This class is excellent. Highly recommended!!

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Great instructor and interesting class....although there is alot of reading to do which can put u a little behind in other classes.

awesome class. teacher is great essays were cake and the readings arent dry poli sci dribble. TA's were cool too.

interesting class

Her lectures really held my attention. It was easy to take notes off of her. There's a fair amount of reading, and I would suggest you do it! But the reading isn't boring or superflous.

She is a very good teacher. She knows what she is talking about and you will enjoy taking her class. She is easy to understand and is very approachable. She doesn't require too much in work just do the reading. The TA's were really good.

Incorporates film, litary works and commentary in one package. One of the better poli sci classes ive taken

great class, take it definitely. reading and lecture is awesome. papers are easy. i went to about 1/2 the lectures and got an A. how? its all based on reading.

The coolest class I took this quarter. This professor knows the material very well. Class is interesting and if you do some of the reading you will be fine. I would definitely recommend this class and professor!

This class was really interesting. Not a lot of work, readings were not strictly necessary. Exams are take-home, on interesting subjects. Her lectures are worthy of attendance, and she doesn't mind questions.

AWESOME professor!! She clearly cares about her students. The class is very interesting and pretty easy. I really enjoyed it.

she is fantastic.

All about reading! All the questions on the quiz, midterm and final papers are from the reading. Lectures are helpful for understanding the reading. Goodluck!!!

Amazing professor. Really made poli sci interesting. She goes over the reading in lecture which is a huge help. The essays weren't too bad, she gave them way in advance. She also has two quizzes. If you get an A on the first you don't have to take the second. Great class great professor!

Interesting and easy, two important things in Poli Sci. Get an A on the first quiz and you're set, because the final is kinda unrelated to the class, although minimal knowledge if helpful, but not neccesary, to tie in. Take with confidence, hope you get a good TA.

She's the sweetest person ever, no joke. I was really sick last year and she sympathized incredibly and extended so much grace to me. She's super nice, helpful, cool and is willing to make the class as do-able as possible. Take her!!!

Really straight forward professor. very clear. brings in outside sources to have you relate to class material. entire class is theoretical so that helped a lot. very formal, she's not going to be your best friend. but she will aid you in any way she can. she's very passionate about this subject. take it! you will not regret it!

Very eloquent professor (sometimes too eloquent); her grading was clear and easy. If you read the materical and do the assignments, you will get an A (most likely, don't forget about section, that's part of your grade too). I know people who only read a handful of assignments and still got an A. Interesting class and pretty awesome professor

She gives amazing lectures. Class is pretty easy. Do the readings, it's helpful that she goes over the readings during lecture. Term paper is an easy A :) overall she's awesome!

The prof is very into the material and reviews all the pertinent parts of the reading. Open-ended discussions on rdg/film clips about modes of power and resistance activity. Grading is from two 6-page essays and an in-class midterm essay that you can retake. Sec. participation/attendance counts for 10%. If you're willing to read and write some= A/B

I thought that the class was very interesting. I really liked her teaching style. The class isn't to difficult all you have to do is your work.

Very interesting professor. Lectures were very helpful and insightful. Reading is required but there is only 1 textbook. Relatively easy class. I will definitely take another class by this professor.

Fonna is by far the most inspiring professor I have ever had. Her knowledge and expertise of the fields that she teach make each and every word out of her mouth awe-inspiring. She not only teaches well, but she is an amazing woman. She only requires reading that is interesting and important - nothing too long or unnecessary. She's the BEST!

This was an awesome class and professor. Light reading for a poli sci class. Goes over all of the readings in lecture. Grade based on a midterm take home essay, a in class midterm essay (can take twice), section participation, and a take home final essay. I would definitely recommend this class!

Really great teacher. The lectures didn't have slides but she kept my attention regardless. Obviously a very smart and passionate professor. I highly recommend her.

one of the best poli sci teachers for political theory oriented material, lectures and material interesting. sections stimulating.

awesome prof, interesting and informative material, overall class highly recommended

TAKE HER!! She gives questions for all the readings and the exams are from these questions, she is very fair. TA's where fair graders, too. So DO TAKE THIS CLASS, because it is very interesting and the professor is super great at her lectures. Very organized and clear! I loved it!!!!!!!

The very best professor ever if you enjoy political theory or any political science class that she teaches take it! Loves teaching was a lawyer and would rather be a professor and once you sit through a quarter with her you will be thankful that she is a professor and a great one at that.

