I enjoyed the professor and the course content a lot. That being said, the course's grading bracket is the harshest I have ever seen. The cutoff for an A is a 95, and if you mess up one too many questions on the weekly reading quizzes, you will probably get an AB for the course. Take advantage of extra credit, as it helped me earn back an A.

Herrera's class is very instructive and the readings, while many, are also very manageable. While there are three exams and a course-long paper, the exams are all fairly easy if you have done the course work. Nothing is designed to trick you. Lectures are engaging and there is substantial opportunity to ask questions during or after lectures

Professor Herrera was definitely a really nice person and was clearly passionate about the subject. I will say that having three exams *and* a term paper felt like a little bit too much at times, but the class is manageable if you stay on top of the reading quizzes

Dr Herrera is one of the most engaging professors I have ever had. The lectures are super interesting, and she leaves so much room for discussion. There are tough quizzes and tests, but she doesn't try to trick you or anything, and gives you good guidance on what to study. I definitely will retake her classes, I highly recommend.

This class is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the content and discussions are super interesting, and you will learn a lot. On the flip side, the course is tough. The big research paper was difficult and could have used better instruction. In other words, the expectations were communicated after the assignments instead of before.

Learned a lot but overall don't recommend. Inconsistent in feedback and tough on grading. Heavy on readings for a 3 credit class. She uses a grader and they have different preferences on how you go about papers, so expect to get points docked on things she recommends to do.

The class was tough b/c it's honors. Expect rigorous readings and high-level discussions. She'll go out of her way to help you as much as she can. She's always encouraging students to not give up when faced with difficulties. I'm glad my intro to POLISCI honors was with her. Decent prof but a tough class, don't take if you have a full class load.

Nice professor. Likes to chat. Impossible grader, though. She wants things done in a particular way, and even after asking her questions and for help, she will dock many points if you do even the slightest thing wrong.

I found the discussions and assignments that Dr. Herrera facilitated to be quite interesting even as a non polisci major. The class is challenging as there is a lot of reading, and she has high expectations. However, it all does feel manageable as Dr. Herrera is quite easy to reach outside of class and is very helpful.

Prof. Herrera is great! She facilitated discussion thoughtfully in class and structured the course in an effective way. There are weekly quizzes and you need to do the readings to do well on them. You work on the final paper throughout the semester with graded assignments, so there are many opportunities to seek help. Highly recommend.

Participation is a good chunk of your grade, which can be troublesome if you aren't a big political science person, since discussions can often veer off-topic. There is also quite a bit of reading, which you are quizzed on weekly. Other components of your grade are 4 group presentations and a 10 page paper.

Waste of my time. If you need a comparative politics credit and you want a class that you can sleep through and still achieve an A or B I highly recommend this course.

Herrera restructured the class to revolve around student discussion. Class was generally engaging and interesting. No major tests, just participation grades, group projects, and one research paper. Recommended to all poli sci students who need a comparative credit.

My class was the guinea pig class- no tests, one research paper and a VERY interactive lecture (current event presentation & debate, also group papers). Attendance was 'mandatory' for a participation grade. My TA, Vera, was not helpful at all. 2500 word research paper wasn't bad because 4 of the parts were due in section beforehand.

I also took her honors course and I'm very surprised at how badly her intro course rates. Discussions were often over my head, but I learned a lot and managed to earn an A.

Looks like i had a very different experience than most. I took the Comparative Politics Honors section (186). Class was extremely interesting, workload was fair, and Professor Herrera sparked a ton of thoughtful discussion. Really enjoyed the class and learned a lot. I'm shocked by how negatively her regular section (106) was reviewed.

This class is horrendous. As a I took this class to explore PS as an interest. As a hard-science major, there is literally no reason that an intro political science class should be this hard. The professor is barely knowledgable (all powerpoint). The TAs are AWFUL. Incomprehensible review sessions. Study guides are barely applicable. Very poor.

the tests are ridiculous- as a student who kept up with the work for an entire semester, the exams were written horribly. The prof is a horrible lecturer and was just bad. She was more concerned with her 10 foot pole than making her lectures clear. The final exam was the biggest joke of my life. As a PS major, DONT TAKE THIS CLASS

While I think the prof. was not good at all, the class really was not that difficult if you know how to read and look up terms not covered in class. The tests had a few questions that were very unclear and/or the answers were very valid. Attending class is pretty optional if you take good notes. Discussions are required but they are not necessary

Average professor as far as teaching goes, but her exams are very poorly written and questions are hard to understand. Much too difficult for an intro level class.

I did not enjoy her as a teacher. Her lectures were dry and hard to follow. Her exams were extremely hard compared to the lectures we were given. I went everyday and had a hard time filling in the study guide. She teaches this class more like an upper level compared to an intro. Nice thing is that she drops your lowest midterm.

She's not a bad professor, definitely average for an intro level. Her exams are kind of confusing though, much harder than they should be.

She was terrible. She presents her material well, but test questions are often subjective or not very clear. Her attitude is aloof and she makes a point of including her own political opinions in the lecture. On the bright side, I went to maybe 30% of lectures and I still got an AB.

I didn't really like the class but i'm not sure if it was the Prof or the fact that it was an intro class.

Honestly, lectures makes me fall asleep. The tests questions are ambiguous and I still haven't learned anything of importance.

The worst Prof. I have ever had. Sorry to be so blunt, but it's the truth. No one would have gone to class except for random quizzes...

boring as all hell, is not interested in being a teacher, laughs at people when they answer questions, tests are hard-esp. this all essay test that almost noone (even TA's) were not able to finish covering 3 countries' poli. economy, history, and gov. (basically everything about the country). interesting topics, learned a lot=she ruined it for me.

Hererra was an awful professor. She came from Harvard, and seemed to expect us to be on par with her grad students. Lectures added nothing to your knowledge, yet random attendance quizzes made you go and suffer. My suggestion is get to know your TA, read the book, and fall asleep/bring other work to lecture, because Hererra made 106 a real bore.

Herrera knows her stuff, but shes really not a good lecturer at all and often goes off on tangents. Probably could be a good class with a different professor.

She's not as bad as the others say, in my opinion, but she is boring. I think her lectures and slide, though not that interesting, could have been worse. She does give the feeling that she thinks her class is the most important class you could possibly take, though. She's not that bad, but she's not really that great.

This class was really boring and the professor lacks enthusiasm for the subject that she teaches. The tests aren't horrible, if the subject doesn't interest you, stay away!!

Before I took this class, I was really excited for it. This Professor killed that the first week. She takes attendance quizzes randomly and is the most boring professor I have ever encountered. I didn't know I could dislike Poli Sci so much, as I loved it before this class.

I very much recommend you take a different professor. She is a very drab and monotonous professor in lecture, nothing she said was interesting. She raid almost verbatim off of slides. Skip lecture, get the notes online, you won't miss anything, just do the reading.

OMG. What a disappointment, went into this class with such high expectations and within a week...crushed. her lectures are straight out of the book and has no personality when teaching, similar to a tape recording of the book. her exams are ridiculous, even the TAs agree. the material is not made interesting at all...regrets all around.

She makes these power lectures painful. She will make a 25 slide powerpoint and get through 11 in 75 minutes. She will ramble on and on and on. You are expected to read from 3 textbooks and she will draw questions from all three of them. It is so incredibly boring.

She sucks. Her lectures are boring and she is not approachable or willing to help you out, even when you have a serious and legitimate conflict.

she rambles on and on and on and on and on, which makes you lose interest within 30 seconds. Only teacher who could talk for 10 minutes without taking a breath, and still get nothing of importance out