Professor
Jonathan Homola
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2025 - I liked this class a lot despite not really having much interest in IR or comparative politics. Prof. Homola lectures in a way that really helps to understand the concepts and he genuinely wants you to do well in the class. In my opinion there was a perfect amount of work:reading & if you didn't do great on one assignment/test you could still do well. There are 4 "Country Assignments", basically a sustained investigation on one country broken up into very loosely graded essays (I got a 10/10 on all 4 and never spent more that 3 hours on them). There is a midterm and final, our midterm was closed note & in person with a monitored browser - our class did not do well - so he offered to give the final in a class-picked format, which was on BruinLearn and open-note). Honestly I didn't find either test to be particularly difficult, got a B on the midterm and A on the final, you just need to review and understand the major concepts of the class-especially anything gone over in heavy detail or the assignments. Sections were mainly review of lecture, but tied in specific readings - I never did a single one of these readings and kept up fine. Overall, this class was not graded strict or too much of a workload, but I actually learned a lot about the topics discussed.
Spring 2025 - I liked this class a lot despite not really having much interest in IR or comparative politics. Prof. Homola lectures in a way that really helps to understand the concepts and he genuinely wants you to do well in the class. In my opinion there was a perfect amount of work:reading & if you didn't do great on one assignment/test you could still do well. There are 4 "Country Assignments", basically a sustained investigation on one country broken up into very loosely graded essays (I got a 10/10 on all 4 and never spent more that 3 hours on them). There is a midterm and final, our midterm was closed note & in person with a monitored browser - our class did not do well - so he offered to give the final in a class-picked format, which was on BruinLearn and open-note). Honestly I didn't find either test to be particularly difficult, got a B on the midterm and A on the final, you just need to review and understand the major concepts of the class-especially anything gone over in heavy detail or the assignments. Sections were mainly review of lecture, but tied in specific readings - I never did a single one of these readings and kept up fine. Overall, this class was not graded strict or too much of a workload, but I actually learned a lot about the topics discussed.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - This is a really fun and easy class if you are interested in European Politics. Even tho I am not the most interested in some of the topics that were covered in this class I still felt like I learned a lot and was never really stressed about the class. The exams were online and open note with a fair amount of time to answer all the questions. The TAs were really nice and helpful like the professor. Some of the voting systems you may already have heard of just from interest in politics like I did but the class overall should be an easy A. There is one textbook but you can find it online pretty easily and there isn’t much reading. The reading is gone over in class and the professor encourages participation and asking questions. It is a class I would definitely recommend. Also he gave extra credit on the final exam so I think I got like over 100% as a grade in this class. Professor Homola’s classes I expect to become as hard to get as Bransetter’s in the near future so take them while you can.
Fall 2024 - This is a really fun and easy class if you are interested in European Politics. Even tho I am not the most interested in some of the topics that were covered in this class I still felt like I learned a lot and was never really stressed about the class. The exams were online and open note with a fair amount of time to answer all the questions. The TAs were really nice and helpful like the professor. Some of the voting systems you may already have heard of just from interest in politics like I did but the class overall should be an easy A. There is one textbook but you can find it online pretty easily and there isn’t much reading. The reading is gone over in class and the professor encourages participation and asking questions. It is a class I would definitely recommend. Also he gave extra credit on the final exam so I think I got like over 100% as a grade in this class. Professor Homola’s classes I expect to become as hard to get as Bransetter’s in the near future so take them while you can.
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