GVPT439A | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Karol Soltan GVPT439A Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/27/2022	Soltan himself is a nice professor and a pretty understanding guy. He has a pretty dry sense of humor that he incorporates into his lectures, and the lectures themselves are not the easiest to follow but he posts very clear and detailed notes after each one. He was understanding about questions and absences, and as a person is a perfectly nice guy. The class itself, though, is not structured well. There are three assignments that make up your grade (25% each midterm and final, 50% paper), and you don't know your grade or the feedback on the last two unless you come in over break and collect it. Also, he doesn't operate on numerical grades so you can't really know where you stand until final grades are in. The paper guidelines are pretty vague and there is not a clear direction of what he wants out of you. The class itself is manageable, but you have to be prepared to come to him with questions because he will not outright explain things very clearly.
Karol Soltan GVPT439A Expecting a B Anonymous 12/22/2022	I do NOT recommend taking this class at all. The class is based around three assignments: midterm (25%), paper (25%) & final (50%). There are no guidelines for the paper whatsoever. There was not a prompt given nor a rubric. Students were told to pick a topic and write. There were not justifications for the paper grade nor either exam grade. Exams were not graded using the traditional number grading system, rather only letter grades that were never posted in ELMS. This class is extremely frustrating and not worth the headache of receiving an unjustified grade.
Karol Soltan GVPT439A Anonymous 05/24/2022	Soltan is a knowledgeable professor and really knows his stuff but there were a few issues I had with the class. Firstly, there was just no clear rubric for the assignments (the paper prompt was really vague too). The lectures were also boring at times, and it was really hard to maintain attention towards the subject. One thing I did like about the class, however, was the fact he would give out extremely thorough reviews of each lecture and they were really helpful with studying for the midterm and final. And finally, the class also stressed me out because the class was graded by just a few things. That in itself not uncommon but here, the final was worth HALF the grade. If the assignments were worth a third of the grade each, I certainly wouldn't have been as stressed.
Karol Soltan GVPT439A Expecting a C Anonymous 05/14/2022	Save yourselves a semester of misery and DO NOT take his class!!!!!! Professor Soltan seems like a sweet guy, and at times he tries to be comical - but he is the most ineffective teacher I have ever head. His lectures are intolerable and I was completely lost the entire semester. I attended EVERY single class, and each class - without fail - would open my laptop to take notes, and then lose him completely 2 min into his lecture. He rambles on and on and goes on tangents about only God knows what. The material is already difficult and abstract to begin with, and he does a terrible job of explaining it. He seems knowledgable on the course, he is just horrible at teaching it. Not to mention, you have no idea where you stand grade wise - until the day teachers have to submit final grades. This class was a nightmare.
Karol Soltan GVPT439A Anonymous 04/21/2022	Great professor and great class. The lectures are easy to follow as long as you do the reading.
Karol Soltan GVPT439A Expecting an A hshapiro 07/14/2014	Professor Soltan is a really smart guy who is really focused on an end goal of civic engagement. I found little hints of his motivations in his lectures which I loved. Regardless of it you agree with him, he is a great teacher and has experience with constitution making. He really likes to move through lectures and expects you to do the readings. They are really interesting and are easy to follow so if you can manage those you are in the clear for the entire class. I seemed to be one of the few who read them or participated in class. I think he became annoyed with me that I answered most of the in class questions, but oh well. He leaves the work and how you want to do it completely up to you. So if you are a student that likes everything laid out for you for papers, etc. do not take his courses. However, he basically feeds you the midterm questions and final questions. So all you have to do for the class is literally read the assignments and write a paper on basically anything at the end of the semester. Interesting topic, motivated teacher, class worth taking.

Karol Soltan
GVPT439A

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/27/2022

Soltan himself is a nice professor and a pretty understanding guy. He has a pretty dry sense of humor that he incorporates into his lectures, and the lectures themselves are not the easiest to follow but he posts very clear and detailed notes after each one. He was understanding about questions and absences, and as a person is a perfectly nice guy. The class itself, though, is not structured well. There are three assignments that make up your grade (25% each midterm and final, 50% paper), and you don't know your grade or the feedback on the last two unless you come in over break and collect it. Also, he doesn't operate on numerical grades so you can't really know where you stand until final grades are in. The paper guidelines are pretty vague and there is not a clear direction of what he wants out of you. The class itself is manageable, but you have to be prepared to come to him with questions because he will not outright explain things very clearly.

Karol Soltan
GVPT439A

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/22/2022

I do NOT recommend taking this class at all. The class is based around three assignments: midterm (25%), paper (25%) & final (50%). There are no guidelines for the paper whatsoever. There was not a prompt given nor a rubric. Students were told to pick a topic and write. There were not justifications for the paper grade nor either exam grade. Exams were not graded using the traditional number grading system, rather only letter grades that were never posted in ELMS. This class is extremely frustrating and not worth the headache of receiving an unjustified grade.

Karol Soltan
GVPT439A

Anonymous
05/24/2022

Soltan is a knowledgeable professor and really knows his stuff but there were a few issues I had with the class. Firstly, there was just no clear rubric for the assignments (the paper prompt was really vague too). The lectures were also boring at times, and it was really hard to maintain attention towards the subject. One thing I did like about the class, however, was the fact he would give out extremely thorough reviews of each lecture and they were really helpful with studying for the midterm and final. And finally, the class also stressed me out because the class was graded by just a few things. That in itself not uncommon but here, the final was worth HALF the grade. If the assignments were worth a third of the grade each, I certainly wouldn't have been as stressed.

Karol Soltan
GVPT439A

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/14/2022

Save yourselves a semester of misery and DO NOT take his class!!!!!! Professor Soltan seems like a sweet guy, and at times he tries to be comical - but he is the most ineffective teacher I have ever head. His lectures are intolerable and I was completely lost the entire semester. I attended EVERY single class, and each class - without fail - would open my laptop to take notes, and then lose him completely 2 min into his lecture. He rambles on and on and goes on tangents about only God knows what. The material is already difficult and abstract to begin with, and he does a terrible job of explaining it. He seems knowledgable on the course, he is just horrible at teaching it. Not to mention, you have no idea where you stand grade wise - until the day teachers have to submit final grades. This class was a nightmare.

Karol Soltan
GVPT439A

Anonymous
04/21/2022

Great professor and great class. The lectures are easy to follow as long as you do the reading.

Karol Soltan
GVPT439A

Expecting an A
hshapiro
07/14/2014

Professor Soltan is a really smart guy who is really focused on an end goal of civic engagement. I found little hints of his motivations in his lectures which I loved. Regardless of it you agree with him, he is a great teacher and has experience with constitution making. He really likes to move through lectures and expects you to do the readings. They are really interesting and are easy to follow so if you can manage those you are in the clear for the entire class. I seemed to be one of the few who read them or participated in class. I think he became annoyed with me that I answered most of the in class questions, but oh well. He leaves the work and how you want to do it completely up to you. So if you are a student that likes everything laid out for you for papers, etc. do not take his courses. However, he basically feeds you the midterm questions and final questions. So all you have to do for the class is literally read the assignments and write a paper on basically anything at the end of the semester. Interesting topic, motivated teacher, class worth taking.

Reviews for GVPT439A