Professor
Tyson Roberts
1 of 2
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - Super disorganized + doesn't actually teach the class material ( a program does). My TA taught me everything. Pretty sure Roberts is writing his own positive reviews. Roberts is "understanding" because he messes up so much during the quarter. So if that's what you're into then go for it.
Spring 2021 - Super disorganized + doesn't actually teach the class material ( a program does). My TA taught me everything. Pretty sure Roberts is writing his own positive reviews. Roberts is "understanding" because he messes up so much during the quarter. So if that's what you're into then go for it.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2015 - I am a stats major so I knew everything before the course. Had I not been a stats major, I would not have been able to follow the course because the Professor has no idea what he is talking about. Plus, he doesn't understand some of the concepts he teach (standard error vs standard deviation and anova and such) so it is painstaking watching him crash and burn. If I met him outside of class, I wouldn't have noticed him.
Fall 2015 - I am a stats major so I knew everything before the course. Had I not been a stats major, I would not have been able to follow the course because the Professor has no idea what he is talking about. Plus, he doesn't understand some of the concepts he teach (standard error vs standard deviation and anova and such) so it is painstaking watching him crash and burn. If I met him outside of class, I wouldn't have noticed him.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Took Stats 10 with him - it was his first time teaching it. His lectures were all ppt based, and though he seemed to be engaged with the class, ultimately it felt like he's just reading off the slides and not teaching the concepts. If I hadn't taken AP stats, I would not have understand most of what was presented in class. Course had weekly hw, biweekly labs, two midterms, final - there is no curve! final grade is what it is based on score on all assignments.
Took Stats 10 with him - it was his first time teaching it. His lectures were all ppt based, and though he seemed to be engaged with the class, ultimately it felt like he's just reading off the slides and not teaching the concepts. If I hadn't taken AP stats, I would not have understand most of what was presented in class. Course had weekly hw, biweekly labs, two midterms, final - there is no curve! final grade is what it is based on score on all assignments.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - The class was based on two midterms that were each worth 15%, a final worth 20%, Inquizitives worth 20%, a Current Event Analysis worth 10%, and participation in section worth 20%. The textbook was available online for about $45 which was good, but you could also purchase the physical version if you wanted to. If you did that though, you would still need to pay a small amount to have access to the Inquizitives. The textbook was absolutely necessary to have as the whole class was based on it. The professor did lectures but they often were really just a repetition of the textbook, so I did not think they were necessary or very helpful to be present for. However, I think there were some helpful bits but if you stick to reading the textbook and doing notes, you should be good. There were a total of 14 chapters we needed to get through for this class and in the end it felt kind of rushed, making me a bit overwhelmed at times. After each chapter we needed to complete an Inquizitive, which I found really helpful in retaining the information and the main points we needed to be aware of. The midterms and final were all open-note and were done on our own within a certain time window, making them easy to access and fairly easy to find information if you forgot something. We had three options for completing a Current Event Analysis which required us to apply information from certain topics in the textbook to real world situations. You could do all three or just one and the highest score was applied. I thought this was a fun and easy way to look further into World Politics so I personally really enjoyed it. Overall, the class wasn't too difficult so long as you stayed on top of the textbook work and utilized the notes you took for the exams. The only critique I really had was that the professor's lectures weren't that engaging in my opinion and that the textbook seemed like a better way to understand the subject.
Spring 2022 - The class was based on two midterms that were each worth 15%, a final worth 20%, Inquizitives worth 20%, a Current Event Analysis worth 10%, and participation in section worth 20%. The textbook was available online for about $45 which was good, but you could also purchase the physical version if you wanted to. If you did that though, you would still need to pay a small amount to have access to the Inquizitives. The textbook was absolutely necessary to have as the whole class was based on it. The professor did lectures but they often were really just a repetition of the textbook, so I did not think they were necessary or very helpful to be present for. However, I think there were some helpful bits but if you stick to reading the textbook and doing notes, you should be good. There were a total of 14 chapters we needed to get through for this class and in the end it felt kind of rushed, making me a bit overwhelmed at times. After each chapter we needed to complete an Inquizitive, which I found really helpful in retaining the information and the main points we needed to be aware of. The midterms and final were all open-note and were done on our own within a certain time window, making them easy to access and fairly easy to find information if you forgot something. We had three options for completing a Current Event Analysis which required us to apply information from certain topics in the textbook to real world situations. You could do all three or just one and the highest score was applied. I thought this was a fun and easy way to look further into World Politics so I personally really enjoyed it. Overall, the class wasn't too difficult so long as you stayed on top of the textbook work and utilized the notes you took for the exams. The only critique I really had was that the professor's lectures weren't that engaging in my opinion and that the textbook seemed like a better way to understand the subject.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - Professor Roberts gave engaging lectures and always asked if clarification was needed for any topic he had covered. He is funny at times and you do not feel uneasy asking him questions for anything from the class material to your grade. My TA Alex Munoz was amazing and I would recommend everyone get him if you can and consider taking Professor Roberts for this class as he makes the material fairly easy to understand. The only bummer is that I was less than 0.1% away from an A+ but only got an A. Regardless, this class was amazing and it is likely you will end with an A and if not the worst you will get is an A-. Try your best and do not slack off!
