His lectures are very dull; the content is interesting. Outside of class he is helpful. Getting an A is a ton of work.

Trager is a great professor. I have NO idea why his ratings are so low, but they are definitely not indicative of his quality as a professor. Trager lectures clearly, he is informative, and he provokes thought in his lectures. I really enjoyed his class and it's not even that difficult. He provides you with the questions for the tests, so those who perform poorly in this class are too lazy to know the answers to the weekly questions. He's great. Take his class.

Class structure: 5 policy briefs (2-3 pages each) due sporadically over the quarter, a midterm, and a final.

Overall, I really liked this class. His lectures mirrored the reading for the week, so if you read the textbook (which is a great textbook, might I add. I can't believe I actually read it), you'll do just fine in the class. Yes, his lectures can be boring, but he always elicits discussion on certain issues and that's usually fun and shakes things up a bit. (The discussion we had on the existence of a nuclear taboo was a good one, in my opinion). Anyway, the midterm and final consist of an average of 7 short answers and one essay out of a few options he provides. Pretty straightforward and doable. He even provides a "practice" midterm and final, and I think a few questions might have even ended up on the exams. The policy briefs were really simple - they forced you to understand the material to apply it to international relations so you actually end up internalizing what you learn from class and applying it to real politics. All in all, you should do fine as long as you do the reading and focus on the subjects he lectures on in class. He doesn't try to trick you - he's an honest, straightforward professor whose exams will reward you if you do the work. Also, get Dov as your TA if you can - he was freaking amazing.

He is a very sweet guy! I liked him but my TA was a very harsh grader. the material itself is super difficult. a lot of reading and YOU NEED TO DO THE READINGS otherwise forget about getting a high grade. it was a difficult class but once you are done it feels nice since you have gained a lot of knowledge. My advice just try to get a NICE T.A.

Very unclear in his expectations and overall direction of the course. The course was war and diplomacy so you'd expect a course that dealt with such theories and used real world examples, but this guy reads off power point slides on IR theorist whose arguments are so inapplicable to real cases/history. I got so little out of this course and did 90% of the copious and dull text. I received a B+ in the course because it's just so tedious and uninspiring. Oh and this guy could not care less about what you get out of the course; there's no guidance, passion or concern in his teaching style.

I thought Trager was alright. I had him for Poli Sci 20 Spring 2010. He reads of his slides which makes lecture pretty boring. He is a nice guy overall. If you go to office hours he really tries to answer your questions and appreciates references to course readings. The class was a midterm, final and a paper. There was a big time crunch on the midterm when he said there wouldn't be. The final was ok, not nearly as bad as the midterm. The paper was cake, but the topic was not that interesting. He had you turn in a first and second draft of the paper each worth 10%. It was just like a guarantee you would get a higher grade on the second draft. This class was fine, not the most interesting but overall it was ok.

I wasn't a huge fan of his lecturing style. He would read from his slides, very slowly and thoroughly through the easier or less important points, and then speed through more complex ideas. Sometimes his lectures seemed like a mass of random points and facts but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they were disorganized overall. During the section on political economy, I think he assumed that we've all had some sort of background in economics, so that section was kind of confusing for me.

I ended up getting a B+ in the class, which I don't completely understand because I got a 95 on the midterm and I felt much more confident about the final. He cut the paper because our class size was so large, and I'm sure that my grade would have been higher if he had kept the paper.

Overall he's not the best professor you'll ever have, but he's not bad either.

I think that Trager at times can be dull, however I think that he does express passion and an interest in students learning the material. He is open to questions during lecture. He is very nice so go to his office hours if you have any questions. If you can stay awake, study the lecture notes, and really pay attention to the points he spends alot of time on then you can for sure pull out at least a B+. Be aware that grades are heavily influenced by the T.A.

It's not the WORST class in the world, but I don't recommend it. Trager is a nice guy, but he absolutely does not show ANY concern for the students. I can't count the number of times a student tried to ask him something after class and his response was ALWAYS "talk to the T.A." He does not encourage going to his office hours and instead directs you to the TA for almost everything. His lectures are basically him reading a powerpoint in a fairly low, dull tone, sure to put you to sleep. He has nothing to offer during lecture, except for his ability to read his own slides. The class consists of a midterm and a cumulative final. He provides a study guide for both and the exams pretty much consist of the exact same questions. You MUST read in order to pass this class because most of the questions on exams are from reading material, with questions from lecture thrown in as well. The reading is manageable but sometimes very dry. Section quizzes are fairly easy if you've done the reading. The final was the killer. The study guide was 30 questions (the same handed out for the midterm) and 30 new questions from the second half of the class. Both midterm and final consisted of 4-7 short answer questions, and then you have a choice from a few options for one essay. It took a LONG time to study because there was so much material. The content is not too hard, but exams cover a TON of material and are very time consuming to study for, and he is also VERY dull. I say take it if you have to, there are worse classes, but you're going to dislike the class, very boring.

I, too, don't understand why Trager's ratings are so low. He is quite possibly the most straightforward Poli Sci professor I've had at UCLA. His tests are not meant to trick or deceive you. If you've done the readings and attended class, you should be just fine.

I agree with the poster below me that Trager's engagement with students during lecture really is lost on some people. He always tries to involve the students in the lectures, and he really does value and appreciate that.

The readings were on the light side (no text!), just some articles. I actually really enjoyed reading the articles, because they were specific and interesting. In fact, I enjoyed Trager's classes so much that I took PS 20 and PS 129 with him one quarter after another.

Be warned about the week of the midterm, though, because the lecture after the midterm was actually part of the final exam, and I know that a lot of people couldn't answer that question since most students skip the lecture after the exam.

His voice and SUPER calm lecturing tone can also put you to sleep sometimes, as he is more carefully articulate than energetic, but generally I really enjoyed the class, and it even made me consider an IR concentration.