Okay you guys... I took this cluster Fall 2020-Spring 2021 and I thought I should finally give my thoughts just in case there is a freshman like me who has no idea if this cluster is right for them. I decided to take this cluster by literally winging it, I remember there was literally only one spot left when my enrollment time came. Anyways, after taking this class for a year I would say...... drum roll please.... TAKE THIS CLUSTER. I recommend especially if you were like me and came in with no GE's satisfied. This course is definitely worth it and when I look at my DARS, so many GE's are out of the way. This cluster is especially useful if you are pre-med bc it gets a ton of those GE's out of the way. The workload isn't that bad tbh in 60A you have 2 essays and the same for 60B and 60CW is different for every TA. **Side note I had Sam for my TA and she's the best people were literally fighting over her lmao but def recommend her. She doesn't grade on participation, doesn't grade harshly, and super helpful on essays. For 60CW I took Hanslowe (the seminar on cults) and he grades easy too and participation isn't strict.***

To get to my kinda point...
Take this class not only because of the GE's it gets out of the way but also because you do not have to stress about finding another class that isn't full by the time your enrollment appointment comes up, you get your writing II out of the way, and if you have not yet satisfied EngComp 3 you LITERALLY GET PRIORITY.

Don't listen to those Reddit posts saying that taking clusters ruins your GPA bc they're lying. If past me was reading this I hope I convinced her. ALso I am not re-reading this to check for mistakes, I'm too lazy. But you're welcome.

Decker is terribleeeee lol we always have a joke about how much he sucks. Vavreck and Fink are g's though, I absolutely love them. The class itself is really interesting, don't do the reading though, don't buy the course reader it's $60 and you'll open it once. Super fun and entertaining, would recommend.

Don't listen to everyone saying not to sign up for the clusters!!! I am a stem major and totally recommend the history cluster. It was fun and relatively easy. Basically the four different profession rotate giving lectures. Your fall grade consists of the midterm and two papers. Some lectures are suppperrr interesting, (I liked Vavrek and the musicology teacher) but Decker is so boring I stopped going to his lecture. There is very little to no homework at all. Fall quarter you read two books and choose one of them to write an essay on. I actually enjoyed the books we read. The midterm was pretty easy but you get docked off a lot of points for the smallest mistakes. If you have a good TA (shoutout to Leslie) then they will help you get good grades on the papers which will ensure a good grade in the class. Since there is no final for the class I skipped lots of classes after the midterm since all we had left was the Polling Paper which had nothing to do with the lectures. Not sure if winter quarter is just as easy but if you like history I def recommend taking the cluster to knock out a bunch of GEs.

Decker is probably the sweetest but most boring professor I’ve had at UCLA. The dude is a little boring but you manage to get through it. However, again he’s a very nice guy. Would not recommend taking this cluster, take another one if you want the credit. This cluster is an interesting time in history but the faculty is very disorganized in teaching it. As a history major, they do a poor job of keeping it on a time sequence. The class bores you with readings that are too long and focusing on things that are very bland in the Sixties with no time frame whatsoever. Adam Bakr is an awesome TA though, if he’s a TA next year you should Forsure take it.

I just want to start off that I would never leave a negative comment out of spite or for no good reasoning, but this class has been the main reason why I've literally hated my first quarter at ucla during the fall. the course is so dense and while the material is interesting if you enjoy history, the grading system is completely flawed. I have no actual negative comments for the professors personally because I think they're all passionate about their subjects in American history during the 60s in their own ways. But the TAs are the ones who will completely determine your grade in the class. You can get an A+ with a good TA but with a bad TA you can get a B- or less. Do NOT sign up for Alexandra James as your TA. In my entire life, I've never had a harsher grader with the most unreasonable grading rubric. Her discussion classes are boring to say the least and completely useless and unhelpful in really understanding the course. And if you turn in any sort of essay that you thought you did well or decent on, WRONG because she will find ways to give you the worst grade that she possibly could ever give you. I don't understand it when teachers or TAs give out bad grades to students who actually try hard because they really have nothing to loose on their part, and the students in my class HAVE tried to survive her discussion, but I genuinely believe that she finds joy in giving out horrible grades. I've always been a good student, not because I'm abnormally smart or anything but because I actually try even when others don't, and she is the worst communicator and grader that I've ever encountered my entire life. Do not take her, you'll thank yourself later.

If you're looking to take a cluster, I'd say this is one of the better ones, but to be honest I don't think its worth it. There were literally 3 grades that went into the garde book and that casued me to get a B-. Participation assignments literally didnt count towards the grade either. The contect is super cool if you're into history. The midterm was easy if you take notes. It was a paper you had to write in an hour and a half; kind of reminded me of an AP test from highschool. One drawback of a cluster though is that it's 6 units, which means when your enrollment pass come around, you have to decide to enroll in this cluster or other classes, not both. And I wanted to take 4 classes but because this cluster is 6 units I would reach the 19 unit limit with only 3 classes. Anyways, if you're deadset on taking a cluster i'd take this one.

If you are looking for an easy cluster, do not take this class. The lectures were often engaging and on important topics, but the discussions are extremely long and drawn out. Who your TA is for this cluster pretty much decides your grade. The grade is pretty much based on only three papers, which makes things challenging if you get a bad grade on one of them.

BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE TA YOU PICK!!!! THEY DETERMINE YOUR GRADE!
If you love politics this class is for you..
I loved this class overall, there are 4 profs, Decker, Fink, Peris, and Vavrek. Each one is very different in teaching style and personality (some are boring and some sing and dance around). FINK IS THE BEST!! Homework is usually reading, listening to music, and occasionally watching a movie. Some topics are super engaging while others may put you to sleep in the lecture hall, but theres something for everyone! There were 3 writing assignments 2 being a midterm/final. Your TA grades your papers and they can be very picky about word choice depending on the topic (only certain TAs) and it can be the difference of an A and a B as your grade on the paper (I'm still salty about it an entire quarter later). Theres a discussion section once a week where PARTICIPATION IS SUPER IMPORTANT! Each TA does something different during section. I love this class most of the time and look forward to B (winter) and CW (spring).

About the class in general -- I LOVE the 60s cluster. It's a really dynamic and in-depth look at a genuinely fascinating period of US history. I especially enjoy getting to make connections between the arts and the politics of the period. The musicology portion is easily the most interesting part of the class -- you cannot miss Fink's lectures, just because they're so darn interesting. Vavreck and Peris do a really, really good job teaching the polisci/history parts of the class, too. Overall, the cluster has already taught me so much about how to look at history, arts, culture, politics and more in a really critical way.

Onto Prof. Decker... I'm an English major, so I thought that I would really dig the English portion of the Cluster. However, something about the way Decker teaches made the English lectures and essay writing process unbearable. He is a really knowledgeable and genuinely nice professor who clearly knows his stuff -- I just don't know how equipped he is to teach English as a GE. He's so fixated on semiotics, which is just a ridiculously overcomplicated way to teach introductory literary analysis. The English paper requirements were frustrating to me as an English major, because they took away a lot of creative and intellectual freedom. On top of that, he's unfortunately just a very dry lecturer (especially in comparison to the other three professors). I still really enjoy the Cluster, I just found myself consistently frustrated with the English portion.

This class is the main reason I was extremely stressed during the fall and winter quarters. Every Wednesday night I was staying up until 4-ish AM just to finish all the readings, which didn't even feel relevant to the lectures.

However, I felt that the class itself had very interesting material. Despite hurting both my mental health and my sleep schedule, I would take this class again because the lectures were genuinely interesting.