There were only three things graded and one was attendance and participation. She is very knowledgable on the topic, but is extremely unorganized and 90% of the readings are her own. Also, is very inconsiderate of her students time as she never finished lectures on time and schedules review sessions during finals that don't end until 10pm.
The material of this course is fine. My complaint is that the flow of the course and the way things are assigned makes me want to drop out. A 10 page midterm with the prompt posted a week before?? We have an assignment due in 3 days at midnight and the prompt is nowhere to be found. There's no upload link for hw due tomorrow. Some of us have lives!
Professor Holdrege was super caring and addressed a lot of the concerns I had throughout the quarter. The material is interesting and she is clearly very passionate about it. Lectures were sometimes slow, but very informative. Grade really depends on your TA. You have to put work into the online assignments and essays, so not the easiest GE.
She seems nice enough i guess but the course i took with her was a complete nightmare. Terrible lecturer and organizational skills, the flow of the class made no sense, no feedback or grades to go off of. This was a gigantic waste of time and i feel DUMBER for having taken a course with this clueless professor.
Cannot describe how much this professor infuriated me the entire quarter. I understand that we spent this quarter in a pandemic, but if that gives students no excuse, it gives her no excuse either. 10 page essay due in one week. During global outrage. 200+ pages of reading a week. Lectures always late. Pure disregard for our time and mental health.
Midterm/Final Essay (7 pages/10 pages). Two website assignments (4 pages each). She is honestly the most boring, convoluted professor I've had. Couldn't stand going to lecture but maybe it's interesting if you like religious studies. Good thing is that the class fills lots of requirements.
sweet lady. she encourages participation and is nice enough to hold review sessions for the class. She can talk all night long, but will give you all of the necessary information you need for the final essays. Though I am not interested by this topic, I enjoyed her enthusiasm and passion for the subject.
She talk slow and has a script for her lectures which are boring and longs. She cares about the students which is nice and offers a review session for both the final and the midterm which are both take home and gives you all the answers if you put in some work. The class is easy but boring. Also doenst post slides just makes you buy a reader for it
This course is a bit challenging, but if you work hard you can easily earn an A. Taking notes and attending each class is key to passing this class. There are two major assignments for this course: a 7-page midterm + 12-page final. Don't let the page length scare you--I found the final to be easy. Admittedly, the midterm was a bit more difficult
If I could describe this class in one word, it would be confusing. My TA was able to explain it clearer during section, but it's definitely a hard subject to tackle without prior knowledge of the Religion. No tests, just a midterm/ take home final essay, which was amazing. You sign-in at every lecture, so attendance is mandatory. Lots of reading.
Don't read--u read w/her in class, but will need Reader to write papers. Midterm was 7 pg take-home paper w/a prompt that pretty much spells it out for u; broken down into 2 essays. Easy. Final: take-home paper, 12 pgs, a little more wiggle room on prompt but in-class discussion makes it easy. Holdrege is really caring & nice. Attendance mandatory.
I absolutely loved this class. Barbara is very knowledgable about the material and her lectures are very interesting. No tests, just papers and you get a week to write each one. Only two homework assignments that are pretty easy, and a lot of reading, but the material is interesting so its not too bad. Highly recommend, great class and professor!
she's nice but her class made me want to die not worth it just for a GE
Professor H is possibly one of the hardest, but nicest teachers I have ever had. I had her for Hinduism, and never having taken a hinduism course and this was upper div, she really helped me through the quarter. Expect to read, and expect take home midterm and final papers. SHOW UP TO CLASS, PARTICIPATE, AND YOU WILL PASS. Only buy class outline.
Prof. Holdrege was a delightful professor- enthusiastic and passionate about the material. I didn't buy any of the books or reader but went to lecture. As long as you take diligent notes and pay attention the class is an easy A. The essays, although long, are easy to pull together will all the material she discuses in class.
Barbara Holdrege is amazing. She really loves her work and it shows. This is one of the best classes on campus
Not a bad class but not a good class, I thought it would be a lot more interesting. She speaks in a lot of Sanskrit so its hard to follow. I didnt read the book at all and it cost like $60. The take-home midterm/final is 2 essays, one normal and one with dialogue, but they're easy to BS. I have no idea what i learned in that class.
She is a wonderful teacher. She makes lecture very interesting and easy to understand. For her Gods of India class, the exams are papers and since I have no problem whipping out a 10 page paper, it was a piece of cake. She was an angel and takes time to get to know her students! take her class!
i hated this class. i was so excited for it & it ended up being so convoluted. Barbara is an extremely well educated woman with A LOT of knowledge to share. But she forgets that most of us can't understand sanskrit and know how to spell it on our own. Final essays were HARD and section with Schwartz was useless. SO hard to pay attention in lecture
really lovely professor who is an expert in her field. Go to lectures, make good notes and you will be fine, but it is a complex class and you need to pay attention. very interesting though.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. She is very knowledgeable in this field, but she is not very clear when teaching. This class is not an easy A. Her class doesn't even cover basic GE's. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. It is extremely hard and not as interesting as you originally would think it would be. The midterm and final are long take home essays that are hard to understand. Do not take unless you absolutely have to.
If you are serious about religious studies and love to learn... I recommend Holdrege! She is very intelligent and dedicated to her students. I previously had RS19 & 145 w/ her & am now in her 158C course. What she teaches is deep and meaningful... so work hard and her classes might change your life! :)
Easily my least favorite class I've taken at ucsb, actually ever. Lecture is mandatory and drags on forever. Not to mention that the class gets let out five minutes late everyday. This class is not an easy A!! She is very knowledgeable about what she's teachings but incredibly critical. Basically don't take this class. It's hard and boring!