LATI 1030

This class was basically comprised of people who had taken Latin before but had not done well with the placement test. Though it is technically possible to take this without having taken latin before, I would not recommend doing so. This class meets 4 days a week and each day we had one assignment (usually about 10-20 lines of translation). Each week there was one “pop” quiz on the material from the past week but he basically told us when the quiz was coming. Each class we would go over the translation for 25 ish minutes and then learn a new grammar topic for the rest of the time. There was a midterm and a final and they were not too bad. I ended up with an 89 in the class because it was definitely hard to memorize so many grammar topics from the final, but I’m sure if you were better at studying each week you could get an A. Professor Celotto is VERY organized and anyone who has the time and willingness to put in a lot of effort will do well.

Celotto is one of the most organized and straightforward professors I have ever had. Prior to taking this class, I was quite nervous as I knew it would be intense and fast paced. However, even with a weak background in Latin, I managed to get an A- in this class. As long as you complete the daily homework and genuinely try to understand the passage and the content from the class, you will be fine. Celotto is an extremely fair grader and looks for ways to give partial credit. The midterm and final are quick and very straightforward, so as long as you prepare (he will tell you exactly what to study) you will be fine. Highly recommend for anyone with a slight background in Latin.

Professor Celotto is an amazing instructor. He explains topics very well and takes care to connect new topics to things you've already learned. Dr. Celotto truly emphasizes student learning, requiring participation, but the participation is very low stakes and low stress; he just wants to make sure you're continually engaging with the material. He is also very patient with students and helps them get to the answers on their own. The pace of the course is pretty fast, so if you have some experience with Latin it will probably be pretty easy, but keep in mind that it will be much more rigorous if you haven't done anything with the language yet. For example, I had a couple years of high school experience, but we never did any grammar (I don't know why), so learning the Latin grammar in this course was a little much. However, it was definitely still manageable. Grading is also rather lenient, and Dr. Celotto tries to give you as much credit as possible.

TL;DR
this class is not too hard, especially for a 4-credit course
will be pretty easy if you have experience, will be more rigorous if you don't have experience
take it with Dr. Celotto if you can; he's great

Fantastic professor (one of my favorites!)! Very caring and encouraging with clear lectures and always inviting questions. He is a good grader and wants to see you succeed. The class is quite fast paced; so I would not recommend if you have no background in Latin, but otherwise you'll do well.

Great class and teacher. Fast pace but if you have a Latin background you will do wonderfully.

This course was a great introductory latin course. Wouldn't recommend if you have no history in latin because of the quick pace, but if you have even a few years from early high school you will be fine. Celotto is a lenient grader and very understanding, by far my favorite professor of the semester. The class is structured around 2 exams and "pop" quizzes, but he always makes sure to give you a heads up before the quiz so you can prepare your translation with care. He cares more about your learning and doing well rather than tricking you, so our whole class loved him. If you can take latin with Celotto, you definitely should.