2.5
Quality4.2
Difficulty33%
Would Retake98
Reviews33%
Would Retake
98
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
8
4
20
3
25
2
19
1
26
What Students Say
“Bad at responding to emails”
POL136 - 2.0 rating“Never take this Professor he and his TA are lazy and rude”
POL136 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
23%
Textbook Required
29%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.29 avg changeRatings by Course
PS0003
5.0
(1)129
4.0
(1)136
4.0
(2)IREH
4.0
(1)POL135
3.4
(10)Difficulty by Course
POLIT3
5.0
POL144
5.0
POL190
4.5
POL3
4.4
POL129
4.3
Reviews (98)
good lecturer, tons of reading
Great professor, his tests were a bit broad, lots of reading
Tons of reading assigned, very dry lecturer, gives no clear direction on how he wants the paper written, overall nice guy, but not a great prof
Great prof! Yes, lots of reading. Great if tiring lectures (the room made people sleepy). Maoz is great. He gives you the midterm/final scheme he will use. Tough paper.
Man Zeev OWNS all the noobs. He is like the Patrick Ewing of Political Science. His class is great, interesting, and filled with happy feelings all the time. I highly recommend Maoz (aka Mo' azz) for those into international relations. West side!
So far as easiness, it's only hard if you're not interested in the subject matter; I didn't buy any of the books, went to all the lectures, and pulled an A-. Lectures are critical. He's a big shot and he knows it...so his lectures are very concrete. If you're looking for a filler upper div, skip it.
boring lecture!!! Thank God I care enough about the subject to not have to depend on any enhusiasm.
he is SO BORING when he lectures. and his wordart? not impressive.
No Comments
If you're thinking about taking this class.....don't. If you've already signed up for it, locate a closet, and hang yourself in it. Boring lectures, hard tests, the guy is a ****.
AWFUL!!! worst professor at DAVIS!!! it upsets me that i pay his salary!! BORINGGGGG and horrible teacher.
The man knows what he's talking about, but his teaching style is non-interactive and boring. He expects A LOT for a lower division introductory class. If you take this class and work your ass off, you will KNOW IR and kick butt in any further IR classes. If you don't really care about knowing IR, take this with some other teacher if you can.
he expects way to much for a lower division introductory poli sci class. Both pol1 with hill and pol2 with andrews were all easy a's and now I'm barely pulling a c...WTF? He needs to stick to researching and not ever go around a student. He has by far the worst lecturing skills known to man. I wish I didn't have to pay his salary.
my cat could do a better job teaching! horrible class, midterm average was a 60ish and maoz won't curve it!! oh P.S. in his class: 100-93=Aish, 93-83=Bish, 83-73=Cish and so on...1 word to sum up: RIDICULOUS!!!
your better off standing on the downtown train tracks than sitting through this class with maoz!! AVIOD him at all costs!! waiting one extra quarter to take this class with another professor will DEFINITLY be worth it!!! Excessive reading, awful lectures, unreasonable uncurved tests...who ever said money can by a good degree??
This man is utterly incompetant. I had a family emergency and ended up no taking the class. I turned in NO work, and instead of receiving a NS(No work submitted I got an F) I swears I took the Midterm and got a B, listen I WISH, this man is off the deep end, some of my friends stuck around and they had the HARDEST time. RIDICULOUS! STAY AWAY!
No Comments
Very hard class with a lot of reading and hard tests, but it weeds out the people who shouldn't be in Poli Sci, no not much to complain about.
Very hard class. Hard tests, no curve. Do not take for fun because it will just lower your GPA.
Awful, Absolutely awful. His class is almost impossible. THe class average was 60 yet he wont curve it. I was in top 10% of class mathematically and got a straight B. Its ridiculous how bad this guy was as a teacher. IR is one of the most interesting subjects in POlySci, yet he makes it miserable. Avoid at all costs. Trust me.
Unfair and Impossible.
This professor is a terrible lecturer, but that isn't my only criticism. I did well on the tests, but they were unreasonably hard for a lower division IR class. Excessive reading, nearly half of the course reading was not utilized for any exam. Bottom Line: Don't expect any easy grade in this course, or clear lectures.
Although the subject is interesting, I didn't like this class. The lectures were rather bland. This by no means is an easy class. The average was a 60-ish on the midterm, and he wouldn't curve it. The highest grade for his class as a whole was a B+. It's way too intense for an intro class. Too much reading too. Take this class with someone else.
