She is an amazing professor!! Absolutely love this class, lectures always on interesting material! Homework & exams are straightforward and very well in tune with the lecture. Lectures are repetitive but that really helps reinforce the concepts. Discussion sections are useful review. Reach out to her for help, responses are so detailed and helpful!

Took this class for GE VI. It was great. Her lectures are redacted which helps follow along and not have to write everything. Expect questions on online quiz and participation activities randomly. TA Bahmati discussion was great and very helpful. Study the slides and go to class A P.S Ling is not just cultural so be committed if taking Ling 210

This class satisfies Categories C and G for the new GE requirements. She's an entertaining lecturer with interesting in-class activities. For the midterm and final make sure you know specific names and years for some things. Highly recommend for a GE, could be boring without a friend or two with you though.

I took her for LING 110 and 115 and I love her. She's very entertaining during her lectures and such a nice professor. You do have to go to class because she gives out in-class assignments to take attendance. Her tests are pretty straight-forward; just study her slides and take notes during class.

Washburn is a great professor, very energetic, smiley, and also very clear and explains concepts well. Class on other hand is harder than you think. First 1/3 of it is super easy linguistics, the second two thirds of the course are straight math and comp. sci. and very hard. Washburn definitely makes it manageable though. No HW, but in class stuff.

Lectures simplified and articulated subject material very well, and the midterms are very easy if you do the quizzes in class. She gives lecture activities (the equivalent of pop quizzes because you can't make them up), and there are weekly readings. The homework load is not a lot, but just attending lectures really makes the class a lot easier.

Not that easy to get an A+ but an A- is definitely achievable. Most people in the class get either an A- or B+. Manageable weekly homework will only take about 15-30mins per week. No quizzes but midterms and finals have very specific questions from lectures. "Mandatory" readings (but I got an A- without doing any of it). Would take again.

Really nice teacher, will help outside of class if you go see her. Tests are very similar to weekly homeworks. Weekly homeworks are hard to do well, form a study group, but come to lecture and should be straight forward

I LOVED this class. The lectures were interesting, and even though she gives surprise in class activities, they're only graded for participation, and they're really fun! As long as you go to the lecture it's easy to get an A. The homeworks are a breeze, there's no textbook, I barely needed to study as long as I went to class!

Professor Washburn is a really nice lady and a good professor. Her lectures are somewhat boring, slow, and repetitive but this makes the material super easy to follow. Definitely very possible to get a good grade in her class. Not the most exciting, but ultimately a pretty solid choice of professor.

She is very knowledgeable and passionate about linguistics which I can't relate to, but she gives great lectures and basically everything she says in lecture will be on the exams. The exams are long and detailed. All exams are multiple choice, short answer, open answer, and fill in the blank worth around 70 points each exam.

A lot of people struggle with this class and don't enjoy Mary's teaching style - she is very casual and sometimes makes mistakes. I loved her and had an easy time, but would not recommend if you are not interested in linguistics. There is weekly homework, but very little reading. Would not recommend skipping class. Do the extra credit!

Mary gives her students lots of chances to do well. Two midterms and a final exam plus 3 (easy) final projects scattered throughout the semester make up 75% of your grade, while the rest is homework and attendance. She directly copies and pastes many questions from the HW to the exams, so just study and you won't have any problems.

I absolutely loved taking Mary this semester. She is genuinely one of my favorite professors at USC! She does mostly lecture and will stumble through things, but it is because she is so passionate. I had never taken a Linguistics class before her, and it was easy enough to follow her class. She is a big reason why I became a Linguistics major.

Prof. Washburn is just amazing. She is funny and will make your 9:30am class worth it. Definitely recommend her.

I had this class at 9:30 am and I don't regret going to each and every class. The content was really interesting and Prof. Washburn presented it in the best manner possible. She is intellectual, funny and prepared. It was not too hard to get an A, plus I learn a LOT. A lot of questions from homework reappear on the exam. So DO THOSE while revising!

an amazing professor! super engaging in lecture and knows how to keep it real with her students--she doesn't just drone on about information and facts, but makes sure to break things down so that concepts that seem really tricky are easy to understand. attendance isn't taken, but there are "graded" in class activities, and you get 2 passes on them!

Take this class if you want an easy A. I got 100% on all midterms and homework by simply paying attention in lectures and reviewing for about one hour the night before the tests.

