harder than 1A mainly because my professor required participation... I didn't participate at all really but ended up with a B
writing is important
Challenging especially if you're not a skilled writer.
The professor John Stamp is a fair grader and redditor, so I really liked his class.
Take Colin Innes. Super easy and chill class.
I Had Professor Knight. 4 Essays, No Midterms, and 1 Final. Essays were easy to get a B/B- but EXTREMELY hard to get an A-/A. No homework aside from reading which isn't mandatory. You have to be a stellar writer if you want any kind of A in this class. Nice professor overall though - very understanding.
Emphasizing on different types of argumentative essay work rather than novel reading and analysis
Try to take with Professor Polster, she is a great professor and is very helpful with the feedback provided. At the same time, she makes the class very independent and makes the class a good experience. In my quarter, she made the class finish in 9 weeks. Just expect to do some casual reading and do the essays ahead of time, it helps to grow as a writer.
I had Stina Attebery as a professor and would recommend. She is a fair grader, and as long as you address the prom,pt and other necessarily things for your essay, you can get a good grade for your essay. I found the class very interesting because she had us read and go over science fiction. But if you hate science fiction, your experience might vary.
Decent class. Easier than 1A. Focus on argumentative aspects.
Easy class. Just a lot of reading. We had to read The Fifth Season and write our final essay on that. Make sure to participate in class and go to office hours to get help on your essays. If you have the St. Martin's Guide, use it. The sentence frames and sample essays in there are super useful.
Bradfield is great. Just essays and research nothing big.
If you can, take this class with Simon Lee. Passionate professor and only 3 essays plus no final. There was a little bit of reading you had to do before each class, but nothing too bad. The workload in this class was significantly lower than my friends’ english 1b’s class.
The class material isn’t extremely difficult, but requires work. If you have the option, do NOT take this class with Aran Park. It’s very obvious English is not her first language, which is fine, but not for an English class. She has difficultly speaking grammatically correct English in class. She assigns a ridiculous amount of reading and homework. In one week you can expect 60 pages of reading, an annotated bibliography and outline, a rough draft, online discussions, in class essays and pop quizzes. Miss class 5 times and you fail. It was chaos. I advise to look at the rate my professor scores beforehand if at all possible.
Absolutely take with Dr. Polster. She sets clear guidelines on how to get a B, but do a little more than what she asks and you can get a higher grade. Very fair grader, and we discussed the final exam in the class before.
TAKE IT WITH PROFESSOR TAYLOR EVANS!! He is a super caring and amazing professor who will always help with your writing if you need it. I got a B- on the first essay and went to office hours to gradually get an A on the last essay and final essay. I am not good at English but Evans really made me enjoy it and i highly recommend him to everyone (he has a 5.0 rating on ratemyprofessor!)
Took this class with Prof Polster and was very nice and tells you what she wants for a B, so if you want an A you just have to write a page more then she recommends and a few more pieces of evidence. Straightforward with what she wants. There are three papers, and the final is on the book read throughout the quarter. As well as 3 quizzes on the same book to make sure your keeping up with the reading. Enjoyed her class!
My professor (Karen) was pretty chill. Not sure about the others though
tons of reading to do for this class, which you can lose track of if you're not careful. if you take this class, take it with Innes, his essays have little structure to follow and are pretty easy to get at least a B on. final consisted of two essays about the readings in the class. had the occasional pop quiz, but wasn't really hard. he doesn't update grades on iLearn though, so be warned.
Two physical books were required for the class (St martins guide and the ethics of what we eat) . In total there was 3 essays that we’re not done in class worth 15%, 20%, and 20%. The homework was reading logs (around 250 words each) worth 5 points each. There was 2 presentations that we had to do (one in a group and one solo) worth 25 points each. The midterm was an evaluation of the ethics of what we eat. We were allowed to bring in notes and an outline. The final was a close reading of a short story that we’ve never read. Not a difficult class at all.
Essays were graded super harshly.
took it with Innes. bruh it was a joke
Robert Jones: Interesting lectures, does not have a set grading rubric for essays
Take Taylor Evans!! He is super nice and genuinely wants to help students succeed. I got a B on my first essay, and I did revisions on it and got an A-. I went to his office hours and my grades on the essays improved. He ended up bumping me up to an A- from a B+ because he thought it was fairer due to my progress in the class. As long as you show him that you are willing to learn and improve your skills, as well as pay attention in class and complete your readings, you will get a good grade.
