EASY A. You need an iclicker though. I sell them second hand for half off. Text 9253389643

KB is a great professor, and this is a super interesting course (as are most SCAND classes), but note that you will have to put effort into this class to get an A. This is the third class I've taken with her. Her exams are always 40 questions multiple choice, one free response, and one textual analysis. During COVID, each part is 10% of your total grade, making each exam 30% of your total grade. So essentially, your final grade relies solely on the exams and final paper.

This class is not intimidating or hard if you know how to take KB's exams. (And assuming you actually do the reading assignments.)

The multiple choice questions are all based on the lectures. She won't put something on there that wasn't talked about in class. The way I studied was re-watching all the lectures on 1.5x speed starting maybe 4-5 days before the exam, taking notes on the PowerPoint slides/what was discussed in class.

Speed is the name of the game for these exams. I recommend knowing the PowerPoints very well, as you will want to get done with the multiple choice portion ASAP. I usually would finish in <10 minutes--you just have to know your stuff, that way you have more time for the free response and textual analysis portion.

For the two written responses, you really just have to analyze the crap out of whatever is given. If it's a reasonable analysis, you will get points. Avoid plot summary and repetition. If you know your stuff her exams are extremely easy. You also are allowed to write in bullet point format which I suggest you do to save time. If you have time left over at the end of the exam, you probably aren't thinking hard enough. Analyze until time runs out. Think of something.

Overall, KB gives you all the tools you need to succeed in this class and all her other classes. Pay attention in lecture and heavily review the PowerPoints and you will be fine. We are always analyzing the material in class, so applying that to the exam should not be hard. Almost always, the written questions are about something we significantly talked about in class, so it's really just a matter of remembering that and maybe adding your own input/additional analysis.

Prof is awesome, but if you get a bad or unhelpful TA you get a bad grade. It's just a dice roll honestly. I felt like I got kind of unlucky because my TA didn't really give helpful feedback, even during office hours they seemed confused as to what they wanted me to do -- even then when I would do it, it still would somehow not be good enough for them. Like, they would deadass go back on their words in the WD, so it was hella misleading. Their grading sucked honestly and I had a lot of people in my class complain about their grades as well. I kind of was counting on this class for a GPA boost which sucks cuz it isn't unless you're super passionate about Scandanavian (which, like, come on -- that's so niche). It really should be, too -- its structure is ridiculously easy.

Lectures are fine but if you hate reading it will be kind of a drag. For me personally, I know I'm more of a writer -- I lowk hate reading and found the lectures uninteresting and disengaging, but it doesn't really matter since the lectures don't count towards your grade whatsoever, other than small points for participation / iClicker stuff.

I would recommend this class, but really make sure you hound your TA for what they want because if they're not clear, you will probably get graded like shite. Tho, again as I aforementioned, how hard or helpful your TA is a complete dice roll lmao seeing as they change every year. I feel like I would have enjoyed this class MUCH more if prof Ball was the one grading but c'est la vie.

Overall, I'd recommend this class, but your grade is honestly just luck of the draw -- if you take this class, you choose to gamble with the TA you get. Just hope you get lucky and don't have to fold.

