2.9
Quality3.0
Difficulty45%
Would Retake109
Reviews45%
Would Retake
109
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
45
4
4
3
6
2
10
1
44
What Students Say
“This is the worst professor I've ever had”
SOC121 - 1.0 rating“Miserable lecturer who wouldn't take a moment out of her day for her students unless it was to criticize them”
SOC121 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
39%
Textbook Required
19%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.10 avg changeRatings by Course
SOC5
5.0
(1)SOCIOL139
5.0
(1)SOC23192
5.0
(1)SOCN100
5.0
(1)SOC180I
4.1
(15)Difficulty by Course
SOC130
3.4
SOC121
3.4
SOCIOL139
3.0
SOC189G
2.9
SOC180C
2.6
Reviews (109)
Professor S is the best! You are lucky if you get this woman as your teacher. She us super organized, a great lecturer, and really REALLY supportive of students. Take a class with her. You will not regret it.
I enjoy this class (Innovation and Entrepreneurship)because it is offered in the evening (5-8PM), it is well structured, and the professor is supportive and doesn't make things difficult(as some professors do). The lectures are long, but we get two breaks, and the information is CLEAR. I love this class.... informational and STRESS free!!
Szonja Ivester is a teach which puzzles me. She comes off as a teach whom is easy to like and is open for comments; however, in actuality, her rude comments about assignment work soils this image. Additionally, she constantly litters her dialogue with students, with subtle rudeness. Conclusively, this has led me to personally dislike her.
Professor Ivester is a very engaging lecturer!! For her tests she gives around 4-5 possible essay questions lets students choose one to knock off from that total then she picks one on the actual test day and you write an essay. I would just study for each essay type then outline it before and the method worked great!
Ivester is a fantastic lecturer. She makes you really look forward to next class. She has very good powerpoints and interesting readings (however not necessary to read much before in order to do well on the exams, they are pretty straightforward!) Really easy course, but you still learn a lot!! Higlhy reccomended.
First of all, this is a fairly easy class. However the class was painfully boring and I dreaded going every time. Attendance is done with an iClicker, and you lose 1.5% of your grade every time you don't show up for class. This class used to be easier than it is now, and I can't say I would recommend it to anyone. Take a different easy class.
Ridiculously easy class but utterly boring. It feels like a joke. I had to drag myself going to lectures and I like Soc classes because it's very different from my major. Make sure you go because attendance is mandatory. You lose 2.5 percentage if you missed a lecture. She seemed nice but quite strict and irrational. Find another alternative.
She is an awful lecturer who gets all her material on google and wikipedia. She's supposed to be a Berkeley professor who bashes the Elite and Berkeley itself.
This power hungry lady should not be teaching in America's #1 public school.The class is on the Global Elite & ironically she acts like the elite.She is irrational with her grading policies.She is not by the side of the students.She's an adjunct professor who the administration holds power over. Instead of helping students succeed she targets them.
She is grate and her class is interesting. One of the best teachers at Cal! I do understand why many people think that she is bad, but I personally think that she is awesome!!!
She has irrational grading and note-taking policies; Feels hindered from getting study materials; Overemphasizes the importance of hand written notes and ignores the fact that you just cannot copy such detailed notes (which is definitely necessary for the post -lec quizzes) and listen into what she says at the same time.
She is the kind of professor who teaches badly while grade really harshly, who smiles to you in class and ask tricky quiz questions. She also refused to answer questions if she thinks you should know them, but most of the time she is just not able to answer because she does not know (she claims to be a marxist but don't know much) Not recommended.
She expects you to write down all the notes from the slide while paying attention to what she is saying, which isn't always possible because she goes through lecture so fast. Also, her grading is very harsh, especially when it comes to essays.
This class is dreadfully boring. At the end of the semester you'll be left wondering what you actually learned that you couldn't have Googled or consulted Wikipedia about. Professor has insane expectations for your ability to take detailed notes of her slides and listen to what she's saying--if you don't you will be punished on quizzes. DO NOT TAKE
She's an absolute sweetheart. Like any class, don't skip it and just take good notes to succeed, and find buddies who do the same.. It's incredibly simple. Before the papers are due, just go up to her after class or in OH and pick her brain to see what she ideally expects. Put in, like, a shred of effort and you'll be happy you took this class.
