Rios would give definitions to certain sociology terms that made absolutely no sense, during test we were expected to restate it basically without any knowledge of what it meant. He's pretty nice, but VERY full of himself. You'll hear more about his life and his NPR interview than anything else.

One of the most interesting classes I have ever taken. Requires a lot of writing. You must submit responses to the reading online everyday before class. One in-class midterm, one 10 page research paper, and a take home final (or optional in-class presentation). Classes were always engaging and fun. Highly recommended!

He is Such an inspiration especially because he was one of the kids who went to Juvie that we read. He is so cool& truly cares about the kids he is helping and especially his students! Take this class to be able to learn A LOT while sitting back and soaking up all he has to say. Not much is required of his students.Best senioritus class by far!

AMAZING PROFESSOR!!! Really funny and is a positive role model. Keeps the class very interesting, guest speakers and movies. T.A's were reasonable and on top of their game. I recommend him to all Sociology majors.

boring class to take at 8am. all he talks about is poverty, didn't really address other aspects of sociology. Interesting guy, fun class, but i found the topics to be bland and boring.

Professor Rios is one of the best instructors that ive had at UCSB. He is hilarious, and really laid back. Online discussions, no quizzes, midterm was fairly easy and the final is a presentation OR a ten page paper. Your choice, BUT the presentation is amazingly easy. Gives extra credit opportunities and is very humble :)

He is so passionate and helpful! We had guest speakers in class at least once a week including teenage juvenile delinquents, a cop, etc. Really encouraging and is NOT tricking you and wants you to do well!

Rios is an amazing professor. He is very passionate about his work. Very intellectual and funny guy. 5 parts to class 20%, attendance, participation, midterm, online responses and final. Lots of reading, textbooks are required for online responses and class "reflections". Likes hearing out perspective. Highly recommend him :)

It's unfair to rate a professor's competence in such a large and general class like Soc1. If you think he's full of himself, then you're seriously lacking in humor/ sarcasm receptors. Now, grading is divided into 5 parts, 20% ea assign. Yes, attendance is 20%. But you're paying for this right? That 20% is a freebie.

Great professor. hopefully you don't have to take class at 8am. any other time he would rock. T.A.'s are useless. the guy is approachable. talk to him directly.

Awesome professor. Knows what he is talking about, and knows what to say when people have questions. Definitely recommend this professor for Soc 1.

Rios is a good Professor. He knows his stuff and is very clear and fair. Literally goes out of his way to make sure everyone passes his class. Be careful of the TAs though. I felt like some were very incompetent.

really boring class but you have to go because he uses iclickers and that is 20% of your grade. the final and midterm are also worth 20% and both are super easy. another 20% is participation in section and the last 20% is online reading responses. not a bad class, but not super interesting either.

Very fun/informative class. Really brings a lot of things into perspective and makes you analyze the world you live in. You have to give the guy respect, he came from a difficult past and has turned his life around. His stories are not for entertainment, they are relevant to the concepts in class. He always asks for students' input as well.

Don't take this class at 8 am. You'll just fall asleep. He's got a big ego, lectures poorly, everything's about poverty. No actual textbook, the book's basically a reader so going to lectures is a good idea b/c that's where you'll hear the deffinitions needed for the exams. If you take the honors section, you might be forced to write a LONG paper.

Class was interesting, He's funny but a bit of a flake. We wrote a paper, but over all its an easy class.

Interesting topics. Professor Rios is a great speaker. He really made me think about the world around me.

Lectures were interesting once in a while but I have never met a professor that was so into himself. He really spent about 4 lectures telling his life story because he said there might be questions on the test!!! He also had the nerve to ask a question on the test about some quote he made up!!!! Overall very easy class but hes ANNOYING!!

Talks about himself at least once every lecture, brags about how he came from the ghetto and now has a PhD. Had the nerve to tell us to know his life story because we might be tested on it. EASY CLASS. I got an A+ and didn't do the readings. Interesting subject matter, just taught poorly.

EASIEST CLASS AT UCSB. Send your iclicker with someone to lecture and you never have to go. Super easy tests that were only like 30 questions. Highly recommend this class as a GPA booster. His lectures are not helpful for tests though at all because he enjoys talking about himself and his life the entire lecture.

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