This is one of the worst classes I have taken at UCLA. The professor is nice which is great and all if we are evaluating him as a person, but the reality is he is supposed to be a good educator, and to say he does not know how to teach is simply an understatement. Despite how well he knows the material, he lacks the ability to articulate it. His lectures are not structured in any way and consist of him rambling on and typically leaving you more confused than you were before you walked in. The teaching assistants try to be helpful but the material is just overall poorly organized and communicated and it is just a shit show. I read the reviews of this class prior to taking it and decided to disregard all of the negative reviews and give the professor and the class a chance, and it was the worst mistake. I strongly recommend everyone to not take this class and take it with a different professor if you can. 0/10 would recommend. It baffles me that such a top tier university like UCLA has professors that are this awful at teaching. It is classes and professors like this that turn an individual who used to love learning and going to class to hating the education system and dreading the mere thought of going to class. Thanks for coming to my ted talk

I'm still in the middle of this quarter, but I have vowed never to take another class with this Professor. Barry is sweet, funny, and I would be friends with him outside of class, but as a Professor, he makes learning 100x more difficult.

Albeit I'm taking him through zoom in the middle of this panorama, so it might be different in person, but for the last 6 weeks, he has spent the first hour and 30 mins of every class talking about current events. Then in the last 10-15 minutes, he speeds through all the material he was supposed to cover that week. Thankfully I understand what's happening, but most people are not good at math, and this combination of stem and disorganized learning makes it extremely difficult for students to actually learn.

I usually just wait until section to learn what I was supposed to, and my TA has been incredible in that department. If you don't do math at all, then please do yourself this favor and avoid this class or at least take it with another Professor. Many of my friends are having extreme anxiety during this midterm season, and trust me; you don't want to be here for it.

First class at ucla, cool prof, a bit absent-minded at times (as he'll tell you himself). Use the textbook that he speaks about at the beginning of the first lecture (written by an ex-TA). Get the hw done, super easy problems if u review the book; class slides aren't much help apart from the definitions. Watch lecture recordings or attend lecture and keep track of every example he uses while explaining different concepts, he asks about them during the exam. Very cool prof and interesting material, would take again for sure

This professor made learning the material very difficult and I felt as if I could have done better with a different professor. His teaching style was very unorganized and all over the place but I do appreciate the curve he has.

It is not the best class to take, but not the worst. It is very messy with assignments and tests. There aren't a lot of ways to genuinely learn the material. Luckily, he curves the midterm and final. Your attendance in discussions counts a lot. However, you don't know what your grade is until after the final. He goes by percentages ( if you get 25-35 points, you'll get a B), but that can all change in the end. It said I had over 100% in the class all quarter and ended with a B. Also, no one I knew understood the material at the end of the quarter, and the TAs don't have enough time to help you understand everything (and there is a lot). I wouldn't recommend this class if you prioritize your GPA like I do.

To start this off I would say that I like Barry and think he knows his stuff inside and out. However I am furious with him. His lectures were so bad that attending them was a waste of time. His study guides were not useful and a TA could only clarify so much. His exams are so wild and some questions will relate to a tangent he gave in lecture. I walked out of that class not learning a single thing. Now that I am in 172 with a different professor I realize that I need to drop this course because I don't know the basics of game theory in politics. if Barry taught at a higher level where people already have an understanding of the fundamentals, then it'd be different.
OH during both exams the proctors got notified to change a question on it MID EXAM. Which i find ridiculous from a professor at the number one public university. His slides are not useful and it barely follows the textbooks he provides. The marcos meza textbook however isn't bad. Again I like him think he's nice guy and knows his stuff but he should retire or at the least not teach the intro to game theory.

O'Neill is an amazing person. I respect his entire being and he is a game theory wizard. He is NOT a good prof. He is extremely unorganized and did not release 4/9 assignments on the syllabus which highkey made us want to die. His assignments were not easy. They were confusing, but do use your TA. Go to your TA's OH and his as well. Show up to class!!!! His midterm and final has "participation" points. Easy stuff that you will get wrong if you do not show up. Ex. My opinion on this was .... He grades on a curve. Everyone got an A or a B with some A-, B+, B-. You will not know your grade until the end. If you have any questions, do not be shy to ask. Do not rely on his study guides or old exams/assignments, he makes everything fresh every quarter. I recommend you take the other prof if you have the option to. If you do really have to take him, good luck. Ask other students or on like reddit for the study guide they made. Make some friends and that will save you.

If you are stressed about your grade. Just know, I got a D- on my midterm (3rd quartile) and managed to end with a clutch of an A. I think it was bc I studied a lot with my TA (jacob), had study groups with friends, and made a study guide. (If you want the guide, post on reddit and TONS of people will be willing to help NGL). I did not attend a single lecture (not even 1st one). But, I did go to all section and OH. I did not use Kathleen, I used one of his textbooks he posted for free which gave a summary of the topics. do NOT drop the class for fear you will fail, you will be just fine. A B or B- is better than an I.

I have a lot of thoughts on this class. I’d say a sentence that appropriately summarizes it is that Prof. O'Neill is a legend yet everything about this class is a huge disorganized mess. Even though there was both good and bad to this class I would definitely take it again over some of the other choices available. Overall I think people give Professor O’Neill more of a bad reputation than he deserves. While he is disorganized and lectures are hard to understand at times, he is one of the most caring professors I’ve taken class with here. This class is not necessarily an easy A, but it is a manageable A if you put in the work. I studied for approx 20 hours the week of and before the final.

How to do well in this class-
Personally, I had a really hard time understanding lectures and homework at first which is why it is crucial you attend discussions and work with your TA. My TA, Chris Wu was personally wonderful. I went to office hours every week to clarify homework problems which is how I got good scores. Additionally, anything is fair game on a midterm or final. Literally any sentence, word, or story he mentions in class can be on the midterm or final. I would recommend quizlet for memorizing literally everything. I would also recommend doing every set of practice tests or problems he gives you. He almost always reuses problems that he has already given on practices. I can recall about 5-7 problems on the final being from practice sheets.

Grading-
The thing that sucks about this class is that you will not know what your grade is until the end of the quarter. Prof. O’Neill grades using quintiles- the top 20% of scores in the lecture get an A, next 20% get a B, and so on. Use the midterm to gage how you are doing. I scored in the first quintile on the midterm, and I ended up getting an A in the class. If you score lower than the first quintile on the midterm try to raise it for the final, this will increase your chances at getting an A.
Another thing is that your TA will probably make or break your grade in this class. Some grade more harshly than others.

Textbooks-
Do not buy any of the textbooks. I never even needed to look at it studying for this class.

DO NOT TAKE! If you're like me before fall quarter rushing to find any open poli sci classes pleeeaaaseeee save yourself the headache and wait till the next quarter when more open up. Before this class, I had no game theory knowledge but for some reason, the class is taught and structured like I should already know what I'm doing. I am so confused. The homework takes me hours and hours and HOURS each week and this class was supposed to be a casual lower-division course. DO. NOT. TAKE. I am a junior and Barry is the worst professor I have ever had. So so so confusing. You will regret it. SAVE YOURSELF

I really enjoyed this class. Game theory can be something where you either get it or you don’t, and the professor can be difficult to understand, but the TAs are able to make up for it. He doesn’t give out too much work, but he does give out prizes if you win one of the games in class, so study up ahead of time!

Ultimately, this class is quite useful as most PoliSci professors at this school will try to reference game theory at some point.