Class isn't hard if you ask your TA for help and get practice midterms from the test bank. Very disorganized lectures but he knows what he's talking about. Textbook is COMPLETELY unneccessary... don't waste your time. Other than the useless textbook readings, there are no assignments out of class, so the workload is extremely small.

Renowned in his field, gives extensive and lengthy lectures that are extremely engaging and informative about economics and geography and really teaches you a lot but he tends to speak quietly and he's not the most exciting professor.

Interesting and easy class, with a lot of general information. Agnew is a disorganized lecture but he is pretty funny and all lectures were pod-casted. The test questions were similar to those that he had used previously and because i studied those, i did very well on the midterm and final. Textbook is unnecessary. Grades depended on your TA. Ago was an amazing TA, explained all the concepts that showed up on the exams in advance. Really liked this class.

Geography 4 and Global Studies 1 are combined as the same course.I got an A as the final letter grade but haven't got the final test grade yet...
As a native Chinese biz econ student, I do not think the course is hard because of the knowledge I got both from my knowledge taught in high school from my home country(which is for the most part, thank god) and from the econ knowledge I got in the courses I took at UCLA.
The course is not hard but it is only based on the precondition that you know a lot about politics,history, economics principles and geography (political and economics of course). If in the previous years in your life, your only concern is just US and do not care about anything in any other parts of the world, you do need to either read the textbook(though not very up to date) in detail or read some related material after classes(Do not always read news for propaganda, which is misleading and focus on nothing useful for solving real problems).
He only posts the audio podcast online, but the course involves a lot of pictures, diagrams. Therefore it is of course better for you to go to class and take notes in detail(but I think you can compare it with others afterwards of course.)
For preparation for the midterm and final,you should write down everything you know for the practice final, because for a number of questions he just extract some from the practice midterm and final.
Sorry for my grammar mistakes if I have made a lot.

*NOTE - GEOG 4 AND GS 1 ARE LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME THING FOR HIM*

I'm a Biz Econ / Poli Sci double major pursuing a minor in Global Studies. I personally have had a rather bad experience with him. And this is coming from someone who has gotten an B+/A-/A in his class (grades still haven't come out over 10 days after the final).

He is very dull, and moreover he is very ambiguous as to what he expects on his tests. They are all short answer and short essay, but they are vaguely specific. In the sense that he doesn't tell you or hint at exactly what he wants during lecture or in asking the question, but you're surprised when you're marked down because you're vague, generally-encompassing answer doesn't cut it.

I got a 94 on the midterm, but the final was a lot worse. We'll see what I get. Just hoping that Bargos is a lot more engaging for 100A!

PS - You don't need to buy the textbook. For reals.

This class was the hardest GE I have ever taken. The book was not used at all and the tests were based on the only the lectures. Also, the tests themselves asked for extremely specific details so unless you memorized all the lecture notes verbatim, the tests will not be easy. The TA sessions were also mandatory but completely useless. As a business economics major, I could not even engage in the lecture and if anything, felt deterred from my own career path. The professor himself is not a bad teacher but this class was just too hard to be a GE. I do not suggest taking it.

This class is by far the most difficult GE I've taken at UCLA. The lectures are quite boring and Professor Agnew does not podcast his lectures, which makes studying for this class difficult. The amount of reading assigned for this class was a bit ridiculous and some of the information for the midterms and finals can only be found in the textbook. There are sample/practice exams that they provide beforehand but they are not always helpful because the actual exams tended to be more difficult. The midterm and final were both short answers/essays, with the final consisting of 15 short answer questions and 4 essays. Overall, I DO NOT recommend this class at all, especially if it is not a requirement for your major.

Personally, I really enjoyed Professor Agnew's lectures. However, MOST of the people in the class would always complain about how dry the lectures were. The midterm and exams were quite difficult. They are all essay based. This is a DIFFICULT GE class so do not take it if this is just a GE class for you. I took it because it was a pre-req for global studies. The class is divided into discussion (20%), midterm (30%) and final (50%). There is no room for error. From the friends I made and talked to, many of the TAs were not very helpful, but mine was. Take the section with Siyu Cai! Granted English is not his first language but he is extremely nice and help. Altogether, a really difficult GE.I had to study very hard. Many concepts are repeated though. I attended all of the lectures and took extensive notes and got an A. Did not even touch the book.

So here I am the night before I take my final for this class and words can't express how much I wish I would have dropped or taken this class with another professor.
Professor Agnew, is smart but his class is so dull.
- in a lecture with about 200+ students, he refuses to use a microphone.
His lectures are a tad boring, even though he is passionate about what he is talking about.
I hate the fact that his class was 20% class discussion
30%- midterm and 50% final!
My TA was not helpful at all, he assigned us groups and every week we would present what we had learned from lecture or that week's reading. SO DO NOT GET ANTOS, he means well but he's a pretty harsh grader and his discussion felt pointless.

Anyways, I don't think this class is worth taking, at least not with him.

Agnew was extremely passionate about the subject matter. Over the course of lecture, he would gradually raise his voice, until about 45 minutes in he would be roaring about the importance of protecting infant industries or the effect of containerized shipping on the geography of production. In my view, this made him a great professor. His excitement during lectures made me enjoy the material a lot. His tests were un-thought-provoking and easy (too easy imho), but on the whole I would highly recommend taking a class from professor Agnew.