If I could have taken all of my classes with Szonja, I would have! She cares deeply about the subject matter and about the success of her students. She is funny, incredibly knowledgeable, and kind and will happily work with those who show a willingness to succeed in her class. She is very fair and will give the grade that is deserved.
Hands down the worst professor i've ever encountered at Berkeley. Boring lectures and she also swears a lot in the lecture. Very harsh grader and she expects you to know single thing she said in lecture, which is impossible. Also do not give clear instructions on essays and it's very confusing what she wants and where to find the materials. Bad.
Prof. Ivester is a great lecturer. She is very organized. She is also relaxed and willing to help. I loved her class on Global Elite.
She expects students to go to every lecture and pay attention to every detail for quizzes. She goes over slides very quickly though she wants students to note down everything by hand. She is way too demanding and has serious European accent. The material is interesting but i would not take her again. DON'T TAKE HER.
I don't understand alle the negative reviews here, from a Norwegian exchange student's perspective Szonja Ivester is the most awesome professor I've had. Funny, engaging, exciting, interesting and I learned so much taking this course. A lot of readings, but the assignments are interesting. Official fan girl of Prof. Ivester.
Worst teacher ever. So obnoxious. Fail the entire class on 4th paper just because she is disappointed. She even sent students an email expressing her disappointment. She said that we made so many spelling mistakes in the essays, but her email contains lots of grammar mistakes. Funny isn't it. Again, do not pick this instructor.
Engaging lectures, but extremely biased. Started of her first lecture by saying that she is a Marxist, and every lecture since has been colored by that. People hesitate to argue against her, and the ones who do will take a hit when graded on their papers. Would be a lot better if she didn't let her political opinions shape her classes so much.
She is really biased yes, but there is room for discussion. Everyone is biased she is just open about it. She is really caring and wants to engage with the students. Has strong but good values. So she's hard on no cellphone use and so on but if you pay attention and engage she will be one of your best professors.
Write an essay not exceeding 750 word - 1275 words assignment instructions. Please, there is no fun in writing when chained to tens of bullet points with instructions. Fun lectures from time to time.
Prof. Ivester is an excellent lecturer with a great ability to present information. She doesn't hide her bias in class but as long as you take that into account, it'll be a very rewarding experience. Papers are not very difficult and the quizzes can sometimes delve into minutiae but not often. Attending lectures is a must though.
I regret taking this class. The assignments are very boring. The course is mostly repetition. Of all the great sociology courses at Cal, this really is not one of them.
Horrible professor. Her lecture was so uninformative and did not prepare me at all with adequate info for the paper. She is an incredibly tough grader even though she makes it out like she is teaching an easy class. The essays seemed straightforward but she graded them horribly and wanted specific info that she didn't even care to explain.
Miserable lecturer who wouldn't take a moment out of her day for her students unless it was to criticize them. Average grade semester in and semester out is a C and she is too self important to realize that she is the constant.
HORRIBLE!! This is the worst professor I've ever had. She is too self-centered to realize that she could actually help the students pass but instead would rather take the time to criticize and belittle her students for their poor work. She said she was glad I was withdrawing and that she knows her class has no sociological relevance. HORRIBLE!!!
I took this class some years ago. Two main takeaways: 1, why inequality matters and 2, how amazing Szonja is at communicating that. With several midterms and quizzes, she will make you work for it. But the content is easy to understand. As a business student I find this topic so important and supplemental to what we learn in business school.
Took her for two courses at Berkeley. She is fair and largely tests based on her power-points. She is helpful outside class and is willing to talk through sample questions or any of the material. She also gives you the test questions early(along with four that are not). Great Lectures and good conversation.
Don't bother. The grading for this class is horrible. You could complete an assignment in its entirety and still get below 50%. The quiz questions are designed to catch people out for not attending the lecture. Example: "What was the little boy drawing in the video I showed you on Monday". Disclaimer, the answer had no relevance to the class.
