If I had a choice of going to Molloy's class 4 times a week for a whole semester and stabbing myself in the throat 4 times a week for a semester instead of going.. I would choose the 2nd one, hands down, no question.



He is old. So fucking old. The only reason he knows so much about everything is because he has honestly been alive since 1900. He knows his shit, but he is a TERRIBLE communicator. His mic goes out a few times every class and that seems to be the only point when you ever see a reaction from the class. Actually, one of my favorite things to do in this class is look around and count the number of people sleeping. He is having a good day if it is under 10.



The tests are very very hard. He gives a study guide that is 5-8 pages of straight question.question.question.question.. so by the time you actually fill out each page it turns into 5. I actually spent the time memorizing and learning all of it as well and all I got was a 2.5. I have no idea what the trick is, or how people do well.. but I have heard it happens? And, no, I am not a slacker, I am willing to do work.. but John Molloy makes me willing to end my own life.



PS. You have to buy 3 books for the class all poorly written by him. Oh, and you can't sell them back after because he revises his books every semester. He may be an old fucker, but he does know how to get every dollar out of us. If anyone is ever lucky enough to be in his class when he has his fatal heart attack, I want to shake your hand.

John Molloy's Power, Authority, and Exchange class was the first class I ever attended as a MSU student. After a few days I thought that he fit the stereotype of a professor: boring, didn't care one bit about his students, and talked because he liked to hear himself speak. That was just the begining...I started to read the first book he assigned, well he has written in the book about our gov. JANET Granholm, I had to call everyone I knew to make sure I haven't been misinformed, yes her name is JENNIFER not JANET. Well JANET'S name appears several times throughout the book. His books also cannot be sold back at the end of the semester because he changes one stupid thing about them each semester.

He never lectures about what's actually on his exams, and the icing on the cake? I had mono and I couldn't go to a few lectures, I talked to him about it because my grades really suffered. His comment? "There's no mistake, YOU FAILED!" Welp that sums up John Molloy...If you do get him as a professor, listen to the first words he lectures to you: "WELCOME TO HELL." because they are soo TRUE!

Ok I'll say a couple of things about this guy

You see the score i gave him? That's right a 0. Professor John motherfucking Molloy needs to retire because he looks like a 90 year old man.

Here are some things you should consider before joining his class (Still dont do it it's a suicide)

1. He stands up there talks about how he was alive during World War 2 and basically talks nonsense on and on.

2. Class lectures are completly and utterly useless. I went to every single one of his fucking lectures, read all the book assignments, finshed the study guide 3 times!!!!, and still got a fucking B- on my first test

3. He hates his students, never tries to engage with them in any manner whatsoever. The only engagement he does is flirting with his little TA, the sickening perverted old fart



In conclusion

If you desire to kill yourself: This is the class for you! Trust me this class will ruin your life both academically and mentally

If you are smart: AVOID JOHN MOFOy at ALL COSTS!!!!



Beseech me, and everyone on this site.



If you see JOHN MOLLOY, i repeat, JOHN MOLLOY on your schedule and it's the only remaining iss or any other class whatsoever, GET THE FUCK OUT OF IT AND WAIT UNTIL THE SEMESTER AFTER TO TAKE THAT CLASS!

horrible professor. you dont need to go to class because you will fall asleep or contemplate suicide so you might as well sleep in the comfort of a bed. all he does is tell stories about he was some great writer and editor and shit for newspapers that no one cares about or even heard of. he also tries to prove this through his books that he wrote. there are 3 for the class. all of which could be cut in half because they are filled with complete fluff and bullshit as most newspaper writers tend to do. He makes the class sound decent in the beginning. its complete lies. DROP THIS ASAP. do anything in your power to drop it. all he does is tell unrelevant stories in class that are not even interesting and then posts a study guide on angel that is at least 5 pages of questions. Literally 12 pt. font question after question no spaces indents or anything. He seperates some chapters with the proper headings but other than that there is no organization or chronological order. Then the exams are a fun guessing game which I would have rather taken my money paid for the class and bought scratch off lotto tickets. I am 3.0 the class and with a strong final can 3.5 the class so im not just bitching because i have a bad grade. im telling the truth. If you do take the time to do the study guides, they end up being at least 10 pages and the final study guide is about 30 pages. once you finish that just memorize them word for word. i cannot believe MSU lets this old man continue to present himself in front of a class as a teacher. he is an old man that knows some trivial history knowledge and that is it. if you are still reading this, do yourself a favor and drop this class now. no matter what. DROP IT.

Pros: You might learn a thing or two about politics, you'll think class you take after this is a God send.

Cons: Extremely pricey books that are a necessary purchase but are only used briefly, arrogant, hard to understand and hear, enormous work load for an ISS class if you want to succeed, very small point value from exams, huge impossible study guides.

