3.0
Quality2.3
DifficultyN/A
Would Retake84
ReviewsN/A
Would Retake
84
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
16
4
28
3
14
2
16
1
10
What Students Say
“Very insghtful and wise prof”
POLSC110C - 4.0 rating“Be warned that this older gentleman loves the sound of his own voice”
PS121B - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A+
Grade Distribution
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.26 avg changeRatings by Course
POLI110B
5.0
(1)110B110C
5.0
(1)138D
5.0
(1)POLIS121B
5.0
(1)POLIT112C
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
POLIS110T
5.0
119A
5.0
PHIL27
3.8
POLI121
3.3
POLI138DHOL
3.0
Reviews (84)
VERY, Very, and might I say VERY difficult to understand, accent and material wise. Passionate and intelligent, but prattles on and on, offering multiple explanations within the same sentence. Hard reading. Outside research is a must.
He is hot,his accent is good, but he does not explain the material very well. class has 2 very hard exam.
Professor Forman-Barzilai is a god. Basically write down everything he says in lecture and put it in the essays and you'll do fine in his class. This is the 7th class ive had with him and everything is just straight forward and a piece of cake.
Interestng Class! Lectures Help out for essays. Sometimes hard to understand, but you pick it up in no time! Gives you a review sheet for the midterm! Really nice guy, and a overall great teacher!
He is somewhat hard to understand, so it's hard to take notes. However, he is very knowledgeable and has a consistent scheduale even if it doesnt seem like it. He gives you the midterm questions in advance, but doesnt say which ones will be asked. Nice guy, smart, but a bit spastic.
His accent is annoying and makes it hard to understand. He never manages to finish a thought, and jumps from one subject to another. Dont take this professor, try any other.... STAY AWAY
I really think he's been given far too much credit. If he were even semi-inteligible through the accent, maybe SOMETHING in that class would make sense. Just look at the size of the class when the quarter started until it ended, more than two thirds had given up on trying to undersand the gibberish.
Not only does he have an accent, he stutters alot and never completes a thought. I didn't learn anything from lecture. sections are mandatory, and I learned more from the TAs. Don't bother to go to class after the midterm. Better yet, dont bother to go to class at all.
Prof. Barzilai's lectures are very theoretical and abstract and provide very little contextual background for assignments. Lectures have little value and consist entirely of using the overhead "dream machine" projector. However, the course has a very light load and it is easy to obtain a good grade.
Last time I went to lecture, there were only 20 people at most out of a class of 125. Yeah, that's how pointless it is. Excessive reading assignments, the material was actually interesting but the way he presented it was incredibly offputing. 50% final paper pretty much decides your grade.
The worst prof i ever had. didnt make any sense (if you could even understand him). did NOT facilitate notetaking, just put photocopies from the book on the projector and read them. class is fairly easy, as long as u dont both attending lecture.
He was very passionate about the topic. However, he was very hard to understand in lecture, it was hard to take notes, and the topic was very abstract...not what I was expecting at all. A really nice guy though. This class wasn't too hard for me and I didn't read much, only went to the lectures.
He has a strong interest in philsophy. As such, his classes are strongly focused on philosophy. Although his lectures do not seem structured at first, they will start to feel more structured to you once you get used to his style. His exams are easy.
His TA (Michael Polyakov)is the hardest TA that I ever had. Micheal Polyakov is not helpfull at all.
Grow up, people. Yes, he has an accent. But if you make even a half-hearted effort to understand him you will find he is actually a good lecturer. If you try to understand you will find that you adapt to his style after the first lecture or two. Exams are some of the easiest I have ever taken.
Easiest A of my life, papers can be done without going to class, he is a great prof tho, heavy on the accent, but also very knowledgable. He also brought in two Holocaust Survivors, and their story was fascinating! Take it, its a great class
AHHHHHHHHH! OMG I was totally looking forward to a good phil class but damn, he put me off so bad. His lectures were pointless, Thank God for my TA. I don't think I learned a thing from his lectures...