There is no pleasing this teacher. You can follow her outline, you can put hours of research into the topic, you can write your essays weeks in advance, but she will still screw you over for grading. I've gone in for help multiple times to talk about my essay and she has provided no help. Do NOT take her for soc 121
The first words she says to you will be, "I am a Marxist." Regardless of which class you are in, she will teach you this: 1. Rich people are evil 2. Rich people hurt the world/environment/universe 3. Poor people are poor because of the rich being rich 4. Being poor is awful 5. Norway is Heaven on earth. Note, she's probably right.
She is an awful instructor and a rude individual. Her class serves only to espouse her Marxist political views; she quoted Josef Stalin in one of her presentations. She grades subjectively, with no actual justification or grading basis. Bottom line: avoid her at all costs. She is suited to a career at the DMV or TSA, not UC Berkeley.
I'm a CS major and have been taking technical classes like Math 54 and CS70, so I expected this class to be an easy elective. Little did I know that this professor is not only an avowed Marxist, but was incredibly condescending and rude, especially for someone whose job consists of copying and pasting material from wikipedia into a slideshow. Avoid
By far the worst class I have ever taken at Cal. She is extremely rude to all of her students to their faces and on papers. There is no way to please her. Ended up taking the final hoping I could keep my A but it ended up dropping me 10% even though I worked hard for it. Would NOT recommend taking this class. Worst. Class. Ever.
Amazing professor!
Interesting class and a wonderful Professor!
Szonja is amazing! So kind and caring. Everyone should take this class :)
the WORST professor I've ever had. I read the text, approached her for help, but no matter how much effort I put into the papers that she assigns, I'd end up with a low grade. For one paper, I went to her for help, she gave me advise and I wrote exactly that, and she ended up LOWERING MY GRADE FROM THE ORIGINAL. AVOID.
Szonja is such an amazing professor. Her classes are really interesting, and she is a wholesome professor. I have talked to her several times during office hour and she has very interesting life stories to share. The class is easy. She drops the lowest quiz score and essay score. They are easy as long as you take notes. Definitely recommend!
If you take this class, be wary that she expects you to accept her opinions as facts and if you deviate even slightly from what she believes on the papers, you will get penalized. Her lessons are full of hypocrisy and she uses blatantly outdated data from early 2000s to make current claims. She also spends a lot of time complaining about her life.
As a professor she can be disrescpectful to students. The individual assignments in her class are not as challenging as her final exam. Her test format and grading poilcy for the final exam is cruel. Her testing format is inconsiderate, as it is so challenging that it is not a good reflection of ones understanding of the material.
She is a strong educator and a weak leader. She promotes the flaws of the system of institutional education, where a persons knowledge is simply quantified rather than tested in a way that they can prove their intelligence. She is disrespectful in communication with students. P
Lecture is VERY interesting, one of my favorite topics. Prof is VERY engaging. Grades VERY hard on essays & final. Doesnt really talk to students in the most polite way, but over all I like her & she was VERY nice to me. Very serious teacher about her business, but if youre looking for an easy A in a soc class this is NOT FOR YOU I REPEAT!!!!!!
She is a great lecturer, the lectures never get boring because she uses a lot of visuals, videos and discussions to keep everyone engaged. The readings were never too dense (you should be familiar with them since the papers need to reference authors) and she went over the material in class. I found her grading to be very fair and relatively lenient
This class and professor were terrible when I took it. Ivester was always grumpy and irritable. She was an incredibly hard grader. She would use her own opinions as fact and would penalize opposing ideas. She said to come for help but when I did she would accuse me of not caring. She would even openly discriminate against athletes during lecture
I don't get how she has a 3. She's my favorite so far. She's hilarious, she's kind, she's accessible, and she's an easy grader. She hangs out after class to chat with us. She's wonderful. I love this class. There is a lot of work, yes. But it's interesting.
Szonja is awesome! She is engaging and funny and it is clear the loves the material she is teaching. She does not take attendance, but a weekly quiz will show if you've been there. No midterm or final. 4 papers. Lowest quiz and paper grade dropped. A lot of work, but not a hard grader. I hope to take more classes with her.
I loved Ivester!! I haven't had many memorable/likable profs at Berkeley but she is the best out there. Assignments are easy to understand, readings and material are interesting, she is super cool and somehow made a 5-6:30 PM class bearable. I would take every class she teaches if I could.