If given the choice to take this class or ANY OTHER CLASS IN THE WORLD, take the later. First off, this is an ISS class, with that said, there is no reason students should be required to spend $200+ on books. There are three REQUIRED books, of course he wrote them, and with that he designed the class so that you will NOT succeed if you don't read the books. He also tweaks them slightly each year, yay new edition.. not. You would think you'd be able to buy a previous edition used, but you can't. The book stores know that he makes a new edition every year so they won't buy back the current edition when you're through with it. If you do come across any of the books used, BUY THEM, they're the exact same with the change of maybe a date or two which won't matter because he'll tell you the correct info in class. With that said, I attended all but two classes, but attendance is in no way mandatory. You can get all of the information necessary to ace an exam from his books, but the books are impossible to read and remember so I found it best to attend and take diligent notes in order to stay awake. I'd say there's around 50 students, of 200+, that regularly attend class. His study guides will prove beneficial to you, but you will still need other information. Either attend class and complete the study guide or skip class thoroughly read and complete the study guide. Each of his exams are ONLY 50pts except the final that is 100, but his study guides are ridiculous. Although they will help you, they will also waste vast amounts of your time. For Exam 3, he made a 9 page study guide, like all of the others it wasn't organized or even numbered. It's basically 9 pages single spaced of statements that you have to reword to answer. Also don't assume that because it's only a 50pt exam and he gave you a 600 question study guide (no joke), that knowing the basic concepts will be enough. There were about 20 questions on the study guide about the Taft-Hartley act so I assumed that as long as I knew what it was I'd be okay, after all there are only 50pts. Wrong, he asked the democratic vote that was cast to pass it. He's also close to 90, deaf, hard to understand and EXTREMELY ARROGANT. Sit in the front if you decide to attend, because often his mic doesn't work but he can't notice. If you ask him a question 95% of the time he'll tell you, "it's in the book" and nothing more. You use one $70 book for the 3rd exam, which is 2 weeks after the 2nd exam, and a completely new $60 book for the exam. Make sure you take note of the current events he mentions, and if you don't attend, have a general consensus of what's happening in the world and US government. His lectures are the most boring/impossible things. He rambles of course constantly, has never heard of a PowerPoint I'm assuming because everyday he puts up an overhead sheet with some "key points" which are really just the chapter and section names of his books, you're also lucky if this sheet is typed and if he remembers to focus the overhead. The only reason I survived/enjoyed this class in the smallest way was that I had Chem 141 at the same time, awful, which made me enjoy having a class that I could actually study for and succeed in. MORAL: DON'T TAKE IT. IF YOU HAVE TO, STUDY AND COMPLETE STUDY GUIDES. TRY NOT TO KILL YOURSELF. It's also possible to work together on exams if you're sneaky because he can't hear or see worth a lick, so make friends in the class to share the workload of the study guides, sit by each other exam day, get the same exam when he passes them down the row (they go A,B,A,B) so just take the one underneath, best wishes.

Pros: None

Cons: Unrelated exam material

Monotone lectures that are almost all based strictly on his bias opinions

Extremely large amount of reading necessary to do well

Professor John Molloy is honestly the worst professor or teacher I have ever had. The class "Power, Authority, and Exchange" will teach you nothing about power, authority, or exchange, thanks to Molloy's horrible 50 minute, four day a week class, which is only taught in the AM. If you do not sit in the first 3 rows, then you will not be able to read the class outline (which is displayed through a 1930's overhead projector) nor hear him speak. Most of the exam questions are based strictly off his lectures, and you won't find very much information in any of his three textbooks (all self written).

Exams are the only grade in the class, and they are extremely difficult. For example, Molloy might say in class, "Make sure you know the outcome of the court case Roe v. Wade," but the question on the exam will be,



"The Supreme Court ruled the case Roe v. Wade...

a. 4-5

b. 5-4

c. 9-0

d. 7-2"



This type of question is irrelevant to what an ISS course is actually supposed to teach you, and it is impossible to know the outcome, results, and voting pattern of EVERY SINGLE COURT CASE EVER.



Do not take this class, especially if you have no interest in social sciences.

ISS with John Molloy was honestly the hardest class I have taken at MSU so far. Not because the actual content of the class was particularly challenging, but because he is a poor professor.



My biggest problem with Molloy was mostly his teaching and testing style. If you keep up with the reading (which I assure you, is nearly impossible, as he assigns huge amounts to complete a week from the 3 most expensive, boring and poorly written texts you will ever read) there is no point in going as he covers nearly word-for-word what is written in each chapter of the book. On top of all of that, your grade is comprised of THREE exams total. No homework, no chance for extra credit. Initially I was happy, thinking that would mean less work. I was wrong. Each test comes with a 15 page study guide of the "most important" content of each chapter. However, these study guides do not prepare you for the exams. At all. Instead of testing you on the important concepts, Molloy picks out the most minute and obscure facts from his books (reading is not enough, you literally have to memorize each book) to test your "understanding of the class". Overall, all I can say to you is RUN. This class is not worth it. Take another ISS and save your GPA.