Prof. is very kind-hearted and truly is passionate about the subject. Class is easy esp. the exam and paper. He gives you the questions ahead of time and you get to bring a page of notes. Yes, he has an accent but so? You can still understand him fine & some students are just mean and retarded.
He is hard to understand. He puts slides up but they're confusing and he takes it off too fast for anyone to copy it. I went to every single class hoping I'd get something out of it, but I didn't. Someone left class early and he said that was immoral. One of his TAs, however, is so nice and hot!
Horrible. Would rather eat broken glass than take a course with him again. Goes off on philosophical tangents and never really makes sense of anything he says. Strong accent. Poor command of the English language. Exams are fairly easy, but lectures are torture. Avoid him.
A thick Israeli accent makes it difficult to understand him, and he spends a lot of time going "um, eh..." in search of the right word. But that hardly matters, because most of what he says in lecture is not tested. His exams were easy, and what I did learn was intersting. Book reading not necessary
Seems like a nice guy who cares about his subject, but he does not have a clear direction to his lectures, which were somewhat boring. It was often unclear where he was going with his thoughts. Reading is light and exams/papers aren't too difficult though.
I loved Proffesor Forman- Barzilai! He was my favorite proffessor at UCSD. He was extremely kind and knowledgeable. He made political philosophy interesting and fun. His lectures were clear and if you have an ounce of intelligence, you can easily follow. And btw his Israeli accent is awesome!
No Comments
No Comments
very hard class. He does not give any study guid or any thing that can help.
Very caring kind teacher, knowledgeable and passionate about this subject. If language is a problem for some people, I'd suggest a little more tolerance and maturity.
Allows a full page of notes for exams which helps a lot. The philosophers are sometimes difficult and notes help for comparisons. Also seems like a nice person who cares about students.
Understanding him is a little difficult at first, but *seriously* it's not that bad after awhile. Unfortunately though he did a very poor job of structuring his lectures and he puts up photocopies of the text on the slides which are INCREDIBLY hard to read from the back. Also the TA, Andrew Poe seemed to grade the midterms pretty harshly.
Really seems like a nice guy and tries to be fair to all sides. Has a few funny jokes, including about his accent (which is thick but you can understand him perfectly fine). When he writes on the chalkboard, he writes in a Hebrew-English hybrid (that's my guess, at least) that you can't read at all, but mostly uses overhead. Not hard grading.
good class grade consists of 3 papers
I really like this professoe, I've taken two classes with hima and even though he has a thick accent, I had no problem understanding his lectures. He is very fair and familiar with his field and I would recommend his classes to anyone who wants an interesting elective for political science.
I love this professor! Both he and FFB are wonderful and very fair in their lectures. His classes are easy but stay for the lectures even if you don't think you need to. He prepares well for his classes even if he seems distracted. He is one of those teachers who conveys the love of his subject to his students. Take him if you can!
No Comments
Barzilai was well informed about mid-east politics, but class often felt like a waste of time. Some tests felt disproportionately hard when compared to what he actually taught.
This was a very important class. Guest speakers added a lot. Everyone needs to learn about thsi important chapter in history. Very knowledgeable and concerned professor.
He made this required course interesting and relevant to real life. Also a cool TA who graded fair.
Ugh this class was torturous, The only time I went to lecture was to turn in the paper, but he would trick people by making them stay till the end to turn in their papers. I also couldn't understand him with his accent. The paper topics are vague but come from the reading and not lectures. an easy A if you do the reading
This class is wonderful if you really want to know about the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Honestly, he is probably one of the most intelligent professors at UCSD. He is a great guy and I would recommend the professor to anyone. He does have a hard time with lecture since he has to translate from Hebrew in his head. But you get used to it. AWESOME CLASS
He is very kind, approachable, wonderful, probably intelligent, articulate, and knowledgeable on the topic. The accent is not a problem. But I will never take another class from him because I have learned NOTHING new from his lectures. Easiest class EVER, I got a 99 on the midterm with NO effort. You want an easy A, he's definitely your kind of guy
Amazing class, very interesting topics. It was well structured and the reader was great. A little too much reading, but it was ok.
