People who do not do well in this class refuse to read the textbook and complain the professor was bad. She was not, she was very nice during office hours and seemed to really care about her students. I didn't attend lectures a lot, but when I was there people seemed to refuse to engage, but she tried to persuade them to.
This is not something I normally do, but I have to for Gonzalez. She was by far the worst proffesor I have ever had. She clearly has a disregard for the students as she does not understand how to effectively teach. She uses a lot of profanity and is very vulgar. Unfair grader as well. Stay away from this teacher.
Genuinely pretty awful exams had so many mistakes, pretty hard, and are in person also she had outdated essay outlines and examples so it made writing the essay a bit difficult but the essay is graded pretty easy which boosted my grade pretty high memoize EVERYTHING for the exams if you want a decent grade.
I would not recommend this class. Lectures were not well structured and Prof. Gonzales would ask students to explain concepts rather than lecturing herself. Exams were challenging (D+ average) and she discouraged students from coming to her for suggestions or advice on assignments. Any feedback she gave on the final essay was generic and unhelpful.
Quality of her slides are bad so to get the most info you should go to lecture (not mandatory). Readings can get dense especially if you're behind on them. Tests are MCQ but the final is cumulative, lecture heavy but do the readings. Content is overall interesting but the way it is taught is not. Choose topics that interest you for the papers!!
Of all of the classes I've had at UCSB this was one of the most boring and least engaging. The lectures feel uninspired, and Professor Gonzales is not the best lecturer in general. The tests and assignments often feel more like busy work than tools to learn. Overall I feel that while she is a nice enough person she is not a great professor.
The exams aren't too bad if you make sure to go to lectures and basically memorize everything she tells you to memorize off the study guide. However, lecture did feel pretty lengthy and I personally found her to get a bit sassy with students when she was having a bad day. The class wasn't bad but she definitely wasn't the most intriguing.
First time having her and she isn't as bad as these reviews make her out to be. Definitely attend lecture because stuff on slides alone isn't enough, she adds great detail to them. There's a paper draft, final draft, one 5pt assignment, and a mc midterm and cumulative final that make up your grade. Try to keep up w readings otherwise they pile up.
professor gonzales is really nice and funny, but her classes are very paper and test heavy! be prepared to write and do a lot of readings. however, her tests are pretty straightforward (just really long). i honestly like her and would take a course with her again!
This class was incredibly boring. Lectures were unnecessarily long and she wasted sm time waiting for ppl to answer the Q's she asked the class. Unfortunately it is a required class for comm but if you can take it with another professor, do that. Not very difficult but midterm and final (MC) are in person. Txtbook isn't necessary, j go to lecture.
While Gonzales is sweet, her lecturers drag on and are a real snoozer. The slides are very vague and you basically have to write down everything she says which can be difficult as she goes on tangents. Tests aren't terrible, but the essays are challenging. Definitely try to avoid.
Probably my least favorite professor I've ever had. Her lectures are uninteresting, and her exams and papers are overly complicated. It's clear that she is only here for research and doesn't put as much effort into actually helping students learn. Save yourself the absolute headache that is this professor and take something else.