SOC 3640

I went into this course thinking this would be a sociology course, but be aware that this is far from that. This course is equivalent to AP World History in one semester. Professor Kumar is extremely knowledgeable and that is very evident in class considering he lectures of the top of the dome about hundreds of years of history without any notes. Because you have to learn most of human history (neolithic revolution to WW2), the readings are intense; most nights you can expect anywhere of 25-60 pages of dense history twice a week. The grade breakdown in 40% final exam, 20% each of participation, midterm, and a 5-6 page paper. Participation is based off of speaking up in class, and your quiz grade. The way he does quizzes is that he selects three people to do a verbal quiz in front of everyone. The midterm is 10 paragraph based questions, and the paper is based off of a list of titles that he gives out. The final exam is 5 questions chosen from a list of 14 that are answered in an essay format.

#tCFspring2022

I cannot begin express how much I loved this class and Professor Kumar. Professor Kumar is hands down one of the most eloquent and knowledgeable professors I have had at UVA. I took an upper level seminar with him after taking this course and was constantly amazed at how much he knows about literally everything. He also has a British accent and used to contribute to BBC documentaries so listening to his voice is like watching a history special on PBS. As a history major, this class was a great overview of world history from a sociological perspective, but I recommend this class to all majors! This class focuses more on big ideas and trends throughout human civilizations, and if you have taken any world history course before, many of the topics covered will be like review. Even if you have minimal knowledge of world history, the material will not be hard to pick up because Professor Kumar explains everything so well. There is one textbook and short book about the rise of the Western world, but generally the weekly reading was light, and often unnecessary if you pay attention to lectures. Professor Kumar really values class participation so make sure to speak up at least once or twice each class. Other than participation, there is a midterm and a final (no papers).