Professor Faier is certainly nice and gives interesting lectures, but I would NEVER take this class again. When we asked what was expected of us on the exams, her response was "show what you know." I wish that I had known that meant "regurgitate every single thing you have learned in this class onto paper," and that having a simple, clear, and reasonable summary for each exam question will earn you a "B" or a "C".

I learned the hard way that even though I did all the readings, attended all the lectures, and wrote until my hand stopped working on the exams, it still wasn't enough.

She expects WAY too much out of her students for a GE class (or an upper div class for that matter). If you have to take her class, be prepared for RIDICULOUS exams and unreasonable expectations.
On top of all of that, the TA's are HORRIBLE. My TA, Ago, hardly spoke english and designed a research project with a 10+ pg essay due at the end of the quarter, while the other TA's required very simple assignments. How is that fair???? Not to mention, sitting through two hours of his boring ramblings and being subject to his suffocating body odor was enough to make a person want to quit school altogether.

Dr. Faier even admitted to me that her TA's grade the exams too hard, but didn't have the nerve to do anything about it. Don't take this class unless you love reading hundreds of pages each week and taking very difficult and lengthy written exams, and still getting shafted in the process by TAs who only serve to make your life a living hell.

Professor Faier's cultural geography class is one of my favorite classes I have had at UCLA. The only problem i had was the amount of readings she makes the class do but they're doable if you know which ones to skim and which ones to focus on. Grading is ultimately up to the TAs. Grading can be either generous or strict. If you can get Sara Hughes as your TA, you're set. She's very helpful and will make sure you pass your exams.

Professsor Faier is a great professor who cares about her students and wants them to learn and do well. She is passionate about the subject and the lectures are pretty engaging. The films are good too. The only problem I had with this class were the TA's. They are the pickest most annoying bunch you'll ever come accross (at least mine was) and they grade super strict even on the paper assignments that are meant to be FUN. come on ladies its impossible to incorporate ALL the readings into one two page paper PLUS talk about how it relates to you. Be wary of the TAs, especially one who wouldn't stop making announcements during the midterm which was seriously pissing me off. Professor Faier is fair and straightforward in her exams, its the TAs that screw things over for you.

Seriously, one of the best classes that I have ever taken.

Professor Faier truly does care about her students and gives intriguing lectures. You get to learn about the LA riots, the LAPD, production markets, cultural differences, environmental issues, etc. It is highly recommended that you attend lectures because on the powerpoints that she posts up [whether she continues that or not], it does not include all of the important information that she goes over. I enjoyed this class very much because everything that I learned is applicable to everyday life. She teaches you about issues that are currently happening right now in this world and sheds light on those shadows.The readings are great and as long as you space them out over the week, it's totally manageable.

There is 1 midterm, 1 final, and biweekly reading responses [2 mages max]. The midterm consists of IDs, short responses, and 1 essay. The final is pretty much like the midterm, but a bit longer. The questions are fairly straight forward, so as long as you do all of the readings and understand the main concepts, you'll be fine. This class does not test your ability to regurgitate definitions, but rather tests your ability to apply those concepts. My TA was Ali, who was great! He is definitely very knowledgeable about the topics and tries hard to make sure his students understand the concepts. Ali makes the discussion section a welcoming place for students to voice their opinions and structures the class as a person-to-person interaction, not necessarily a teacher-to-student interaction... For example, we all sit in a circle, including him, as opposed to him standing in front of the class teaching us. This creates a setting that he would call a "safe place" for students to say what they have to say. He's very concerned about the students and will make time for help those who need it.

Overall, TAKE THIS COURSE! You'll learn SOO much about pressing issues going on in today's society and understand more on why people do the things they do in various cultures.

Although SOME of the information taught in this class was very insightful, other areas were grey...especially because Faier's lectures include a lot of rhetorical questions which fail to explain anything.

The sections are basically recaps of the lectures and the 2hr discussions drag on forever. I loved some of the information that I learned from this class but my TA's d and their ridiculous grading ruined it for me. Despite the fact that I earned an A, the midterm and final are graded ridiculously. Students got partial points marked off because the grading is pretty subjective and there were rumors going on that TAs were taking points off for writing exact definitions. smh. Only a few students got As on the midterms and our TA blamed it on the fact that UCLA is letting in too many unintelligent /lazy students...He failed to recognize that it was probably be his boring and ineffective teaching style since it was the majority of the class that did bad.

This class had the potential to be amazing, but I feel like it's not what it used to be.

"I loved some of the information that I learned from this class but my TA's d and their ridiculous grading ruined it for me. Despite the fact that I earned an A, the midterm and final are graded ridiculously. "

Yes exactly, just skip this class.

If you take it, and get your midterm back with a low score because your test was graded in a nit-picky manner, you can just blame yourself.

The grading went something like this:
Out of 3:
3
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2
and so on..

Is this really necessary for a GE. A GE!?!?!?! I understand an upper division, but really a GE!?!?!?!

Thank you Professor Faier for killing my interest in geography with your stupidly graded midterms.

You have been warned.

Pros:

Very informative and interesting topics
Very relevant, explains a lot of thought provoking problems

Cons:
Not an easy GE class. Hundreds of pages of reading. Midterms are graded with insane nit-pickery. Good luck seeing your test, as its literally kept in a vault and if you challenge your grade you'll receive a lower one. If you skip lecture, the powerpoints won't have all the information on the tests. The 2hr section is totally useless, although attendance is mandatory. Faier says one thing about grading to the students,and totally different things to the TAs. Not recommended if you're looking for a class to blow off.

This class is definitely not as hard as the reviews below would suggest. I was expecting a super difficult class that would take up all my time and that is NOT the case. There is a lot of reading, but she gives you a lot of time to do it, so it's not that difficult and most of them are interesting. The only reading that seemed like too much was the Herbert one. I did all the readings, and I would definitely recommend doing them all, but for some of them you can definitely get away with skimming them since she discusses all of them in class. I definitely learned a lot in this course even outside of the cultural geography concepts. She's a really good professor and it's really easy to pay attention in class. I would DEFINITELY recommend! Side note- you should really go to lecture because in my class people stopped coming and we were watching movies, so she put ALL the movies on the exam- easy for the people who went to lecture. The exams are definitely fair. Basically just memorizing terms and a general idea of what all the authors wrote.

Professor Faier is the best! She is extremely concerned about her students and how they do in the class, and has office hours regularly for us to attend. She is also willing to review homework assignments and tests etc.

The course consists of 4 double spaced 2 page reading reflections, a midterm and a final, and there are weekly readings as well. The readings are not hard (except for the Herbert one which is not really necessary to do). The TAs are also super nice and helpful.

Overall, I really enjoyed the class and recommend it as a GE if you want a light workload and are good at reading.

Professor Faier was one of the best professors I have had at UCLA. I did not want to take cultural geography but I ended up loving the class material. Professor Faier is a great lecturer who explains the material thoroughly and she really loves what she does.
The tests are fair as long as you have gone to lecture, discussion, and read the readings assigned. She prepares slides and her and the TAs are always willing to help you and explain any topic you don't understand. The textbook material consists of two course readers that are sold at the UCLA store.
I am really happy I took this course but don't be fooled, just because it's a GE doesn't mean you can just slide by. You need to attend class and discussion and really try to grasp the material or ask for clarification if you don't.