He is the worst professor possible, a real jerk, who gives 15 question essays for tests and 6 books to read, and a presentation, all of which can never be good enough for him. DO NOT TAKE HIM!

BORING!! it was so hard to stay awake in his class b/c all he did was read from his slides! reading was TOO difficult and tests were awful! avoid at all costs!!

This class was horrible. So unclear and his tests! wow the hardest i have ever taken. i recomend that you avoid taking anything from him if at all possible. He just isn't clear on what he wants and does not review well for tests. surprised i even passed the class!

he sucks. he's the worst lecturer ever. very hard to understand.

HE IS really HARD...extremely hard on his TEST he doesn't curve you at all !! CAREFUL...HE MIGHT LOOK GOOD>..BUT HIS TEST ARE SUCKIER THAN ANYONE ELSE

What an idiot. Doesn't teach, is disrespectful to undergrads, babbles about his mulitple marriages and viagra rather than the topic. CRJ studenst all complain about him even someone from the UK. Gives incorect information. He shouldn't ...

Majority of the class has a D or F. I got a B on his test and I realize how to pass his class -> (1) DON'T listen to him in class (2) read the book and memorize the nicky picky crap (3) OVERALL teach yourself! I pay tuition for professors to teach me, NOT me teach myself! What crap this professor is although I'm doing well!

Uhhhhhhhhhh, wow. Horrible. In a class of 400 people an average test grade is about 50. He's shown us the charts. I am currently holding a B in the class, not that it matters. His lectures aren't THAT boring, but they seem to be rather useless on tests. Study the chapters he assigns, memorizing the nitty-gritty details, and you should be alright.

Calder doesn't understand that he has no connection with his students. His lectures do not cover any of the material that appears on the tests. Nobody got an A on the first test. Majority of the class is failing.

Just read everybody else's comments-they've got him pretty well nailed.

His lectures put you to sleep. They have nothing to do with any of the material you see on the test. In a class of 400 there wasn't a single A on the first test, and he does not curve. Good luck if you get stuck with him...it will be a miserable semester.

ONLY CLASS I FAILED. All I have to say is : (

tests were very hard and different then the material discussed in class. for the final we got a review sheet and it turned out none of the material on the review sheet was even on the test. i passed with a D. i don't recommend taking dr. calder.

He sucked. Doesn't teach to the test. Don't take him.

His grading system is weird. I got a D in one test and 2 high C's in the others and I got a B. He had to give a 5 to 10 point curve on the averages, so I'm not complaining. You are not going to learn anything from his lectures, READ THE BOOK. (ALL OF IT and TAKE NOTES ON HIGHLIGHTED AND ITALIZED WORDS. But still go to class EXTRA POINTS. maybe

very vague. poor tests. rambles about nothing in particular.

No Comments

HE IS REALLY BAD!!! (an idiot if you will.) If you enjoy boring lectures, bad powerpoints, irrelavant stories, and gray hair you'll love this class! I wouldn't be surprised if I failed his class. He does not assighn homework which is bad for me because I don't even know what I should be studying. Just flat out bad... The days I learn in this class

HA this man should not be allowed to teach....i swear i can't believe UTSA keeps him around....if you want a D and the pleasure of having to re-take politics next semester, then take him! :-)

DO not take this guy for freshman political science. This class is a requirement and he expects you to spend like 93248579283475 hours per week studying. He thinks its good when the class average on a test is 50%. This guy sucks worse than anything that has ever sucked before.

most of lecture is unrelated to what is supposed to be taught. very boring and drawn out. really old and talks more to T.A. than class

if you enjoy studying your A** off every night and getting a low C then you need to take this class. The average score of the class on all the tests are around 65.

this is by far the worse teacher ever he is very boring and is very bland if you hate enjoyment then this is the class for you

This class was absolutely ridiculous. Talking about traffic all day. His lectures did not help at all, the powerpoints didn't even matter to the test. READ THE BOOK!YOU MUST READ THE BOOK AND KNOW IT BACKWARDS/FORWARDS.Also, go to class for the extra credit points. They can help a lot. They are raw points added to the FINAL GRADE!

Was a blow off class all year except for the fact that attendance is mandatory. The final exam, which was stated through the entire semester as a take home final, ended up being a 10-15 page single spaced paper over questions that would typically take a college student to write in a sing sentence.

terrible

Awful. I went to every class and read the book but when it was time to test nothing he went over in class was on it. There are 3 exams: Exam 1, Exam 2 and the final. If you want to fail, take Dr.Calder.

MOST BORING TEACHER EVER! He gets SO off topic and blabs on and on about stuff and you look at your watch and you're already 30 minutes into class and still on the first slide of powerpoint. He said he gives extra credit but has only given 3 the whole semester. Only grades are 3 tests which are some what hard, you need to study. Dont recommend!!!!!