This class sounded interesting.. War and Revolution, how can it not be interesting when you are viewing it from a social science perspective. But no, this old fool talked about America and WWII the whole time. Like America is the only nation in the world. How can you ignore 3/4 of the world and still be a professor here? this was not supposed to be an American foreign policy class, nor a history class on WWII. If that was the class that I had signed up for he would be average at best. He rambles on all hour with no point and no structure. He puts up outlines but doesn't seem to relate back to them ever. It is time for him to retire because I can't see anybody broadening their knowledge or their world view by listening to this man. He is obviously conservatively biased which would be fine if he didn't talk about politics all class. He even said that all the TV pundits who have disagreed with Bush are idiots who don't know what they are talking about. I came to this class to learn about THE WORLD and all I am hearing him talk about is America and WWII. this class and this professor are bullshit.

WORST EFFEN TEACHER EVER!!!!!!! if you end up with this class drop it and try to get a better teacher right away..no matter how hard you try and how long you stay up reading this book you will not pass. and he says his books are not boring smh I played the nodding game when i read his book cuz it was so boring and all the tests are multiple choice. he is ancient and like 300 years old he talks low and bitter and tries to be funny when he clearly is not. if you go and ask him about something you dnt understand he tells you to read the book. HE IS A TOTAL "A" HOLE.and is study guides are like 100 questions you have to answer.his lectures are him quoting the book, by the way that he wrote, word for word. there was no point in going to his class he said nothing useful .he really is a bad professor smh.with his old no breath thriller jacket wearing hotel bellboy suit wearing "A" and he always licking his lips like hes LL cool J or sum one attractive. this man needs to retire already.

ISS 225 with John Molloy was incredibly challenging. The amount of reading he assigns each week makes you go crazy. He has 3 exams that are 50 questions each, which he pulls questions from straight off of the 150-300 question study guide he gives you on ANGEL. However, he grades in relation to the highest grade in the class, so you have a little, but not much slack. If you are looking for an easy 4.0, do NOT take this class. I spent a good chunk of my first semester studying for this class and I'll admit I learned alot, but it was not worth the time. Molloy is full of a lot of information, but he often digressing and changes topic and loses track in lecture. It's true that you don't need to go lecture, as he preaches straight of his book. The trick to do well in this class is devoting 2-3 hours a day to this class to read his books and fill out his study guide. All you need to do is the study guide, DO NOT TAKE NOTES ON THE CHAPTERS, THAT WILL JUST WASTE YOUR TIME.

Upon reviewing all the comments about him, I as a freshman just starting a new academic life regret having chosen this class. Also, Given my few days with him, I found the comments here getting matched to what I have felt about him and the nature of this class.



Especially, perheps because English is not my primary language, I barely understand what he says that rather sound like a mumbling. Also, for the whole class period he speaks about history people in the U.S (what happened back in 1960's civil rights initiative, there's this foks and that foks in Amerian politics back in 1950's bla bla), all of which may not be familier background contexts for foreign students.



Although I agree that the nature of this class is to learn about American politics, this is something that goes off the textbook knowledge.

To conclude, I don't recommend this class to non-U.S students.

I should have known this website earlier, ALLMSU before I enroll for this class.

I was in the honors section of 225 with Molloy and it was one of the worst classes I have taken yet. He is incredibly boring in class and very oblivious. We had him believing that a cell phone ring was an alarm on the projector above the class. His tests are extremely hard. They are essay and since he wrote all of the material, you can't bullshit anything. He often goes on tangent after tangent so that you never get to learn anything. The slides he puts on the overhead also don't help very well. They are basic general topics that he discusses in more depth, but doesn't tell you what to write down. He also expects you to know EVERYTHING when it comes time for the exams, which are two essays in a 50-minute class period. His study guides don't help at all either. They are about 5 pages long each, and ask about 500 questions. If you can avoid taking this class do it at all costs. It will really hurt your GPA.

If you are planning on taking this class, you might as well kill yourself first. I took it during the Summer semester, 2 hours per day 4 days a week. His mic never worked and you couldn't hear him even if you sat in the front row. He licked his lips to the point of my own annoyance. He never followed the outline that he put on the overhead. When you could actually hear him, you wish that you couldn't. Woodrow Wilson is his BFF, that is the only person he ever mentions. There is allegedly a curve in this class. When I asked him about it, he didn't seem to have his story straight. "There might be a curve or there might not be..if the highest score is a 70 then there won't be." This class was absolutely terrible, I got a 1.0 which was by far the worst grade I have ever gotten at MSU. The study was, just as everyone else said, impossible to do or study from. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!!!!!

