Mr. Benbenek teaches a wonderful class! He is kind, smart, and passionate about helping you learn. I am now an English major at Berkeley, and found that his class model on emphasizing the lecture/in-class discussion & quizzes with less homework best resembles my classes at Cal. (Plus, the year the Cubs won the World Series he made us cupcakes)

The class has very little homework. Don't miss any, because it could bring down your grade a lot due to the percentage balancing. The easy, in-class points are not in the essays, but the vocab/grammar/various other quizzes given. Don't miss out on them, since the MC's and the essays can be brutal. Use your achievement points wisely, and save up whenever you can - you can drop an assignment/quiz at the end of each semester with them. (alternatively, you can buy food towards the end if you think your score is in a good place already).

Study for Word Within the Word; it's easy points.