Professor
Jeffrey Decker
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Most Helpful Review
my god, he's a terrible lecturer. it was painful to listen to him for more than 15 minutes. and he seemed a little sassy for me... as for the cluster. it's definitely not worth it. all of fall quarter was basically a review of the same damn thing we've all been learning since 3rd grade. AND THAT QUARTER, I GOT A B. so not worth it. make sure you get a good TA if you decide to take it. makes a HUGE difference. first quarter, i had a new TA that didn't even know herself what to expect from us. terrible experience. the next to quarters i had an awesome TA and got an easy A. so you're choice, but not my suggestion.
my god, he's a terrible lecturer. it was painful to listen to him for more than 15 minutes. and he seemed a little sassy for me... as for the cluster. it's definitely not worth it. all of fall quarter was basically a review of the same damn thing we've all been learning since 3rd grade. AND THAT QUARTER, I GOT A B. so not worth it. make sure you get a good TA if you decide to take it. makes a HUGE difference. first quarter, i had a new TA that didn't even know herself what to expect from us. terrible experience. the next to quarters i had an awesome TA and got an easy A. so you're choice, but not my suggestion.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Literally so lit, all we did was analyze politics, culture, music, film, art, intersectionality, of American history in the 50s-70s. SOOOOO easy if you took APUSH bc you can easily pull stuff from apush for essays! but honestly not too much boring history yk. super engaging! all the professors are lit
Fall 2023 - Literally so lit, all we did was analyze politics, culture, music, film, art, intersectionality, of American history in the 50s-70s. SOOOOO easy if you took APUSH bc you can easily pull stuff from apush for essays! but honestly not too much boring history yk. super engaging! all the professors are lit
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Decker is probably the sweetest but most boring professor I’ve had at UCLA. The dude is a little boring but you manage to get through it. However, again he’s a very nice guy. Would not recommend taking this cluster, take another one if you want the credit. This cluster is an interesting time in history but the faculty is very disorganized in teaching it. As a history major, they do a poor job of keeping it on a time sequence. The class bores you with readings that are too long and focusing on things that are very bland in the Sixties with no time frame whatsoever. Adam Bakr is an awesome TA though, if he’s a TA next year you should Forsure take it.
Fall 2018 - Decker is probably the sweetest but most boring professor I’ve had at UCLA. The dude is a little boring but you manage to get through it. However, again he’s a very nice guy. Would not recommend taking this cluster, take another one if you want the credit. This cluster is an interesting time in history but the faculty is very disorganized in teaching it. As a history major, they do a poor job of keeping it on a time sequence. The class bores you with readings that are too long and focusing on things that are very bland in the Sixties with no time frame whatsoever. Adam Bakr is an awesome TA though, if he’s a TA next year you should Forsure take it.
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Winter 2024 - #RealRating Like my review on the CLUSTER 60A class it is basically the same. This is probably one of the harder clusters for STEM majors and I would steer clear of this if you could because of the assessments in this class which you actually have to study for. Honestly, your grade here boils down to your TA so figure out who is a lenient grader in the first quarter. I got one of the harder TAs in the first quarter so I made sure to get the easiest TA for this quarter which made my life 10x easier. The final isn't that hard if your TA is nice because they will just give you an A as long as you are able to do the first couple of sections well which requires some memorization of topics. The essay in the final paper is going to seem hard, but if you can write down a somewhat coherent argument they won't mark you down ridiculously hard and you can easily finish with an A.... if you have a good TA. If you TA hates life and is miserable you will join them soon enough because then it gets hard AF. The reading is unbelievely long and ridiculous which I skimmed through (barely read) and you can get away with this if you have a good TA (I cannot stress this enough if you are stuck in this cluster).
Winter 2024 - #RealRating Like my review on the CLUSTER 60A class it is basically the same. This is probably one of the harder clusters for STEM majors and I would steer clear of this if you could because of the assessments in this class which you actually have to study for. Honestly, your grade here boils down to your TA so figure out who is a lenient grader in the first quarter. I got one of the harder TAs in the first quarter so I made sure to get the easiest TA for this quarter which made my life 10x easier. The final isn't that hard if your TA is nice because they will just give you an A as long as you are able to do the first couple of sections well which requires some memorization of topics. The essay in the final paper is going to seem hard, but if you can write down a somewhat coherent argument they won't mark you down ridiculously hard and you can easily finish with an A.... if you have a good TA. If you TA hates life and is miserable you will join them soon enough because then it gets hard AF. The reading is unbelievely long and ridiculous which I skimmed through (barely read) and you can get away with this if you have a good TA (I cannot stress this enough if you are stuck in this cluster).
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Professor Decker is so fucking boring; by the end of the second quarter I hated his lectures with passion. The other professors were somewhat better, specially Fink, but overall the class gets really tiresome by the Winter quarter. However, I would advise sticking with it until the end, as the Spring seminar was quite fun and enjoyable (I took it with Tom, but it is different for every TA and year, so YMMV). Personally, I think it's worth the extra credit.
Winter 2019 - Professor Decker is so fucking boring; by the end of the second quarter I hated his lectures with passion. The other professors were somewhat better, specially Fink, but overall the class gets really tiresome by the Winter quarter. However, I would advise sticking with it until the end, as the Spring seminar was quite fun and enjoyable (I took it with Tom, but it is different for every TA and year, so YMMV). Personally, I think it's worth the extra credit.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2025 - A big note for anybody taking Cluster 60CW Seminars, Professor Decker IS NOT your instructor. The rating you see for the Seminar may vary because of the TA who is teaching the seminar. As for my seminar, I truly enjoyed it. My TA made the topic interesting, digestible, and engaging. My TA was also great, as we rarely stayed the full 3 hours for the seminar, which made it less demanding. Overall, I recommend the seminar for anyone as an easy way to complete the Writing II requirement.
Spring 2025 - A big note for anybody taking Cluster 60CW Seminars, Professor Decker IS NOT your instructor. The rating you see for the Seminar may vary because of the TA who is teaching the seminar. As for my seminar, I truly enjoyed it. My TA made the topic interesting, digestible, and engaging. My TA was also great, as we rarely stayed the full 3 hours for the seminar, which made it less demanding. Overall, I recommend the seminar for anyone as an easy way to complete the Writing II requirement.
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