I had professor Benedict Jones. He's very very meticulous with how he wants his assignments done and it was fairly overwhelming for a majority of the class for at least the first half of the quarter. He has a strange personality, but you can tell he's extremely passionate about his students and his career, often staying hours after his office hours to individually help his students. Three take home essays (with a crazy amount of prep time for each), one in-class essay, essay final, a few homework assignments that are basically just research and prep for your essays, and some group quizzes. You are allowed to skip the final IF you are doing well in the class (I think A's in essay 1+2) and you get at least an A- for the in-class essay. He sometimes gives opportunities to redo an essay (for a slight penalty) if you did particularly poorly or missed some key criteria required for said essay. The essays are graded pretty harshly and he is a stickler on sentence structure and grammar, but going to office hours and asking for his advice on your essay is the best way to get a good grade. Not a lot of reading other than some pages from the textbook occasionally and one pretty good book. He does make you watch some movies in the last half of the quarter, but you can do that on your own time and it's one movie a week basically. Most of his class revolves around teaching students the basics of writing and how to use the library/other sources properly. Throughout the quarter, he guides you through the process of how to write/prep the essays, especially the first essay, and he doesn't just expect a multiple page essay out of nowhere. The weeks leading up to an essay due date will be almost exclusively used for teaching you how to approach a certain type of essay or how to use a database to get research information for your essay and etc. Almost every lecture is tailored into helping your assignments out in some way. Having complex sentences and flow in your essays will get you a high grade. His class is certainly not an easy A, or even an easy B, but an A is absolutely achievable. If you want to actually take to heart what is being taught and genuinely want to become more proficient in English, take his class.
Avoid Benedict Jones AT ALL COSTS. He is the WORST professor at UCR period. Tons of useless busy work and will cause you to fall behind in your other classes. IMPOSSIBLE to get an A I bet he couldn't even do all the work he assigns himself.
Took it with Professor Robert Jones. I passed with a B, so he wasn't difficult with grading. It's more about how he words his prompts and him understanding your topic to the prompts. Very confusing, so it's recommended to go to his office hours. Attendance was not mandatory, and honestly was not necessary since whatever he talked about during class was not relevant or helpful to your essays. The only days you need to attend are the days he set for your oral presentations and the days right before the essay is due, this is when he asks for your topic ideas and he'll talk about some. He assigned readings before each lecture from two books, 1984 (Orwell) and Brave New World (Aldous Huxley), but I passed without needing to read the whole book. The final was dumb but easy, it had questions about different types of fallacies (not MC), and his "essay" questions were unrelated to what we've talked about all quarter.
WITH SMEDLEY!! She gives TOO much work. It’s ridiculous. It came to the point where she had to cancel her own quizzes or hw because she didn’t even have time to do all of it. Avoid at all costs
If you have to take an English class, make sure you take it with a grad student because they give the best feedback on your writing. I had Summer Sutton and she was great - she was readily available outside of class, whether through office hours, after class, or by email, for feedback, which was very helpful in my writing. We read N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season and wrote 4 essays for the quarter, all argumentative, and the essay and grading criteria were easy to understand. No complaints here.
There's about seven English professors for this class, and Colin Innes is undoubtedly the easiest one. Ignore whatever the previous reviews say, Colin Innes will make your experience SO much better. His assignments were extremely easy and, despite having like three essays to do, he gave a selection of prompts to choose from so we weren't limited to one option and could write on what we were most passionate about. He's also very forgiving, I asked for an extension on one of my papers and he gave me a full additional week to finish it. BEST professor you will get in the English department if you're a lazy student.
Took with Theresa Lee. 4 essays, 3 done at home and one in class on the reading. Only one book assigned. Most of the class is basically just group work through worksheets and debates. There's 2 debates throughout the quarter and they happen pretty close to when the essays are due so can't slack off as much. No midterm, one final (essay). She also doesn't grade super hard from what I've experienced. Seems pretty easy to get around the B+ to A range on her essays.
