Fall 2026

Selected Topics in Political Science

POLISCI 401 explores current issues in Political Science as a topics course.

offering recorded3–4 credits
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
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
POLISCI 401

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Fall 2026

No 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 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

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

  • Current issues in Political Science

Grades

Historical instructor

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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
POLISCI 401 · Fall 2026

Crime and Politics

Recorded 2026-09-07
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
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
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"
}