If you're interested in human evolution at all, definitely take this class as a GE. All the lectures are recorded with both video and audio so if you have to miss a class, you can just watch it later. There were a couple chapters of the textbook to read each week, accompanied with short asynchronous quizzes where you can just keep answering questions until you get 100%. The only other weekly homework is a 10 minute response to a textbook question or two (for section). So, in my opinion, the workload was pretty light, and if you're genuinely interested in the course material, the readings are really interesting. As for the midterm and final, yeah, they're worth a lot of the grade but honestly if you just actually do the short readings, and then rewatch the lectures and go over the detailed study guide he gives you before the tests, you will be fine. Also, Prof Wood has a good sense of humor and seemed extremely passionate about the topic. I feel like other reviewers interpreted his kinda monotone vocals as a lack of interest in the subject, but I don't think that's the case. So, moral of the story is don't let the other reviews scare you - take this class if you're interested and you will get a good grade if you just do what is required of you tbh

I honestly wouldn't recommend this class; it initially sounded like an interesting course but not only is the content kinda dry, the professor is also SUPER monotone and speaks pretty quietly which makes it impossible to focus without nearly falling asleep. The midterm and final are each about a third of your grade, they aren't insanely difficult but some of the questions are structured weirdly. The only pro to this class is that the homework assignments are ridiculously easy, though there's only 5 of them and they're only worth a combined total of 35% of your grade.

hmmm. I enjoyed this class, but in my opinion it was so difficult for absolutely no reason. This is ANTHRO 1; most students taking this course are probably taking it as a GE and possibly will never take another anthropology class again. Although Professor Wood is not the most engaging lecturer, he obviously is extremely knowledgable in the topic and is very good at articulating and explaining concepts. I would attend in-person and enjoyed lectures. He also has a very subtle but funny sense of humor hahhaa.

Anyways.... my main issue with this class (as many other people have pointed out) was the exams. I actually did pretty well on the midterm (I think I got like a 95%) but man that final was roughhhh. I don't think I've ever walked out of an exam feeling that unprepared but the thing is I studied a lot for the test too! I just don't think that it is reasonable to expect students to memorize all of the freaking taxonomic names of the different monkey, ape, chimp and what not species that were literally in greek and sound like gibberish to me. AND we had to memorize all the names of all the different skulls that we studied and there were soooo many. And the names were like ardipithecus kadabba??!! like how am i supposed to remember that. Anyways, I think a simple solution would be to let the exams be open note so we can emphasis understanding and learning the concepts rather than memorizing the ultra-specific names. Especially as an under division and GE course.

Honestly I know a lot of people complained about this class because of the fact that the midterm and final was basically all that you grade was made of but I honestly really liked it. My tip is if you are the type of person who thinks they don't need to do the reading or just doesn't feel like it, you probably won't get a good grade in the class. The final has a LOT of material that is covered in depth in the book. I found the readings interesting though. People in other comments also complained that there was no curve but he does adjust the grading scale so that a 88 is the minimum for an A and an 83 for an A- which I think is very fair.