Paul Gurian - University of Georgia

Professor: Paul Gurian

Department: TBD

College: University of Georgia

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He's a great guy who's super helpful and very knowledgeable. Unfortunately, he's not very good at making class interesting and tends to drone on with his monotone voice, so lecture is incredibly boring. The subject of the class wasn't interesting so that didn't help. He's a great professor stuck with a boring class.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: POLS4515
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Gurian is such a sweet person and an exceptional professor! He is very passionate about campaigns, so seeing that makes me excited to learn. Overall, this class was interesting and helped me better understand the current election. He's very objective and an fairly easy grader. I wish he wasn't retiring so I could take more classes with him!

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Honestly,e was pretty tough. Long lectures that are hard to listen to. I only took him because I was in a learning community that required it. I did all of the reading and am a political science major and only came out with a B+. However, he is passionate! Not a bad guy, just hard to stay engaged.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Gurian is precious. He is a sweet and approachable man who is very knowledgeable about the material. His tests can be pretty tough, but if you pay attention in class, read the book, and study, you should do fine. I hated learning about American government, but he made the class less boring.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: 1101
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Gurian tried to make the lectures very interesting by including various types of teaching styles, including responding to opinion questions using clickers. The Friday breakout sessions are mandatory, but you can skip he regular lectures and get notes from someone else and still do fine. Only two tests, a research essay(super easy), and the final.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Gurian is a great teacher, the lectures are sometimes boring, but for the most part at least fairly interesting. He has a cool little old man ponytail, and if you study you should be fine for his tests. I didn't read and did fine.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

LISTEN TO ME: I am a poly sci major, and yes, his tests are tough for an intro class(essay,short answer,and multiple choice)but not impossible (I got high A's on both tests). If you HATE gov't and don't wanna take it, take another teacher. If you want to read the bookstudy and learn, take him! He's a great lecturer,and you WILL actually learn.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Great lecturer! He is smart,clear, and helpful. The class is not super easy though. His tests (2 midterms) are not bad, except the test is 30% essay, 20% short answer from breakout, and 50% m.c (25 Q's). He gives 3 essay topics in advance, 2 will be on test, and you chose 1 to write. Textbook helps!! Breakouts are required-TA Sarah Hunter is good!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

The class is tough, but you won't find a better pols teacher at UGA than Gurian. He is reasonable with assignments, and if you do them and attend lecture, you will be successful.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Basically, if you read everything assigned for the class you'll be fine. The breakout sessions are where you have to be there. The lectures aren't that bad; some days are more interesting than others but he tries by adding videos and doing clicker participation. Overall he's a really good teacher and go into the class with an open mind.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Tests are difficult. Attendance in lecture is not mandatory, but is in breakouts. There is an extreme amount of reading assignments given, and weekly typed-responses are assigned. For an introductory class, this is a difficult course compared to other POLS 1101 classes. If possible, I would recommend finding a different teacher

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He's a cool guy with one of the better lecture classes; he uses videos and class surveys to involve everyone, but it's a bunch of information that you're never sure what to focus on for tests, which are hard. You never know your overall grade until the end. Have to write essays but they're given ahead of time. I don't like history and I got a B

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He doesn't let students know their grades. You receive your test grades and quiz grades, but participation grades and average grades stay hidden until the FINAL semester grade. It's annoying because you can't keep up with your grades, and this class is hard...

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

The class is very easy, you don't have to attend lectures or study very hard. Most of the information is common sense. Put effort into the essays and you're golden.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: POLI1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

DO NOT listen to any of the comments below that say this class was easy. This is an introductory course and it difficult. Gurian is nice and knowledgeable but this course is way too demanding. Test are ridiculous, ask questions about material that was never discussed. YOU HAVE TO WRITE essays and ta's grade hard. Avoid this professor at all cost.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His lectures are easy to pay attention to and engaging. Tests are very difficult. Grades depend highly on TA's. Attendance is not mandatory, so it's very tempting to skip.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: POLLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Gurian kept the class interesting and understood that this was a mandatory class for most students. Read the textbook, it will help, but it does not seem entirely necessary. The tests were reasonable although not super easy. Going to class is not mandatory but the lectures are very important so I did not skip any classes.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Awesome teacher! I would totally recommend him! Don't listen to any of the bad comments. He does other stuff besides lecture too, like show video clips of past debates and mock elections. He's also really nice and the tests were fair, if you go to class and read the book.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Avoid at all costs. Lecture is painfully boring and the material will likely be things you already know. What makes the class difficult are the tests. The multiple choice questions are completely relative to interpretation. The tests are way too difficult/confusing to be essentially the only 3 grades. Way too difficult for an intro level POLS class

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: POLS1101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Gurian's a decent teacher but his class is pretty hard for an intro POLS class. You only have four grades that consists of breakout session participation and 3 tests. The tests are hard and based off the textbook and lecture notes. The textbook does not have all the info you get in the lectures. I suggest taking another POLS 1101 teacher.