RELG 1040

This class is amazing! Professor Allen is really passionate about this course and he explains things so well. The exams are a breeze because he gives you a study guide beforehand so there are literally no surprises. Everything in the study guide is on the exam.

The content is interesting, and imo not too difficult to memorize. As the other reviews say, there is a study guide for each of the three unit tests, and nothing on the test is not from its study guide, so I was able to score well by finishing and memorizing the study guide. There is not a separate study guide for the cumulative final, but the level of the information tested is the same, and all the questions were either taken verbatim from past study guides or asked information from the study guides. This is an easy A class if you put in sufficient effort.
#tCFspring2021

Professor Allen is super nice, and it is obvious that he really cares about his students. He is passionate about religion, however, this course is not really a deep dive into religion. He gives you study guides for each exam, and each exam is pretty straightforward. This is a good class to fill a gen ed requirement, and he teaches this class like a 1000 level course. There is weekly homework writing assignments, but they are short and only take about an hour for each. The textbook reading is not really important, but make sure you do the primary source reading because it will come up on the exams. The class is interesting for the most part even if lecture was sometimes dry. #tCFfall2021

Professor Allen is very much aware that this is a 1000 level course that a lot of people use for a gen-ed (in fact he asks for a show of hands on the first day) and as such the workload is very reasonable. The lectures were pretty interesting, and attendance is mandatory but you will honestly want to go because most of the test information will come directly from lecture. The only things you really need to read are the primary sources, and you can 100% get away without reading the textbook with the exception of looking up a few terms/concepts for tests that he doesn't cover in lecture. Allen is not trying to trip you up in any capacity - when he says the study guide contains what is on the test, he 100% means it. Discussion helps dissect the primary source readings but can be boring at times. One thing to keep in mind is that an A is a 95 in this class, so for many people it is an "easy A-." Overall, I would recommend this class if you're at all interested in religion and/or are looking for a course with a lighter workload. On the flip side, if you are looking for a super deep-dive into a certain religion, I wouldn't recommend this course because he has to cover 4 religions in the span of about 15 weeks.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.