Professor
Kathleen Bawn
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2026 - I had high hopes going into this class because I had heard that Bawn was an excellent professor and the best to take for this class. Taking this class with her has made me believe that this is completely false. To get started, Bawn doesn't do her job. She makes students watch at least an hour of video before every lecture, and she gives quizzes. Basically, it's a mess of a flipped classroom. In the lecture, there are just "enrichment" problems, but she doesn't explain in depth or anything; she just assumes EVERYONE in the class understands, so it's hard to really understand if you don't spend the extra hours watching the videos, taking notes, and doing well on quizzes. Don't even try to ask her questions, because she will act as if you are STUPID, even though we're paying money to not even learn in lecture and just waste hours of our time teaching ourselves through videos. I tried talking to her once, and she acted as if I was asking her the most obvious question and treated me as if I was stupid. Her TAs even understand she is unbearable and rude when students ask questions, teaching us things in ways that are more complicated than they need to be. TAs in review sessions would show us ways that were 100x simpler than the way she had been forcing everyone to do. I felt like I learned more through my sweet TA than her, for sure. The way she teaches and tries to guide you into studying for tests is very unhelpful, too. I know so many students who studied so hard for both midterms (40% of your grade altogether) and still did not get the scores they wanted. If you miss one lecture, you're already behind by like 5 days. I think she has good intentions, but she has been teaching for a long time, and the way she taught back in 2005 is definitely outdated. But if you had the option to take another prereq for POL SCI or just want to take this class, I don't recommend Bawn AT ALL.
Winter 2026 - I had high hopes going into this class because I had heard that Bawn was an excellent professor and the best to take for this class. Taking this class with her has made me believe that this is completely false. To get started, Bawn doesn't do her job. She makes students watch at least an hour of video before every lecture, and she gives quizzes. Basically, it's a mess of a flipped classroom. In the lecture, there are just "enrichment" problems, but she doesn't explain in depth or anything; she just assumes EVERYONE in the class understands, so it's hard to really understand if you don't spend the extra hours watching the videos, taking notes, and doing well on quizzes. Don't even try to ask her questions, because she will act as if you are STUPID, even though we're paying money to not even learn in lecture and just waste hours of our time teaching ourselves through videos. I tried talking to her once, and she acted as if I was asking her the most obvious question and treated me as if I was stupid. Her TAs even understand she is unbearable and rude when students ask questions, teaching us things in ways that are more complicated than they need to be. TAs in review sessions would show us ways that were 100x simpler than the way she had been forcing everyone to do. I felt like I learned more through my sweet TA than her, for sure. The way she teaches and tries to guide you into studying for tests is very unhelpful, too. I know so many students who studied so hard for both midterms (40% of your grade altogether) and still did not get the scores they wanted. If you miss one lecture, you're already behind by like 5 days. I think she has good intentions, but she has been teaching for a long time, and the way she taught back in 2005 is definitely outdated. But if you had the option to take another prereq for POL SCI or just want to take this class, I don't recommend Bawn AT ALL.
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Most Helpful Review
Interesting class, and not too challenging. She goes very slowly in lecture and really makes sure that everyone is able to understand the material. It's not necessary to buy the book as long as you pay attention in class and do all the homework. There was a midterm, a cumulative final, and four homework assignments. The assignments were not too time consuming, and even kind of fun. As I mentioned, the class is not too challenging so the only real way to separate the A students from the B students is to be extremely nitpicky when grading tests, which is exactly what was done. I've always been good at grasping concepts, but I've always had problems with careless errors on tests. This was my ultimate downfall in the class. I lost a full FIVE percentage points on the midterm for accidentally putting a negative where I should not have. Completely ridiculous. The entire question was marked incorrect, despite the fact that I followed through on all the steps correctly and made one dumb mistake at the end. Or maybe I'm just bitter that my final grade was an 89.8% and she wouldn't just give me the A-.
Interesting class, and not too challenging. She goes very slowly in lecture and really makes sure that everyone is able to understand the material. It's not necessary to buy the book as long as you pay attention in class and do all the homework. There was a midterm, a cumulative final, and four homework assignments. The assignments were not too time consuming, and even kind of fun. As I mentioned, the class is not too challenging so the only real way to separate the A students from the B students is to be extremely nitpicky when grading tests, which is exactly what was done. I've always been good at grasping concepts, but I've always had problems with careless errors on tests. This was my ultimate downfall in the class. I lost a full FIVE percentage points on the midterm for accidentally putting a negative where I should not have. Completely ridiculous. The entire question was marked incorrect, despite the fact that I followed through on all the steps correctly and made one dumb mistake at the end. Or maybe I'm just bitter that my final grade was an 89.8% and she wouldn't just give me the A-.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2016 - I love Professor Bawn! I took her for PS 30 during my freshman year and again spring quarter of my junior year. She is an engaging lecturer and does really well explaining complex concepts in great detail. This class is certainly harder than most political science classes. To earn an A in this class, you really have to understand concepts and apply it to different situations rather just memorizing answers and spitting them back up on a test. Even though the class is difficult, the homework assignments give you a pretty good sense of the important concepts you have to know, and is also a good indicator of how difficult the test is. It is important to understand the concepts in this class earlier on because many of the models/ideas build on one another. Don't be afraid to go to office hours! I would definitely take Professor Bawn again if she offers a class before I graduate!
Spring 2016 - I love Professor Bawn! I took her for PS 30 during my freshman year and again spring quarter of my junior year. She is an engaging lecturer and does really well explaining complex concepts in great detail. This class is certainly harder than most political science classes. To earn an A in this class, you really have to understand concepts and apply it to different situations rather just memorizing answers and spitting them back up on a test. Even though the class is difficult, the homework assignments give you a pretty good sense of the important concepts you have to know, and is also a good indicator of how difficult the test is. It is important to understand the concepts in this class earlier on because many of the models/ideas build on one another. Don't be afraid to go to office hours! I would definitely take Professor Bawn again if she offers a class before I graduate!
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Dr. Bawn is one of the best professors I had in math courses. She gives engaging lectures and demonstrates the problems in a very "realistic" and straightforward way. I used to hate math in undergrad but now enjoy solving math probs because I can see the point of the abstract formula. Also, she is very easy on grades - this doesn't mean you don't have to work in her class, on the contrary, hard work, participation, and tests are all important to your grade. She just cares more about how much you learn from the class, the progress you made, and the depth of understanding of the course material. I learned a lot from her lectures, especially teaching method and class arrangement. She doesn't push you to target certain accuracy in problem-solving, but students are motivated to learn knowledge and the magic is the passion and joy she passes to everyone.
Fall 2023 - Dr. Bawn is one of the best professors I had in math courses. She gives engaging lectures and demonstrates the problems in a very "realistic" and straightforward way. I used to hate math in undergrad but now enjoy solving math probs because I can see the point of the abstract formula. Also, she is very easy on grades - this doesn't mean you don't have to work in her class, on the contrary, hard work, participation, and tests are all important to your grade. She just cares more about how much you learn from the class, the progress you made, and the depth of understanding of the course material. I learned a lot from her lectures, especially teaching method and class arrangement. She doesn't push you to target certain accuracy in problem-solving, but students are motivated to learn knowledge and the magic is the passion and joy she passes to everyone.
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