Reviews for Karol E. Soltan
Average Rating:| I<3Testudo Course: GVPT100H Grade Expected: A October 26, 2011, 11:16 pm | Great, interesting, very friendly guy, but not the greatest lecturer. The material he presents is incredibly broad and abstract, and I often had trouble getting a grasp on it. Someone in my class made a Google Doc before each exam and they helped a lot. Make sure you understand Game Theory, and USE THE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES HE PROVIDES YOU WITH in your essays (e.g. mention "the old lady from Sarajevo"-you'll know what I'm talking about when you take the course). |
| Anonymous Course: GVPT100H Grade Expected: A- September 21, 2010, 12:22 am | I love this guy. He is genuinely interested in his students, has a great knowledge base, and has brilliant conversations. If anything, that is his greatest flaw. He teaches his class like a brilliant conversations, which can sometimes be tough to follow in the format of an introductory lecture. |
| Anonymous Course: GVPT100H Grade Expected: A May 12, 2010, 4:08 pm | I didn't love his teaching style. His lectures were hard to follow, and I often took less than half a page of notes per class. However, his grading system makes the class easy to get an A or B in, so if you have to take this class and aren't a gov major, he isn't too bad. |
| Anonymous Course: GVPT100 Grade Expected: A January 17, 2010, 11:50 am | I really liked Professor Soltan's class! He made GVPT100 very easy to understand, and my TA was great too. |
| Anonymous Course: GVPT100 Grade Expected: December 13, 2009, 3:19 pm | Professor Soltan is a good guy and can be entertaining at times. You don't need to go to lecture; the things he says don't follow in a clear train of thought, so it's almost impossible to take notes. He puts his own notes up before each exam and if you look at them, you'll do well. I had a good TA who made it unnecessary for me to read most of the readings, but you can do that at your own discretion. There is a generous curve and it overall is a good class. |
| Anonymous Course: GVPT100 Grade Expected: December 3, 2009, 11:58 am | Unless you are interested in the philosophical side of government, DO NOT take this class. Lectures with Professor Soltan are unbearable. While Soltan is very well educated and often funny man, he is unable to covey his ideas in an efficient manner. It’s almost impossible to follow his train of thought and translate it into coherent notes. Most times, I walked away from lecture with more questions than answers and a TON of readings. Discussions did not help much either. While I cannot speak for the other TAs, my TA struggled to communicate his ideas. In addition, the grading was extremely unclear and sometimes harsh. Grades were only given for exams and participation in discussion. Even though we got our exams back once they were graded, I could never understand the comments given or the pattern of grading. Also, the levels required to receive an A seemed impossible at best. It often felt like they were just looking for trivial bits in essays to mark you off for. Finally, the professor was extremely disorganized. He refused to use blackboard to post grades and made you reach his syllabus by Googling it. There is no doubt that Soltan is a genius when it comes to this subject, but he struggles to teach the material. As a student who was interested in the actual workings of government verses the philosophical workings of government, I was very disappointed with this chore of a class. |
| Anonymous Course: GVPT100H Grade Expected: B October 18, 2009, 10:12 pm | To be honest I hated this class. But to be fair I think it was only because I took it to fulfill both honors and core and don't actually have much of an interest in gvpt. There are a lot of long, tedious readings that I didn't care to do. Classes are very unstructured and I usually left asking myself what in the world I was supposed to have learned from them. If you can manage not to zone off (he's got a lovely accent that tended to be more meditative than engaging) and take notes, the class is probably not too difficult. But I would recommend that if you are not majoring in gvpt, have limited interest in gvpt, or very little background in the area, just stick to the regular version and get your honors credit elsewhere. It'll save you and the teacher a semester-long headache. |