In Q Guide evaluations, students gave Government 1310 a score of 2.54 out of a possible 5. The average score for social science courses was a 3.91.

A number of Q Guide reviews written by students spoke critically of the course’s organization and the difficulty of the exam questions.

One reviewer wrote, “There is also very little structured support outside the course for exams (such as availability of TF office hours over the weekend and a study session for the final exam).”

Another student wrote that he or she joined about 15 other students at a teaching fellow’s office hours on the morning of May 3, just hours before the final take-home exam’s 5 p.m. deadline.

“Almost all of [the students at office hours] had been awake the entire night, and none of us could figure out what an entire question (worth 20% of the grade) was asking,” the student wrote. “On top of this, one of the questions asked us about a term that had never been defined in any of our readings and had not been properly defined in class, so the TF had to give us a definition to use for the question.”

That same student also expressed frustration that Platt had canceled his office hours the morning before the exam was due. In a brief email to the class just after 10 a.m. on May 3, Platt apologized for having to cancel his office hours on short notice that day due to an appointment.

—Staff writer Rebecca D. Robbins can be reached at rrobbins@college.harvard.edu.