Kenneth Mayer - University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI

Professor: Kenneth Mayer

Department: Political Science

College: University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PS104
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Loved Prof Mayer and this class. It's easy to tell he really cares about his students and loves teaching. Textbook is unnecessary, there's test questions on another book but the assigned readings you can read the summaries at the beginning of each article. Tests aren't bad, just study a little. Highly, highly recommend taking this with Prof Mayer!!

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: POLISCI104
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Great professor! There are a lot of readings but he explained the content well and used current events to illustrate key concepts (while being relatively unbiased and funny). Discussion is 25% of the grade and two midterms and a final make up the rest. If you go to lecture then you should have little to no problem getting at least a B.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: POLISCI104
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Mayer is an amazing teacher. He clearly knows what he's talking about, and his humor makes the class enjoyable. He makes the subject easy to understand. His class is relatively easy if you show up and pay attention and you're willing to put in an average amount of effort. You definitely don't need to read the textbook.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: POL104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Mayer is the best! He is very knowledgeable and has you think outside the box. He remains unbias and discusses both sides of the political spectrum. Some may find his NO LAPTOP policy a bit harsh but all you got to do is print out his lecture powerpoint the day before, and you'll be fine. Exams are curved, and the DIS section is worth 25%

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: POLI104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

I found the class to be somewhat difficult but Mayer is one of the BEST professors I've had at UW-Madison. He's an amazing lecturer and if you miss class (which I did) then the class becomes more difficult. There's a lot of readings and he definitely makes you work for an A. Really want to take another class of his!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: POL104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Mayer is clearly very smart, but easily the worst professor I've ever had. Has a strict "no technology" policy, then moves through lecture very quickly. Uploads slides but will take out information for those who don't come to lecture, meaning it's virtually impossible to catch up on notes you may have missed. DO NOT TAKE UNLESS IT IS A REQUIREMENT.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: POL104
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Mayer is a funny guy, and definitely one of my favorite professors. The class is pretty easily just make sure you read the debates and skim the textbook, you can get through the class without doing either like I did, but you will mess up on the tests since he will have 2 answers that are right but the correct one is specific to the books

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: POLISCI104
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

The tests are very fair if you go to lecture and take good notes, plus they are curved. He also puts study guides online that are very helpful and outline key ideas. Be sure to keep up with current events because they pop up on every test. Questions can be very specific so pay attention in lecture, and you also don't need to buy the textbook.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: POLISCI104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Very funny lecturer and knows his stuff, but the power lectures do feel very long when covering such basic topics. Asks current events questions on tests that he does not include in lectures. Tests are hard but curved. Asks trick questions so pay attention to lecture slides. Skimming the readings and understanding main ideas will be okay for HW.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PS104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Exams are fairly tough. Asks some absurd things that you aren't necessarily expecting or that are on the review sheets he distributes and tells you to use as a study outline. He really emphasizes doing all the readings, but should be fine just quickly skimming them over. Should be a fairly easy AB/B as long as you put in a little bit of effort.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: POLIS104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He's incredibly knowledgable and makes lectures very interesting. His intro to american gov class is the reason I'm a poli sci major today. Literally don't have enough good things to say about this class. Must take!

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PLSCI104
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Kenneth is an excellent professor. His current events discussions are always very great and his lectures keep you interested. Make sure you read everything he assigns and don't get behind. He was always available outside of class and he wants students to succeed and is very genuine. Reading is mandatory though!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: POL104
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Poli. SCi. 104 is a basic American Government course and can seem boring at times if you have a solid grasp on U.S. govt. already. Prof. Mayer is sometimes funny, but his power lectures can drag on at times. The content is easy to understand, but it does require a lot of reading from the debate reader. The exams are all multiple choice and easy.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PLSCI104
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He knows what he is talking about and keeps it interesting. He assigns a lot of readings that you have to discuss in your sections for participation credit. If you go over his lectures and stay up to date on current events you should be okay. He has semi-hard exams, but curves them.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PLSCI104
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Awesome professor. Even though he sends you all of the notes, you want to go to class because the way he explains things is really helpful. He was really funny and made so many classic dad jokes I loved it. I'm going to try to take more classes with Professor Mayer.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: POLISCI104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Mayer is funny and his lectures are interesting. Readings were too heavy and tests were extremely difficult even when you have studied a lot. His liberal views were fairly clear in lecture as well. I learned a lot from this class and like Professor Mayer, but I wish my grade was a better reflection of how much work I put into the class.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PLSCI104
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Mayer is a great teacher who does his best to make a lecture full of dry topics interesting and engaging. Exams aren't overly difficult, but he asks some super specific questions, which can be annoying. He posts lecture notes online so you don't really have to go, but I would still recommend it. Would definitely recommend.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: POLI104
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Tests are definitely lecture based--go to lecture. Textbook essentially irrelevant, but reader is important.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PS104
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Really great lectures in which he makes fairly dry topics seem very interesting. But be prepared to study hard for each exam as the class only has 3 exams which are considered for the grade.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: POLISCI104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Mayer is a nice person, and knows a lot about political science. His lectures are usually interesting so that helps, but it's a lot of information. I found this course to be difficult because it is a lot of memorization of the readings (and there's a bunch of them!) Most of your grade is the exam scores