Phillips is a great lecturer and knows his stuff. The lectures are very dense so make sure to pay attention to dates and names (Phillips is specific with dates). The class is composed of three exams and one final term paper. The exams are not too difficult because he will give you a study guide one week prior with literally everything that will be on the exam, you just have to know how to manage your time well. I had a great TA which made things great as well.

The class was really interesting and overall a great experience. Participation in discussions is very important. If you take this class, make sure to actively participate in discussion as much as possible. Readings can be lengthy, but tests and essays were graded vERY reasonably.

I am selling all the textbooks and course materials for this class, I will attach the list of all the materials and the price in the end

In general, History 1A with professor Philips was interesting and worth taking if you are interested in history/ancient civilization or looking for a relatively easy GE course. This course covers civilizations including Mesopotamia, Assyria, Egypt, Greek, and Rome, etc. Gradings: total of three exams: 60 %, discussion session participation: 20 %. One history essay: 20 %. Like being said in other reviews, the exams should be nothing unexpected, both the identifications and essays prompts were given a week prior to the exam date, and you just need to immerse yourself with all the materials before each hour exam. Professor Philips is, however, obsessed with dates which means you indeed need a good short-term memory to memorize dates for EVERY person or event. Besides that, the exams were not difficult and I personally scored above 90 percent on everyone of them without stressing too much about them. You do need to speak up once in a while during your discussion session with your TA, and the key is to persuade your TA that you’ve read your materials and know what u are talking about. The prompts of term paper were somehow ambiguous and confusing for me, and It made me get a B+ as the final grade. One advice for the term paper is to talk about it with your TA during their office hours, so hopefully you will gain a better understanding of all of the prompts. Overall this course is mind-opening and I highly recommend it as a Doable GE course.

All of the materials were required for this course, were mostly brand new with little to no writing on them.

Selling:
Readings in Ancient History: $85
Egypt, Greece, and Rome: $40
The Epic of Gilgamesh: $6
Two Lives of Charlemagne: $9
The Last Days of Socrates( brand new): $10
The Theban Plays( brand new): $10
Course pack: $8

Contact me by email: andyliang138@g.ucla.edu

Dr. Phillips is very straightforward about what he expects to see on the exams. He posts a study guide before each one, and chooses 8 of the 40 possible terms to put on the exam as well as 2 out of 4 possible essay questions. You only have to identify 5 terms and respond to 1 essay question. All three exams are in this format and they are each worth 20 percent of your grade. The other 40 percent is your discussion section and your final paper. Participation in your section is important, and it really depends on what that means to your TA. As long as we read and tried, my TA was satisfied. Go to lecture! He doesn't bruincast, speaks quickly, and puts very little on his slides. Your hand will cramp a little.

Lectures are very interesting, and the professor can be funny at times. Not too hard, and you can get by without doing most of the readings if you want.

I loved this guy. Let me be clear in that there was a good amount of reading that you had to do and sometimes he could be a bit dry, but he went in depth with most topics that we delved in to. I liked him because you could tell he was passionate and knew everything about everything we talked about. One day he just busted out the Iliad in Ancient Greek. The discussion I had was pretty good as well. The only thing we had to do was talk during it and you got full points.
Exams are a bit tough. They are in class essays and short answers. Your hand will hurt afterwards and you definitely need to know the material.
At the end, in addition to the final there is an 8 page research paper that would be difficult to write if you are just trying to skate through.
In conclusion, if you like history, take this class. If not, take a different GE.

Selling the following books:
Bailkey and Lim, Readings in Ancient History - $90
Einhard and Notker the Stammerer - $5
Plato, Apology - $10
Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays - $5
Course Reader - $10
****PRICES NEGOTIABLE****

hmu at rishabraj2220@gmail.com

Took this class to fulfill a GE and it was one of my easiest classes. Lectures are information packed and I found myself writing for the entire 50 minute class. Philips is a great lecturer and knows his stuff. I was interested in the history but it's hard to remember anything from lecture because he would cover so much. I tried to read the book along with the lecture but really it's not necessary. Low time commitment in terms of homework, it would just be reading something for an hour to prepare for discussion or reading a small book. The tests are almost a guaranteed A as long as you make flashcards and prepare for the essay questions.

I actually really liked this class. The workload is kinda heavy because you have to do a lot of readings in order to prepare for your discussion section, but if you dedicate about 2 hours to the readings each week, you'll be fine.
This professor does NOT post his slides so you have to go to every single lecture and sped write if you want all the information. He does not repeat anything and he does not slow down.
The tests are easy if you're good at memorizing. You need to know a LOT of exact dates, but he gives you a study guide with everything on the test a week or two before the exam. If you dedicate two full days to the information, you'll be fine.
There are two midterms, a 8-10 page essay, and a final. The midterms and finals are all in the same style but the essay is a pain. I love writing, but the prompt was kind of messy and not really fun. You'll need to dedicate about 2 full days to this essay depending on your writing skills I guess.

Gooood Luck!
SELLING:
$10 - David Phillips: Introduction to Western Civilizations: Ancient Civilizations to CA. A.D. 843 - Fall 2017 Edition
$8 - PLATO: The Last Days of Socrates by Penguin Classics
$8 - SOPHOCLES: The Theban Plays by Penguin Classics
$8 - The Epic Of Gilgamesh by Penguin Classics (translated by N. K. Sandars)
$3 - EINHARD AND NOTKER THE STAMMERER: Two Lives of Charlemagne by Penguin Classics
email me if interested: Lilpapikian@gmail.com

Professor made scattered jokes which broke up the otherwise monotonous lectures (lots of information). If you enjoy ancient history you should like the class. You definitely need to study for the midterms and final, but study guides are provided. The term paper is only 6-8 pages and easy to crank out over the course of a week or so.