LAWS 7642
Election Law and Politics · 1 instructor on record · 1 section
Boston College's ratings are bunched at the top — the median instructor averages about 88 out of 100 on the raw scale, and 44% of them clear 90 — so a raw score cannot separate anybody. Every figure here is ranked against BC classes and that rank is re-expressed out of 100, which is what turns a raw 88 — the middle of the university — into a figure that says where somebody actually stands. On this scale 77 is the median, 84 the top quarter and 91 the top tenth. Workload is then an adjustment on top of that, worth nothing at all for an ordinary one. Lighter work than 75% of BC classes.
The class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it — who taught it is the board below.
How is this worked out?
That is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between: the board carries each instructor's own score for this class, and the score above is the class averaged across all of them.
Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question. It is not a measure of difficulty, grading or workload.
How is this worked out?
Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.
One of Boston College's five workload bands, not a number of hours. Higher means more work, not worse.
How is this worked out?
Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.
Elections have always been a focal point of American politics. This is natural; victory at the polls is the prize. However, recent years have seen a remarkable upswing in interest in what happens prior to any given election. Attention has focused on such matters as the drawing of district lines, the desire to have "honest" elections while keeping the franchise as open as possible, and the question of which offices should be elected. Many observers have concluded that the "Rules of the Game" determine the outcome long before any votes are cast.This course focuses on rules of the game questions such as the following:--Who should be able to vote? --Do measures such as Voter ID prevent electoral fraud or disenfranchise potentially eligible voters? --What rules govern gerrymandering, whether driven by partisanship or by racial considerations? --Should the election of judges--a feature of many state governments--be abolished, or is it possible to have elections without politics? The course is offered in Seminar form, for two credits, and satisfies the perspectives and upper level writing requirements. The grade is based primarily on a substantial paper. There will be frequent interactions between students and the instructor at all stages of the paper's production. The Casebook is Lowenstein, et al, Election Law (7th edition, 2022).There will be some handouts and frequent use of the Election Law Blog.Interested students should feel free to contact Professor Brown atbrowngd@bc.edu.
| Instructor | Curve | Easiness | Challenge |
|---|---|---|---|
| George BrownLaw Provisional | 7282 raw · 1 record | 84+2 to the score | 48th |
There is no ranking to read here: George Brown is the only instructor with evaluation records for LAWS 7642, so the number is a record, not a position. It rests on 1 record, which is thin — read it as provisional.
Also taught by George Brown
4 other classesOther LAWS classes
All of them| Class | Instructors | Course score |
|---|---|---|
| LAWS 2110Critical Perspectives: Law, Context, and Professional Identity | 3080 records | 66 |
| LAWS 8667Legal Practice Externship | 251 records | 91 |
| LAWS 2150Law Practice 1 | 1032 records | 84 |
| LAWS 2155Law Practice II | 1032 records | 83 |
| LAWS 8130Advanced Legal Research | 829 records | 92 |
| LAWS 2190Professional Responsibility | 926 records | 74 |
The line
All 13 items · means across 1 recordBars are ranks, not raw scores. Nothing here is graded good or bad.
What each item asks
- Explains Clearly
- The instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.
- Available
- The instructor was available for help outside of class.
- Motivating
- The instructor motivated me to do my best work.
- Sparks Interest
- The course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.
- Organized
- The course was well organized.
- Clear Goals
- The learning objectives for the course were clear.
- Useful Later
- What I learned is applicable beyond this course.
- Assignments
- Assignments and exams contributed to my learning.
- Fast Feedback
- I received feedback on my work in a timely manner.
- Useful Feedback
- The feedback I received on my work was meaningful.
- Workload
- How much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.
- Challenge
- The course was intellectually challenging.
- Attendance
- Attending class was necessary to do well in this course.
Why these numbers are curved
Both the number and the bar are the rank against every comparable record we hold, printed back out of 100. BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so on the raw scale every cell here would read in the high eighties and every bar would be nearly full — thirteen numbers that tell you nothing. Each cell prints its raw BC figure and its percentile underneath, so nothing is hidden by the transform. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.
Game log
1 section · newest first| Instructor | Term | Sec | Instr | Course | Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Brown | Fall 2025 | 01 | 82 | 74 | 40 |
How to read this board
Instructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.