Scammer, old fart, boring, and does NOT give a damn... That's all you need to know. I do not recommend this professor. This course wasn't necessarily hard, but you must teach yourself the material because he WILL NOT. 3 grades/semester of which are all exams (including the final). By the way, if he tells you to buy "MyCourse Mate," Don't buy it...

Horrible professor, did not even talk about politics most of class, only has very vague powerpoints & you will have to do most of the learning/studying on your own. If theres professor you want to avoid at UTSA, it is him. If you do take him, DO NOT buy cengagebrain, he claimed we would be using it all year & would have extra credit on it. Lies.

Terrible. Gets off topic very often, struggle to pay attention in class bc he doesn't make sense. Very monotone. Power points are vague. Basically have to teach the class to yourself. Went to every class, read every chapter, studied hard, got a C on every test. He made everyone buy a $90 CourseMate login for EC - never used it. DO NOT TAKE HIM.

Horrific teacher. Only three exams that are each 25% of your grade, our class averages for the tests were a 64, 56, and a 67. There's no curve, and he's NO help. The whole class was frustrated with this class. Completely self taught,

Gets off topic very easily and his "tip Sheet" is completely useless and doesn't help at all. Don't take his class.

terrible professor. cant teach. grades like an idiot. tests have 100 questions and usually half the class fails. do not recommend him at all

Ok right out of the gate the good ratings on here were probably the professor trying to not get fired cause he's awful as a teacher. i feel bad though cause he's pretty funny and a good guy but straight up sucks at his job. pretty much everything everyone's said is all you need to hear, class is a waste of time, teach yourself and hope for the best

I am 26 yrs old. Junior. A-B student. NEVER had a teacher this bad YET! He does not cover material on the test. His tip sheet is a joke! You have to teach yourself and that got me a b- going into the final. If you can avoid him do b/c this class will bring your GPA down! I hope he changes his teaching method cuz he's a nice guy.

I dont know how to even start. I took this guy my freshmen year and it really messed up my gpa. His test were impossible 100 questions in an hr? the average on the test were low 70s and sometimes even in the 60s. Dont expect to get any ec because there isnt any. The reviews are only tip sheets which would contain words such as " but" or "and" .

I hold a lot of respect for my professors, but I just about lost it in Calder's class. There are 3 very long tests, and a written paper. Tests are 75 questions each. He allows you a cheat sheet, but with 75 questions you won't have time to look for answers. He goes off topic, and lectures don't help. Don't take Calder.

Even as an upper level student used to putting work towards your education this man will break any habit you have of earning a B. Absolutely horrible. Test are the longest test I have had to take in my college career and the fact that the highest grades students receive are only as high as 73/74 should tell him something. Nice guy,horrible teacher.

Probably one of the worse teachers of my academic career, makes the whole class teach just so that he can sit down and judge everyones work, his final is 17 page essay for a 3000 level class!! He does a ridiculous way to grade participation and attendance where if you miss 2 days you get a 60, never taking him again

Attendance is COMPULSORY. He rants all class and then tests you on his OPINIONS. A question example would be: "On January 12th I told the class that X, Y, and __. His tests are extremely difficult and unstructured.

Absolutely awful. He rants and rant and rant all class. He does not like discussion, and does not like any questions. You can tell hes been on staff for 40 years and thinks very highly of himself. Would never take his class again

Assigned a textbook that was only used for one test on the final. Very full of himself, discourages open discussions in favor of asking for your opinion and then telling you how you are not as smart as he is. Has his daughter fly in to give vague and outdated information on the film industry that doesnt apply to the course. Cant use Blackboard.

Imagine there is a global pandemic but thank god you finally finish the seven page paper on movies and a textbook you had to buy simply to review it once. But then its cool its whatever but as the second to last week draws to a close he emails you the take home final and its only 4 questions! Then you see EACH answer must be 3 pages long (:

I went in with an open mind, I wish I would have listened to the reviews he's gotten on here. I just finished taking my final, and none of what he told us to study for was on the exam. He expects you to review hours of readings and videos prior to exams as well, not acknowledging we have other courses and life to worry about.

Very picky on the discussions so make sure to write a 500 word post and does not provide any study material. His exams are also weirdly timed and you have to email him an answer sheet.

His politics in film class is pretty much a self taught class. He does not teach at all, he rarely uploads the grades on BlackBoard and is obviously not a fan of the new online schooling. I advise you to choose someone else instead of him and read the other reviews he has. Do not take him, he is hard and is really bad at his job.

Calder is so terrible. His tests are ridiculously specific and honestly absurd. The main paper for POL 3743 was long for no good reason and his final had a second part that was totaling ~6 pages of writing with 3 days notice to do it. He is not tech-savvy in the slightest and has everything done through email attachments instead of Blackboard.

Was not understanding of my disability AT ALL. Is not tech savvy.