This guy is smart but he does not know how to teach! The average grade in the class was a low D borderline F and he did not even curve eventhough the average obviously shows how much the students did not understand his teachings. If you want to get kicked out of Davis by having a D or an F on your transcript, be my guest and take this class.
Maoz is tough. I would NOT recommend this class for anyone as a first course in upper division political science. He defintely knows his stuff and thats as far as it goes...
The poster below is incorrect -- I got an A- in this class. But everything else he/she says is true. I liked him, and am looking foward to another class with him, but I understand why others didn't like him. It depends on how you work.
Maoz's class is not as difficult as everyone says it is. It is an intro class but it's also a weeder class. Just get into the reading, pay attention during lecture (seems hard but with some caffeine it's not so bad), and follow his slides. If you go to class it's not bad at all. I pulled off an A- and even slacked a bit at the end.
horrible instructor...i could not understand a word he said!
papers were graded harshly, midterms were difficult, and it was hard just trying to understand him. the class average was a C-/D so that shows how ridiculous his teaching style is
Arab-Israeli conflict -- hardest class I've ever taken. I have always been one of the top two in my poli sci classes, but I will be happy if I manage a B in this class. Sooo much information, so complex, and the paper is so demanding. He's an expert in the field, which is awesome. We're not, but I kind of feel like he expects us to be...sheesh.
Maoz is apparently the head of poli sci department. Personally, when I was taking his class, he seems like he didn't care about his lower div class, ie. POL 3. TA's wrote the exams for him. The final was rediculously hard with a big portion of current events that you would not know how to study for. Oh, and He emphasized a lot on middle east issues
His tests aren't easy and his POL3 class involves a lot of reading but if you like Poli Sci/IR its not so bad. Tough class but well worth it
An extremely difficult teacher. He has terrible public speaking skills, and a voice that lulls you to unconsciousness while remaining wholly unsoothing. The discussion sections were useless, and although attendance was required, you received no points. The final focused on current events that are difficult to study for. Avoid his class.
Take him if your are interested in political science, if you are not a poli-sci major and you are looking for a filler class, I suggest looking for a different class. Lots of reading, but the reading is not everything, I suggest reviewing online notes prior to exams.
Pretty good teacher, really knows the material. The accent is not hard to get used to or to understand. If you read and study the tests aren't too hard. His lectures may not be the most riveting you will ever have, but you should definitely go.
Zeev Maoz is the most useless professor I've ever met, EVER. He's so difficult to work with and is thoroughly UNWILLING to help and almost impossible to get a hold of outside of class, even wtih office hours. He's the kind of professor who wants students to fail. He knows his stuff and is very smart, but I recommend a less frustrating professor.
Lectures are very boring and the midterm review was absolutely horrible. Very very hard class. I would not take it nor advise anyone to take it.
The most dissappointing class I ever had. His lectures are bland and he makes no effort to make them interesting. It was very difficult to form a cohesive narrative on his courses due to his inability to stimulate in his lectures. I highly advise dropping his classes if you can. You've been warned.
His lectures put you to sleep, but he really knows his subject. Although he puts his lecture notes online, go to lecture because he'll put things on the test not found on the online notes. If you're really interested in foreign policy, this is a good class, otherwise, it's too boring and too hard as a filler.
Hard, hard, hard class! You gotta read avg of 50 pages a day. Trust me, boring textbooks. What's worse is the boring lectures. Difficult exams. Daily readings include current events, weekly magazines, and two textbooks.
A horrible professor. His lectures do nothing to prepare you for his tests and he requires you to buy about 7 books and, though he does not even mention a few of them in class, draws obscure material from them for his tests. By for a horrible experience, whether it is POL3 or 129 or anything, for those who enjoy political science, drop his classe
Maoz must have tenure or something because he absolutely fails as a lecturer. Avoid his classes whenever possible, dropping his classes is a no-brainer.
Look, the man is probably a genius when it comes to IR, and he's a hot shot in the politicalscience world, but he is just a terrible teacher. The amount of work for this introductory class was extremely excessive and unreasonable. The other professors who teach this class do not require nearly as much as Maoz, and they're probably more interesting.
yes, he's boring, and yes, there is a lot of reading, but we're in college people! get over it! if you have any interest in international relations or political science, then this class is a great way to explore that interest if you just take the initiative to do so. if you dont, then it's probably not the best GE/filler class to take.
