I absolutely loved taking this class with Prof. Smoak. He was funny during lecture and the lectures were engaging. This is probably the best class I've taken at UCLA so far. It does help a little if you have some prior knowledge to Christianity or Judaism, which could probably be a problem for some people. Since it is a writing class your TA probably plays a big factor in whether or not you like/do well in the class. I had a great TA. The workload isn't heavy: a one page reading response every week, 2 papers, 1 midterm and 1 final. The midterm and final were pretty easy (the final was easier) and not worth much of the grade but mostly meant to help you get information about your paper. Paper #2 is a research paper and required a lot of effort, but it was still interesting.

This is probably my favorite class that I’ve taken at UCLA. The professor is very knowledgeable and is able to explain the topics thoroughly. Being that he lived in Jerusalem for a number of years, I would say that he is certainly an expert on the material. He gives you thorough study guides for the tests, and does not expect you to know anything that he did not mention in class. There are two writing assignments, but they are not bad at all. Being that I’m not a writer, I was very concerned going into a writing to class that it would be too much of a workload and that the essays would be too hard. This was certainly not the case. The professor was more than willing to help any students with questions, and was very helpful when discussing the essay in office hours. I would 100% recommend this class, as well as any other class taught by this professor.

Easy class in general. The tests are okay, you just have to memorize a whole bunch of things like who did this, what is this artifact, when did this happen, etc,. Other than that, the tests are straightforward and easy. Smoak as a lecturer is okay, I thought his material was interesting but I could also see how some people thought it was a snooze fest. He assigns a lot of readings but honestly I didn't read a single one, all you have to do is pay attention in class and you should get an easy A.

This class was pretty easy for me and reading about history is not my thing. We had to do I think two papers, a group project, and weekly short writing assignments. All of them are pretty easy and the readings are not hard to follow. The TAs are really nice and flexible (attending office hours is encouraged). The tests were also easy. It was mostly memorization I believe. The professor tells you what is going to be on the final and gives “review terms/questions” for you to make your own study guide. The group project is the most challenging task of the whole course since you come up with a writing system with 3 other people.

This class was really interesting and the lectures were pretty interesting to follow along. The professor was clearly knowledgable on the subject and obviously wanted his students to understand the material. The group project at the end of the year was pretty interactive and refreshing to do. Definitely would recommend this GE to anyone who is even remotely curious about the origins of writing. I am also selling the course material ("The Story of Writing") for $10. Email me at donnatopia15@gmail.com if interested.

I really enjoyed this class. Professor Smoak was very helpful in all facets of class including questions on the material and writing portions of class. The class is made up of 1 midterm, 1 research paper, participation, and the Final Exam. Be sure to take notes on your computer because slides go by fast. He gives study guides for both exams and the tests are largely similar to them. He’s a fair grader and offered 1 extra credit opportunity for 5 points on the midterm. I recommend taking his class. Just keep up on the term paper and study guides and you will do fine.

I enjoyed this class a lot and it really helped me fulfill a number of requirements including writing II, a GE, and a lower division requirement for my planned entrepreneurship minor. The teacher was a really cool and nice guy who taught the class in a really engaging way. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the city of Jerusalem from a few different perspectives and in different ways. His tests were pretty fair (although if he has a section where he tells you to memorize dates he wants you to really memorize dates; he actually gave us the events and we had to write the exact numbers on the midterm). The homework was just one page, double spaced writing prompt about interesting topics once a week and I thought it was really easy. Also, those writing assignments were really cool because all of what you think and write about in them led up to what you could use for your actual papers in the class which also weren't too hefty compared to other writing II classes. Overall I'd highly recommend taking this class with professor Smoak.

For some reason, people like Professor Smoak.
I found the content boring and stuff and I guess Professor Smoak was nice-ish. BUT you should know about this annoying thing he did: he didn't post slides for some lectures. Our TA said it was because some people skipped. I never skipped but obviously it still affected me. I mean. It would be nice to tell us before you start lecture that you don't plan to post the slides, and maybe keep them up for long enough for us to copy everything.
A review under Asian M20 complained about the workload, but I kind of disagree. The work is a lot, but it isn't difficult so it ends up taking just a little of your time. I literally finished the final paper in a day
(with several breaks). The group project has the potential to be fun, unless you strongly dislike your group members (like I did). But you should try your best because you WANT to win that competition.
Also, if any TA or the professor tells you that you don't need to memorize dates, don't fall for that. Learn all your dates.

Selling "Jerusalem: One City Three Faiths" by Karen Armstrong email me if you're interested! marisachu24@g.ucla.edu

I signed up for this class after taking his AN NE 12W course Jerusalem: Holy City. I loved his class then and I enjoyed this one thoroughly. Professor Smoak is definitely one of my favorite professors here at UCLA, and he delivers both intelligent, engaging lectures and helpful assignments. There may have been a little more work for this course than some other G.E.s on campus, but nothing was assigned without reason. Every bit of work I did in the course helped me understand the material better. Overall a great course.