Szonja makes a boring subject matter funny. She has a snark that is hilarious and lightens the heavy subject matter. She listens to students and is compassionate to their needs. There is a lot of reading and while she does not take role, she includes questions on the quizzes that will catch you out if you don't attend.
One of the best professors I've had at Cal!! Very very strict with her due dates and no-phone policies. She will call you out if you disobey her policies. However, she is also a sweet, caring, hilarious, and engaging professor. I learned very much from this course!! 4 short take home exams (easy grader) and online quizzes.
Professor Ivestor is so nice, caring, and organized. The way she ran her course online was amazing. Asynchronous lectures and bi weekly discussion posts, made for the perfect amount of online interactions with peers and limited Zoom fatigue. 2 easy papers and weekly quizzes. Highly recommend!
She is approachable in office hours and will answer any questions clearly and respectfully. Her lectures are easy to follow and pithy. The readings are for the most part clear. Sometimes we watched movies instead of readings. Essays are about showing you understand the course rather than to trip you up. Discussion posts were fun! Take her!
One of my favorite teachers, her projects are fascinating and allow us to deepen our understanding of the material in different ways, and every time I see her she's full of care! I hope to have another chance to take her class in the future!
She is an amazing professor !!! Her class was easy and very interesting. If you are looking for a class that is safe to take then here is your chance!! Yes, you do need to watch the lectures and read but they are not rigorous. There are weekly quizzes and two take-home essays ( not essays very short like 700 words or less ). TAKE THIS CLASS!
The class itself is interesting. It is also set up in a fair grading format between quizzes, discussions, and 2 exams. Invested is the rudest professor at Berkeley where she encourages students to look for her for help but when one does reach out to her she is very rude towards them. The essays are graded VERY harshly with unclear expectations.
This class was interesting, informative, and very easy. The online lectures could be completed in about an hour and the quiz for the week was easy if you take notes. The essays and discussion posts were also straightforward and pretty short. Definitely an easy A.
i got an okay grade, but this teacher is super rude with unclear instructions for her papers. Then grades harshly after.
Don't take this class. the teacher will drive you nuts with unclear instructions. Very odd teacher as well. She would be rude about things not associated with the class.
This class is pretty easy to get an A-- watch the lectures, do the weekly quizzes, and do exactly what she says on the exams. However, this professor is extremely rude and passive aggressive. Her feedback is unclear and unconstructive, she just talks about herself in office hours, and her class is full of left-wing biases. Take another class.
Don't let the reviews scare you; prof. Ivester was honestly so sweet to me! The rubrics for assignments were very clear and detailed. Grades were fair. Make sure you take detailed notes, and you should be fine for assignments and quizzes. The workload was light and doable. Overall, a pretty solid soc class!
Not sure where all the bad reviews are coming from because Ivester always took the time to appreciate her students. She made herself very available and her grading was super clear. The whole class page was super organized with clear expectations and she would send out weekly reminders and sweet encouraging messages. Easy A and no tests/papers.
Ivester was super accommodating and always owned up to any mistakes. She was so knowledgeable and passionate about teaching and was very kind to students, especially when acknowledging their hard work. The expectations were clear and the work was very reasonable and minimal. I would definitely recommend this course and teacher!
Easy A class and you also learn a lot. This was an asynchronous class and there was an opportunity to attend an optional meeting which I went to twice but never again because she literally did not let anyone else talk so I don't know how her in-person class will be like. Online one was really easy with lenient grading.
straightforward but this teacher is super rude, demeaning, and treats students as less of her. These reviews are fake. don't take this class.
Very unfair when it comes to grading papers, even with clear instructions; feels like she finds ways to doc points. On top of that she's very rude, the worst professor I've taken being in Berkeley so far.... Also the material in her classes are very interesting but at the same time she has no idea what she's talking about.
This teacher is the worst I've ever seen in a while
Passionate and caring teacher. The class was very easy, with weekly online, open-book quizzes and bi-weekly 250 word discussion posts. Two essays for the class and no midterms or a final. Would highly recommend this class!
