Dr. Barak is one of the best professors I've had so far. She genuinely cares about her students, but you need to take the initiative to reach out and show up for class. If you find yourself disliking her or not enjoying the class, it's because you aren't putting in enough effort. The problem isn't Dr. Barak; it's your own level of commitment.

Dr. Barak appears condescending at the beginning, but she's very kind. The exam answers are always in the slides. Take notes during in-class discussions. Highly recommend going to office hours for exams, she essentially gives the answers and is very kind. Going to class is a must and she allows students to re-do some assignments, good professor

Super knowledgeable and fun to talk to. Prof Barak may seem cold but I learnt a lot in this class. Go to office hours and ask for help for all the big assignments, she essentially gives you the answers and is super helpful. Lots of busy work and I did hate my group, but ended up with 100% in the class because of extra credit.

Probably the worst professor I've ever had. She is the harshest grader and has no care for her students. She never answers her emails, extremely unapproachable, and generally rude. Lectures are poorly organized and difficult to follow, and assignments have no rubrics. Lots of group work. I would not recommend taking her class to anyone ever.

Most students would take her for PLPATH311. Don't. Agronomy 377 fulfills the same requirements, and you'll be grateful you took it instead. To say she's a strict grader is a lie, because she makes up whatever ambiguous reasoning she feels like. Rubrics are not given, and she's just generally condescending.

Jeri can come off as a little cold and strict and as a tough grader during lecture, but go to office hours, and you'll learn that she's actually very sweet and will work with you to understand concepts. Class has lots of little assignments, a movie, and a few short papers - is a good amount of work for a 3-credit class.

lectures are hard to understand and you don't even get the slides, although she gives “rubrics” assignments are always graded way harsher. she said she wants everyone to get an A yet the midterm average was a 69%. i really don't suggest taking this class

Worst prof I've had in my 4 years here. She took off 10% of an assignment for the WHOLE class, when only half of the class should've gotten the deduction, because "it's only fair" I would recommend waiting til spring, then signing up for Agronomy 377 - it'll fill the same requirement for a lot of Global Health majors and certs.

worst grader I have ever had.

DO NOT take this class if you dislike group work. The amount of busy work this class requires is absurd. While none of it is particularly difficult, it truly is so much work. Dr. Barak is a nice enough woman, but needs to work on her lecture skills. Comes off as standoffish, and that questions or confusions are an inconvenience for her to explain.

It's not a coincidence that she has such a low rating, she is truly a terrible professor. This should easily be 4 credits for the amount of work you have to do, 4 papers, 2 movies, and just a million group projects. Don't even try an email or approach her about exams or homework she will not help you in the slightest. DO NOT TAKE A CLASS FROM HER.

Just like others said. This professor absolutely has not logic and I can't believe how she is even teaching in a well-respected university. Literally commented student works "Provided low quality review to peer". Assignments all the time without recognizing how much efforts are students actually putting into.

Truly the absolute worst professor. Avoid her if you can.There is no communication on projects from her, she expects groups to meet every week outside of class to do group papers. Has weird projects that are complicated to be submitted properly and kicks people out of groups, penalizing their grade for future projects.vague directions tough grading

Honestly, she assigns too much homework, group projects, quizzes, and other assignments consistently every week without giving a true rubric. Incredibly tough grader for no reason and seems to only care about turning in the newest assignment. If you can avoid her, and not have to experience one of her classes, you are blessed.

I liked this professor a lot!!! Her lectures were the best! She made learning fun :). I enjoyed the assignments that had to be under 250 words. Exams could be challenging but were take-home, could work on them in groups. Very good for learning.

I didn't have a problem with Jeri. She could be passive aggressive towards at times but it didn't really bother me. A lot of assignments but didn't take too much time. As long as you do the work and hit the requirements you should get a good grade. For my section there was a curve even though the syllabus said there wouldn't be. Interesting class!

