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This class is a very hard GE class. I would not reccomend taking it over American Politics. He's hard to understand, wanders around in his lectures, and is very vague about tests and the big paper. He's very knowledgeable, just not a great professor.

He only teaches only from a VERY liberal point of view. His tests are unGodly hard....and he doesn't really do a good job on what he wants us to study for the test. If you say something, he shoots you down and makes you feel small..hence not many speak in class unless they are liberal too.

Dont expect anything out of this man. He is a HORRIBLE teacher and super difficult to understand the majority of the time. Read the book and teach yourself.

totally random conversations. the tests were never on the notes, even with a curve they were bad. only take this class if you need to. i hated it

Very hard to understand. Doesn't lecture very good and most of his tests are not on the textbook.

Can't understand him. Lecture notes do not help. I spent hours reading the chapters and knew the content of the chapters, but got c's on the test. Most people seem to fail the tests. There is no guidance for the final paper. I'm expecting to do horribly in this class and im a good student.

I HATE HIM! He's a nice person, but should not be teaching! He's hard to understand, gives you no direction on the final paper, doesn't do his own study sessions, and his lectures are basically "all roads lead to Iraq" and then statistics. I thought I understood what was going on; his tests are ridiculous unless Polsci is your dream. Not easy!

Awful...just awful. I'm sure he's a nice enough guy, but the class was just bad. Very difficult to understand (I know it's not his fault, but still), the material on the tests wasn't what we spent time on in class and the final paper was and still is a mystery to me. I don't think he ever even read mine. Take the class, but take another prof.

Dr A's lectures are random and impossible to listen too. If attendance wasn't madatory I wouldn't even attend. Just learn from the study guide and pray that your knowledge of current events is good enough that you can get through the class. Also, no direction is given on final reasearch paper. Only reason I am passing is I know alot about Polisci

Dont take him, he talks on and on about stuff that is not on the test, then hands out a study guide, about half of which is on the test, half is just crazy random words you never need to know. You will fall asleep in this class even if you are a poly sci major. Good class, bad teacher

Terrible professor. I didn't learn anything this whole semester. What he talks about in class is never on the exam...confusing lectures..horrible-never take this professor!!!!!

I was truly looking forward to this class (I'm a pols major), and, even though I'm writing this before I get my grade back, am expecting to fail or get a D. I couldn't understand a word he said and even though he doesn't hate the west, he bases a lot of his lectures to the middle east. he teaches middle eastern politics too which is probably why.

Honestly the absolute worst class I have ever, EVER, taken. This is not a 100-level course. Your grade is solely based on 3 exams and a term paper. Lectures are incredibly boring, the readings are even worse, and his overall teaching techniques are horrible. I am an A student, the is the lowest grade I have ever gotten. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.

Here is how you can do well in his class. Just read the books he said to have for class. Understand what is on his very disorganized study guides, and show up for the exam. I didn't attend one lecture and I am doing fine in his class. He is a terrible teacher, don't take him.

Before I joined Ali's class of nonesense, I had a life...once. There is absolutely no point to this class, only if you want to convert to Islam in 4 months. Amen.

There are not enough words to describe Abootalebi, except for...BORING, know=it-all, 'freedom fighter', extremely horrendous, class is a time to nap. and worst of all, everytime he says "are you all following this?" you just want to stand and say "no. of course not. does it look like we are?!" Advice: dont take this class unless Islam is ur thing.

One of the worst professors I have had at UWEC. He is completely unwilling to help students in anyway. I would never take him again.

Dr. A is straight up the worst professor I've had so far at UWEC. He is extremely hard to understand, and doesn't explain the paper or what tests will be on either. Along with this he rarely responds to emails... Would NOT recommend

HORRIBLE teacher. I am a 3.90 Honors Student that has never struggled with tests. Despite attending every lecture, reading and RE-reading the books, and researching everything on the study guide, I still nearly failed his first two tests. The average scores were 70% and 60%. Do NOT take even if he's the only option.