His lecture style is dull and uninspiring, but it's worth going, because if you do you can do well in the class without paying much attention to the reading. Requires a fair amount of work for an intro class, but if you take it seriously, getting a C or above should be no problem.
Avoid Maoz unless you have an extreme interest in the subject area. That said, he is an extremely brilliant man and a leading expert in his field. However, he fails as a lecturer/teacher. Lectures are fast paced and confusing. Plus he requires 8 books and 2 readers. Tests draw from random portions of the books and include information not in lecture
He's hard to understand and very boring. He also has his ideas on which theories he likes and focuses ONLY on them making US do the reading on complex ideas that he won't like in your papers anyway. He has strict guidelines for the term paper. BUT the notes are online so you never have to go to lecture and that is really good.
I had Dr. Maoz for the IR Honors Seminar. Although the thesis is a lot of work he was an excellent mentor. His instructions are not the clearest, but he is more than willing to meet with students to help with the thesis. If you have the GPA for the honors seminar you should take the opportunity, especially if you want to go to grad school.
Maoz is easily one of the smarterst people in the IR field, but cannot transfer that knowledge into teaching whatsoever. the "brief" term paper is 4000 words. TONS of reading, none of which was really on the final. Very dull and boring lecture style. IR is still my major, so I still love it even though Maoz not the best introduction to it...
Be prepared to work if you take a class taught by Maoz. I enjoyed the subject enormously but anything is fair game on an exam in his classes. Syllabus says discussion sections are mandatory but in reality, aren't. Be sure you can handle large amounts of reading, however.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH PROF. MAOZ. He is a nice guy but he is very hard to understand and his tests are IMPOSSIBLE to do well on. He is the head of the International Relations department and tries to make the class really really hard to make people think IR is a difficult subject. PLEASE SPARE YOURSELF AND TAKE THIS CLASS WITH ADIFFERENT PROF!
This class was very hard, and my mistake, I took it for my GE. I worked very hard. However the readings kinda clarified the teachings...not very much. At the end, I just ended searching for the synopsis of every reading for "review." Try to avoid if you don't need this class
this guy may be the head of IR and have some impressive credentials but his classes are a joke... incomprehensible and over-theoretical classes, unattainably high amounts of readings and a general disinterest toward his students means this class is extremely (largely unnecessarily) hard. Only take Maoz if you must and unless u enjoy bad word art.
Great class, but be prepared to take the heat on your GPA. It's really hard graded. I found that people with the best grades were good BSers rather than studious. I studies like a madman without great results.
SUPER HARD, fascinating topic. GPA killer & brain overload, but you learn lots. 1paper w/very stringent grading (TA has to grade hard). Mdterm/Final with 1long essay, 2short out of 3 and 5ID's out of 7. 1 short essays is curve-ball, so are the 2extra IDs; so you have no choice in final/mdterm. Final 1:20min long instead of 2hrs u'll b short on time
Excellent class, really interesting. Lectures aren't mandatory but if you attend them all and take decent notes, you can get by without doing the tremendous load of reading. I liked it and it didn't kill my GPA.
Do not take this class unless you absolutely HAVE to. I took it just for fun, and I regret it completely. The lectures are dull, the exams are hard, and instead of having just 1 paper, he has 2. One which he calls the "short paper" and one which he calls the "long paper". Basically, he's just trying to make the class really hard.
Overall a good professor with fair grading. Slightly difficult to understand sometimes as he has an accent but very well qualified to teach the class.
the man knows his stuff
Hard class with lots of reading, but if you attend lecture regularly you can skate through most of the reading. Tests and papers are fair. Only tricky part is the current events part of the final, if you aren't very up to date on international events this section will probably make you cry.
This class is tough. You're learning 100 years of history in a matter of weeks, and he is very thorough his lectures. Maoz is a tough grader with high expectations, but he sure knows his stuff. It's a super interesting class though
Hard but worth taking if youre in Poli Sci or IR
Tough at times, but totally worth it!
The teacher is okay but very boring. The class was the WORST thing ever. Unless you are an IR major, DON'T take this class. I thought I'd take it for GE and I'm really regretting it, especially since I have bio and chem to work with as well. This is a super hard class which will take too much time out of your day.
