Crime and Politics
Recorded 2026-09-07 Fall 2026
Selected Topics in Political Science
POLISCI 401 explores current issues in Political Science as a topics course.
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 No instructors listed
Summary
1 / 5
Historical reviews of Erica Simmons, Jessica Weeks, Katherine Cramer: Workload varies by instructor; Erica Simmons offered minimal homework and study guides, while Jessica Weeks required extensive writing for the final. Katherine Cramer’s readings were accessible despite seeming daunting.
Grade history
↗ average GPA
letter grades
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
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F
All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapSophomore standing
- Sophomore standing
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- Sophomore standing
Professors
Fall 2026No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Jessica Weeks receives polarized reviews; one student finds her encouraging and accessible, while another cites unclear grading and defensive responses to feedback. Historical reviews for Edward Friedman, Margaret Peters, Erica Simmons, and Katherine Cramer are also available.
ERICA SIMMONS is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
JESSICA WEEKS is recorded teaching in Fall 2013, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
KATHERINE CRAMER is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
MARGARET PETERS is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Spring 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Fall 2026Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
No records available.
Student experience
the class
Historical reviews of Jessica Weeks, Katherine Cramer: Recent reviews for POLISCI 401 highlight Jessica Weeks and Katherine Cramer as highly engaging and accessible instructors, though one student found Weeks' grading unclear.
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.95 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.82 GPA, 94.9% A/AB (n=79 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.72 GPA, 91.3% A/AB (n=46 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Historical reviews of Erica Simmons, Jessica Weeks, Katherine Cramer: Workload varies by instructor; Erica Simmons offered minimal homework and study guides, while Jessica Weeks required extensive writing for the final. Katherine Cramer’s readings were accessible despite seeming daunting.
Historical reviews of Jessica Weeks, Katherine Cramer: Students praised Jessica Weeks and Katherine Cramer for their kindness, accessibility, and ability to facilitate excellent discussions. Conversely, one student found Weeks' grading criteria unclear and her feedback defensive.
Topics
Grades
Fall 2026 · Projected
Before grades are released– average GPA
Approximate 80% prediction interval
About this estimate
The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 3 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.
The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.
8 earlier forecasts · 0.12 GPA average error.
Grades over time
Through Fall 2026
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Where this course fits relative to
Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels
GPA
Higher than % of other courses in this group.
Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range
letter grades
More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.
Typical course in this group: letter grades.
About this comparison
1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.
Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.
Sources & history
UW–Madison
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
Raw records
[
{
"run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
"semester": "1272",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"offering_id": "1272:778:015918.147",
"course_id": "POLISCI 401",
"course_uid": "course_cad402a99b92ef16cfa9ecd2",
"term_id": "1272",
"source_course_id": "015918.147",
"source_subject_id": "778",
"title": "Crime and Politics",
"credits_min": 3,
"credits_max": 4,
"typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
}
]Rate My Professors
Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Madgrades
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesModel outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
{
"model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
"model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
"task_version": "14",
"output_id": "8659bcdef0fb243facbbad562fe0634f58a87480c986f6a347251e8620c83821",
"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}