Lectures: Professor Ball was a good and engaging lecturer. Sometimes, she would go a little fast, but because she records her lectures and posts the slides, it's not too bad. However, sometimes she forgets to record or there is an issue with the recording. Still, she mostly tests on concepts written down on her slides, so it's not too important if she misses a recording.
Tech: She doesn't allow technology (phones, iPads, etc), so you have to take handwritten notes. You also have to buy or rent a Clicker from the UCLA store. However, this is the only thing you need to buy because all of the texts are available online for free.
Quizzes: She gives an in class quiz every class that's answered through the Clicker. It's usually one question per class, and the questions are pretty easy-- as long as you did the readings, you'll be fine. You're also allowed to miss a few questions. The quizzes are mainly for attendance and to make sure you're doing the readings. If you get the question wrong, you don't get points for it though.
Participation: You need to participate 10 times for the quarter. You can talk during class or write a 350 word reading response. The reading response isn't graded on content, so as long as you write something original about the readings that's 350 words, you'll get the participation points.
Homework: The only homework are the readings and reading responses if you want participation points. The readings aren't that long usually, but they can be confusing sometimes. But, she goes over the readings in class, and you aren't required to understand everything about a text. I took notes on the readings, but they weren't that useful, so I don't think it's necessary.
Tests: The tests were 60 fill in the blank and 1 essay response in 50 minutes. There were 3 essay prompts, and you could pick the one you wanted to write about. She grades on content, not format, so you can write bullet points and don't have to write complete sentences. The prompts are all related to discussions we've had in class. She doesn't give feedback on the essay, so if you want to know why she gave you that grade or on how to get a better grade next exam, you'll have to visit her during office hours. The fill in the blank comes from the slides, so as long as you study the slides, relisten to the lectures, and take good lecture notes, you should be fine. Some of the fill in the blanks were easy (like character names), but some were more obscure (like filling in the blanks of quotes). But, they all came from the slides, and texts that weren't analyzed/ portions of the text that weren't analyzed in class weren't tested. The fill in the blank is rote memorization, so studying early/ not cramming is important.
Final: The final was a take home essay. There's no rubric (and again no feedback), but there are in depth instructions, and you can always ask her for clarification. If you did well on the essay portion of the exams, you should be fine.
Extra Credit: She gave 5 points extra credit for filling out the class evaluation.
Overall, I would take a class with Professor Ball again. She was a fair professor and a good lecturer.

Though I don't think this class was super easy, I really enjoyed it and I really like Professor KB. I think being interested in the material makes the class easier, so don't take this class if you have zero interest in fairytales/stories/reading. I actually learned a lot from this class and found KB's lectures informative. For the midterms, I recommend going through her slides and making flashcards about any information you could make a question out of. Also, it's much easier to raise your hand and get participation points in class rather than writing a writing response online. Finished with an A.

Do not take this class unless you love reading. The homework for every class consisted of reading a couple stories and so much happens in each one that it's impossible to remember by the midterm. Sure, the in person clicker questions are easy if you've done the homework, HOWEVER, the questions that are asked in the midterm and final are just crazy difficult. Just imagine trying to memorize the plots, characters, settings, languages, meanings, and symbolisms behind 30-40 different stories that are not even in ENGLISH. truly regret taking this class.

Course itself was not very interesting. I did not find Ball's lectures engaging. Her homework load is pretty manageable - just readings before class, usually they were not very long although there were a couple toughies. Daily quizzes are very easy if you do the reading. You need to speak in class a total of 10 times to get full participation points, and if you don't manage that then you make up by writing 350 word responses to a night's reading - one of these is equivalent to speaking once in class. MIDTERMS: 60 fill-in-the-blank questions and a response to a prompt in 50 minutes. Definitely not easy, but if you have a good memory and just go over the slideshows a day or two before (which is what I did), the FITB's are usually pretty straightforward and you should be able to do one every 30 seconds (leaving 20 mins for the response, which can be in bullet points if you like). Manageable if you can remember stories and class presentations well, and if you are ok with fast paced tests. Overall though, I wouldn't recommend this class. Take SCAND 50 with Patrick Wen instead.

This is not an easy class. The material is interesting, but more often than not, I dozed off because the professor usually read off the slides. There was a good chunk of reading and we had an iClicker quiz on it during the next class. Usually skimming through the reading was enough. Your grade is based on three essays, and each on progressively weighs more. I'm not the best as literature analysis so the essays were a struggle for me to write so if those kinds of essays aren't your thing, I'd probably find another class to take.

I thought that Professor Ball was strict, but fair, if a little bit intense. Her lectures were really engaging, I thought they were interesting all the way through. There was a fair amount of reading, but it was doable. The most stressful part of this class was the quiz that she has *every class*, which you have to buy a clicker remote for, and which makes up a significant part of your grade. But overall I really thought the class was manageable. If you're going to take this class definitely study using the PowerPoint slides. That's the focus of the exams. Don't just randomly read through things.

The lectures were slightly boring. The midterm was thorough but fair. She is a very fair essay grader. You should be able to swing an A with only some work. She is very interesting and understanding of the students.