Prepare for a heavy workload - lots of readings, films, and memorization required. But if you put in the effort, unstuckstudy AI and other study tools can really help you succeed on the tough exams.

Although this class has 140 pages of reading every week and a film assigned every week, it is totally doable if you keep up. The guest lectures might be a bit boring, take notes it helps. During the TA strike he actually included many curves, some people's grades were raised a whole letter grade.

Ken was amazing in English 22. English 23 was a bit less engaging for me because of the nature of the material. I also think parts of the lectures were redundant and unnecessary. Classes felt long at times, but I did enjoy the message behind his lectures and think he's a really sweet person.

If you are one of the people who knows they are great at remembering things and multiple choice tests, this is a phenomenal GE. Not the most interesting class, but tests are always curved and if you're not lazy and actually do the work they should be pretty easy. People complaining here must be either mid test takers or simply not up to par.

this class had the potential to be interesting but the tests were super tedious and difficult for no reason. over 150 pages of reading per week which was usually not interesting, overall a difficult class to manage if you are taking other hard classes. ken doesn't really do much in this class though its all speakers and readings.

There are about 150 pages of reading and a 2-hour film every week, so if you don't want to put in the work, do not take the class. Ken did not handle the TA strike well and canceled the final leaving many students with failing grades due to poor performance on the midterm. He did little to help students do well in his course and had no sympathy.

He gave too much reading. He gave a very difficult exam. I nearly failed this class.

Good class to take if you complete the weekly films (1-2hrs) and readings (100-150pg). Taking notes during lecture is also important. Most of the people complain that it is difficult, but this is because they didn't do the work. Attendance is very important for grade and taken with iClicker. Ken is very nice and understading

The class is definitely unique and one of a kind. The subject matter is interesting for most people at UCSB but the class is massive which makes the grading weird. It's based off his YouTube which we comment on and tests. Very fair but honestly the tests had some extremely specific questions that were opinion based which low key made the class hard

this class isn't super difficult, but a lot of time needs to be devoted to the course though. both the midterm and final are heavily based on the material learned in lecture (weekly videos, weekly documentaries, readings, and lectures). his lectures are generally flat, but if you dedicate time to the course you'll do well.

Only take this class if you have the time and energy to pay attention to films, lectures, and have a lot of free time to do his boring readings. If you are taking classes that are really time consuming don't take this class unless you are pass no passing it.

Ken was a cool person but a terrible professor. He was not engaging, lecture was monotonous and he just read off students' comments without telling us anything new. Long weekly readings/films for homework. The midterm and final asked obscure, nitpicky questions and were weighed to be the majority of our grade which made a lot of students suffer.

Do not take this for a GE if you are looking for a low-effort class. His lectures were incredibly boring and halfway through all he would do was read other students comments on discussion posts. There are films and readings every week that you have to memorize if you want to pass the class. Most of his class material is completely subjective.

Lectures were extremely boring and difficult to pay attention to (and also mandatory). There were also additional lecture videos we would have to watch outside of class times. Exams are extremely specific which means you have to really pay attention to all the readings, videos, and lectures. Overall just too much work for a GE and not worth it.

Lecture are long and boring and extra lectures online. You better take notes during those lectures, since he will randomly pick statistical information from those lectures for the exam. There is one reading and a documentary discussion. The writing is acceptable, but you need to remember every important point in reading and film to get high score.

Exams are based on random facts from random lectures and readings, but as long as you actually do the assignments you can phone it in and get a passing grade, which if you are taking his English classes for GE like me, is all you really need. I like him otherwise, good lecturer and seems like a nice guy.

Love you Hiltner

this class is NOT and easy GE so don't take if that's what you were hoping for. the class is entirely memorization and his lectures are mandatory even though he makes you watch the video lectures because that's what you need to know for the tests. highly recommend pass/no pass for this class.

Do not take this class if you are looking for an easy GE. His exams are ridiculously hard and the only possible way you can hope to do well is if you take extensive notes on all of the readings, lectures, and films. He says that he wants you to understand the main objective of his assignments, but tests you on random statistics and small details.

made us watch a video of him talking every single lecture rather than him talking irl. If i wanted to watch his videos i would rather watch them at home. forced us to attend too with his iclickers. exams were based on what his comments were after this boring lecture videos, which was even worse.also made us watch biased documentaries.

This was almost entirely memorization! The lectures were so boring. There are so many extra materials and it takes hours to go over it, but the two exams rely on insanely specific details. He preaches accessibility yet attendance is 20% of the class with no permitted absences, and many documentaries had sensitive topics with no warning.

This class was a lot of reading with some randomly specific facts that you were required to know on tests, which was tricky. But hey, its Hiltner, you gotta love the guy.

I would only recommend this class if ur going to pass/no pass. homework is easy and class is quite interesting + Hiltner is obv passionate about it. However tests are horribly unfair. A midterm & final are 60% of the grade and he asks super specific obscure questions. Class itself is good but bc of the tests I can't recommend which is sad :(

Weekly readings and films + comments for each of them. No section but you have to watch his online lecture. midterm on the first half of class and the other is for other half of class. Lots of work is required for this class, Iclicker is how lecture attendance is taken. Not sure why our tests are all on paper but this class is for climate crisis.