Dr. Barak is honestly a good professor. Not rude, from what I've seen. She's clear about her expectations for the course/assignments, mainly says them during lecture, so those saying instructions were unclear most likely did not pay attention during class. No rubrics for assignments. Seems intimidating, but is actually really caring.

Professor Barak is a great professor who really cares for what she teaches and that other people learn those concepts as well. I would say that there are no rubrics for many assignments which makes it hard to understand certain expectations for assignments but all in all I believe that it is an easy class to pass as long as you attend lectures.

She is very accessible and willing to set up meetings if you can't come to office hours. She seems intimidating but she cares about you if you are willing to put the work in. No rubrics, just descriptions about what you should write. Exams are take home and you're encouraged to bounce ideas off classmates and email her with any questions.

Awful. Actually the worst professor I have ever had. Grades are so all over the place either you get a 50% or 100%. Her graders take away points for the most random stuff. THERE IS NO RUBRIC FOR ASSIGNMENTS. When asked about that, she said rubrics are "confusing for students." She has a great personality but is an awful professor. Should not teach.

She is actually the worst professor I have ever had. She has not given a single rubric for papers and is the harshest grader. The lecture slides are hard to take notes on and the Top Hat questions are asked about things we never learned. Would strongly recommend avoiding her.

Easily the worst professor I've ever had. Unapproachable & passive aggressive--doesn't seem to care about her students. Material is easy, but she provides barely any grading criteria/rubrics on assignments. Feedback is almost always vague & very harsh, so if your work isn't up to her unknowable standards, you'll have to just guess why. Avoid her.

Worst class I've taken in 4yrs. Unapproachable, passive-aggressive prof. Lackluster class. Rude graders. Sometimes you have hmwk due Fri/Sat/Sun. Not at all bio-based, it's basically agricultural economics. Get ready to read minds because there are no rubrics. You'll lose points for absurd reasons. Run. Run far away. I go to class & dread it.

Dr. Barak was very informative. She spent a lot of time after class explaining to me and other students (who actually asked and came to class) tricky or confusing subjects. Tests are long but open for 2 days and you are encouraged to work with peers. Everyone who hates the course probably just didn't come to class consistently.

DO NOT TAKE PLPATH 311 for biology credit if you want a good semester. It has nothing related to "biology" and all the contents are basically social science. The homework is stupid because you need to write a lot of stuff without clear criteria. You have to do research online by yourself and the exam is so time-consuming.

Please do not EVER (if it is avoidable) take a class from this witch. She has been passive agressive since the very first lecture of class, and really has it out from her students. she is a horrible communicator, and fails to respond to emails since she "doesn't feel like checking on Sundays". she takes points off assignments and won't explain why.

You are expected to do more outside learning from resources you find on your own rather than the content in the class. Very rude and doesn't open doors for people.

This class was awesome and Dr. Barak was a fantastic professor, she puts a lot of thought and planning into the class and it proved to be an awesome basis for the fundamentals of the rest of my global health degree. Does a good job of encouraging students to apply their own thinking and ideas to assignments and makes class super interesting!

She was a very interesting lecturer, and I did not have any difficulty with the actual content of the course. I thought her lectures were clear, however at times the expectations were not. Assignments did not have rubrics, and there were several writing assignments per week which was tedious. Exams were very fair and proved in an essay format.

There is no rubric for assignments which makes it extremely difficult to understand grading criteria and why you may have missed points. One assignment said this for grading criteria: 5 points for style, 45 points for substance. Course should be at least 4 credits with the insane workload. Exams are long. LOTS and LOTS of work.

Yes, I understand that having a class on a Monday when there is a big game on Saturday means your dreams of a free weekend are smashed. Deal with it. Students who earn an A in this class come to every class even if it means that they dont get trashed with their friends. This is from her syllabus, she was rude to students before she met them.