About the same difficulty in terms of writing essays as 1A. Lots of essays (5 in total including the final) throughout the quarter. Ended with an A, but that's only because my TA graded easy. In all honesty, English is a class that depends on how your English TA or professor grades. Hopefully you get lucky and get a good TA/professor. I recommend Chelsea Keane, she's very nice and grades easy.
Essays are graded hard
I took it with Albert Anthony. He is a great guy but hard to understand for people who don't have a dry sense of humor. He has pop reading quizzes so you need to make sure you do the reading at all times. He has weekly projects which are tedious in the moment but it's a great grade booster. He only had 3 essays so you have to put effort into them if you want an A in the class.
Took this class with Dr. Hunt. I recommend going to his office hours to look over your draft(s) because he is really helpful and gives good advice on how to improve your paper. There are pop quizzes, but you will realize the pattern of when he has them. For the discussion posts, understand the argument of the chapter and how it connects to the overall argument. No midterm, 4 papers, 1 final, which wasn't too bad. Rarely gives out A's, but his grading is fair.
Took it with Dr. Stephanie Fousek. Her class is boring sometimes, but she's a nice and caring professor. Go to her office hours since she'll help you do better on your essays. Do your readings and put in the effort. If you do all of the above, then it's possible to get an A.
first things first, if you get prof Siglos know you're lucky asl. I love him :,). he's so lenient and makes the essay topics interesting and easy to write. he grades fairly too. I had this class during the pandemic. he was very understanding about the difficult transition to online classes. 3 essays and he cancelled our final. easy
Harder than 1B because you're required to use resources from the UCR database and know how to integrate resources into your writing and expect to explain them with detail. Had professor Jeshua Enriquez and he was a really cool professor. We read Fight Club, which is a dope ass book, and he was not too too picky on grading so this class was a good experience. His final exam was just a way to tie all essays and the book together and nothing to stress about so if you're looking for a quality english professor who assigns cool books to read, this is your professor.
Took it with Kali Simmons Winter 2020. Super relatable and chill professor, but a little tough when it comes to grading. Majority of grades is essays as usual, but there are some in class assignments that go toward your total essay grade so show up to every class. I'm pretty sure she also took attendance and graded for participation too. She is helpful in office hours only if you know exactly what you need help on. Her assignments are not tedious and there wasn't much homework. For some perspective I think most students got C's/B's and A-'s on the essays. She grades heavily on essay organization and argument strength, less on writing style/content. Overall Simmons is super chill to talk with.
Took this online and Professor Polster was extremely fair and made essay writing easy by providing clear guidelines!
Definitely one of the easiest classes I took in my first quarter in college (took with Prof. Kenyon). He's a great professor and gives good feedback on your writing. I'm personally a strong writer so I had no issue; homework and essay topics are all fairly straightforward. If you've taken AP Lit, I'd say this class shouldn't be a struggle whatsoever.
I had this class with Professor Aram Adijian. He's a super cool and chill professor! Our only assignments were 4 Essays, which were usually 4-5pg, and our final, two 500 word essays. He really explained everything and is passionate about what he teaches. Had a great time! I received an 88% and could have reached for an A but I got lazy and decided to not do the make up essay he allows students to do in order to get a better grade on one previous essay.
Had Professor Queen. Class was focused on the paranormal and ghosts whixh was really fun. There are 3 essays and a final.
I had professor schroeder and I really enjoyed her class! There was 4 major essays that we had to do, but the topics were relatively easy and she wasn't a super harsh grader! We didn't have time to do our quizzes for that class, so in the end we only took about 1/3 that were planned. The final was also pretty easy, with the entire essay being about the book that she assigned plus the movie we had to watch. I only watched the movie, but I was able to get an A on the final!! Overall the class was fairly easy.
Took it with Kristen Skjonsby. Not a particularly hard class, just be sure to do the work and you'll be fine. Essay-wise, go to office hours (more than the mandatory ones) and ask about the essay. She helps you a lot and it'll guarantee you a better grade. Her essay prompts aren't super straightforward, so be sure to double check your thesis/overarching work before writing the whole essay. Super caring professor and very flexible with students.