Professor Molloy is a unique professor. He knows his history which is refreshing to a degree. He's not very entertaining, especially when you have this as an early morning class. He'll put an outline on the overhead and start rambling for the first 15 minutes about stuff that doesn't pertain to his outline. He'll get back on track, eventually. As long as you go to class, take notes on information he says that relates to the outline, and go to an office hour every now and then, you'll be fine. But to 4.0, you have to do the study guides!!! Which means sifting through the reading material, though some of it can be interesting, and asking him questions on the study guide you couldn't find. Overall, he's not a bad professor, just a demanding one. Stay on top of the reading and lectures, and do every study guide with a visit to his office hours, and a 4.0 is feasible!

The one good thing about Molloy is the when he teaches politics, he doesn't lean toward either side. You get a nice, unbiased lesson on them. Other than that, this class was not worth it. He was an extremely boring person, and his lectures were terrible to sit through. If you read his books, you'd notice the lectures were the exact same thing as the books. But, you'd also notice that both contained about 75% random tangents on his days of teaching elsewhere, or when he worked on a paper in Cincinatti, or something like that. There was hardly any info worth knowing. And, on his tests, the info you had to know was mostly random details plucked out from whatever little info you could find in the books. Who honestly remembers the minimum wage in x year, given four similar numbers? My advice: Find another professor if you want to take this class.

Molloy writes his own books for this course, which is not good because it is obvious that nobody checks his grammar, organization or information. A lot of the information in his books are not relevant to the subject. He often repeats information, two or three times, sometimes within the same chapter.

His class is boring as well. Every day me and my buddy sit in class and count the number of people sleeping. So far our record is 15. His voice is low, monotonic and could make an insomniac fall asleep.

He makes review sets for each exam that will help you a lot on the test. However, a lot of the material on the review he will never have mentioned in class and a lot of it you have to look up online because it isnt even in his books.

However, if you attend class, stay awake, read the book, and do the rewiew for the test, you will do fine.

If your Pre-Med/LBS Don't Take this class....



The Subject is DRY, the required reading which he all wrote himself is horribly boring, and the lecture is the most monotonic torture you will ever experience! my whole freshman year has been dedicated to reciprocating the mistake of taking this class (as well as cracking jokes about this slimy fossil of a teacher..) If you have a REAL interest in the inner workings of US GOvT, a love for every single President's Birthplace, Bullshit facts etc, and a love for at least 100 SOCUS cases that are impossible to memorize, plz take this class and STILL you will not do well unless you slave away..... I did decent in the class, but it was painful!



Also, i could write a whole book the size of POWER, AUTHORITY, AND EXCHANGE on the Man, The Myth, THE LEGEND that is JOHN MOLLOY.

This teacher is a complete moron and thinks it's funny to use his own books for the class and gives you material thats not even in the books. Although the class isn't hard, this teacher is a complete tool and should never have received his teaching certificate because he sucks at it. He's also kind of creepy because he's always rubbing his stomach and licking the corners of his mouth while looking at the girls in the first few rows...If i had the choice to not take this class, which unfortunately i dont since i already took it, I would definetly say to keep the class just with a different professor not named John Molloy...One plus was that he talked about sports alot so it wasn't bad. He only uses angel to post study guides which can be helpful but at the same time are not helpful at all.

John Molloy is an 80 something year old fossil who needs to retire. It is completely pointless to go to his lectures because you will not learn anything.

He writes his own books because he used to be a journalist and work for a newspaper so he absolutley loves to hear hiself talk. In fact, he does not teach, he talks at you for an hour a day while slicking his terrible comb-over back(if you call a few foot-long hairs a comb over) and sticking his tung out of his mouth, while looking up at the clock every other minute. Seriously DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS, it will be one of the biggest wastes of your money ever. Unless you want to become a laywer and memorize 100 court cases so that you dont fail his BS exams, by all means, take this class. However, be warned...

This guy is a joke. I don't even know why MSU would keep him. Maybe it's because he donates all of his profits to MSU? If your in his class don't take it! It's the best advise I can give any incoming freshmen. Don't listen to the pricks that gave him a 3.0 or 4.0s. They don't know what they are talking about.



The people who got 4.0s in his class were A) either smart as fuck or B) people without lives and stayed locked up in their dorms all day. I made a mistake by going to a lot of parties my freshmen year; so I can't completely blame Malloy. But I will tell you this, he speaks a language only old people understand, and his tests are always biased. There are only 3 tests out of the year, so if you screw up 1 you can kiss your 4.0 good bye.