Could not understand a single word he said. Completely uninterresting.
COMPLETELY BORING! his lectures are dry and dull. he's unclear on prompts - doesn't know what he wants on papers. TA (Mike) was not helpful and kind of a hard grader. readings were more interesting than lecture (and it's not that interesting). very boring class and professor!
I did almost none of the reading and still got an A in the class
This class was soo boring. I could barely understand him. I was looking forward to taking it going into it but realized later that I wasn't even learning anything interesting, if anything at all.
Accent makes him hard to understand, but he has well-organized lectures (uses overhead projector), so I guess you could just copy the notes down. It really depends on your TA, they're the ones who grade your tests and papers. He's very accesible, as is the TA I had. Ended up with a B+, but study and keep up with reading, not hard to get an A.
This class was a joke. Do not buy the books, just borrow someone elses so you can use them for a couple of sources for the papers. His lectures were the worst I've been a part of; completely unorganized. Moreover, they have little to do with the paper topics. Going to class is not necessary, other than to turn in your papers. Good luck. Got an A-.
What is he talking about? Class is almost over, and I'm still confused as to what he is trying to teach. The most helpful lecture was given by the TA. Class is a waste of time because you won't be able to understand him, and his lectures don't facilitate any note taking whatsoever. If you can avoid this class, you should.
Very decent guy and interesting once you get into things. My tA is also excellent
He's a nice guy who is passionate about his subject. In the mere 10 weeks I've learned a huge portion of the origins of politics. His teachings have catalyzed my own questioning of the proper ways a society, state or community should distribute power and jusice. Such a great course and teacher.
Some people said they couldn't understand him and he did have an accent but it was NOT that hard. lecture style took a while to get used to but after a few lectures, if you pay attention, he explains exactly what he wants you to know - worth going to class. Papers were easy and he lets you have a cheat sheet for midterm, take home final, easy A
Luckily I liked the subject and the readings, that and the TA is insanely helpful! Barzilai, with focus can be understood in terms of how he speaks, but what speaks about is typical so disorganized and random so lecture really is a waste of time. Try to do the readings and use your TA! Otherwise good luck to you pal.
Barzalai is a very knowlegdeable person, and his selection of topics was very interesting. It is clear that he loves the material he teaches. Sometimes he repeats things, but that is only to be sure that everyone is following along. I have taken several of his classes and they cause me to think, which is not always the case in Poli Sci!
I thought he was absolutely amazing for Poli 13! It was an interesting class and pretty easy! u should def. take this class!!!
Professor does have an accent, but is not difficult to understand at all. Repeats concepts, but only to assure that understanding. There are no exams, only papers, which makes the class relatively easy. Reading is not necessarily a must if you attend class because he goes over the assignments and even gives you quotes you can use in essays.
Not too hard a class... This was the one on the Jewish bible and political theory. His lectures are suspiciously similar to his Social Contract class. This man in waiting on Tenure and not really trying, but is passionate about his religion. Can't understand a word he says, I went to every class but didn't use my lecture notes on the essays.
He seems nice and passionate about the subject matter. But other than that, he doens't have much to offer. His thick accent and scattered lecturing style make following difficult. Tests were hard especially if you based your studying of the study guide. 25% weekly newspaper summaries help grade out A LOT.
cant understand a word that comes out of his mouth. class is boring. lectures are scrambled and hard to follow, notes are impossible to take. bad teacher, bad lecturer, bad class in general.
super nice guy! One of the few stress free classes at UCSD you can still learn a few things from. Take this class it's fun, chill, and an easy A. He spreads awareness about worldly issues in a way that many students can relate to. Bit of an accent but it does not affect the ability of students to grasp the lectures.
Often times it was hard to understand him because of his accent. Not only did his accent make him difficult to understand, but he jumped to a lot of different topics during lecture. The first half of the class was based on the book and I'm not really sure what the later half was based on.
Knows a lot about Israel and the Middle East. Very fair and balanced.