Prof. Forman-Barzilai is an excellent teacher. Her CGS class is so informative and interesting. She encourages all opinions in discussion but provokes you to think deeper into the subject. I loved this class and learned so much. MT paper 4-6 pg, Final 6-8, and presentation. Write something decent and do a good presentation and you will get an A.

The professor knows her materials well and is very passionate about teaching. However, I found the subject- matter a little bit dull. Nonetheless, I recommend taking her if you want to get a good introduction in political theory or an easy A. Do well on the 1st midterm and you can skip the 2nd midterm. Watch out, ur TA can screw up your grades.

had her also for poli 13. she is EXTREMELY passionate about what she teaches and it shows. Theory can be a hard topic especially if you're not used to it, but if you are, this course is very interesting. Encourages discussion and THINKING. Guideline questions are given for readings which pretty much are the quizzes/exams. Shes awesome.

took becoming evil with her. best class ever. best poli sci at UCSD HANDS DOWN. would absolutely take anything she offered. amazing. cares about subject and student. hard to find. not incredibly hard either - i got an A, you just need to be prepared to work and actually care about the subject.

I have taken four courses with Professor Fonna and she is amazing. She explains everything, and is very helpful if you need help. You will need all the books for the course but she explains everything.Go to class you'll understand everything you need for her exams!

Honestly, hands down my favorite teacher at UCSD. I've taken Poli 138D, 119A, and 13 with her and got A's in all of them and learned SO much from her. I recommend her Plato class because you focus on one book the whole time and she delves into it so much that you easily follow the demanding material. 138D was extremely informative as well

She is the best professor at UCSD without a doubt. I really wish there were more around like her.

Best class ever. I would take as many classes with her as possible. She is very enthusiastic, cares about students learning, and is smarter than any professor I've ever had. And hotter too!

Interesting lower division course. I recommend taking this class if you are a poli major. Watch some movies and write a few analytical paper responses... easy stuff. Took her for summer! i recommend that as well!

Wow, best lower div POLI to take, interesting material, movies were cool, don't need to do the readings if you pay attention in class an take her notes. You don't work that hard, you learn a lot, and you get an A... What more could you want?

She is completely brilliant on Plato, amazing lecturer, and probably the best professor I have had after four years at UCSD. She's totally fair, except to those who think they know everything. This was my last class before graduation and it was the perfect way to end my college experience. I am just sorry I didn't find her earlier.

Took her for a freshman seminar so the class was not hard at all. She seems like a great professor , very knowledgeable and nice. Looking forward to taking more of her classes

Poli 13 & 110B: Great Prof. Very clear and you learn a lot! the class isn't incredibly hard because she does a fantastic job teaching! You have to go to class to get the notes. One paper and an in-class midterm. I would recommend her to everyone!!! Top prof at UCSD and is passionate about the subject.

The best professor at UCSD. I looked forward to Mondays woke just to see her lecture. She's a ball of fire, and the best professor I have ever had. I would take EVERYTHING with her.

The professor is an amazing lecturer being clear, concise, and extremely passionate about the material. I would take a class by her again in a heartbeat. Both the in class midterm and take home final were graded very reasonably. Overall the class was very interesting and informational despite my dislike of philosophy in general. I actually learned.

She was a pretty good professor. However I stopped going to lecture because she kind of bored me. I'd take her again though

Awesome in every possible way, and not bad on the eyes either.

You will work hard, but this was an amazing upper div seminar on Adam Smith. Professor is a famous expert on his ideas and she totally rocked my world. I am an econ major and never knew that Smith was a philosopher. It changes the way you read him and think about how he would react to problems today.

Brilliant professor. She is so knowledgeable about philosophy and really works hard to make sure you understand the concepts and helps to put them in perspective. Not only that but she is extremely nice and easy to talk to and a fairly easy grader. Class participation was 20% and our final paper (8-12 pgs) was worth 80%

She writes excellent prose/poetry

Very passionate professor who made lectures interesting. Would recommend her class

Very passionate teacher and for the most part is clear. She doesn't grade anything though, so it depends on who your TA is. Class isn't mandatory, but section is supposed to be. Some TAs are crazy about attendance while others just give out full points, regardless if you show up or not. Not too much work, but grade is only the final and one midterm

Go to class, read what she assigns, do the extra credit assignment and the class is an easy A+.

