There are 3 writing projects out of which you submit 2 for grading. I barely did any work throughout the quarter, but Tamar basically tells you EXACTLY what she is looking for, you just need to pay attention and be smart about it.

Tamar is a tough grader but you can definitely manage the grade. I'm not the best writer and my first drafts were shit, but she really helped me improve my work and gave her exactly what she wanted in the papers.

The readings in the course reader are short and you don't even need to read, just annotate the pages. My course reader is fully annotated so you won't need to do any homework. I'm selling it for $40. The reader is also REALLY helpful because of the sample essays Tamar prints in it. Text me at 424-440-9353.

Tamar is very passive aggressive and really only wants to hear what she thinks about the topic. She is not very clear as to what she wants out of you and is very out spoken about her opinions that it is overwhelming to the class. Moreover, she is not approachable for help at all and does not really give you your grade until the end of the quarter as she finds them "counter productive". The workload is slightly absurd compared to other professors that teach this class. I would not recommend taking this class with Tamar to anyone.

Grammar b is a joke. Few first-year students realize this: easy/interesting class ≠ rewarding class. I'm a sophomore now. After one year of taking other writing-intensive classes, I guarantee you that this class is useless. They can't teach you anything without bragging about themselves. For those of you who have taken her class, you know who the other person is.

Tamar is, hands down, one of the best and most genuine professors I've had at UCLA. She tries really hard to make you comfortable in her class and keeps a casual atmosphere. Her conferences are VERY helpful, and I really recommend you go to her office hours! I never thought that I was a good writer, but I learned more from her in 10 weeks than I did from any of my high school teachers.

Participation counts for 20% of your grade in the class so lecture attendance was mandatory. We had to do three writing projects, two of which were conventional analytical essays and the last of which was called "Grammar B" where you basically use font, word art, and other stylistic techniques to discuss something you feel ambivalent about. You pick one of the two conventional essays and your Grammar B piece to count for your grade. The writing projects were not easy by any means, especially coming from a high school literature class which was highly formulaic, but if you heed the advice of the textbook, listen to Tamar's feedback, and put in the necessary work for your essays, you should be fine. The class is really participation based—you're expected to 'publish' one of your projects with your class, where your classmates give you feedback on your work, and we were put into breakout rooms for discussion and peer review almost every lecture. You meet with Tamar for a one-on-one conference twice for each of the two essays you submit for grading and she gives thorough feedback, so I'd make sure to take notes during these. I found that I became a more concise, genuine writer through the class, so, even though it was tough, I would recommend taking it again with Tamar.

Tamar is a pretty good professor. You write three papers overall, but only 2 are counted for a grade. One of them has to be your grammar b essay, which feels more like a collection of pages than an essay. You're basically using fonts, word art, and format to get across the significance of something you feel ambivalent about. You have to publish one of your essays, which means the entire class reads your paper and gives you feedback. When you don't publish you meet with her in her office for feedback. If you make improvements based on the feedback you get you'll do ok. I definitely became a better writer over the quarter and I'm glad I took this class.

It was pretty difficult to get help on my essays outside of class, especially for grammar b. There's not much information about grammar b anywhere besides the class materials, so I was never really sure if I was doing it right. But if you're a more responsible student than I am you can get more help during office hours.

Overall, I enjoyed having English Comp 5W with Tamar. This course requires completion of three full-length essays throughout the quarter (25% each * 3 = 75% of your grade), and the rest of your grade (25%) consists of participation in class discussions. Tamar is an engaging lecturer who does cuss occasionally (she says she got that from the Navy lol), but she always has interesting insights for discussions and provides great feedback on the essays, which you should take seriously in order to do well in this class. Her style suggestions are interesting, and one unconventional style she had us play around with is known as Grammar B. As other reviewers have mentioned, Grammar B can be confusing and difficult to master, but I learned to love it because nowhere else have I been able to put together a creative piece that could consist of a recipe, letter, interview, news article or the like and still call it an essay. Individual appointments for the essays are mandatory, but you will enjoy them and be able to spend them learning how to make your writing that much more effective. If you need a Writing 2, I would highly recommend doing Eng Comp 5W with Tamar!

I would highly recommend Tamar for English Composition 3. She holds all of her students to a high standard, but not unreasonably so, and she is very willing to work with you to improve your work. Overall, this class betters your writing and let's you do so while exploring topics that interest you.

Tamar was a very nice and approachable professor and her lectures were pretty engaging. She always brought up interesting points about pieces of writing and I liked her essay formats, especially Grammar B. You write three essays overall, submit two six-page essays and turn in one three-page essay for credit.
However, I thought she graded a bit unfairly. Although she was very open to different ideas, it was quite hard to answer some of her questions. She often tried to help us further our writing with questions but didn't like it when we put questions into the writing or wrote like how she spoke during class.
Overall she was a decent professor.

Loved having Tamar as a prof. she's very down to earth and knows how to engage the class. that being said, the class size is small and she does expect you to participate (attendance mandatory) so come to class prepared to engage in discussions. you have to read various chapters a very short e-textbook and write reflections on them as a weekly assignment. the big assignments are: two papers and one creative assignment. for every assignment, two thirds of the class meets with her in a one-on-one meeting for her feedback, and the other third shares their work out loud in class for the class' feedback. so expect to meet with her one-on-one at least once and to share you work with the class.

wish i could take this class again.