Took this last year as a Freshman for my first semester. There's discussion boards, weekly quizzes (two attempts), and two papers. Somewhat easy to get decent scores on quizzes and discussion boards. Papers are graded more strictly, so be prepared to put extra effort into it. Overall Professor Ivester gives great lectures and feedback.
She is awful and unfair. She has no idea what she is teaching and you could learn more from watching youtube videos. She is not very smart and I have no idea how she got this job. Furthermore, she is very rude.
If you love paper, erasers, and pencils, make sure to take this class. (In this class, no laptop, Ipad) If you like strict professor, I recommend this course If you want to get C, this course is for you. If you want to write paper based on other's thoughts, then this course is waiting for you. I really liked lecture, but will not take the course.
She keeps the quiz answers embedded in her lectures, so attendance is KEY. Literally write down everything she says in lecture bc she will test you on the most random detail. (she talks really fast which is kind of annoying). But I Loved this class, a lot of real world problems that we should be aware of. She'll drop lowest scores too. My fav prof.
I took N100. Very passionate on the topic she teaches and introduces new perspective on how to look at certain things. Very caring and accommodating. She really emphasize learning the materials in comparison to just learning for a grade. One of the best professors I had at Berkeley!
Incredibly unclear in her prompts and uses way more words than needed to describe simple concept which overcomplicates things and confuses almost everyone. Opened a Q&A discussion forum so people could ask questions but was rude and condescending in all her responses if she even responded at all.
Her grading is confusing & enigmatic at best. She is rude to students. Confrontational and defensive when approached with questions or for help. One time I felt she graded my paper too harshly, went to her for help, made her revisions and received a lower grade. Get ready to be put through the ringer for no reason other than.. cuz
Nice professor, but you need to follow her prompts on the essays. She does not take straying from the prompt or submitting things late lightly. Pretty chill class and definitely emphasizes learning over harsh grading.
During the first weeks her lectures were very interesting. She gives interesting readings and recommends many interesting books. However, after a few weeks she became very very negative, criticizing at a point that it felt like listening to propaganda. Also, when she grades exams she will give 25/20 or 32/30 if she likes you. Otherwise, good luck.
I doubt she was even familiar with what she taught. When she was discussing immigration, a classmate asked her about the difference between 'immigration' and 'emigration,' she said, 'They are the same,' and another classmate had to correct her. I guess I had slightly higher expectations from a professor at a prestigious university like Berkeley.
go look up a different class
zhong guo ren bu pian zhong guo ren. kuai tm pao.
Has moments where she cannot back up visuals/graphs on her slides. Condescending and rude when wanting to understand a grade, even if you go to her nicely and respectfully, seems like she doesn't want to go out of her way to do any extra work. Will continue to target you in grading if you misstep once by her standards.
If I left an honest review for Prof Szonja, it would truly be an essay. Do not take this class.
I don't normally give reviews but I feel so passionately about this that I'm doing this. She is the worst professor I have ever had. Don't want to write an essay but here are the reasons: 1) Has no clue about what she's teaching 2) You can see that she's lazy and doesn't care about you as a person/student 3) Is extremely condescending
Absolutely horrible!
The worst professor I have had at Berkeley. She is incredibly accommodating and, frankly, insulting in her replies to both emails and discussion posts. I have never written a review on RMP before but I had to warn others because this was a horrible experience.
Very rude and condescending professor. I was experiencing some person issues and instead of being accommodating she said some of the rudest things any professor has ever said to me. The course itself is cool but the professor is unbelievably rude. Have not met a single student in favor of her, which makes it clear changes need to be made.
Professor Ivester was hard to learn from. All of her instructions are messy, difficult to follow and nearly impossible to understand. The final was a disaster, the average grade for our class was a C + because she failed to accurately explain the instructions. She let us get reevaluations for them with limitations in our responses. Avoid her!
WORST PROFESSOR I'VE HAD AT BERKELEY. She is condescending to students, gets defensive over her mistakes (which she makes a lot of), grades critically despite providing vague instructions, and is insulting in her feedback. If you're looking for a soc survey class, take it with someone who actually has respect for students.
She teaches to an ideology, not facts and cited easily verifiable inaccurate information. Egregious enough that I fact checked her. Directions are not clear, work is graded subjectively. Completing work in alignment with her desired slant vs objective reality will earn you a decent grade. Beware of grading. 95% = A- (!!).