Worst professor at UWEC. You will not learn a thing. He's expectations are extremely unreasonable. He is also extremely bias in his view. Take any other course, even if it makes you stay an extra semester.

Ali has no teaching style. He jumps around so much that half the time he's not even talking about whatever is in his notes. His notes are extremely unclear and half the time you're lost while in class. Also, he has a very strong accent so if you're not good with understanding accents you probably shouldn't take the class. Overall, AWFUL.

Ali is a terrible professor. He is never clear with what he wants from you, and you'll never know where you stand in his class. His lectures are extremely boring and generally have no point. Honors classes are supposed to be discussion-based, but we never say a word. Don't waste your time. You'll end up with a bad grade and no new information.

Would not recommend. Hard to follow, only graded on 4 tests, hard to approach. If you arent a political science major and can avoid this class, do it.

You've probably already seen but AVOID THIS CLASS!!!! I have always had straight As and Bs but have done terrible on these tests. Professor A does not cover what is going to be on tests at all and spends most of the class time ripping on America and making useless Trump jokes. Worst professor and teacher I have ever had in my entire life.

He knows a lot but has a super thick accent. He reads off a Word document and has lecture guide. Loves to bash Trump and goes off track most(all) of the time. Two textbooks and online readings. Your only hope is that you have a student mentor. I leaned more from the mentor then Abootalebi. Tests are harder then they should be. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

Ali is a nice guy but horrible professor. His lectures are hard to understand because its an overload of information. Focus on the book because it makes a more sense. Youll get confused a lot, I would not take this class unless its your last resort.

There are 4 exams, each 22% of your grade, along with participation, which is 12%. Avoid this professor at all costs. He is non-engaging, & difficult to read. Exams are based off the lectures, (which is literally an uncompleted Word document that you fill in), textbook readings, and other articles. The 1st & 2nd exam class averages were 65 & 59%

One of the biggest mistakes was taking this class. Not only can you not understand his accent but his notes dont make much since either. Every class is just lecturing the whole time and your grade is only based on tests, which are awful, he gives you notes and a ton of reading and from them you need to know exact dates,quotes, names,etc.

Please avoid this professor no matter what, his class is not worth taking. I was just a freshman, not expecting this 122 level class to be difficult; however, your entire grade was based off of four tests that were 70 questions long. He is very lecture heavy (with a heavy accent too so you can't even understand him). He can be funny at times...

do not take this class. i like a challenging class but this class personally was hard for me to succeed in. the professor is hard to understand and he expects you to read an unbearable amount of material. the class is treated as though it is for political science majors when it is a 100 level class. Avoid at all costs.

Dr. A's POLS 122 class has many issues. The most frustrating one is that very little of what is talked about in class is not explained and the micro details of the topics not covered in lecture are what you're tested on. Also, you're required to buy one of his textbooks that's over $100 and you CAN NOT RETURN IT. Waste of money and time.

The main problem with this class is the lecture. Going to his class basically means 50 minutes of him reading off a word document that has a very unorganized list of topics that are sometimes off-context. This is a problem because he gives a lot of materials to read and it'll be hard to figure out which ones are going to be on the test.

Very hard to understand with his thick accent. The grade is based on 4 exams, however, they are curved and he does give bonus points. Would not recommend taking this class if I had to.

The Class average on our first test was 42%. Lectures are very difficult to understand and comprehend. If your political views do not match his the you better prepare for war in that class. Super difficult for a 3 credit course if you're able to get out of there before it begins then do it. Save yourself a headache and a dread for a semester.

He isn't clear about anything and is so confusing. He literally doesn't explain anything and only gives tests for grades. The tests are so hard and the averages are about 40-50%. I wouldn't recommend this class unless you absolutely need to take it.

Don't take this class. This class is based on only 4 exams. His lectures don't make sense, thick accent. We have to buy his book which is a bit pricey. Overall, if you don't need to avoid this class.

