long as you do the readings. The readings are very important to make sure you get full credit for participation (20%) during discussion. It is also the main thing tested on the final exam questions, so definitely, don't procrastinate on those. But other than that, she is a friendly professor and nice person to get to know during office hours.

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I liked the professor but AVOID the TA Roanna Cheung like the plague. You have been forewarned. If you end up in her section, may your GPA rest in peace.