Reviews of professor Larry Gerston

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 2.0/5
Only two papers for the class and two in class essays for the midterm and final, otherwise no homework besides keeping up on assigned readings.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 2.0/5
Professor Gerston is funny and knowledgeable about California politics. He only gives 2 assignments plus the midterm/final throughout the quarter and reading is very light. He does not use Powerpoints or post any lectures, which largely come from his memory, so you should definitely go to lecture! Overall, The class is an easy A. Also, come on time

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
His whole class is graded on 3 in class essays. I thought it wouldn't be so bad but he doesn't give a rubric and his grading is super ambiguous. When comparing grades there was no consistency. He just rambles about nothing and says some mildly offensive things but overall nice guy. The grading is scary though and it feels out of control

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Gerston is a real nice guy. He's been a political analyst on NBC for like, 30 years or something. Very knowledgable. Its a good idea to speak up in class, he enjoys when students ask questions.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Prof Gerston's course reeks of laziness. Lectures are given with no visuals or supplemental materials. He doesn't say what will be important for the exams. He doesn't use Canvas and only communicates through email. He doesn't seem to have changed his teaching from the 90s. He grades you on 3 exams and doesn't give a rubric.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Lecture is unbearable, remote or not. He lectures with NO materials- no powerpoint/outline, just an hour and a half of loose word association with many tangents- it's unclear what to write down, and his three exams- 33% of grade each are based on lecture content and one textbook each, come with no prep materials and books are never covered in lect.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Please if you value your sanity, do NOT take this class. I dislike the fact that he cant even make lecture slides for class. I dont know what Im suppose to write down. Exams? Dont even get me started. No rubric for what he wants so what does he want???!! Always talks about getting our moneys worth? Well I want my money back.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 2.0/5
I enrolled in Gerston's class "Law and Social Issues" excited about the material, but was disappointed by the lack of intersectionality in his conversations. Also, as I discovered when studying for the midterm, many of the dates he had given us during lecture were incorrect. He's a nice guy, and the class is an easy A if that's your thing.