Professor
Rahim Shayegan
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Winter 2021 - Your experience in this class depends very much on your TA, as they are the ones grading all your work. With the online environment, the lectures were asynchronous, and the discussions were synchronous. However, during the later half of the quarter, Professor Shayegan decided to make the class synchronous after he realized "he missed giving live lectures," but lectures were still recorded and posted on CCLE. The professor is a very nice person, and he explains very clearly in all his lectures. However, they were a bit bland, as he was reading off the slides most of the time, but that was really helpful oddly enough since there was so much material. Also, he provided lecture notes every week which were also really helpful. Although they weren't as in depth as his lecture slides, they were a consolidation of all the main points from his lectures each week. I had never taken a history course at UCLA before this, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I took this class as a GE, but I was also interested in the topic. The workload is definitely pretty heavy since there's a lot of readings necessary for this class. However, this class is by no means difficult. It's definitely possible to do well even without completely remembering everything from the readings. One thing that may be slightly difficult from the reading is understanding primary sources and analyzing them. I had never analyzed a translated historical primary source before so it was definitely an adjustment in the beginning. Here's the grading distribution 30% Participation and Attendance in discussion 30% Final Paper 20% Midterm Paper 20% Primary Source Analysis Paper None of the assignments were insanely difficult although writing papers can be time consuming depending on your familiarity with writing historical analysis papers. All the assignments in this class are writing assignments. The primary source analysis paper was open book, and we were given weeks to write it (only 1000-1500 words). The midterm and final were take-home tests, meaning we were given the whole weekend + Monday to complete it. However, the professor and the TA would release the question bank a week in advance so we could prepare ahead of time. Out of the question bank, the professor would choose a few prompts that we'd have to address on the midterm/final. Although there was no word limit, it's recommended each answer to each prompt be around 500-750 words. One con is that the midterm and final were closed-book so there's quite a few things to memorize before each test. Overall, I quite enjoyed this class. Of course, I'd only recommend you take this class if you have some interest in history or at least the topic of this class. I would take this class again with Professor Shayegan and even other classes he'd be teaching. My TA was also really nice and helpful, so I definitely had a good experience with this class.
Winter 2021 - Your experience in this class depends very much on your TA, as they are the ones grading all your work. With the online environment, the lectures were asynchronous, and the discussions were synchronous. However, during the later half of the quarter, Professor Shayegan decided to make the class synchronous after he realized "he missed giving live lectures," but lectures were still recorded and posted on CCLE. The professor is a very nice person, and he explains very clearly in all his lectures. However, they were a bit bland, as he was reading off the slides most of the time, but that was really helpful oddly enough since there was so much material. Also, he provided lecture notes every week which were also really helpful. Although they weren't as in depth as his lecture slides, they were a consolidation of all the main points from his lectures each week. I had never taken a history course at UCLA before this, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I took this class as a GE, but I was also interested in the topic. The workload is definitely pretty heavy since there's a lot of readings necessary for this class. However, this class is by no means difficult. It's definitely possible to do well even without completely remembering everything from the readings. One thing that may be slightly difficult from the reading is understanding primary sources and analyzing them. I had never analyzed a translated historical primary source before so it was definitely an adjustment in the beginning. Here's the grading distribution 30% Participation and Attendance in discussion 30% Final Paper 20% Midterm Paper 20% Primary Source Analysis Paper None of the assignments were insanely difficult although writing papers can be time consuming depending on your familiarity with writing historical analysis papers. All the assignments in this class are writing assignments. The primary source analysis paper was open book, and we were given weeks to write it (only 1000-1500 words). The midterm and final were take-home tests, meaning we were given the whole weekend + Monday to complete it. However, the professor and the TA would release the question bank a week in advance so we could prepare ahead of time. Out of the question bank, the professor would choose a few prompts that we'd have to address on the midterm/final. Although there was no word limit, it's recommended each answer to each prompt be around 500-750 words. One con is that the midterm and final were closed-book so there's quite a few things to memorize before each test. Overall, I quite enjoyed this class. Of course, I'd only recommend you take this class if you have some interest in history or at least the topic of this class. I would take this class again with Professor Shayegan and even other classes he'd be teaching. My TA was also really nice and helpful, so I definitely had a good experience with this class.
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Fall 2018 - This class consisted of 2 tests only. The material is difficult to understand in my opinion, however, he does put out study guides to help. There's a lot of information to retain. I studied a lot but it paid off. I wouldn't say it's an easy A but if you work really hard, you'll do well. However, he is very unclear when he speaks. Good guy though.
