ARABIC-203

INTERMEDIATE ARABIC

Offered Fall 2026
AMES · Taught by Cheikh Abdi ValL, Saad · Last offered Spring 2025
Term
Instructor

Overview

Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that students say they actually learn something useful. Best for students who want substance, not a disposable elective.

DepartmentAMES
Terms offeredSpring, Fall
Typical enrollment6–14
Semesters of data4
2.5
Hrs / week
49
Responses
58
Enrollment
84%
Response Rate

Evaluation Scores

Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
4.6
12345
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.6
12345
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.8
12345
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
2.9
12345

Feedback Analysis

Feedback Analysishigh
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 125 comments across 6 sections

Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that students say they actually learn something useful. Best for students who want substance, not a disposable elective.

Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Moderate homework load
Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.
Lecture Load
Regular lecture load
Lectures matter here, but the evidence points to a fairly standard lecture burden rather than a course dominated by long or exceptionally dense lectures.
Strengths
Students repeatedly say the course teaches something concrete, whether that is content mastery, research skill, or a strong foundation.
Tradeoffs
There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.
Best fit for
Best for students who want substance, not a disposable elective.
Watch out for
A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.

Student Responses

I loved learning about arab culture through our discussion presentations.
Fall 2023 · Badr, Badr Abdelfatta
Arabic vocab, culture, and grammar.
Fall 2023 · Badr, Badr Abdelfatta
New and better improvements on my level of speaking arabic. New vocabulary, exposure to culture and grammar
Fall 2023 · Badr, Badr Abdelfatta
This course allowed me to develop new Arabic skills. Throughout this course, I learned about different conjugations, singular and plural, and dual.
Fall 2023 · Badr, Badr Abdelfatta
I learned how to speak and pronounce Arabic words and sentences better in conversation. I also developed new insights to what one might expect to encounter culturally in different parts of the Arab World
Fall 2023 · Badr, Badr Abdelfatta

Rating History

Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
TermInstructorOverallDifficultyHrs/wkEnrolled
Spring 2025Cheikh Abdi ValL, Saad4.52.57
Fall 2024Cheikh Abdi ValL, Saad14
Spring 2024Badr, Badr Abdelfatta4.72.52.712
Fall 2023Boumaaza, Amal 5.0Rate My ProfessorsQuality5.0Difficulty3.5Would retake100%Based on 2 ratingsClick to view on RMP →4.63.22.425

Instructor

Cheikh Abdi ValL, SaadAMES
Also teaches
ARABIC-101 ELEMENTARY ARABIC4.4ARABIC-102 ELEMENTARY ARABIC4.5ARABIC-204 INTERMEDIATE ARABIC4.5ARABIC-305 ADVANCED ARABIC