Mr Suman is a great guy who really helps you learn the material. It is open note on the tests so make sure you take good notes during lecture. Not an easy A, but I I learned A LOT from this class!

This class is horrible. Granted I took this class my first quarter at UCLA so I was still adjusting, but still no. The material itself is quite interesting - I Aced all my exams, HOWEVER, Suman literally provided little to no instruction on the final paper and I ended up with a C on it. (I actually got an F on it, but majority of the class did as well so he curved it to a C). His graders (under his direction) grade extremely hard. I ended up with a B+ in the course, so I really can't complain that much, but avoid at all costs if you can.

Boring. Course material is outdated and for every study he points out, he give another one that contradicts it. Exams were open note so if you showed up to class and took good notes, it was definitely doable. There is a sure and 2 exams. Exams are all short answer. Not a fan of his teaching style and most of the class was bored out of their minds. I wouldn't put this class on the top of your list to take...

Hi hi! (:
I took Comm 152 with Suman during Fall quarter 2015, and it was my favorite class for that quarter. It was my first quarter at UCLA, and as a transfer student I was excepting the courses to be wayyy more intense and difficult than I'm used to. That being said, Comm152 fit my expectations in a perfectly good way. Suman's class is, not gonna lie, pretty challenging. You are presented with a decent amount of material/reading to understand and retain, but it is all both applicable and interesting. I genuinely feel that Suman and his lectures have helped improve my study habits and way of thinking. The Shallows book is so eye opening! And as for doing well in the course (I got an A-): You MUST take notes. I wrote down nearly everything he said/mentioned during lecture (even when he said not to take notes haha). His exams are open-notes, but that only means he expects more from you. For example, I technically provided correct answers for all the short answer questions that I had missed on the midterm, but I was marked down because my answers weren't the ones he was looking for. So yes, be sure to take good notes, and try not to miss class.
Also, try not to procrastinate with the survey research paper. I talked to four people who waited until the last week or two to start and they got C's (which I guess isn't too bad for starting so late haha, anyways). Suman's a great professor. He doesn't use ppt, he's a straight up lecturer, and I think it's totally appropriate for the course material that you'll be learning :)

Course material is outdated and for every study he points out, he give another one that contradicts it. Exams were open note so if you showed up to class and took good notes, it was definitely doable. There is a sure and 2 exams. Exams are all short answer. Not a fan of his teaching style and most of the class was bored out of their minds. I wouldn't put this class on the top of your list to take...

Suman is a cool guy. He is a good lecturer because he repeats main concepts over and over. The problem comes in with the tests.

For sitcoms and mass media effects, his tests are open note. This seems like a blessing, but I think it actually works against you. His TAs are SUCH HARD GRADERS and he provides no example essays to show you how you should write. I have no idea why points were taken off my tests, and I never will.

The tests consist of 10ish short answer questions from lecture, which are easy if you go to every lecture and note the main points.

The essays on the tests are either based on readings or episodes from sitcoms. There is SO MUCH DENSE READING for com 152 that I recommend you find a buddy, split up the reading, and take detailed notes. Again, I lose most of my points on the essay everytime and have no idea why.

There is an additional essay that is graded just as hard. I've given up trying to get an A in suman's classes. I got a B and I put minimal effort and kind of enjoyed it so I guess it's cool.