CLAS 2040

This class was very hard for me as a CS major looking to fulfil a gen ed. Don't take it just to fill in a requirement like me. If you are passionate about the topic, you might enjoy it and do well. There are a lot of readings, and I found some of the exam questions to be very niche towards specific details in the readings. In addition, there are pop quizzes in discussions also about niche details learned in lecture or readings. There's an easy project you do during the semester, but that's about as easy as it got for me in this class. Professor was nice but could sometimes be hard to understand due to her accent (not her fault).

This course was one of the best courses of my spring semester. Professor Petrovic is very passionate about the topic and it really shows in her class. If you have always been interested in Ancient Greece the lectures will be very interesting to attend—attendance is not mandatory but a lot of what falls in tests/quizzes are from class. In this class you have to attend all discussions where most of the grading is based on your participation on talking about the play/piece read that week; she recommends reading each assignment twice, but that's not really necessary as the discussion in the discussion class will refresh your memory. There is a significant amount of reading for this class but nothing that isn't doable. There are also small quizzes almost every week in discussions (they are very easy as long as you read the material) and sometimes there are written assignments about the piece/play assigned that week. Overall, this class didn't feel like a chore to me even through it seems like a lot the topics we discussed in class were amazing!

Overall, this class was great. Petrovic is a very interesting lecture and it is necessary to attend lecture, as concepts that aren't just from readings WILL 100% appear on exams. The 5 writing assignments aren't overly difficult, but it is necessary to spend a lot of time on them. It feels like the TA's grade the assignments not on content, but on how you structure them - which is very annoying. I don't think the quizzes were fair at all - they were detail oriented and would sometimes pull from previous weeks. Lecture was hard to follow but I would still take this class again. You will learn a lot and the readings are fascinating.

I loved this course!! Petrovic is an amazing lecturer and my TA (Parsons) was extremely knowledgable and interesting. The course is compromised of a 5 short essays, 5 quizzes taken in discussion section, and a midterm and final (both of which are short answer). I found this class challenging but fair. I spent a lot of time on the readings, some of which were very challenging, but in the end I was glad I took the course. I would only recommend this course to someone who really enjoys reading.

If you are really interested in Greek Mythology, take this course! You get a more in-depth analysis of each fascinating myth. During the year, the only assignments you have are readings and 5 or so papers you must turn into your discussion. The readings are very important so don't think you can go by by looking up summaries of them. There is one midterm and one final (not cumulative). The tests are all short answer and analysis of the texts you read so pay close attention in lecture to what the professor says about each myth. You have to understand more than the surface level of each myth in order to be successful in this class. Everything from the papers you turn in to the test will be graded harshly unless you show your deep understanding of the subject. Overall the class is definitely not an easy A, but can be really fun if you are fascinated by Greek myths.

This class is pretty interesting and a good class to take if you are interested in pursuing history or classics, but if you aren't this class probably isn't for you. It is way more work than you would think it is in order to get a good grade. The amount of reading and information you need to know for the exams is fairly high. You don't need to go to most lectures in my opinion because everything you need is in the readings and the lecture slides. I enjoyed the class overall as the knowledge of greek myth is very interesting to me (even though I am not doing any kind of history major and took this to knock out an area requirement) but be prepared for more work than you would think.

Ivana is obviously very smart and a great lecturer but this class is just unnecessarily hard. The TA's grade very harshly and don't write any feedback on your assignments. I only recommend taking this course if you really want to put the work in and study hard for this. Do not take just as a filler class, there are easier more interesting classes that don't have apathetic and boring TA led discussions.

This was a fantastic course--I really enjoyed it! Professor Petrovic is a wonderful professor who definitely knows her Greek Myth well, and she is a passionate and fun lecturer.
This class was definitely a lot of work which consisted of reading the texts and completing 5 one page assignments that are well spread out. There is one midterm and a final. Also in discussion there are pop quizzes that pop up randomly. This is a must do-your-work class in that you need to read the texts and you need to attend lecture. Even though this class was a bit of work, I recommend it to those who are genuinely interested in Greek Myth. If you enjoy Greek Myth then you won't mind putting in the additional effort into the course as it is enjoyable and rewarding if you enjoy it.

Petrovic is clearly passionate and going to lecture is entertaining most of the time, although not as much as I would have liked/expected from a mythology course. There is an excessive amount of reading and the T.A's grade the one page papers you write more harshly than any other professor I have taken in my four years at UVA. It's ridiculous. I have had term papers graded less harshly than the one page assignments we have to do. My main gripe with the course is really with the teaching assistants, as Petrovic seems fine to me. The midterm was not hard if you attended lecture which indicates to me that the t.a.'s and Petrovic have wildly different expectations for what students should know. Unless this discrepancy is addressed, I don't think I would recommend taking the class.