Reviews of professor Mara Marin

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
She is such a sweet lady. If you go to her for help, she will help you. She clearly loves PoliSci and knows a lot about it. Please participate in lecture discussions. I did not at first, but near the end of the semester I did and it paid off. I hope I can be her student again!

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Shuts student's opinions down. Very generous with extensions. Doesn't finish most of her sentences when lecturing so can be hard to follow. Doesn't answer questions well. Must agree with her interpretations of theoretical texts to do well. Purposefully gives lower marks on first assignments regardless of quality + better marks on last assignments

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Dr. Marin is the best prof I've ever had. She is so caring, gives great feedback, and will tell you exactly how to succeed if you go to her office hours. The most important part is making sure you keep up with and understand the readings. The lectures will definitely help with that, but if you're a good reader, you'll be fine.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Dr. Marin is an extremely underrated professor at UVic. Lectures and tutorials were extremely helpful in helping develop a better understanding of the material and I definitely recommend attending all. She is a very sweet and funny woman and gives lots of feedback and guidance on papers and quizzes.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
good prof but often times resorts to her own opinion. If you do work that doesn't first start with the assumption her interpretations are correct then say goodbye to some marks. she does care about students. ask in class though.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Dr. Marin is an excellent professor. She provides extensive and helpful feedback on papers and is accessible outside of class. Visiting her in office hours is extremely helpful for completing the papers. Her lectures are clear and helpful. She emphasizes class discussion, which is interesting and respectful.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
You will not pass this class unless you go to her office hours. Way too many useless readings, lectures were ridiculously dull, topics were hard to understand, and the tutorials (which count towards participation marks) were utterly useless. This was more of a philosophy class rather than Pol Sci. Do not take unless you need to!

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Mara is great at lecturing about theory but this class was poorly executed and had very little takeaway for students. Assignments don't allow you to engage with material substantively and expectations of your performance the assignments themselves are unclear. Readings are outdated and subjects covered are not done justice.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Dr. Marin is my favorite professor at uvic. Poli 202 is a class that you get out what you put in and is difficult. However, Dr. Marin gives you literally every opportunity to succeed. The participation grade is worth 25%, she will sit and talk to you literally whenever and is also just a hilarious human. Can't say enough good things about her.