Fall 2018 - This class consisted of 2 tests only. The material is difficult to understand in my opinion, however, he does put out study guides to help. There's a lot of information to retain. I studied a lot but it paid off. I wouldn't say it's an easy A but if you work really hard, you'll do well. However, he is very unclear when he speaks. Good guy though.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - (copy paste of my Ancient Near East m110a review because it's the same class). The Iranian history series has some of the best/easiest classes I've taken at UCLA. This is coming from someone who took 110A with Shayegan and 110C with Nabel. The workload is light as all hell. It's 1 midterm (35%), 1 final (50%), and attendance (15% ?) . I may be off by 5% or so for these grade breakdowns, but that's roughly what it is. The format is the same for the whole history series, everything I'm about to say will pretty much apply for 110C (and 110B according to my friends). The main thing you have to take seriously is attendance. I am paraphrasing, but Shayegan told us "I don't care if you sleep, but you have to come." You sign in for attendance in the beginning portion of class (within 10-15 minutes or so). Apparently students were caught signing in for each other, and I'm not sure how. You're allowed one unexcused absence. It's unclear how further absences will affect your grade but they make it clear that it will. It feels like attendance matters more than they say on the syllabus, based on anecdotes from other people saying they got higher overall grades than they expected. Shayegan will learn your name and he will call you out if he sees you talking/creating a ruckus. We had a big lecture hall and the man still saw and heard everything like an owl. The midterm and the final are both a combination of 1. short answers, which can range from identifying terms, to providing dates, to answering brief questions (i.e. reasons why x battle was won), and 2. multi-paragraph essays (I can't remember if it was 1 or 2 essays). There is a study guide for each one that tells you everything that might appear on the exam. I highly recommend making a classroom document for those. He tells you which questions require the dates. There is a review session in the class before the midterm/final where he'll answer all your questions/explain what he's looking for on XYZ portion of the study guide. There are readings, but you really don't need to do them. Just refer to the lecture notes and the slides, which he conveniently provides online. Paying attention in class will help, he'll mention when something's important for the exams. The only time I lifted a finger for this class was right before the midterm and right before the final. It was great. If you have a problem with the grading on your midterm you can take it to a TA and they might mark you up a few points from your original exam if you have a solid case. Shayegan is a pretty fun lecturer. I've heard people have trouble understanding his odd British-Persian accent, but I didn't have problems personally. He knows a lot and he'll answer your questions in/after class. He is a brilliant man.
Fall 2018 - (copy paste of my Ancient Near East m110a review because it's the same class). The Iranian history series has some of the best/easiest classes I've taken at UCLA. This is coming from someone who took 110A with Shayegan and 110C with Nabel. The workload is light as all hell. It's 1 midterm (35%), 1 final (50%), and attendance (15% ?) . I may be off by 5% or so for these grade breakdowns, but that's roughly what it is. The format is the same for the whole history series, everything I'm about to say will pretty much apply for 110C (and 110B according to my friends). The main thing you have to take seriously is attendance. I am paraphrasing, but Shayegan told us "I don't care if you sleep, but you have to come." You sign in for attendance in the beginning portion of class (within 10-15 minutes or so). Apparently students were caught signing in for each other, and I'm not sure how. You're allowed one unexcused absence. It's unclear how further absences will affect your grade but they make it clear that it will. It feels like attendance matters more than they say on the syllabus, based on anecdotes from other people saying they got higher overall grades than they expected. Shayegan will learn your name and he will call you out if he sees you talking/creating a ruckus. We had a big lecture hall and the man still saw and heard everything like an owl. The midterm and the final are both a combination of 1. short answers, which can range from identifying terms, to providing dates, to answering brief questions (i.e. reasons why x battle was won), and 2. multi-paragraph essays (I can't remember if it was 1 or 2 essays). There is a study guide for each one that tells you everything that might appear on the exam. I highly recommend making a classroom document for those. He tells you which questions require the dates. There is a review session in the class before the midterm/final where he'll answer all your questions/explain what he's looking for on XYZ portion of the study guide. There are readings, but you really don't need to do them. Just refer to the lecture notes and the slides, which he conveniently provides online. Paying attention in class will help, he'll mention when something's important for the exams. The only time I lifted a finger for this class was right before the midterm and right before the final. It was great. If you have a problem with the grading on your midterm you can take it to a TA and they might mark you up a few points from your original exam if you have a solid case. Shayegan is a pretty fun lecturer. I've heard people have trouble understanding his odd British-Persian accent, but I didn't have problems personally. He knows a lot and he'll answer your questions in/after class. He is a brilliant man.