Incredibly unclear. THE WORST PROFESSOR EVER. She is so incredibly rude to her students and shows absolutely no compassion. I have never had an experience as bad as this in a class. She outright insults her students and if you argue something that even slightly disagrees with her (not factually backed) point of view she will give you a C or lower.
Szonja is my favorite professor. She is kind, wants to get to know students, and cares about the content she teaches. 10/10 would recommend it (and have to many of my peers)!
This is my second class with her. I have no idea why there are so many negative reviews. She is hands down my FAVORITE PROFESSOR! Her lectures are well organized, easy to learn from, very kind, and compassionate. Took time to get to know each of us. I was excited to come to class, even on personally hard days. Definitely take a class with Szonja!
Incredible professor. Workload is reasonable and she does what she can (with deadlines, etc.) to encourage students to take care of ourselves (no weekend homework). Szonja is compassionate and easy to learn from. One of my fave profs :)
100/10 would recommend
This teacher does not allow electronics in class, and nearly all resources are delivered through lectures. Students are expected to take notes very quickly to keep up, which can make it challenging to perform well. Unfortunately, because of these conditions, many students resort to cheating, while those stay truthful suffer with their grade.
Prof Ivester has strong opinions, so sometimes her content wasn't very nuanced. However, all her points are backed by credible theorists and sociologists. This class is very interesting and very easy as long as you have decent writing skills and go to lecture. Ivester is very easy to talk to after class and wiling to admit when wrong.
She was a terrible lecturer, couldn't understand her and went way too fast. This class sets you up for failure. I would never take a class by her ever again.
Szonja is a professor I will remember for life. Every day was so inspirational. She kept it real and was always very clear about what she expected from us. You should take this class for the interesting lectures and to experience this inspirational professor.
Ivester is a professor which I think people either love or not. I found her very good. She is a woman who speaks her mind on every topic and she is very clear. You can only write in textbook, but it helps to follow the classes intensely, which you have to do for the tests. The test are hard if you do not have good notes from the class.
The class had some ups and downs. Lectures were interesting at first, but the professor became very critical later on. Grades were subjective, and attendance was mandatory. unstuck study helped with study prep.
Great professor. Doesn't take attendance, but there will be exam questions on very specific things she mentioned in lecture. Super chill workload, and she's very easy to talk to and understanding if you have anything going on. You can tell she cares a lot about what she teaches and puts a lot of thought into it.
The class itself was fine and eye opening, but the professor refused to respond to any requests for the syllabus after the semester was over, even though I just wanted the syllabus to petition for the class to count for my humanities requirement. Would not recommend the professor.
You either love her or you hate her type of teacher. Class isn't mandatory but the weekly quizzes will ask about things she orally said in class. I would pretty much write everything she says down (write because technology isn't allowed). Midterm and final are really short essays like 700 words short but she is oddly specific about grading
Very condescending and no level of professionalism. Late work policies are valid, but she isn't willing to consider anything DSP related or not. Quiz questions can become very vague, and the final is graded harshly despite the poor structure. She mentioned her sons attempt in unrelated conversation and kisses up to international students and guys
This class was very interesting and engaging. Professor Szonja was always available when I had any questions and was very kind in her feedback for assignments.
Super easy class. I think it was designed to be accessible to all majors/all summer session participants, so it was a little simplified at times. I would have loved more depth, but a solid overview! The videos, quizzes and homework were all done well and were fun. This class kind of reminded me of high school with the more creative assignments.
My favorite professor at Berkeley purely because she wants you to learn rather than to memorize! As long as you go to lecture and watch/read anything you assign, you'll definitely pass. There are few things that go towards your grade but I prefer that tbh
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
39%
Textbook Required
19%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.10 avg changeRatings by Course
SOC5
5.0
(1)SOCIOL139
5.0
(1)SOC23192
5.0
(1)SOCN100
5.0
(1)SOC180I
4.1
(15)Difficulty by Course
SOC130
3.4
SOC121
3.4
SOCIOL139
3.0
SOC189G
2.9
SOC180C
2.6