Gives two midterms and a take home final. Drops the lowest midterm grade. Lectures are extremely interesting and thought provoking. This class has a lot of reading, so as long as you keep on top of it, you should be fine.

I love Fonna, she is a brilliant professor. She is very knowledgable in her field! If you want to really learn something, take this class! She is very clear/helpful/organized person overall. I highly recommend taking at least one of her classes.

Very nice and class is interesting.

OMG, this is the best class ever! The readings are super interesting and relevant to issues in the real world. Her lectures are amazing and passionate and I would recommend taking anything she teaches.

Great teacher. Very clear and concise; passionate as well. 2 midterms that are open book, and she drops the lower graded one. A paper is the final. One of my favorites. You still have to work hard, though. Definitely take her.

Fonna is very passionate about her work and a great lecturer. The class grade comes from the higher of two midterm essays, participation in section, and a final term paper that you write outside of class and turn in on the day of the final exam. Just be aware that TAs have 100% control over your grade in this course.

So glad I took this class. She is a great lecturer and loves what she teaches. The class mixes political science with other fields like philosophy and architecture. Forman is the best professor I've had in Poli Sci and I would take anything she teaches.

Awesome class awesome professor.

She is very passionate about her work!

Fonna was passionate about her stuff, and she really gives good feedbacks. The only thing about this course is that the midterm at week 10, and it is 40%of the final grade. However, you can omit this midterm by doing really well on the first one, scheduled on week 6. Remember to follow the instruction for the take home final also! She is great, go!

Great class, great prof.

Fonna loves teaching and you can tell by her lectures. There were 2 midterms and 1 final. If you did well on the first one you didn't have to do the second one, so most people just skipped the rest of class since the final is an outside paper done on a topic of your choosing that deals with power and justice.

She is really passionate and cares about students learning. Definitely take her

Professor Forman is a gem. As a student, it is easy to observe how passionate she is about her material. Definitely requires a good amount of reading(it is Political Theory after all), but you'll come away a smarter person from her class. There were 2 midterms with the lower one being dropped and a final paper(case-study). Definitely recommend her.

Stop reading and enroll in the class,

She is an amazing professor who is very passionate about what she teaches. You have two midterms (highest grade is only counted), a final, and the rest is up to your TA. Do well on the first midterm and youll find this class easy. The midterm is an in class essay and grade depends on TA. Professor Forman is a very inspirational lecturer

Great lecturer; really talented at articulating various concepts and the contents are also genuinely interesting. Very active outside of teaching (check out her work). Only thing is that she doesn't podcast, so you have to attend lecture.

Prof Forman is one of my favorites professors at UCSD. She is passionate in her teaching and really committed to making a difference in the world. I want to be Prof Forman when I grow up!

Love this class. Not only is the material easy to understand, but the video lectures are AMAZING! I am impacted by this course to be a better global citizen and Dr. Forman and the TAs are amazing. 10/10 would recommend. No tests, just quizzes and focus on the presentation! Put a lot of effort into the presentations!

Hands down the best poli sci professor. Ever. Take her if you can! Material can be dense and she doesn't do slides but the TA's are more helpful with that. She actually cares about what she's talking about!

also took forman for poli 13. for 117r it's literally canvas modules with mini quizzes abt the module, do them and the class is a breeze, mainly you'll meet with the TA but overall very easy low stress and interesting course! same for poli 13, one of the easiest but most interesting courses I've ever taken!

The online format works well for this class and I don't think it could get any easier than it already is. You're graded by 4 essay papers on assigned films and weekly discussion post(s) from each module. Forman is very engaged in what she talks about and assigns as reading.

Professor Forman is a great teacher and it's clear that she's very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about what she teaches. The grading criteria for the class is very clear and it's not difficult to do well. The class is graded based on 4 essays and weekly discussion posts. She also provides an opportunity for extra credit at the end of the quarter.

Prof Forman is great. She genuinely cares and is very intelligent. The class does require a lot of reading, about 3 texts each week that range from 8-30 pages. And they are necessary to read in order to write A papers. The grading depends all on your TA so make sure to know exactly what they want because her criteria is up to their interpretation.

This is the best professor I've had in my college career, Professor Forman is just a very passionate and caring person. This course not only helped me intellectually as a student, but impacted my life on a personal level. Take her! The material in this course is intellectually stimulating and she provides captivating lectures. Highly recommend!