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - The Iranian history series has some of the best/easiest classes I've taken at UCLA. This is coming from someone who took 110A with Shayegan and 110C with Nabel. The workload is light as all hell. It's 1 midterm (35%), 1 final (50%), and attendance (15% ?) . I may be off by 5% or so for these grade breakdowns, but that's roughly what it is. The format is the same for the whole history series, everything I'm about to say will pretty much apply for 110C (and 110B according to my friends). The main thing you have to take seriously is attendance. I am paraphrasing, but Shayegan told us "I don't care if you sleep, but you have to come." You sign in for attendance in the beginning portion of class (within 10-15 minutes or so). Apparently students were caught signing in for each other, and I'm not sure how. You're allowed one unexcused absence. It's unclear how further absences will affect your grade but they make it clear that it will. It feels like attendance matters more than they say on the syllabus, based on anecdotes from other people saying they got higher overall grades than they expected. Shayegan will learn your name and he will call you out if he sees you talking/creating a ruckus. We had a big lecture hall and the man still saw and heard everything like an owl. The midterm and the final are both a combination of 1. short answers, which can range from identifying terms, to providing dates, to answering brief questions (i.e. reasons why x battle was won), and 2. multi-paragraph essays (I can't remember if it was 1 or 2 essays). There is a study guide for each one that tells you everything that might appear on the exam. I highly recommend making a classroom document for those. He tells you which questions require the dates. There is a review session in the class before the midterm/final where he'll answer all your questions/explain what he's looking for on XYZ portion of the study guide. There are readings, but you really don't need to do them. Just refer to the lecture notes and the slides, which he conveniently provides online. Paying attention in class will help, he'll mention when something's important for the exams. The only time I lifted a finger for this class was right before the midterm and right before the final. It was great. If you have a problem with the grading on your midterm you can take it to a TA and they might mark you up a few points from your original exam if you have a solid case. Shayegan is a pretty fun lecturer. I've heard people have trouble understanding his odd British-Persian accent, but I didn't have problems personally. He knows a lot and he'll answer your questions in/after class. He is a brilliant man.
Fall 2018 - The Iranian history series has some of the best/easiest classes I've taken at UCLA. This is coming from someone who took 110A with Shayegan and 110C with Nabel. The workload is light as all hell. It's 1 midterm (35%), 1 final (50%), and attendance (15% ?) . I may be off by 5% or so for these grade breakdowns, but that's roughly what it is. The format is the same for the whole history series, everything I'm about to say will pretty much apply for 110C (and 110B according to my friends). The main thing you have to take seriously is attendance. I am paraphrasing, but Shayegan told us "I don't care if you sleep, but you have to come." You sign in for attendance in the beginning portion of class (within 10-15 minutes or so). Apparently students were caught signing in for each other, and I'm not sure how. You're allowed one unexcused absence. It's unclear how further absences will affect your grade but they make it clear that it will. It feels like attendance matters more than they say on the syllabus, based on anecdotes from other people saying they got higher overall grades than they expected. Shayegan will learn your name and he will call you out if he sees you talking/creating a ruckus. We had a big lecture hall and the man still saw and heard everything like an owl. The midterm and the final are both a combination of 1. short answers, which can range from identifying terms, to providing dates, to answering brief questions (i.e. reasons why x battle was won), and 2. multi-paragraph essays (I can't remember if it was 1 or 2 essays). There is a study guide for each one that tells you everything that might appear on the exam. I highly recommend making a classroom document for those. He tells you which questions require the dates. There is a review session in the class before the midterm/final where he'll answer all your questions/explain what he's looking for on XYZ portion of the study guide. There are readings, but you really don't need to do them. Just refer to the lecture notes and the slides, which he conveniently provides online. Paying attention in class will help, he'll mention when something's important for the exams. The only time I lifted a finger for this class was right before the midterm and right before the final. It was great. If you have a problem with the grading on your midterm you can take it to a TA and they might mark you up a few points from your original exam if you have a solid case. Shayegan is a pretty fun lecturer. I've heard people have trouble understanding his odd British-Persian accent, but I didn't have problems personally. He knows a lot and he'll answer your questions in/after class. He is a brilliant man.
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