I did not read past week 2 and got an A. The tests are 'tough' but I finished it in half the time allotted so it's doable. The tests were also short answer to a bunch of different prompts. All I did for the midterm and final was look at the slides literally the night before and recall the key points in relation to whoever he put on the study guide. I attended most lectures and discussion sections but found myself so tired--it was something about being in Dodd Hall and his lectures. Sometimes he was funny but you really have to be motivated to take goooood notes. I took notes but never reread them like ever so it might've been easier had I done that. Just focus on his interpretation of the readings and when it comes to the tests just answer it in the way you think he would answer it. My TA was Joseph Murphy and he was helpful too in giving a rundown of what was covered in lecture.

Not sure why there aren't more honest reviews about Sigmon. He's the worst sociology professor here at UCLA. Avoid him at all costs. His lectures add no value because he just reads off his slides in a monotone voice making it very hard to stay engaged. Sigmon doesn’t believe in using technological devices so be prepared to take notes with a pen and paper. Worse of all he is very unaccommodating to students who’ve gotten covid and have shown no empathy.

I honestly enjoyed Sigmon's class even though it is intimidating at first. Because of the rise in Chat GPT, the prof changed his course format and no longer has an essay assignment or discussion posts. He still provides the questions for the discussion posts every week, so that you can use them to study for the midterm and final, as both exams feature short-answer questions (Midterm: 5 questions, Final: 6 questions) that imitate these weekly discussion questions. These questions are based on our textbook readings, and those readings came from the 5 theorists we studied: Marx, Weber, Nietzsche, Durkheim, and Freud. The review questions are great because it tells you what parts of the reading you should focus on, and my TA would go over the answers to the questions, so I would take notes on my own and then take notes on my TA's interpretation as well. Additionally, Sigmon provides a list of topics that will be on the exams a week beforehand, which made studying more organized and efficient. It is nerve-racking that our grade relies almost solely on exams, but I really admire the Professor's organization and structure of the course; he really gives you everything you need and shows you upfront what he expects from students. The midterm and final are both 40% of your grade, making exams worth 80%, and the discussion is 20%. I didn't attend the professor's office hours, but I heard that other people found them helpful. I preferred to go to the TA's office hours and additionally meet my TA one-on-one to square away misunderstandings and really understand the readings because they can be dense. I think the material in this course can be a bit hard to understand, but with determination and effort, you can do great in this course. Just use your resources and take notes (I took lecture notes, discussion notes, and reading notes). Lecture attendance isn't mandatory, but I would always go because he doesn't record his lectures and often times he would voice out real-world examples that weren't on the slides, and it was helpful to jot that down. Overall, I am happy with this course and feel that I have left it with a comprehension of all of the theorists' ideals, not just memorization of facts. Don't be scared to take the class, you'll do great!

Overall, I don't think Sigmon is a bad professor, but he's not the best by any means. His lectures in person were definitely more interesting than online, as we had online lectures for the first four weeks of the quarter. He basically just reads the slides and adds a few comments here and there. The midterm consisted of writing five short essays, and for the final, we had to write six. We also had to write a term paper due three days before the final. The TAs made us take difficult quizzes every week before we were lectured on the material which created a very stressful environment. I would spend all my Sundays on these quizzes, and though I did fairly well on them, everyone was extremely stressed, and the average of the quizzes were consistently low. The quizzes were only worth 10% of the final grade, but the TAs expected so much from us. I somehow managed to snag an A, but this was probably the most stressful class I've taken at UCLA so far.

Majority of the lectures were online but this class is really straightforward. The reading and lecture slides go over the same things and the test questions were taken directly from the lecture slides. He showed a lot of cool videos and told a lot of stories that were really interesting. There was a short summary of the readings due every week and one short paper at the end of the quarter where you interview someone about their job. Overall, I learned a lot and it's a pretty easy class. I would definitely recommend taking it!

Professor Sigmon's lectures are VERY informative, precise, and explain the theorists perfectly. The course itself is difficult, one midterm one final both written exams on blue books in person. However, if you have a good TA, you're set. He also gave a list of subjects that were on the exam a week before the exam.

This is my second time taking Professor Sigmon and I enjoyed it! The class itself is broken down into discussion participation (for discussions + weekly writing assignments), midterm, paper, and a final. Lectures are non-mandatory where Prof Sigmon goes over the slides, which he makes available at the end of each week on BruinLearn. I think you can do just fine with the slides yourself, but going to class really helps with retaining that information and he does expand on concepts, so if you're confused, that's helpful. He bases his lectures on weekly readings, which are also what your writing assignments will be based on and what you'll discuss in discussion sections, where attendance is mandatory. The readings can be big, but they're interesting, and that's kind of to be expected in any Soc class!

For this class, the topics were always engaging and reflected past and current trends in the sociology of work. The paper requires you to interview someone about their job to determine if it is "good" or "bad" based on provided criteria. It's fairly straightforward and not too hard. The midterm and final both had mostly multiple choice and T/F with one or two written answer questions. Some of the questions were phrased a little weird to me, but if you're taking notes in lecture / on the slides and reading the materials, it's not hard to do well. It's a really interesting class and Professor Sigmon does a good job of making sense of readings that are particularly dense or hard to navigate.

I loved this class. Professor Sigmon made it beyond doable. His study guides were just like the midterms and finals. I got a 100 on the MT but havent gotten my final grade back yet. I feel pretty confident I got within the 95-100 range again. He wanted to see us succeed and did what he needed to do to get us there. He was really quick with replying to any questions and emails and was genuinely just a happy, nice professor. I would recommend this class with Professor Sigmon to everyone.

Super light class. Midterm and final were so easily as long as you study and do the readings. Readings weren't bad and were doable. He provides a study guide for midterm and final. He's chill and a funny professor.
You have weekly discussion posts based on the readings ~500 words.
1 midterm
1 5 page paper on someone's job [also super easy]
1 final
10 discussion posts