This class was all lectures and tests, no homework was given out, and Ali was not very good at communication. The text book required for this class is written in his own words so if you don't understand lectures the book won't help you either.

Okay so bear with me, you need to put your whole booty into studying for his tests or you won't do well. Bare minimum the quizlet will have at least 150 cards. He seems like a nice enough guy, but I would not recommend taking this class -his notes/lectures dont add up with the tests -he won't assign readings and put that information on the test

I was going into this class as a freshman as a Journalism major with a heavy interest in Political science. Therefore i was super excited to take this class. The concepts of the course are your general political science nature. But this professors teaching was awful. His lectures were too jammed packed. The visual aids were below standard.

I withdrew from this class purely because of how awful this professor was. The lectures are extremely basic and repetitive but the tests have completely different and far more complex content. Very unaccommodating, even for things like a concussion. He admitted that it's "very frequent" that students fail his tests despite spending hours studying.

Do not take! Tests don't follow any material or lecture. Way too much reading. Expects irrelevant facts to be remembered for the test. Didn't give anyone an A for group project and there was no guidelines other than length. No feedback ever for grades given. Doesn't answer emails. Hard to understand. Worked way to hard for a bad grade.

I cannot un-recommend someone more. Dr A is a nice person but a horrible professor. Lectures are incredibly boring and unorganized; he tends to ramble on for long periods of time which makes them very hard to get through. Tests are based on random facts he mentions once or material in his book he makes you buy. A hard class to make yourself go to.

Spews heavily biased political nonsense during class. No in class work, homework or preparation for exams which are the only grade in the class.

Absolutely awful professor. Will NEVER take any class with him EVER again. All semester there were two things that were graded. One being the exam. Few things he taught were on the exam and it only consisted of small outside bits of information he MIGHT have mentioned once briefly. No university in their right mind could or should hire this man.

6 assignment for the whole class all summitive

No words can describe how awful this professor was. Could barely understand what he says and anything he writes look similar to hieroglyphics. He claims I cheated on an exam when I received an 85%. Also makes you buy two of his books he wrote for >$100 that have NOTHING to do with any test or exam he gives. Do not buy his book and give him $$$.

Never NEVER take a class from him. Lectures are horrible and hard to follow, and the tests are crazy. Only summative assignments.

He was awful. DO NOT TAKE HIM. He is super bias on political opinions, there is very little assignment, lectures are all over the place, exams are random and nothing to do with the course, he claims I cheated on an exam when I did so so, now has dropped my grade from an A to a B. When he has no proof I cheated, because I didn't.

Overall Ali R. Abootalebi is an awful professor. He is difficult to understand in class, he makes you purchase his textbook. He expects you to know terms that aren't expected in a level 100 class. He also makes you write a group 10 page paper with little to no direction.

This dude made you buy his textbook, had such an accent and a lisp you can't understand a word, straight up lied about how attendance is weighed in the syllabus (claimed to only be 5% of total grade, ended up being more like 20), and tried to use anti cheating software and marked down people who were taking tests completely honestly.

Pretty bad professor. He makes you buy the $100 book he wrote and is not good at explaining things. I would drop the class while you can. There were times where he would just forget about class and then get upset if students didn't stay to wait for him.

He's honestly a terrible teacher, you can't understand him he's super biased and shouldn't be allowed to be a teacher due to this. he assumes people are cheating when they get higher then a 60% on his super biased exams and is overall a terrible person.

dont take this guy

super biased bad teacher.

very bad teaching style do not reccomend him.

Assumes people cheat for doing alright on his biased exams.

do not reccomend

4 exams and a project are the only graded work and hashly grades

really bad

very biased teacher doesnt have any work only exams that are biased

hard to understand

I do not reccomend him hes very biased

id rather lose 20 credits than take this guy

Test questions are based strictly on his textbook, not the lectures. Hard to understand and does not allow clear feedback or answer emails. Feels like you are being set up to fail.