Brian Sala - University of California Davis, Davis, CA

Professor: Brian Sala

Department: Political Science

College: University of California Davis, Davis, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: POL162
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

good prof. organized; cares about his class and students

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: POL162
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Sala had some interesting lectures but he would always review from the previous lecture and not end up getting to much of the new material. The TA was great though (Rolfe) and the grading was pretty easy. Concentrate on the jstor articles for the reading and go to lecture and the class is a piece of cake. Lectures are all powerpoint.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: POL105
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Don't go to lecture! As I found out, what he tests on has absolutely nothing to do with what he lectures on. Graphs to predict Congress are pointless and then he makes it a huge percent of grade on the test after not teaching it in class. Uses too big words and can't follow what he is talking about. He assumes everyone already knows everything.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: POL106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Interesting class and Professor Sala is really nice. Gary (the TA) was really helpful and friendly. He is also really cute :-). I recommend this class.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: POL106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

After spending one quarter with this professor, it is still difficult to take notes during his lectures. In addition, the grading criteria on the papers were puzzling.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: POL105POL1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

sala as a lower division teacher is a lot different than sala as an upper division teacher. he works with powerpoint and strays from the subject matter all the time. it's hard to stay awake. he uses graphs to predict congress, so very much the science and math side of poli sci.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PS160
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Sala is a nice guy, but the material for testing is completely different than what he tells us in class. The reading is useless and he gives us terms for testing yet talks about completely different things in class. Hes very scientific in his approach and it is not good.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: POL160
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Sala is an ok teacher. He is very understanding and wants you to learn a lot, however I felt he was unclear sometimes and like a lot of people have said...it is a struggle to stay away in lectures. I also felt the class strayed away from the course discription a lot, but he is a good guy.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: POL160
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

You have to know how to study for his classes. Don't make the mistake of missing lectures just because his slides are online. The reading is pointless and his lectures are grad school material--really in-depth. He somehow teaches us something different than what the class is about. Nice guy though.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: POL
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: POL160
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

You must go to his lectures to do well even though he posts his slides online. The textbook is a waste of money as you don't need to read it. You do, however, need to read and understand all of the articles! Paper guidelines were vague but the final wasn't hard.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: POL160
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

I thought he was very clear when outlining assignments and he was more than fair in his grading. Got the impression that he was more into the science aspects of political science (I didn't feel that he was very partisan).

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: POL160
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

text book is not neccesary. The ta does all the reading. its hard to pay attention in lecture

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: POL160
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Go to class & pay quality attention and you can get an A w/out reading book. 2 papers, 1 midterm, 1 final - each part equally worth 25%. Lectures can be boring, but slides are posted online. Don't be lazy by skipping class because slides don't contain enough info for you to understand w/out going to lecture. Need to read articles to do well.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: POL104
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Sala was chill he gave me an A and would talk about drinking beer often

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: POL160
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I've (unfortunately) had him twice now and he was incredibly boring both times. I've been heavily involved with partisan politics for the last 5 years and his class was absolutely a waste of time. Also, puts alot of his own personal politics in the class when not appropriate.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: POL105
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I have taken three classes with him and aced all of them. Very friendly and willing to help

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: 105106
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Sala is the best Poly Sci teacher in Davis. I never did the reading and got two A-. Just go to class and take good notes. The trick is to do well on the papers which are very easy, he mostly grades on the structure. Tests are more difficult. He is a cool guy and is willing to help you.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: POL160
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Sala's classes are really easy, but his lectures are incredibly boring. He reviews the last lectures material at the beginning of each class and only does like 10 minutes of new material each day.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: POL1POL105
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Sala is a great teacher and overall his classes are not very hard. He is very easy to talk to in office hours and willing to help you. I did hardly any reading and still wound up with A's. I would definetley take Sala again.