Very decent professor and doesn't cram his opinions down your throat. his has a balanced approach about the middle east
Awesome class, and great books and films! I wish the class could be longer to do more
I really love taking classes with this prof. Unlike most Polisci profs, he is very passionate and cares about his students. For instance once I was sick for a week and needed extra help to make up a lecture and he spent his whole office hours helping me. I wish more profs were like him. Defintintely take a class from him!
cool class. all literature and films with no exams only papers. prof's accent is not bad if you get into him. he's way smart and has interesting things to say.
The subject material was interesting in the beginning, but professor ruined it for me. Lectures were scattered, barely used the book, studyguide for midterm wasn't accurate. Everything I used for the midterm and final paper, I found off the Israeli govt. website and not from the book. Only need to show up for class to turn in the newspaper report.
One of those classes, where you don't have to attend to do ok. 3 news reports for P/NP, midterm has a study guide (terms and essays from the book) and you can bring in 1 sheet of notes, final is a little research paper. TA was a super hard grader on the midterms! Lectures could be organized a bit better. But the documentary watching was fun!
I love this prof! Do the readings, take notes, and you'll get an A on the midterm. It's pretty much straight from the book so attending class is not needed. I never attended lecture, but focused entirely on the book and got a 97 on the midterm.
This is a great professor who knows a ton about Israel and the entire region. Yes he has an accaent but get over it! Thats what it means to learn from someone from the place you want to study. There is no one better on this than Barzali.
Terrible professor, puts UCSD to shame. He is impossible to understand, accent aside...he makes absolutely no sense. Unfortunately, I learned nothing from the class. Don't take him. Easy grade, but intolerable!
Very insghtful and wise prof. He teaches from his heart and care about the subject and the students.
Totally awesom prof who is very deep and knowledgable. He really cares about students in office hours, not like other polisci profs
My third class with this prof, and not disappointed yet. He's just a great guy, and super helpful. I got As and worked hard on my papers (all papers no exames). Easy to get a B if that's all you want.
Very difficult material. The prof tried his best to make it accessible. His accent didn?t help but his efforts and care quite a bit.
Most of his courses are POLITICAL THEORY classes so if this isn't your thing, it WILL be difficult. But if you DO like theory, you will find his discussions interesting. the readings for this class were little (in quantity) bUT VERY DENSE. His accent isnt that bad if you pay attention and you can tell he's passionate about what he teaches.
The prof and especially the guest lecturers who are survivors provided a very serious historical and personal account to genocides and their roots in hate and prejudice.
Such an awesome class on politics and art in contemporary society. Our class presentations were the best part, let us explore our own world through a political lens.
If you like political theoroy this is a great class, if you are more of a Political Sci type you might not like it. This is more like philosophy (he is a philosopher) applied to politics. There is sometimes a lot of difficult reading, and have to work on your papers. But definitely worth the work.
fairly easy class, 1 comparative book essay and 1 3500-word research paper. The heavy accent can be a problem, sit in the front and ask him to spell any names you don't understand
he's a bit ambiguous and unclear. but he's very good at lecturing. just dont text and talk in class. take him!!! easy A.
Nice professor, easily distracted by discussion but participation was encouraged. Good prof!
Be warned that this older gentleman loves the sound of his own voice. Yes the class is an easy A, but he will not engage his students and is not interested in students' opinions or input. He is very knowledgeable in Israeli politics, but is unclear most of the time.
Really amazing professor. He cares way more about his students thinking about the material and understanding whats going on then about nitpicking on grades. he doesn't fight students with grades and says in class he wouldn't mind giving everyone an A.
Love this professor! Cares about his students and them learning the material wayy more then strict grading! Learned so much and really easy to do well in the class. One of the few professors I've had that literally wants to give all As.
Class Info
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A+
Grade Distribution
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.26 avg changeRatings by Course
POLI110B
5.0
(1)110B110C
5.0
(1)138D
5.0
(1)POLIS121B
5.0
(1)POLIT112C
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
POLIS110T
5.0
119A
5.0
PHIL27
3.8
POLI121
3.3
POLI138DHOL
3.0