legit so easy def take this class. A solid amount of reading but other than that lectures are super unnecessary to go to and midterm and final are short papers that aren't graded harshly at all.

One of the best classes offered in UCLA, at least from my limited knowledge. If you've taken an AP History course in High School, I STRONGLY suggest you take Perez-Montesinos' HIST 8B class. By far one of the most interesting and easiest classes you'll take here. Granted, class was online this quarter, but it'll probably be equally as good in person if not better. The class does cover around 500 years of material in 10 weeks, but the class is so wonderfully well paced that it doesn't feel like we rush through anything. Yes, the weekly readings are tedious at best, around 20 full pages of thorough history, but it's standard for most history courses (also the textbook is very accessible online in numerous PDF formats). The supplemental readings for discussion are around 15 pages and slightly more difficult to complete, but most are interesting and relevant to the world today. In terms of grades, there's biweekly (once every two weeks) quizzes centered around one chapter of the previous weekly reading chapters, and they're straightforward multiple choice quizzes. The midterm is a creative writing piece, where you're given a lot of freedom to explore the topics whichever way you want. The final consists of answering questions in a short answer response format, again it is very straightforward and simple. In terms of the professor himself, Perez-Montesinos is a very knowledgable instructor and helpful guide throughout the course duration. I never went to any of his office hours because of how clear he came across in class, but I can imagine he was always willing to aid students in whichever way possible. The syllabus is coherent to the class structure, and his lectures aren't pivotal for you passing the class. They're still very informative and entertaining though, and prove helpful when it comes to the writing assignments. With all that said, and considering he switched the class back to online learning to accommodate other students, someone should give Perez-Montesinos a cookie. Yes, you should take this class, even if you already completed the GE.

(If you can, pick Ertman as your TA. She's amazing.)

I personally really enjoyed this class! Because I took it winter quarter of 2022 it was completely virtual but I still feel like I got a good grasp on the material. Professor Montesinos is clearly very passionate about what he does and even though lectures aren't necessarily required to get a good grade, they are still fascinating and not at all boring. I also enjoyed that instead of a real midterm we had a narrative paper. The quizzes were not hard at all as long as you actually did the readings! Readings were definitely long and I would recommend doing them, but it's a small price to pay for not really needing to attend lectures or take a hard final. Overall I would recommend this class as an easy-ish GE, and it fulfills your diversity requirement!

Very fun class! The course covers history of Latin America from European colonization to the present. The main book used was "Born in Blood and Fire" by John Charles Chasteen. The book has two components, a main text (that you may or may not be able to find for free online...) and a supplemental reader that I purchased (~12$). Discussions were mandatory, once per week in a group of maybe 15. Most of the discussions involved the week's assigned readings so be sure to read them to avoid contributing to awkward silence.

There is no weekly homework. We were required to visit a cultural exhibit at either LACMA or the Skirball center (if El Sueño Americano is still at the Skirball center I highly recommend it). We also had several opportunities to get extra credit by watching movies. There were two or three 10-question online quizzes directly from the text (they were not difficult at all). The midterm project was to write a historical fiction narrative set in Latin America and the final was several take-home essay questions. Profesor Perez-Montesinos extended the final submission time by two days due to COVID. The TAs are very helpful and available for any assistance on writing.

Profe seems very passionate about the subject, but you have to listen in class if you want to get anything out of it because his slides are mostly broad bullet points. He likes to focus on studying voices that are often previously ignored in the study of Latin American history. The readings were all pretty interesting. Only about 2/3 of students attended lecture and those that didn't seemed to do fine. Overall, the class was not very hard and very much worth taking for GE credit.