Honestly, you're ENGL001B class experience, and your English class experience in general depends on the professor you get. With that said, avoid Rory Moore. She assigns so much work, and doesn't announce quizzes because "they're on the syllabus" (17 pages might I add). She reports people to academic misconduct for plagiarism without even informing them. Literally half the people in her class (including myself) dropped because of the heavy workload. Essay prompts were confusing and boring. She claims the workload is the same for all ENGL001B classes, but when I retook the class with Lorelei Baughman, we had exponentially AND significantly way less work compared to Rory Moore. Speaking of Lorelei Baughman, she's an absolute sweetheart, and an amazing professor. At one point she was wondering why we hardly asked questions, and our class had to explain to her that she does an absolute fine job at explaining. Encourages us to reach out to her. if you ever see her class open TAKE IT. Our class focused on food, and she always assigned these fun readings. Our final was easy, essay prompts were easy. She teared up when we told her at the end of the quarter how much we would miss her class.
Take this with Colin Innes
(Online Class)THIS CLASS MADE ME LOVE ENGLISH CLASSES AGAIN!!!! Had Kurt Paczkowski. 3 take home essays and 1 essay final (timed online). You're allowed to revise 1 of the take home essays and that score will average with your original essay score. Attendance is required but he is super lenient and understanding. His grading is really easy compared to most English professors and he provides time extensions like candy. He also connects with the students and converses with them during each meeting (writers workshop) and shows up with the biggest smile and all those positive vibes even if he's not having a great day.
I took ENGL1B with Professor Furtado. It was okay. Most classes were spent doing group activities on the book we were reading (The Fifth Season) and then presenting our work. As long as your group pulls their weight, the class is okay. There are also three essays, a final, and quizzes. The essays were okay. She doesn't grade super hard but it does take a while for her to get the grades back to you. It took about a month to receive the grade for the first essay.. The quizzes are okay. Most of them were take home so we had a day or two to work on it. She did have one pop quiz though. It was a little hard, but it wasn't worth too much. Overall, I would recommend taking ENGL1B with Professor Furtado. Sometimes it was a little frustrating because she'd take so long to grade (and the class is more work than ENGL1A), but she's a really nice professor and I felt that I learned a thing or two.
This class basically changed my pov on English. It really depends on who you get as your TA. I surprisingly loved it because of TA I had. She was super helpful and made going to class fun and interesting. 3 essays and 1 final like the previous Engl001 classes.
Ben Harder is an amazing lecturer but very harsh grader. Just by going off of canvas, the highest possible score anyone has is a 93.87. Expect to finish with an A- max.
Had Robyn Johnson as my ENGL001B instructor. Wasn’t super hard of a class if you did AP English Lang in high school. Go to her office hours if you struggle with writing, and do it in advanced so you’re not scrambling to finish your essay. 4 essays, 1 student presentation + analysis, and a final in the class overall. Participation and peer review is a big part of the class, so you’ll be expected to talk to your peers during class about your essays, readings, etc. Johnson is very fair in terms of grading and is flexible with extensions so long as you let her know before the deadlines. You’ll be guaranteed a one week extension to use for one of your first 3 essays but other than that, there isn’t any extra credit she can give. There may be some opportunities to receive more extensions, but it’ll depend on Johnson’s feelings about it. There aren’t a lot of assignments in the class so try not to miss any assignments or your grade will drop by a lot.
Winter 2022 half online and half in-person. AVOID GEROGE CUNNINGHAM at all cost. No cap this man is real mad and racist. His lectures are super confusing and he never gives specific grading scales for all the essays. Because he never has a real-specific-prompt, everything is in his head and he basically decides what to give it to you. Super annoying man and literally make things up in his mind. Btw, he is a new professor at UCI (originally from UCI), so maybe he will become more generous later on. But still, better to stick with another senior UCR professor.
Took with Aran Park Winter 2022 Quarter. She has negative reviews, but I wouldn't say she's that bad--considering I didn't mind putting in a lot of work to her assignments. She does a few pop quizzes, but they're worth very little of your overall grade. She can be picky about grading, but GO TO OFFICE HOURS. There you can ask her for advice and she can tell you what she thinks needs to be revised. When she sees you take her suggestions and actively advocate to improve your standing in this class, you will get a good grade. Class attendance is essential; she takes attendance and missing one class can result in you falling behind. There were 5 essays in total. Midterm and final timed write online, and 3 written essays. Going to the ARC tutoring center for writing support helped me improve my essays as well. Office hours + writing support + class attendance you're guaranteed a solid B.
