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.