I just want to say that LING115 is by far the best, most fascinating course I have GE I have taken at USC. Professor Byram Washburn is a fantastic teacher and every class I went home and told all my friends and parents about what I had learned in class that day, and they all found it super interesting too. She is a great lecturer.

Professor Byram-Washburn is awesome. She knows what she's talking about and gives very clear, straight forward explanations of the content. There is no textbook in the class, so you gotta come to lectures. You won't regret it though, she is a great speaker and always cracks jokes in class. Definitely recommend.

She's a really great teacher and knows how to engage, even on boring material. Everything seems harder than it is while ur doing it but looking back, its really not that hard of a class. Very manageable work load and achievable A. Teacher and TA are accessible, and she has every desire that you succeed so she's always helpful. Good GE choice

Professor Washburn was a good professor, she definitely taught the content well. However, for some, like myself, the content can be very hard to grasp, which is why I rated the class more difficult. Looking at it, it's a very ideal class with great TAs (seriously the best), two midterms and a final (all open note), and a 3 part project.

Professor Washburn is super knowledgeable and passionate about linguistics and so are all of the TAs which is a huge plus. Professor goes wayyy too fast during which is understandable because we had a lot to go through I guess. I wouldn't call this an "easy A". You have to work until the very end. I had an A but messed up on the final. Good Class.

Lovely proffessor, a little hampered by online enviroment. Washburn gave clear, thoughtful explinations of tough topics with lots of examples. There are lots of little assighnments and several exams, but it's an Easy A if you keep on top of your work or if you have linguistics experience.

Lectures are extremely well-organized and engaging. If you're someone like me who didn't know anything about linguistics but liked the idea of taking a linguistics class for a GE, go for it, I thought it was super interesting and unlike any science class I've had before.

Definitely not an easy A. You truly do have to work hard if you want a good grade. Lab attendance is mandatory, and my TA was pretty good with giving further explanations of the content learned in class. If you're looking for an easy, no-brainer GE, find another one. However, if you're looking to be challenged (+ learn some coding), try it out!

the issue with LING-285 is the material is novel; if you google the content, nothing will show up. and that's hard for a GE however, professor washburn has clear lectures and explains concepts repeatedly. she spends thirty minutes of every class going over old material. GO TO CLASS! the math/logic/coding is convoluted, can't lie. #justiceformary

Super organized, rational, and clear. There are class activities to ensure your attendance rate, just to be sure not to miss too many classes. And don't miss labs! The slides are really helpful, as you can take notes on them. I also love my TA and labs.

The content of this class is really interesting and niche. You learn about speech recognition and speech synthesis. Dr. Washburn can really explain difficult concepts in simple terms. There is barely any hw and the midterms are straight from attendance (you don't need to study). She helps you understand and not just memorize

Overhated prof. VERY easy A if you simply make a quizlet with all the homework questions and lecture slides, as she pulls DIRECTLY from these. The lectures are engaging if you're caught up but if you fall behind they're boring. Far easier than STEM classes. Very interesting class, it'll change the way you view languages. Weekly discussion sections

She is decent. I do learn a lot from her. As long as you put time into reviewing before each exam, you are gna do well.

Overhated professor -- Prof. Washburn is a fantastic lecturer and very engaging. I enjoyed her teaching, but she is lecture heavy (with notes posted prior but not filled in), so you have to attend every time. She answers questions well and her hw/midterm/final project are straightforward. Take good notes, pay attention in lecture, and you'll pass.

Mary is a living legend. It is so clear that she is passionate about linguistics, and she is unbelievably knowledgeable. I had her for LING285 as well, and she is just so great at teaching. Sure the material is tricky, but she makes sure to cover it at least twice instead of just teaching it once and never going over it again. Take her!!

If you are at all interested in linguistics, programming, and especially computational linguistics, this will be the perfect class for you. There are 3 broad units, with 3 homework assignments per unit, a part of a final project per unit, and a final exam per unit. However, it really doesn't feel like a lot, and the TAs really help!

Amazing class-- really changed the way I see the world. The assignments and midterms are very straightforward, just make a quizlet/anki deck of all the slide info and its an easy A.

Lectures are very engaging and the content is interesting. It's a pretty easy class as long as you pay attention and go to the labs.