She was super informative. She really care about her students I think most of the bad comments from this year are from people who did not receive good grade. The class is hard and has a large work load but if you follow the rubrics and read the reading you will do great. Dont take the poor comments to heart, know you will be held to a high bar!

Dr. Barak's grading system is extremely dysfunctional. Assignments are typically graded subjectively, with expectations being presented to students as feedback. Rubrics are rare and often deviated from. Moreover, Dr. Barak comes across as apathetic to the needs of her students, which is extremely frustrating in a class with such a high work load.

Professor Barak is a knowledgeable person, but the course itself is tough with unclear grading requirements and long homework assignments due on Saturday, and open 1-2 days before, giving no free time for students over the weekend. There are a ton of homework assignments even when exams are coming up which makes it difficult to manage time.

The classes content is interesting but Dr. Barak is the most confusing professor Ive ever had. It is clear she is used to teaching in a small class environment not 150+ people classes. Grading expectations are confusing and all over the place - especially on exams. The worst part is she is very rude in email and seems to not want to help students.

Seriously the worst professor I've ever had at UW. Class content was interesting and the course itself had potential, but from day one it was extremely disorganized. Assignment and exam expectations were unclear, and Prof was unwilling to work with students and meet them halfway. So, so frustrating. Don't take classes from her if you can help it.

Do not take this class if professor Barak is teaching. The class content is super interesting and important, however, professor Barak has no regard for her students lives outside of this course. She sets expectations as if students have no other courses and only care to succeed in this course. She is the worst professor i've had in my 4 years at UW

Interesting course material, but the worst professor I've had in my four years. She has no regard for anything but her class, constantly making assignments open Friday at midnight and close Sunday at midnight. She expects everything to be about her class and nothing else. Tough grader without clear guidelines. Miserable to sit through lectures with

Do not take professor Barak's class. She is extremely unfair in grading and does not account for students' lives outside of her course. She grades based on the assumption that students live perfect lives and her class is the center of it. If you don't have a genuine interest in the topics, it seems to be held against you.

This class is probably the most interesting class I have taken at UW-Madison but this professor is unfortunately one of the worst. She doesn't really seem to know what she's talking about because she is constantly contradicting herself and sometimes says things that are flat out untrue. Pretty frustrating to sit through her lectures.

I genuinely have never been treated by a professor like this in my life. She is very rude, and does not provide rubrics for anything! This class used to be taught with 20-30 people (the people giving her good ratings), but she is now teaching it to 150+ students. She has NO idea how to adjust to this change, and should not be teaching this way

Thumbs down.

Barak was a great professor and her class was very informative. You HAVE to attend class and do your homework on time. She is a tough grader but allows plenty of extra credit to make up for it. It would be hard to end the semester without an A as long as you do your work.

If you're interested in the subject matter and are willing to put forward a fair amount of effort, this class is great. She recognizes effort rather than skill and I thought she was extremely fair with how she ran the class. No-nonsense lady but extremely knowledgeable and fun to listen to.

Phenomenal professor. Extremely interesting course content. Do the readings and put in the time for a relatively easy A. FIG was a great choice that led to some great relationships.

Super interesting class!

You'll enjoy the class if the subject matter interest you. More politics than science though. Barrack really cares about you and even though the work load can be a lot, if you put forth effort you will get an A.

Dr. Barak was an awesome teacher! Her FIG was a lot of fun and I learned a lot from her. There is reading for the course but it was worth doing, and the exams were almost exclusively on the reading content which we would go over in class. As long as you pay attention and read the class in fine.

An interesting and perspective-changing class. Dr. Barak can be intimidating and has a very frank and no-nonsense manner, but she does care about her students and the material she teaches.

I was in her FIG and it was OK. I wouldn't recommend it. The subject material was pretty interesting but the quizzes were ridiculously specific and some of the projects were just way too much work for a 2 credit class. I'd definitely recommend PPath 123 (the other FIG class) if you just wanted to take one.