Really depends on your instructor
I had it with Claire O' Brian in Winter 2022. She's an awesome teacher who is spirited and funny. However, the workload is little iffy. Granted, its not really her choice but rather the course that requires 4 essays for the entire course. Once the class picks up, it just keeps going. We had peer review letters to write in response to people's rough drafts. It was helpful for those who needed advice but also stressful because we had to do our essays a lot sooner (for someone who procrastinates like me ToT). Also the letters to me were added work/stress but at the same time is just a 1 pager so its not too bad. Just make sure to keep up with the class.
I took this class with Joanna Bradfield and she is one of the bets professors I have had. Super understanding and provides a lot of opportunity to get your work in and get extra points. Make sure to turn in all the little assignments cause they really help boost your grade. She is easy to reach out to and talk to so don't hesitate, do show up to class though.
Had Prof. K. Persinger. Honestly, you don't really have to pay attention in class unless they talk about the essays. Pace yourself because those essays get long (ex. 7-8 pages) and go to office hours! They are more than willing to step-by-step guide you on your essay. There isn't a lot of busy work besides the essays because pretty much all your assignments are done in class or are very short annotations which you can easily complete. If you are familiar with essay writing and how to make essays long, this class is pretty easy for you.
I took it with Carrie Jean. Pretty standard english class with 3 essays which are the bulk of your grade. Carrie is very kind and understanding, gives great feedback on papers, and very helpful office hours. There was also a pretty long book to read that tied into the themes of the class and connected to the final. Make sure to give yourself enough time to work on your essays, and the class should be fun!
I had it with Professor Rust, it was really easy, but with it being online and all. Got a B+ in the class so it wasn't bad. Only thing was annoying is that the Essays prompts werr confusing. Just go to Office Hours and you will be fine.
I had Cassandra Van Zandt in Winter 2023 and she a very nice and understanding teacher, she would push back due dates if she saw that as a group we needed it, she gave in class work as cushioning for our overall grade and we only had 3 essays and a final which was a choice between a final paper and a creative project. Choose the creative project, its easy and you’ll probably get the same grade or better as a final paper. She lets you resubmit one of the first 2 essays at the end of the quarter after fixing it. I will say she is a bit of a tough grader when it comes to essays (which is why I chose the creative project) but if you go to her office hours with a draft and fix what she says, you can get a high B or an A. We also read a book that she provided a free version of, but most of the other readings were not long and from the text book. As long as you try you should pass, I probably would have gotten an A- but thanks to the creative project I got an A+.
spring2023 took with prof george cunningham, not hard but a LOT of busy work. just be ready to do some assignment every other day that honestly doesn't matter. 3 major papers - mostly research, and 1 final exam (on a book). goes on a tangent sometimes and isn't very organized though
Easy A if u just do ur work on time.
If you have Vasquez you’re good. Literally just follow instructions/rubric
IMO easier than ENGL001A with slightly more interesting material. Grade based on a few essays and random assignments. Final is just a long essay.
the class was relatively easy but the george cunningham graded unnecessarily hard. had a no typing, no looking at phone, no spacing of rule which was dumb considering we are college students. two main papers and a lot of minor assignments. just show up and you can get a B at least but to get an A a little more effort on the papers. he likes students that are definitely more proactive in class, and will call randomly on previous nights readings or assignment
Took this with A. Anthony 😐 Fall 2023. Definitely depends on your professor. So much reading based on economics???? I scored avg on most essays and he is a tough grader. Try to do ur research on professors. But besides that I would've enjoyed the class.
English 1B with Hackelton is a pretty chill, just make sure to read and attend lectures. His essays grading seems to be a lot more chill compared to other English teachers, but he is a but of an ass. Some people find his laid-back attitude, but with a condescending undertone too jarring, but I've had worse, stuck up teachers so the come backs are always ready.
