Professor
Andrew Ward
1 of 1
AD
Most Helpful Review
Summer 2018 - Professor Ward was honestly one of the best professors I have ever encountered at UCLA (and I have taken many classes with many instructors). He is super knowledgeable about the material, but he's also funny, lighthearted, understanding, and approachable. The class breakdown was as follows: final (40%), midterm (30%), short paper (20%), participation (10%), possibility of 2 EC points through SONA. Both he and my peers said the exams were difficult, but I didn't find them all that tricky. He asks concept questions, but they are very detailed. So I suppose if you didn't study in a detailed, rigorous way, you might find the tests a little "unfair." Regardless, his grading system produces an UNBELIEVABLY forgiving curve: He takes your score out of 50 (e.g., 39/50), but instead of multiplying and then curving, he just adds 50 raw points (i.e., 39/50 --> 89/100). So although you may have gotten a real C+ (39 x 2 = 78), he bumps you up to a B+ (89). To study, I did testing and recall challenges for lecture slides, but I barely bothered to read the textbook. In the end, I scored a 46/50 on both the midterm and the final, a 95 on the paper, and 100 on participation, and ended up with an A+. Some important things to note: participation in this class didn't mean just showing up. So if you showed up for everything, but didn't say all that much, you would NOT get a 100 on participation. You needed to form relationships with the TA and Professor to get full credit. Also, don't bother buying the textbook; it's a waste of money. Like I said, I barely read the textbook and got an A+ in the class. Lastly, don't miss lecture; his slides are bare, and he goes into way more detail in class. I think the consequences of missing a class are what distinguishes an A and a B in Ward's course.
Summer 2018 - Professor Ward was honestly one of the best professors I have ever encountered at UCLA (and I have taken many classes with many instructors). He is super knowledgeable about the material, but he's also funny, lighthearted, understanding, and approachable. The class breakdown was as follows: final (40%), midterm (30%), short paper (20%), participation (10%), possibility of 2 EC points through SONA. Both he and my peers said the exams were difficult, but I didn't find them all that tricky. He asks concept questions, but they are very detailed. So I suppose if you didn't study in a detailed, rigorous way, you might find the tests a little "unfair." Regardless, his grading system produces an UNBELIEVABLY forgiving curve: He takes your score out of 50 (e.g., 39/50), but instead of multiplying and then curving, he just adds 50 raw points (i.e., 39/50 --> 89/100). So although you may have gotten a real C+ (39 x 2 = 78), he bumps you up to a B+ (89). To study, I did testing and recall challenges for lecture slides, but I barely bothered to read the textbook. In the end, I scored a 46/50 on both the midterm and the final, a 95 on the paper, and 100 on participation, and ended up with an A+. Some important things to note: participation in this class didn't mean just showing up. So if you showed up for everything, but didn't say all that much, you would NOT get a 100 on participation. You needed to form relationships with the TA and Professor to get full credit. Also, don't bother buying the textbook; it's a waste of money. Like I said, I barely read the textbook and got an A+ in the class. Lastly, don't miss lecture; his slides are bare, and he goes into way more detail in class. I think the consequences of missing a class are what distinguishes an A and a B in Ward's course.
1 of 1
