He is a good professor; he never wastes one minute of the class. His lectures are jam packed, but he is very knowledgeable & I felt like the courseload was fair. 2 papers, a midterm, and a take-home final. He let us use a page of notes for the midterm, and he gives you all potential prompts beforehand. Not the easiest/most fun GE but it is doable.
Would not recommend if you are looking for an easy GE, however if history genuinely interests you and you love writing you will love it. The entirety of your grade is based on writing, so if you aren't strong in that aspect, it will be difficult. So much writing with barely any feedback on what you did wrong. The professor is very nice though!
The best prof i've had at UCSB so far, you can tell he is extremely passionate about what he does and cares about his students. The class is information heavy but he does a great job of breaking it down in his lectures and keeps the class interesting. He gives a lot of optional supplementary primary source readings. Definitely recommend the class.
PP led class and has good study guides for exams!
Amazing professor! Super accessible outside of class! Lectures are very straightforward and are posted after class! Seems like he enjoys his job and seems to care about his students! Loved this class!
Professor Maar was an awesome professor! He made it clear in his syllabus of what is expected to pass his class. He gives a free pdf of the textbook, so that's super kind of him. My TA was a bit strict on the grading, so your grade in the class will ultimately depend on the TA.
Maar was a pretty good professor. He was quick to respond to emails and would read drafts of your papers. All readings are online and are free, which is the best thing about this class. Some of the readings were useless, but most of them were few page speeches and excerpts.
Maar reads off of his slides, but he still gives more details that are not on the slides. Grade is based off of section participation, two papers, one written midterm, and a final (another essay). Midterm is similar to the writing part of an APUSH exam, and essay prompts are given two weeks before the deadline. Pretty cool class and professor!
I took this course Pass/No Pass because I just needed the Gen Ed. requirements that this class covers. I stopped showing up to lecture after Week 3 and I secured a Pass easily. He told us what would be on the midterm ahead of time and let us use a page of notes during the exam so with minimal preparation, I got a 95% on it. Easiest class at UCSB.
Professor Maar made early US history much more interesting than I thought it was going to be! While he may read off the slides (causes boredom sometimes), the way he conveys the material is rather interesting! Midterm and final were not hard at all, attendance not mandatory but make sure to read the slides!
One of the best professors I've taken. His lectures are interesting and engaging, his exams are extremely straightforward, and there wasn't a heavy workload for this class. 100% would recommend and take again!
Attendance not required because he reads from the slides and posts them, but his lectures were very entertaining and enjoyable. 2 papers were short and straightforward and he gives you the entire exam a few weeks in advance. Great guy, he used a free online textbook and was very accessible outside of class. Take him!