Easy A class if you take notes during the lectures and do the reading. Attendance is mandatory, though. The study guide is also very comprehensive, so exam prep only took about three hours. 6 hours of work a week

Relg 1040 is a fine class to take to fill a gen ed. Allen is a very good lecturer and tries his best to make the material engaging. However, the class is a bit disoriented on multiple fronts. The discussions are pretty useless. There is often an unecessary amount of reading assigned, which, most of it you have to annotate and read more throughly (because you have to ID excerpts on tests). The TA was also completely unresponsive. She often canceled discussion, within an hour of the start time, never responded to emails, and never fixed grading issues even when you would go up to her in person. There is supposed to be grading on annotations and participation; however, the TA didn’t actually know who anyone was and just claimed “she had enough information” to make proper grades for people in discussion. The final grade was posted without any of my test, final exam, or participation grades actually being posted, so I had no idea what the makeup of my grade was. But nevertheless, like the reviews say, the study guides are essentially the test and pretty easy. Also attendance at lecture is mandatory and an A is a 95 flat but other than that the class is fine.

I would say Allen is a very good lecturer, I did learn a lot in his class. But please note that this is never an easy A class. And the rules in the lectures and discussion sessions are extremely strict. If you are not good at writing and remembering a lot of class materials, I recommend you consider other classes that satisfy the general requirements at UVA. This class is definitely not for fun or play. However, if you are very interested in Eastern religions and you really want to learn something, Professor Allen is a wonderful choice. He is very kind and helpful. I would say he is one of the most effective lecturers at the university.

I took this class looking for an easy A and I wasn't disappointed. I found the material to be fairly interesting and the weekly workload consisted of a handful of readings and one discussion post, which was graded on completion. I didn't find the discussion section to be useful at all but attendance is mandatory, so missing that will tank your grade. Professor Allen gives a study guide before each exam which was very helpful, but make sure that you are understanding all of the reading passages well as this is a large section of the test. The final was basically all of the study guide questions + an essay section. Overall, chill class with a great professor, would take again. #tCFS24

Didn't really find the class to be too interesting (if you like religions you'll love this course!) but this guy is the GOAT. There are a couple readings each week and a discussion post but it's nothing much. If you go to lecture and take notes you'll basically be set for the class. His tests were super easy as he gave a study guide in which he pulled questions straight out of to create his tests. This class is pretty popular though so if you're looking for a free A, you better hop on this class quick.

Great prof. Really cares about what he's teaching and goes over all need to know information in lectures. Readings helpful for specific questions on exams but the lecture is more important. Very manageable class and I honestly enjoyed it too. Prof Allen is really great and always willing to help, would recommend. TA isn't too important but Moss was really chill.

This class is definitely an easy A/A-. While you do have to do work i.e. you need to go to lecture, take notes, and do the readings, it isn't bad at all. Weekly HW is essentially a completion grade and takes like 10 mins to write and however long it takes to do the readings. Readings average at maybe 10-15ish pages, and Prof Allen and your TA will generally talk about them in class. I would recommend doing the readings because there are passage ID sections on the exams so you'll need to know which reading a quote is from, but don't do the textbook readings until you get the study guide because then you can just look for the relevant information rather than actually attempt to read it all. Besides the passage IDs, the exams are super easy because Prof Allen provides a study guide with ALL of the terms and questions that may appear. Studying will probably take around 2-3 hours but once you're prepared you're basically guaranteed an A. Material is pretty interesting and all of the readings are on Collab with the exception of the textbook. The textbook is 95% useless but there will occasionally be exam questions that require reading the textbook, so I'd recommend looking for a friend to split it with because it's honestly a waste of money for just a few questions. Overall, it's an easy course, and Prof Allen is also a really nice dude and is clearly passionate about the course, which makes the lectures a lot more interesting. Definitely pay attention in lecture because some of the exam questions will ask about specific things he mentioned, but if you miss anything he replies pretty quickly via email.

Overall, this course’s content was SUPER interesting! As someone who only learned about Western religions in high school, I was really intruiged by this course. Professor Allen was super nice and I really liked the way he lectured, everything he mentioned was well-explained and he didn’t talk too fast. Before every exam (there were three, in addition to a final), he would give out a study guide so that you would know exactly what to expect on each exam, which I really appreciated. However, in terms of the mandatory discussions, I thought they were pointless and mainly dependent on how good your TA is. In discussion, although you got to better understand the weekly readings, I didn’t think it was a very important or interesting aspect of the course.

Really good intro class to Eastern Religious Traditions. Professor Allen makes the class interesting enough to pay attention and the tests easy enough where you can focus on actually learning the material rather than your grade.

Honestly really liked the class. Can be really boring, but as long as you use the study guides that he gives you, it's really easy to get an A in the class. Study for maybe 3 hours before each exam (including skimming the readings) and I promise that you'll do fine. Trust me, it's not a hard class at all. A critique I WILL have, however, is that he planned one of the exams on the Monday before Thanksgiving break, which meant that none of the international students got to go home for a full week. Kinda rude about listening to student's concerns, but it was an easy class so I have little complaints. Definitely recommend just doing the readings before the exams instead of before each lecture. Also the textbook is honestly not worth it, was barely used for your grade.