RELB 2054

I had Professor Gentry for this course. I got an A in this class but spent a lot of time in my TAs office hours. My TA, Jue Liang, was so helpful. We would have essay topics that we would have to turn in and almost everyone would be confused about what to write about. By going to Jue's office hours, she pretty much told us what she wanted to see in our papers. She helped us find quotes and even helped us break down our paragraphs. I felt that the class was confusing because Professor Gentry often read off tons of information from a slide. He wasn't very great at breaking down complex concepts and used complicated terminology that we didn't understand. Jue then gave us the simplistic version of all the concepts so that we would understand it. I think for a lot of people it wasn't the easy A that everyone said it would be because of the structure of the class, but I think if you go to the TA and get help on the essays, an A- or an A is attainable.

Do NOT take this class with Kali Cape, unless you have a strong desire to learn and read about Buddhism. The only grades are participation, attendance, and a weekly quiz in your discussion section. While the quizzes aren't hard usually if you do the readings, there can be 100+ pages of reading a week. All of the readings are dreadful. Additionally, lecture is also miserable, and she often passes around an attendance sheet and has polls you must complete because everyone stops showing up. I get that she is trying to turn this class into a legit course, but it is extremely dull. It is still probably an easy-ish A, but I don't recommend it at all.