POL SCI 40
Introduction to American Politics
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Basic institutions and processes of democratic politics. Treatment of themes such as constitutionalism, representation, participation, and leadership coupled with particular emphasis on the American case. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2021 - I took Poli Sci 40 online with Bradley during CSI. He is very knowledgeable about the topic and is good at answering questions. He reuses lectures from the original professor of the class, and he publishes prewritten lecture notes which are literally everything he says out loud, so if you study those, you'll be fine. The exams are two parts each: a multiple choice and an outline of an essay. He is a fair grader. If you read the textbook, pay attention, and look at the lecture notes, you'll be fine. Bradley is very nice and willing to help everyone!
Summer 2021 - I took Poli Sci 40 online with Bradley during CSI. He is very knowledgeable about the topic and is good at answering questions. He reuses lectures from the original professor of the class, and he publishes prewritten lecture notes which are literally everything he says out loud, so if you study those, you'll be fine. The exams are two parts each: a multiple choice and an outline of an essay. He is a fair grader. If you read the textbook, pay attention, and look at the lecture notes, you'll be fine. Bradley is very nice and willing to help everyone!
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Dr. Patterson is my favorite Political Science professor at UCLA by far. He really knows how to engage his classes with his informative and entertaining lectures. Often times I find myself spacing out during long lectures, but Dr. Patterson knows how to make his presentations very relevant and even squeezes in interactive Kahoot quizzes for easy participation points. Dr. Patterson is very approachable and easy to talk to, and I am lucky to have been able to take his class two quarters in a row, and I am excited to continue to do so next quarter. He is also open to doing research together if you are looking to go down that path. He is an amazing professor who deserves only the best perks at UCLA.
Winter 2019 - Dr. Patterson is my favorite Political Science professor at UCLA by far. He really knows how to engage his classes with his informative and entertaining lectures. Often times I find myself spacing out during long lectures, but Dr. Patterson knows how to make his presentations very relevant and even squeezes in interactive Kahoot quizzes for easy participation points. Dr. Patterson is very approachable and easy to talk to, and I am lucky to have been able to take his class two quarters in a row, and I am excited to continue to do so next quarter. He is also open to doing research together if you are looking to go down that path. He is an amazing professor who deserves only the best perks at UCLA.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - I took this during spring COVID quarter (online), so just keep that in mind. Peris seems like a really nice guy, and was super accomodating through all the craziness going on in the world. He lessened our workload, and the midterm was really fair considering all the content we went over. He made the final optional and eased the grading scale a bunch, too. His lectures were engaging and funny at times, and he even connected his lectures to some current events, which was interesting. I really enjoyed his approach to the class. PS he did get in trouble for saying the n-word while reading MLK's Birmingham letter during the George Floyd protests. He obviously shouldn't have done it, and it was hurtful people (esp BIPOC) even though he emphasized that he was saying it for historical context, and not to be malicious. His apology seemed genuine, and if it wasn't for that, I think he would really represent UCLA well as a full time prof.
Spring 2020 - I took this during spring COVID quarter (online), so just keep that in mind. Peris seems like a really nice guy, and was super accomodating through all the craziness going on in the world. He lessened our workload, and the midterm was really fair considering all the content we went over. He made the final optional and eased the grading scale a bunch, too. His lectures were engaging and funny at times, and he even connected his lectures to some current events, which was interesting. I really enjoyed his approach to the class. PS he did get in trouble for saying the n-word while reading MLK's Birmingham letter during the George Floyd protests. He obviously shouldn't have done it, and it was hurtful people (esp BIPOC) even though he emphasized that he was saying it for historical context, and not to be malicious. His apology seemed genuine, and if it wasn't for that, I think he would really represent UCLA well as a full time prof.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - I never took AP Gov so in the beginning of the quarter I was honest to god lost and had no idea what was going on compared to everyone else. That said I still ended up with an A+! I never really went to lecture after the midterm - Schwartz is a nice guy but I found his slides kind of boring and he posts verbatim lecture notes online, so I stopped showing up and instead took notes on those. For the midterm, the test bank has like 40 past exams to choose from, so I printed two from different years and aced the midterm with no problems whatsoever. The test bank from the final only had 2 past exams from like 2012 and they had 20 less questions on them than our final, so I made a quizlet of info from the hunks instead, spent like three days reviewing those, and did pretty well on it considering the final grade I got :) It is a lot of memorization, but it's not too bad coming from someone who never learned anything about gov before this. Also beware that this prof does not believe in multiple choice so everything is short answer. DON'T BUY THE LOWI BOOK. It's useless and I stopped reading it after Week 1 because it just kinda goes over the same stuff his lecture notes do. The Kollman textbook is pretty helpful for the midterm in-class essay, but after the midterm I literally never opened it again. The readings after that weren't on the final and are just meant to help you with your final essay. The final essay is based on your TA, so I went to office hours to go over my stuff and make sure I was on the right track. My TA didn't require us to reference any books or specific readings so the Kollman book was really useless after Week 5. Overall, this class is really straightforward and easy if you put in some work before the exams. Really good intro course, I'd recommend it as a GE for sure.
Fall 2019 - I never took AP Gov so in the beginning of the quarter I was honest to god lost and had no idea what was going on compared to everyone else. That said I still ended up with an A+! I never really went to lecture after the midterm - Schwartz is a nice guy but I found his slides kind of boring and he posts verbatim lecture notes online, so I stopped showing up and instead took notes on those. For the midterm, the test bank has like 40 past exams to choose from, so I printed two from different years and aced the midterm with no problems whatsoever. The test bank from the final only had 2 past exams from like 2012 and they had 20 less questions on them than our final, so I made a quizlet of info from the hunks instead, spent like three days reviewing those, and did pretty well on it considering the final grade I got :) It is a lot of memorization, but it's not too bad coming from someone who never learned anything about gov before this. Also beware that this prof does not believe in multiple choice so everything is short answer. DON'T BUY THE LOWI BOOK. It's useless and I stopped reading it after Week 1 because it just kinda goes over the same stuff his lecture notes do. The Kollman textbook is pretty helpful for the midterm in-class essay, but after the midterm I literally never opened it again. The readings after that weren't on the final and are just meant to help you with your final essay. The final essay is based on your TA, so I went to office hours to go over my stuff and make sure I was on the right track. My TA didn't require us to reference any books or specific readings so the Kollman book was really useless after Week 5. Overall, this class is really straightforward and easy if you put in some work before the exams. Really good intro course, I'd recommend it as a GE for sure.
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