The midterm and final are all based on information from the lecture and from discussion. I honestly never sat down and read anything thoroughly and still managed to get an A-. If you put in the effort and go to class, you should get an A. The information is really interesting as well, so I would recommend this class to anyone.
This was a pretty good class; not too difficult. 20% of the grade was based on participation / attendance in discussion sections, so that was nice. We also had 4 two-page response papers for whichever 4 weeks of the semester we wanted to write about. The writing was short and a good great booster: those papers added up to another 20% of the grade. The rest of the grade was 30% your midterm grade and 30% final grade. My TA (Fauzia) was understanding and really tried to make our discussion section interesting. The readings weren't too heavy at all compared to other classes I've taken at UVA. I recommend that you go to lectures because you'll be able to participate more intelligently in discussion and won't have to do the readings quite as thoroughly, but you could get by without the lectures. The midterm was graded a bit tougher than I anticipated (I got an 85), but by the time the final came, I knew how the TAs graded. They were also kinda nitpicky about the exact way you described certain concepts in the short answers for the exams. My TA helped in discussion by giving us hints about which major readings and concepts we should study in order to do well on the final. I put in a decent amount of effort throughout the semester and didn't study much for the final and ended up with an A- for the semester. I would recommend this class if you like Sociology / are trying to understand not only gender but race & class and their different standpoints.
Easy class. Go to lecture and take good notes and you are fine. Decent reading load, but unnecessary if good lecture notes are taken. Not a particularly interesting class in my opinion - took for easy A and got it.
An ok class. Most people thought it was easy, but there is a lot of reading. Studying for the mid term is essential and lectures too. She does not post her power points on COLLAB.
This class is the easiest I've had at UVA so far, and it's still managed to be pretty interesting. The name kinda ensures that it'll be a female-heavy class, but guys should really consider taking this. A lot of the info is kinda repetitive but it only makes it easier on the handful of 2-page informal responses you have to do and the midterm. I feel like you can choose between going to lecture or doing all the reading, but you should definitely go to discussion. Catalina is a great TA.
Awesome class! Very understandable and interesting lectures. About 4 short reading responses to do throughout the semester which aren't hard. Just have to make sure you keep up with the reading.