Never take it with George Cunningham if you are an Engineering Major. He's very inconsistent with assignment due dates and gives feedback 2-3 weeks after you need it or doesn't give it at all. Really hard to contact outside class. Very harsh grading and expects you to treat this course as if you are an English major.
DO NOT GET DR. LUCE! His grading rubric is not helpful at all and one small mistake on your essay will cost you a TON of points. Going to office hours was quite unhelpful and he taught us in class like we were fifth graders but graded us like we were grad students. I do NOT recommend him.
katrin boniface ( winter 24 ) -- the professor is nice but can be a difficult grader. she gives vague feedback on your essay, even though there is little to no instruction on how to write the papers, and often expected us to have more written when we never focused on them in class. many of my classmates would not even realize the paper was due on friday until the monday before. 1 presentation. 3 papers. 1 final.
Just depends on who you get. Grading is very hard and subjective.
Do not take Benedict Jones class, especially if you are an average writer. He will criticize and scrutinize your writing and assignments. Every week is a new assignment, so if you like to have a few weeks of freedom, do not take this class and I mean it. He is a terrible professor and drives me absolutely nuts. Dont be fooled by his fiendlyness at the begining of the quarter either.
Shane Shukis is a great professor. He actually cares about his students and wants them to do well in the class. There were a total of 3 essays and the final essay. Final essay is just an extension of essay 1. The final essay is submitted online so no in person final! Had to read a few chapters from SMG but he discusses it during class so you don't really need to read. Had to read a book as well, but doesn't quiz us (only discuss it during class) as long as you read summaries online you should be fine. I would recommend with Shukis.
I had Jonathan Donabo Spring 2024 and he is such an amazing instructor. He didn't assign much assignments/essays and made lectures entertaining and engaging. Hands down the easiest class I've had at UCR so far.
Took with Jared Lively in Spring 24. The class was not great as I could say with any english class. We had a class novel and the class essentially revolved around it. Writing essays as always is a boring experience and needs a decent amount of time if you want a good grade. For me spending only 1-3 hours per essay I still ended with a B. The novel itself is fine and it was a decent read but incorporating it into class discussions about symbolism and identity or writing essays on it was not fun.
I am currently taking Derek Tanios Mkhaiel and he is amazing. Really chill and relatable professor who cares about his student's wellbeing. He has a "shit happens" policy which is just about how he will work with us to establish a new deadline and give us an extension if we are struggling with the set due date. We have three 1,600 word essays plus a final. So far he seems like a pretty grader and does not look for anything over achieving on our papers. We also have in class workshops with a total of 50 points, participation/attendance which he gives us three unexcused absences, and the final essay is worth less points so that it does not total our final grade. Overall he is an amazing professor who is easy to talk to, and spaces out his workload and grades so that everything is very manageable.
Writing this in week 10. Drop if you have George Cunningham. So much work and reading(gives you 2 days to read 40 pages of a book), quizzes every lecture, no phones in class. I'm a ME major in my second quarter here at ucr but I've never had to do more work for a single class. Prompts for his essays are pretty long. 5 total essays - 1 diagnostic, 1 final, 3 regular. This quarter his 3rd essay's prompt is a nightmare. Makes you find 4 articles examining these specific topics, which are so hard to find that it took me 4+ hours to find useable ones. Then for the final draft, he's adding TWO MORE articles so that you have to use 6 total. The thing is, he's just telling you this after the lecture by email (specifically at 5:40pm 2 days before the paper is due), which is super annoying for those who have to change their essay because he changed the prompt. As for his grading, I really can't comment because I've done extremely well on his previous 2 papers. I don't consider myself a great writer, but I do know many others that are struggling to pass his class, and I can only imagine what they think of this class Tldr: I wouldn't wish this class upon my worst enemy
Took with Kelsey Ferrel. She's very sweet and a great teacher, but a little bit of a harsh grader for essays. 3 essays and one additional essay for the final. Attendence is mandatory. Make sure to keep up with book readings.
Do not take Emily Elvoid. She is a terrible professor. She grades super hard and is very aggressive with her feedback. Class was only hard because she was not a good professor. 3 essays and a presentation, final exam is an essay. I feel like the class itself would not have been bad if I took a different professor since she gives confusing prompts and not very much help. Her grading is super picky.