He is extremely knowledgeable and has an amazing resume. He has done so much which makes it so fascinating to learn from him. A lot of reading and tests are heavily based on the 2 textbooks. Tests are pretty hard. There is a 2000 word brief essay and 10 days later a 4000 word term paper was due. Very time consuming but it's worth it.
Professor Maoz is very well versed and definitely over-qualified for the job. Definitely read Russett, Starr, and Kinsella textbook. The TAs are really helpful for the term papers and will work with you to perfect them! Keeping up with current events is also advised as it is a part of the final! Overall an informative intro class though!
This class is a lot of work and reading, but if you have an interest in the subject it is worth taking. Two papers due within in one week and a lot of reading. Current event section on final had questions that weren't even current, rather general knowledge. Free response section was reasonable. TAs are awesome.
This class is easy to get an A in, simply go to lecture, skim the blue book (don't really need to read the purple one or any of the additional articles), and read over some current events every once in a while. Overall Zeev is a good professor and his accent is very easy to understand.
It is very clear that Maoz is an expert in his field, you will likely run into his name when you are doing research for the class. His class isn't necessarily hard: he curves his exams and depending on the TA the essays aren't graded that tough, however it is a lot of work especially for a lower level class. If you do the work you can get an A.
Do not take this class unless you are extremely interested. There is WAY too much material to cover in one quarter, and the amount of reading is ridiculous. You have to attend class to take notes, slides are just bullet points. Interesting class, but again WAY, WAY too much material, tests are pretty difficult!
unless you're planning on going to grad school in middle east studies (if you are this is perfect boot camp for you) do not waste your time this course will destroy your gpa and youll waste a quarter doing nothing but stressing out :(
WORST PROFESSOR EVER. He made the class VERY hard. Midterm needed to be curved- not typical for a lower division polisci class. Long essays that barely count for your grade. Final is impossible- a long essay, 2 short essays, short answer on IDs and mult choice section. He gives you about 150-200 IDs to study from. NEVER take him.
This professor really knows his stuff. He is one of the leading academics in political science and that comes across in lecture. If you do the reading, then the class is very manageable but there is a lot of it. I thought the subject was great and really enjoyed the class and the teacher. You have to be willing to work hard though. Not an easy A.
Professor knows what he is talking about, just that class is very dry! TA's are the ones who explain what you need to know. Midterm was super hard, needed to be curved. Make sure to know your currents events, its part of your final. First paper is about 5 pgs and the term paper is 10 pgs. DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR! Subject is fun but he is not!
If I had not taken this class for pf it would have tanked my gpa. There is an endless amount of reading. Lecture is dry and very difficult to pay attention to so record the class if you want to survive it. Provides no study guide. Stressssssfullllll.
He is a very knowledgeable professor. However, his class is not an easy class. The lectures are very dry, it's very hard to stay up. If you want a good grade go to your TA!
Pol 3 in my opinion was an interesting class and I liked it with professor maoz. The midterm and the final werent bad at all as long as you study. the two papers for this class were easy as well. lecture and discussion were pretty helpful I thought and his tas were nice and willing to help. overall he was good and made class enjoyable
I'm French, so this class was really difficult for me as it requires to get through an overwhelming amount of readings. The TAs are hyper tough graders so be prepared to be totally familiar with the dialectic of the course. However, this class is very intellectually stimulating.
Professor Maoz's class is amazing. A lot of reading, so be prepared to skim. Unlike other students, I found grading on the tests and paper to be fair. Two tests (cumulative final), term paper, and participation count for the grade. Be sure to show up and do the reading beforehand! Overall, great professor and great experience in this class.
I took this class as a GE class, and I would say that I'm typically interested in politics and current events. So much reading and approximately 24 pages of writing for only 20% of the grade. Not worth it. Lectures didn't hold my attention at all. TA graded harshly and wasn't nice about it, either. DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS.
This class moved way too quickly and the slides were unorganized. I would only take this class if it were essential to my major. Tests are exrememly difficult, there is hardly any time to write the papers, and the TAs were not very helpful. There is also a significant ammount of reading to do that you will be tested on but is never discussed much.
There is soooo much reading for this class. It feels like he has designed it believing that everyone in the class is a International Relations major, when in reality many students are taking this class as a GE. The readings are mostly scholarly articles and they use words that are very specific to the field that an intro class would not know.