Professor Forman is one of the best professors I've had at UCSD. She is very kind, caring and compassionate, and you can tell that she goes the extra mile to make sure her students feel accommodated (esp. during the pandemic). Course content is very insightful! Grading depends on your TA, but the course itself is pretty flexible.

Prof. Forman's classes are AMAZING, definitely make sure to take any of her classes if you can. She is very understanding, helpful, and enthusiastic. The grading criteria is simple, there are readings and discussion threads every week, as well as 4 movies to watch and write essays on. Extra credit will bump up your grade by 1/3rd, highly recommend!

She is one of my favorite professors ever! She made the class content so interesting and I was always excited to watch lecture. Your grade is mostly based off of discussion questions and essays about different movies. As long as you do the work and put in effort, you'll pass no problem. You could tell she cared about her students! TAKE HER!!

Great lectures and she genuinely seems like such a kind and caring person. Your grade in the class is based on basically the four essays you will have to write on some movies you will watch and the readings you have completed. The discussions barely counts. Extra credit will bump grade by a quarter.

Asynchronous class. Great lectures despite being recorded. Super nice and respectful and just has a really awesome energy. Clearly very passionate about what she does! Do be careful with your essays, because your TA's preferences can tend to subjective. However, the workload is light overall. Would 100% take more classes with her!

Took Poli 13 as an online course. While I did not really interact with professor Forman, as it was asynchronous, the curriculum was still pretty good. We were given several readings that were extremely interesting. It is very easy to keep an A by going to mandatory, online discussions, participate in discussion threads on Canvas, and doing essays

Graded based off of 3 essays (4 potential prompts, but you don't have to do all 4). Weekly readings and discussions, but TAs go over important parts during Discussion. Was completely virtual and she uploaded all recordings. Very intelligent lady :)

Professor was understanding of circumstances, including the UAW strike. She is a very passionate and well-spoken individual which makes the lectures more engaging. The readings were long but interesting and related to the discussion posts for the week. There are 3-4 total essays that are required and TAs serve as helpful resources. Would recommend!

Amazing professor. She is so knowledgable in her field but still makes the material extremely easy to grasp. There were 3 very easy papers. She is very accommodating, especially with the UAW strike where she made sure our grades weren't negatively impacted. Definitely definitely definitely recommend.

Very inspirational course.

She is definitely one of the best professor at UCSD.

She is a great lecturer but grading depends on TA.Took this course over summer session. Discussion sections are just a paragraph and a comment on someone else's post which is easy don't complicate yourself. 4 essays but doable, however for low-division it might be a little much. Yet, time flies and I would prefer her again.

Professor Forman has a lot of great insight when it comes to Power & Justice. Her class was entirely asynchronous so there actually wasn't much interaction with her. The grading is based off of the TA's preferences, and there is somewhat good feedback when it comes to the papers. 80% of the grade is 4 papers, 20% is participation.

Pretty easy course. Since it's asynchronous, don't have a ton to say about the professor herself but the course has clear expectations and is very doable. 4 papers reviewing films and connecting them to class themes.

Super good and interesting lectures and reading. To the piont hw is based on discussions each week and midterms are essay based for movies which is super essay and gives extra credit in the end for the final we have 4 essays including the final and the movies are good but you have to buy them or rent them in Youtube thats all there only 2 bucks so.

this class was the easiest A i've ever gotten while still being extremely informative and educational. genuinely loved completing every assignment because of how interesting everything was to learn about. lots of psychology involved in the course to be honest, which i wasnt really expecting. and professor Forman did an amazing job at structuring

Professor Forman is one of my best educational experiences; she is knowledgeable and passionate. However, since the course is asynchronous, except for section, you will not engage with her directly unless discretionary outreach is utilized. Grading is based on section attendance and three essays. Overall, it was gratifying and informative!

Super informative, knowledgeable, and easy to digest. As long as you can read, write, and think, the 3 essays are nothing crazy, just do the readings and watch the asynchronous lectures (ahurrdurr). As long as you demonstrate that you understood the readings and apply them to the assigned films (even with the simplest ideas) its the easiest A ever.

Professor Forman's POLI13 class is engaging and flexible. The grading relies on essays and discussions, with helpful feedback from TAs. Unstuck study proved a great study tool alongside the course materials. Overall, an insightful class with a caring, knowledgeable instructor.