Spring 2020 - Professor Roberts gave engaging lectures and always asked if clarification was needed for any topic he had covered. He is funny at times and you do not feel uneasy asking him questions for anything from the class material to your grade. My TA Alex Munoz was amazing and I would recommend everyone get him if you can and consider taking Professor Roberts for this class as he makes the material fairly easy to understand. The only bummer is that I was less than 0.1% away from an A+ but only got an A. Regardless, this class was amazing and it is likely you will end with an A and if not the worst you will get is an A-. Try your best and do not slack off!
AD
Most Helpful Review
Professor Roberts is a nice guy. The class is pretty easy throughout. He doesn't always seem to know what he's talking about and him and his reader have way different standards of what assignments should be like. My issue with the class is that I received 98% and above on every assignment except the midterm (which I got 93%) and the final presentation brought me down to a B+ so I was pretty disappointed in his distribution. He gives templates for how to do assignments then his reader constantly calls almost every submission "minimalist" (for everyone not just me) and gives childish comments like "sigh....this is so minimalist." Other than that, it's doable and easy.
Professor Roberts is a nice guy. The class is pretty easy throughout. He doesn't always seem to know what he's talking about and him and his reader have way different standards of what assignments should be like. My issue with the class is that I received 98% and above on every assignment except the midterm (which I got 93%) and the final presentation brought me down to a B+ so I was pretty disappointed in his distribution. He gives templates for how to do assignments then his reader constantly calls almost every submission "minimalist" (for everyone not just me) and gives childish comments like "sigh....this is so minimalist." Other than that, it's doable and easy.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - While I learned a lot from this class, the midterm and final exams required so much studying that I ended up using 50+ pages to fill out his study guide for the second quarter alone. Each week you have to complete country assignments (which are mostly based on completion) that are very helpful in writing your final essay on a country you choose at the beginning of the quarter as it is related to class concepts. I got a good grade on the essay. The midterm was extremely difficult but he ended up curving so the class average was a 77. Participation is also required as every class you take a PollEv which counts for your grade based on correctness (you can sometimes get away with guessing). Professor Roberts seems kind of unhelpful in office hours and doesn't respond to the discussion board which is his "online office hours." I ended up getting a good grade, but this is because I worked very hard towards the end of the quarter. The benefits of the class was I actually learned a lot about international development, Africa, and my country, and I don't think Professor Roberts is that bad of a lecturer. He records on BruinCast so you can go back and revisit the lectures. The textbook is required to do well in the class, a lot of test material is based on it.
Winter 2023 - While I learned a lot from this class, the midterm and final exams required so much studying that I ended up using 50+ pages to fill out his study guide for the second quarter alone. Each week you have to complete country assignments (which are mostly based on completion) that are very helpful in writing your final essay on a country you choose at the beginning of the quarter as it is related to class concepts. I got a good grade on the essay. The midterm was extremely difficult but he ended up curving so the class average was a 77. Participation is also required as every class you take a PollEv which counts for your grade based on correctness (you can sometimes get away with guessing). Professor Roberts seems kind of unhelpful in office hours and doesn't respond to the discussion board which is his "online office hours." I ended up getting a good grade, but this is because I worked very hard towards the end of the quarter. The benefits of the class was I actually learned a lot about international development, Africa, and my country, and I don't think Professor Roberts is that bad of a lecturer. He records on BruinCast so you can go back and revisit the lectures. The textbook is required to do well in the class, a lot of test material is based on it.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Roberts is by far BY FARRR the best professor I've had at UCLA. I took him for ps 30 and ps 169-authoritarian regimes. His classes do require a lot, a lottttt, of work, but they are graded very easily. He provides numerous extra credit opportunities and is a very fair teacher. To be honest, at times the amount of work did bother me, but I feel like I know as much as I do about the class without cramming because of those assignments. I would definitely take this professor if you get the chance
Professor Roberts is by far BY FARRR the best professor I've had at UCLA. I took him for ps 30 and ps 169-authoritarian regimes. His classes do require a lot, a lottttt, of work, but they are graded very easily. He provides numerous extra credit opportunities and is a very fair teacher. To be honest, at times the amount of work did bother me, but I feel like I know as much as I do about the class without cramming because of those assignments. I would definitely take this professor if you get the chance
AD
1 of 2