Maoz is a great professor. He knows SO MUCH and does not waste a single minute. Actively taking notes is crucial. If you're an IRPOL major or minor, this is a good foundation class. If not, still pretty interesting, but don't take if you can't devote some time to it. Not your easy A GE because there is a good amount of work involved.
Maoz is a very well-respected and knowledgeable professor. If you're interested in the Arab-Israeli conflict or ME politics in general, this is a good class to take. But, talks fast and doesn't stop to emphasize important points. Tests aren't hard and he gives a meh study guide, a lot of "required" reading--I did none of it. Term paper, 2 tests.
Assigns so much reading and tries to cover a ton in the span of 10 weeks, but his and his TA's grading is considerate of the material he expects you to know. Bad at responding to emails. I ended up researching a lot of the study terms for the exams from the internet/assigned books. PPTs are vague but the lectures themselves are very dense.
Never take this Professor he and his TA are lazy and rude. Assigns a ridiculous amount of reading and assigns homework even on Thanksgiving. Has a thick accent and speaks very fast and has sloppy lectures and power points. Hardest class and your time is better spent elsewhere. Again, DO NOT take Zeev ever again.
The content of this class was so interesting and the way he taught it was so comprehensive, I would definitely take his class again. Each lecture is heavy in content so go and take notes! I had a really good ta so that helped as well. We had one paper, a midterm, and a final. And he posted a study guide for each. I definitely recommend!
A pretty average class. Sometimes hard to follow without very organized slides, but by the end of the class I feel like I had a better understanding of the Middle East, so I figure that's a mark of a good prof. I think finding a study buddy is a good idea, at least to work through the study guide.
Knowledgeable but do not take time to address students or help them figure out what he is saying. I would have never taken his class if it was the last professor teaching it.
His accent is difficult to understand and his lectures are pretty confusing, but he's one of the most cited intl relations scholars of all time and he was also a chief in the IDF so that's pretty cool
Knowledgeable in his field but he is unable to get the valuable information out there. Much of his lectures are oversimplified and he drones on. He takes an important/interesting topic and makes it boring. Out of 167 students in his class, only 20 people showed up. TA is extremely helpful and kind. The workload is decent and pretty simple.
Zeev is brilliant. My only complaint is that hes way too nice to people who are rude to him. Hes honestly really impartial but people take things that are facts really personally. I really enjoyed this professor. People who dont like him either dont come to class or dont do the readings and then wonder why they did bad on the papers.
Zeev Maoz is one of the most distinguished and cited professors at UCD. He is extremely knowledgable in ME history/politics, having fought in 3 wars for Israel. He is extremely balanced as a professor and is very fair in his criticisms. Despite this, he's very dry and his accent is hard to understand but don't let that deter you.
He is a very very knowledgeable but his lectures go on and on. He packs so much into his lectures that it very difficult to retain information. He expects a lot for his exams and there is a lot of remember. There are only three things that go into the grade book (midterm/ term paper/ final).
Professor Maoz is very knowledge about the Middle East Conflict between Israel and Palestine and assigns discussion posts that are relevant to the course material to help with the understanding. His lectures are very dense meaning that the information will go in one ear and out the other during most lectures. Wrote and assigned one of his own books
Knowledgeable, but awful at teaching. Assigned 300+ pages of reading a week regularly. Lectures are dense, continuous, and monotonous. He expects you to remember over ~50 pages of pure information (120-150 concepts) for tests (which only have 8 questions) that determine 30-40% of your grade each. I can't describe how utterly stressful this class is
Professor Maoz is one of the best Middle East scholars of our time. A lot of people think his class is difficult since he teaches in a bit of an old school style, but he is incredibly knowledgeable. Show up to class, pay attention, do the main readings, and you’re fine. People giving him a bad rate are honestly weak. Shoutout Professor Maoz.
He needed to either streamline the study guides he provided or make the exams open note. The completed study guides, with all the information he wanted us to remember was over 25 pages long. He also rarely answers emails, if ever. This class caused me more stress than I wanted during my last quarter. Do not recommend.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
23%
Textbook Required
29%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.29 avg changeRatings by Course
PS0003
5.0
(1)129
4.0
(1)136
4.0
(2)IREH
4.0
(1)POL135
3.4
(10)Difficulty by Course
POLIT3
5.0
POL144
5.0
POL190
4.5
POL3
4.4
POL129
4.3