Not easy. You will need to read multiple books to get an A. Midterm and Final multiple choice were easy, but the ID'S were usually terms hardly talked about in lecture. Weekly 16 question HW and pop quiz at the end of every class. Prof. is hard to understand and goes on tangents, often going a few minutes past lecture time. Interesting nonetheless.

If you have an Asian background, have taken APUSH or any other rigorous history class, and is able to go to every 8AM lecture and listen to at least parts of it, this course is going to be very easy. Lectures are very interesting, and I really appreciate professor Zhao for incorporating Santa Barbara history into the contents of this course.

Really interesting, enjoyable lectures. Instead of just listing events and dates like other history profs, she gave anecdotal examples, and also talked a lot about women's history. The exams are the same as the hw questions so pretty easy to study for. There was a lot of reading but not unbearable, and the books weren't too boring.

This professor made ASAM1 unnecessarily difficult. The required books cost $70, which I couldn't afford. The exams were harder than my upper-division courses in Chem E, and the grading system made it nearly impossible to pass. I wouldn't recommend this class. Spent more time studying for the class to fail, than my Chem E classes that I passed..

Respectfully, it's very hard to understand her and follow along with what she says, especially at 8 am. Plus, everyone is on their phone scrolling. The Midterm was pretty difficult; there wasn't a clear study guide that you would try to memorize a few things, so you're forced to memorize A TON of stuff:( I definitely suggest another class if u can!

Her lectures often are just her rambling and is pretty unclear in the direction she takes. It's hard to understand her accent at 8 in the morning along with her lecturing style.