I LOVE PROFESSOR DUTHIE!! he is the sweetest man ever and cares so much about his students like genuinely just want them to succeed. (he also has a cute english accent) this was the first time he did quizzes so it was constantly changing depending on student feedback. the first 3 quizzes were completely doable and the final one was super easy. (i think a lot of people complained to him about how hard the quizzes were). His office hours were on zoom so it was a tiny bit awkward but TA Min was SO NICE!! there was participation for the discussions but as long as you asked 1 question per module you're basically guaranteed full marks:) The paper was not graded harshly at all! I'm pretty sure no one got below a 90%. i learnt a lot from this class too and it was super fun to take! Prof. Duthie does go a little fast and it is a little content heavy but everything was just so enjoyable! He also records all his lectures. The final and midterms were just the papers. (1000 words)
Grade distribution break down:
2 papers - 20%
participation - 10%
small presentation - 10%
4 quizzes - 60% (15% each)
If you have the opportunity to take this class PLEASE DO! (and take it with TA Min:)

the textbook is not needed, don't buy it. the slides are not posted but lectures are all recorded, and if you scrub through them at 2x speed, you should be able to get through all of them pretty efficiently. you do need to either attend the lectures or watch them later though because the tests will be based on them. previous quarters had weekly write-ups, but we didn't because of the potential of students using chatgpt. instead, they were replaced by mcq quizzes--10 questions and 15 points each, with half of the questions being worth 2 pts. the tests are difficult but you get 3 tries (questions change, but there's a finite bank) and there's only 4 of them. the essays are easy. there's two, and i spent like an hour each on them and got an A on both. TA Alex is great, if you get him, your discussions will be fun and engaging. participation matters in that you need to attend discussion sections and give 1 presentation but that's fine. actually the presentation is the most boring part of the discussion, but that's all dependent on your classmates and how good/bad they are at presenting. overall, i loved this class. it was the light of my life during an otherwise boring quarter. 10/10 would take again, wish i legitimately could because i miss it. the material is super interesting too, if you like history.