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
Maybe I'm the only one who found the reading to be a little excessive. Professor Tausanovitch is the kind of guy that's super professional, is very young and seems new in the university education field. This is my assumption because I have found in the past that older professors go a bit easier on their students, and newer professors are a bit tougher. I thought the exams were okay, not ridiculously hard but not super easy. The content was somewhat interesting. I mostly took the class to at least be introduced to politics and learn about our country's government. I ended up with a C, but I'm sure if you try a little harder than me, you can end up with a better grade.
Maybe I'm the only one who found the reading to be a little excessive. Professor Tausanovitch is the kind of guy that's super professional, is very young and seems new in the university education field. This is my assumption because I have found in the past that older professors go a bit easier on their students, and newer professors are a bit tougher. I thought the exams were okay, not ridiculously hard but not super easy. The content was somewhat interesting. I mostly took the class to at least be introduced to politics and learn about our country's government. I ended up with a C, but I'm sure if you try a little harder than me, you can end up with a better grade.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Overall, I really enjoyed Poli Sci 40 with Dan Thompson. I just finished up my first quarter at UCLA so my review is not relative to a bunch of other classes, but nonetheless I wanted to contribute to the Bruinwalk community. 39% of the grading is based on 3 "Paper Explainers" (13% each) which are basically 1-2 pages double spaced breaking down any paper he covered in class. The assignment only requires a very surface level understanding of the paper which is often done already in lecture so these are pretty easy. I definitely recommend going to your TA a few days before these are due just to have them look over it, as they are the ones grading them. 50% is midterm and final (25% each). Both of these exams were take home and we were given about a week to complete it. The format was also the same for both, 8-9 short answer questions covering material from the readings, and lecture. The exams were moderately difficult, but fair for the most part. My only complaint is that the questions were sometimes worded weird, but it was achievable for sure. The last 11% is participation in discussion, and while attendance in lecture is not mandatory, discussion is. You get one free absence and after that they dock points from your final grade unless you make it up. Participating wasn't difficult as long as you listen to the assigned podcast ahead of time, as my TA (Graham Straus) opened the conversation to topics from the podcast. I would recommend this class to Poli Sci majors as well as anyone who wants to take it as a GE. Not a lot of work but very interesting content! Also don't buy a textbook, he says on the first day that it's unnecessary!
Fall 2021 - Overall, I really enjoyed Poli Sci 40 with Dan Thompson. I just finished up my first quarter at UCLA so my review is not relative to a bunch of other classes, but nonetheless I wanted to contribute to the Bruinwalk community. 39% of the grading is based on 3 "Paper Explainers" (13% each) which are basically 1-2 pages double spaced breaking down any paper he covered in class. The assignment only requires a very surface level understanding of the paper which is often done already in lecture so these are pretty easy. I definitely recommend going to your TA a few days before these are due just to have them look over it, as they are the ones grading them. 50% is midterm and final (25% each). Both of these exams were take home and we were given about a week to complete it. The format was also the same for both, 8-9 short answer questions covering material from the readings, and lecture. The exams were moderately difficult, but fair for the most part. My only complaint is that the questions were sometimes worded weird, but it was achievable for sure. The last 11% is participation in discussion, and while attendance in lecture is not mandatory, discussion is. You get one free absence and after that they dock points from your final grade unless you make it up. Participating wasn't difficult as long as you listen to the assigned podcast ahead of time, as my TA (Graham Straus) opened the conversation to topics from the podcast. I would recommend this class to Poli Sci majors as well as anyone who wants to take it as a GE. Not a lot of work but very interesting content! Also don't buy a textbook, he says on the first day that it's unnecessary!
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - The graded material for this class includes the following: 2 exams (worth 20% each), two papers (one worth 15% and the other 25%), and participation (worth 20%). There were two books for this class, the main textbook and then another book that we were supposed to read for discussion. You probably need to actually have both of these unfortunately. The first exam was based on lecture and reading material. You might be able to get by without reading but there were a couple questions on the exam that weren't in lecture, so I would recommend reading. I don't think there was anything too tricky about the exam, it included term definition and a couple short answer questions. The second exam, at least the quarter I took the class, did not require knowledge of course material at all. Like I didn't do any of the readings the second half of the class and it didn't matter. It presented you with a graph and you had to answer some questions about it. We were given 5 graphs ahead of time to study and ask questions about and then one of those was used on the exam. The first paper was pretty straightforward and required us to analyze a graph (based on polling data) that they gave us. I was a bit confused on how to structure the paper but went to office hours and a TA was able to clear it up pretty nicely. The final paper required us to use a bit more creativity; we had to come up with a potential slogan and message for a presidential candidate. You're provided with clear instructions on how to do this well so it's not too difficult. I believe the final paper our quarter was different than the previous so it might change. Your participation grade comes from discussion. You are only allowed one unexcused absence from discussion. Just showing up isn't enough to earn you participation points; the TA actually keeps track of how many times you talk. Some of the discussions were based off of reading, so you probably need to at least partially do the reading so that you can contribute. Part of our participation grade also comes from three short, 600-word essays we had to turn in during discussion; these were about our upbringing, beliefs, etc, so were pretty easy to write. Professor Vavreck is the best! I've never seen someone so enthusiastic about the Constitution.She is so well-versed in the topics of this class, it never ceased to amaze me. Her presentations were always well organized and always seemed to be exactly timed to fit the length of the class. When she spoke, I almost felt as if she were giving a performance rather than a lecture, as it was so entertaining and well thought out.
Winter 2019 - The graded material for this class includes the following: 2 exams (worth 20% each), two papers (one worth 15% and the other 25%), and participation (worth 20%). There were two books for this class, the main textbook and then another book that we were supposed to read for discussion. You probably need to actually have both of these unfortunately. The first exam was based on lecture and reading material. You might be able to get by without reading but there were a couple questions on the exam that weren't in lecture, so I would recommend reading. I don't think there was anything too tricky about the exam, it included term definition and a couple short answer questions. The second exam, at least the quarter I took the class, did not require knowledge of course material at all. Like I didn't do any of the readings the second half of the class and it didn't matter. It presented you with a graph and you had to answer some questions about it. We were given 5 graphs ahead of time to study and ask questions about and then one of those was used on the exam. The first paper was pretty straightforward and required us to analyze a graph (based on polling data) that they gave us. I was a bit confused on how to structure the paper but went to office hours and a TA was able to clear it up pretty nicely. The final paper required us to use a bit more creativity; we had to come up with a potential slogan and message for a presidential candidate. You're provided with clear instructions on how to do this well so it's not too difficult. I believe the final paper our quarter was different than the previous so it might change. Your participation grade comes from discussion. You are only allowed one unexcused absence from discussion. Just showing up isn't enough to earn you participation points; the TA actually keeps track of how many times you talk. Some of the discussions were based off of reading, so you probably need to at least partially do the reading so that you can contribute. Part of our participation grade also comes from three short, 600-word essays we had to turn in during discussion; these were about our upbringing, beliefs, etc, so were pretty easy to write. Professor Vavreck is the best! I've never seen someone so enthusiastic about the Constitution.She is so well-versed in the topics of this class, it never ceased to amaze me. Her presentations were always well organized and always seemed to be exactly timed to fit the length of the class. When she spoke, I almost felt as if she were giving a performance rather than a lecture, as it was so entertaining and well thought out.
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