TAKE THIS CLASS! As a transfer student I was nervous about the transition from a Community College to a 4-year University. Professor Speer made sure that my experience in this class was a positive one. I will admit some of the readings were difficult, but Speer went over them in class and discussed it until everyone understood. Such a caring and understanding person in light of everything going on. I really wanted to take him for Sociology 182 for Winter 2020, but the class filled up so fast, and rightfully so. Speer is hands down the BEST professor in this department. Honestly, the BEST professor at UCLA!! Also if you're good he'll show his dogs Bogart and Nyla.

I was told Speer was supposed to be the best but I didn't see it. he's not terrible but he didn't live up to the hype

TAKEN DURING COVID-19 ONLINE INSTRUCTION:

Speer is a great professor, he engages with his students a LOT in his slides-based lectures which makes the classes go by super fast. He is friendly and likes to see students engage with the material, makes himself very accessible for office hours. He canceled our midterm and restructured our class to assist students having difficulties with online learning, which was really appreciated.

He has a cute dog that he often shows us before/after class, which many of us really got a kick out of. Speer is a HIGH DEMAND professor so if you're able to take a class with him I definitely recommend prioritizing it when you register so you can actually get in!

The final paper was 30% of our grade and based on assessing Marx and his predictions on capitalism, so if you are into Marxism, this class will definitely be an interesting one! One thing I will say though is that it was fairly long (8 pages) and required 5+ outside credible sources, so it took up a lot of my energy. The readings are very hard to understand but his slides are set up to help you process them before and after, which I appreciated as well. You read works by Marx, Durkheim, and Weber.

I recommend him as a professor for SOCIOL101, which is an especially dense class that is made very digestible by him.

Professor Speer was such an amazing professor - he was very understanding and approachable. The class was recorded and attendance was not mandatory. The material was very interesting and applicable to what is currently happening today. We had weekly readings and reading questions to turn in. The questions helped me understand the main points of the readings. There was supposed to be a midterm, but he canceled it last minute and instead we had a cumulative final. We had to write an 8 paged literature review on a question we created in the beginning of the quarter. The final exam was take home.

Absolute worst professor I have ever taken at UCLA. Does not care about his students well being, nor does he care about the learning process of his class to begin with. He did not give us back our final grade, our research paper grade, or half of our homework scores until the night before grades were finalized. From a student who gets straight As at ucla, avoid this professor.

Professor Speer's class was by far one of the easiest classes I've ever taken. He puts all of the slides online and gives study guides for the paper, midterm, and final (which is non cumulative). We also had one paper, but he gives you basically free reign on the topic and how you want to go about writing it.
There is weekly reading and questions which can get pretty dense, but it's pretty interesting. It's clear that he's passionate about sociology and clearly explains all concepts during lecture. Participation counts; you have to participate three times during the quarter to get full credit.

Definitely take this class. Professor Speer makes his lectures extremely clear and if you come to class and take notes, you will do well on the exams. The weekly readings can get dense, but are usually pretty interesting.

This is a pretty easy class. Sometimes the homework can get boring or repetitive, but it is still worth doing because the exams are based so heavily off the homework. Even so, the homework is not that bad. Take this class. Trust me. You will have a easy time.

Would highly recommend this class.

Selling textbook for $15.

If interested, please contact me. My number is 213-705-1096.

Honestly this class isn't an easy A. There are homework assignments every week that are graded based on completion, so thats cool, but the midterm, final, and final paper, are hard. If you actually attend the lectures, listen to him and take notes on everything he says (because even though he posts his slides, he only posts key terms - doesn't go in depth), you'll do well! You kind of have to care about whats going on too, or else it can be really boring. I loved every bit of it though, I took him for soc 102 in the summer too. Try to get Wisam as a TA if you really wanna do good!!! Hes literally the best