Avoid at all costs. Not only was the grading unfair (40% of grade is midterm and 50% is final exam), but the entire class got canceled and 40 students are under credit minimum 2 weeks into the quarter because she broke her ankle and is "unable" to teach the class via Zoom or asynchronously. She also SCREAMED at a student who refused to wear a mask.

Very boring lecturer. The readings are a lot more interesting than her tangents. Just do your readings and use them for midterm and final and you'll be good.

Content is genuinely interesting, but lectures can turn into tangents that leave you catching up on notes later on. Kaplan knows her stuff and has an incredible amount of knowledge, but its tough to get a direct and concise answer. She's not one for "dumbing down" a concept. CRAZY amount of reading, but the TA's are super helpful. Think b4 taking

Didnt think to check rate my professor first because I was really interested in the topic but her lectures are difficult to follow & when I have done the reading before class she rarely will go over them. During that lecture she will also add more. Loved the reading material but first professor at UCSB I cannot follow their thought process.

Kaplan is a great teacher, pay attention to her lecture slides because she draws a lot of the in class midterm questions from them. Throughout the quarter we had to read 5 + books and lots of online reading. Do not expect to skip lecture and pass, although her slides are posted online, she gives a lot of necessary information in class.

Kaplan is obviously brilliant and completely obsessed with Estonia, so if you're interested in Eastern Europe you will love her. However, I found her lectures to be a bit repetitive and the reading was intensive. Not the most engaging class, and many students never showed up (unless it was test day). Only take if you're really interested in topic.

You would think in a 3-hour lecture in a senior seminar titled "Central Asian Politics" that you would at least pick up a few tidbits of interesting information about Central Asia. False. Kaplan just likes to hear herself say big airy words and theoretical jargon that has little to no practical usage for a student trying to learn about the world.

Kaplan is insanely self-interested and really loves to hear herself talk. When reviewing the midterm, it was painful to watch her give the floor for our TA to speak and then interject endlessly with her own opinions and thoughts. The class is good and the content is interesting, but the professor's noxious personality is a little hard to bear.

Worst professor at UCSB by far. Anyone saying to take this course is crazy. As a non-req there are many other better courses to take instead. She assigns an insane amount of reading. I'm talking 8-10 books per week, every week. Plus a list of about 11 other books to read as well. Several midterms and final. She's also obsessed with Estonia.

Yes, the course is difficult and there is a LARGE amount of reading. But as I learned in other courses, you don't have to read every page in order to do well. Attending lectures is extremely helpful in regards to doing well, and know the theories well. The teacher is really kind and approachable, and smart as hell. Not an unmanageable class.

Kaplan is unorganized and her lectures are hard to follow. She frequently goes on useless tangents regarding her travels to eastern Europe. Although attendance is optional she began getting spiteful about low turnout toward the end of the quarter. The TA contributed no help at all and graded particularly hard.

Her lecturing is interesting and she seems to be a fair sort of professor. But, at least this term, she had a very-very picky TA who made the grading unnecessarily hard.