POL SCI 153A
Comparative Government and Politics of Western Europe: West European Government and Politics
Description: Lecture, three or four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisite: course 50. Designed for juniors/seniors. Comparison of constitutional and political structure of West European states, with particular attention to contemporary problems. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
1 of 1
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2015 - Professor Asquer is a straightforward instructor, who gives his students a clear ideal about his expectations. Class is composed of a midterm final and the forum posts which you have to post on moodle. I received an A-, but could have easily got A+. did not put enough work. Overall, the class is interesting and teaches a lot about European politics and the way European Union operates. If you concentrate in Comparative Politics filed, take this class. Relatively easy A. also I am selling the textbook for it cheap **********
Fall 2015 - Professor Asquer is a straightforward instructor, who gives his students a clear ideal about his expectations. Class is composed of a midterm final and the forum posts which you have to post on moodle. I received an A-, but could have easily got A+. did not put enough work. Overall, the class is interesting and teaches a lot about European politics and the way European Union operates. If you concentrate in Comparative Politics filed, take this class. Relatively easy A. also I am selling the textbook for it cheap **********
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - I loved this class! Professor Homola has been the best professor I’ve ever had in the poli sci department. He’s a great lecturer who breaks down tough topics and gets his points across. He’s very engaging and encourages people to participate in lectures by answering questions or doing group activities. He’s very kind and welcoming to students, and even brought us cookies on the last day of lecture! He almost always posts his lecture slides after class and answers any questions students have. I have nothing negative to say about him, he is such a great professor! Here’s the grading breakdown of this course: ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: 20% of your grade. This is pretty self explanatory, and it is your discussion section grade. CASE STUDY PRESENTATION: 20% of your grade. Every week, there is a topic for the week, for example some of our topics were Democratic Backsliding in Europe and EU response to COVID. In discussion sections, you and up to two other people choose a topic and present on it. Professor Homola provides you the material needed (such as articles or podcasts) to complete the case study. The presentation lasts anywhere from 12-15 minutes and you are allowed to use 12 slides during your presentation. TAs will email you a sign up sheet and you sign up for what topic you want to do. MIDTERM: 25% of your grade. There were 18 questions. Of those 18 questions, 13 were multiple choice, 4 were short answer, and 1 was an essay. Homola administered the exam on BruinLearn/Canvas, gave us 80 minutes to complete it, and it was open for about 18 hours, so we were allowed to take it at any point during the exams opening. Most importantly, the exam was open book and open note. FINAL: 35% of your grade. There were 21 questions. Of those 21 questions, 15 were multiple choice, 4 were short answer, 1 was an essay, and 1 was an extra credit question. Just like the midterms, it was administered the exam on BruinLearn/Canvas, was open for 18 hours, and we were allowed to do open book and open note. Homola gave us more time to do this exam, so instead of 80 minutes, we had 120 minutes. EXTRA CREDIT: There were two extra credit options in this course. The first extra credit opportunity was an extra credit question during the final exam. I believe Homola said the extra credit question was up to 5 points max, although I cannot confirm this. The second extra credit opportunity was course evaluations. We had 118 people in our class. Homola said that if 45/118 people did the course evaluations, everyone in the class would get 1 percentage points added to their grade. However, if 87/118 people did the course evaluations, everyone in the class would get 2 percentage points. Due to the strikes and everything that occurred on campus during this quarter, Homola was very accommodating. He told us that if we were happy with our grades, then we did not have to do the final exam, and our grade would stand as is. In other words, he made our final optional. He also said that if you chose to do the final exam, he would make your higher exam grade worth more for your grade. So for example, if your got a 95 on your midterm and an 85 on your final, instead of having your midterm be 25% of your grade and final be 35% of your grade, he would flip it to make your midterm 35% of your grade and your final 25% of your grade. PLEASE NOTE — as previously stated, these were accommodations due to the TA strike and protests happening on campus. So, I wouldn’t count on Professor Homola saying the final is optional. Maybe he will also do that for future classes, but don’t go into this class with the expectation of him making the final optional. Overall, I just loved this class! There’s a saying that a professor can make or break a class, and Professor Homola made this class amazing! Even if you aren’t super interested in European Politics/Comparative Politics, I still think it would be worth it just to take a class with Homola. I hope to take him again in the future!
Spring 2024 - I loved this class! Professor Homola has been the best professor I’ve ever had in the poli sci department. He’s a great lecturer who breaks down tough topics and gets his points across. He’s very engaging and encourages people to participate in lectures by answering questions or doing group activities. He’s very kind and welcoming to students, and even brought us cookies on the last day of lecture! He almost always posts his lecture slides after class and answers any questions students have. I have nothing negative to say about him, he is such a great professor! Here’s the grading breakdown of this course: ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: 20% of your grade. This is pretty self explanatory, and it is your discussion section grade. CASE STUDY PRESENTATION: 20% of your grade. Every week, there is a topic for the week, for example some of our topics were Democratic Backsliding in Europe and EU response to COVID. In discussion sections, you and up to two other people choose a topic and present on it. Professor Homola provides you the material needed (such as articles or podcasts) to complete the case study. The presentation lasts anywhere from 12-15 minutes and you are allowed to use 12 slides during your presentation. TAs will email you a sign up sheet and you sign up for what topic you want to do. MIDTERM: 25% of your grade. There were 18 questions. Of those 18 questions, 13 were multiple choice, 4 were short answer, and 1 was an essay. Homola administered the exam on BruinLearn/Canvas, gave us 80 minutes to complete it, and it was open for about 18 hours, so we were allowed to take it at any point during the exams opening. Most importantly, the exam was open book and open note. FINAL: 35% of your grade. There were 21 questions. Of those 21 questions, 15 were multiple choice, 4 were short answer, 1 was an essay, and 1 was an extra credit question. Just like the midterms, it was administered the exam on BruinLearn/Canvas, was open for 18 hours, and we were allowed to do open book and open note. Homola gave us more time to do this exam, so instead of 80 minutes, we had 120 minutes. EXTRA CREDIT: There were two extra credit options in this course. The first extra credit opportunity was an extra credit question during the final exam. I believe Homola said the extra credit question was up to 5 points max, although I cannot confirm this. The second extra credit opportunity was course evaluations. We had 118 people in our class. Homola said that if 45/118 people did the course evaluations, everyone in the class would get 1 percentage points added to their grade. However, if 87/118 people did the course evaluations, everyone in the class would get 2 percentage points. Due to the strikes and everything that occurred on campus during this quarter, Homola was very accommodating. He told us that if we were happy with our grades, then we did not have to do the final exam, and our grade would stand as is. In other words, he made our final optional. He also said that if you chose to do the final exam, he would make your higher exam grade worth more for your grade. So for example, if your got a 95 on your midterm and an 85 on your final, instead of having your midterm be 25% of your grade and final be 35% of your grade, he would flip it to make your midterm 35% of your grade and your final 25% of your grade. PLEASE NOTE — as previously stated, these were accommodations due to the TA strike and protests happening on campus. So, I wouldn’t count on Professor Homola saying the final is optional. Maybe he will also do that for future classes, but don’t go into this class with the expectation of him making the final optional. Overall, I just loved this class! There’s a saying that a professor can make or break a class, and Professor Homola made this class amazing! Even if you aren’t super interested in European Politics/Comparative Politics, I still think it would be worth it just to take a class with Homola. I hope to take him again in the future!
AD
1 of 1