So charismatic

Overall great teacher not too sure why she has so many poor reviews. Although it is lecture heavy, and your attendance is SO important to understanding the information, she keeps them pretty interesting. She also looks like Scarlett Johansson.

Lectures were engaging and concepts were explained very clearly. Tests were pretty easy and based very directly on homework/labs. She doesn't post the complete version of the slides/freely give out the lecture recordings, so you do need to come to class. Overall I would recommend.

idk what a lot of the other reviews are talking about, she's been great this entire semester. even if you have below average critical thinking skills this class should not be a problem. if you go to lecture/lab most days then you actually might not need to study ONCE during the whole semester

Professor Washburn is great. She's funny, super engaging and gives pretty straightforward lectures. She also goes over the content multiple times, so you're never really behind. I will say however, sometimes you have to seek other sources if you're still confused because she gives the same explanations for everything. Attend the lectures!

LING 285 is NOT an easy GE, there is math, coding, and a lot of memorizing. The class is interesting and she is a good professor, she uploades lectures, but they aren't complete and the same ones she presents, so if you miss the class, you'll have no idea whats going on. The material gets exponentially difficult from week 1 to 5 and so on.

Dr. Washburn is a very enthusiastic and passionate lecturer, which made this class fun to attend and the subject very fascinating. Not an easy A, but you can get by just fine if you study a bit for the tests. The TAs are pretty cool too.

I really liked her, she has strict attendance rules but if you just show up you'll be fine. One of the better GE-C's and I found it very interesting. TA's were nice and they were the ones that graded everything, pretty easy grading tho that I've heard from other TA's too. Lots of memorization but not as much reading or writing as you'd think.

I highly recommend this class for an easier GE. The 3 tests were pretty much simple memorization. Every lecture-based class is bound to be boring, but I found most of the subject matter in these lectures pretty interesting. TAs were very nice, and I think this professor is so cool. Like she 100% rides a motorcycle or something. Would take again!

Her lectures are pretty boring but she has so much enthusiasm and love for linguistics. The class is really easy to do well in if you just pay attention in class and review the night before. The test questions come directly from the homework (one per week). The only annoying thing is that attendance in lecture and discussion are graded.

Professor Washburn is very passionate about the subject and tries to make the material interesting but the class overall is really boring. If you want an easy A, this is the class for it but I found myself every lecture not paying attention. Also, you can't really skip lectures bc she has random attendance checks.

pretty easy class just memorization for tests, only complaint is that the lecture slides are horribly vague. Makes it really hard to review them

Personally found the lectures/content to be really boring. But this class was pretty easy for a GE, and the tests were 80% questions taken directly from the homework.

I actually enjoyed this class! Attendance is very much mandatory; if you miss even one lecture or discussion you'll miss out on essential information for the exam. However, Professor Washburn is passionate about the subject and I found lectures to be interesting. If you take notes and show up to class the content is pretty straightforward.

Very very engaging lecturer. There are two midterms that are super memorization based and final project paper feels a little useless. There is also a final exam. I would take it if you need a dual credit GE because it is not the worst

Very kind and enthusiastic when it comes to teaching the lectures, makes the class easy to understand, idk why people say this class is a lot of work... it's not, weekly mcq hw, two midterms, 1 final, and 1 paper. Class content is fairly understandable and mostly common sense with some memorization. Take this class for an easy GE credit

Took this class in my first semester of freshman year, and I loved it! Dr. Washburn's lectures explain the concepts very well, and she's extremely engaging and hilarious. She incorporates a lot of review, and she's accessible. The work for the course was very manageable, though you do have to memorize as it's a health-oriented class. Easy exams.

She is a great; interesting teacher for lecture. You do have to study quite a lot to do well in tests and there is a big paper at the end.

She talks a lot and EVERYTHING she says is exam fair game. you miss a lecture, you miss A LOT info

I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Washburn's enthusiasm and passion towards the class content. This was extremely infectious and allowed me to better connect with the work that we were doing. I would definitely take a class with Professor Washburn if granted the opportunity to do so.

Interesting class that explains voice recognition works and how human sounds are made. Posted slides are incomplete but lecture vids are uploaded with the full versions. Attendance is checked 12 times at random and everyone gets 2 freebies. Exams are a bit tough and not curved, but besides that this class is a breeze if you actually pay attention.