This is class was by far one of my favorite classes to take in my entire college experience no doubt. A really interesting, mind opening, and illuminating class to take for any grade, especially Seniors!

Such an amazing class. If you're a Pol Sci major you should at least try to take one of Branstetter's courses because they're so engaging and relatively straight-forward. That said, I think it's time to dispel the myth that he's super easy. The workload was really pretty nice (dense readings at time but not bad compared to some other PS classes) but you had to read every single thing to pull off an A. The exams were pretty generously graded but there was no clearly defined rubric unless you went to his office hours after exam grades were returned. I ended up saying everything I knew about a topic within the frame of the question in my own words, and at times even that wasn't enough. I feel like you have very little way of knowing what is really asked of you; that said, the point penalty for coming up short on the expectations is pretty light. On the other hand, his lectures were among some of the best I've had in my time as an undergrad. Always efficiently timed, always engaging, always easily digestible, always interactive, even during Zoom. The quizzes were really not bad, and dare I say even a grade boost? I'd take a class with him again.

After four years at UCLA, I can confidently state that Professor Branstetter is the best professor I have ever had at UCLA. He truly has a talent for seamlessly breaking down historical events and relaying important concepts in an easily comprehendible manner. Although I often find learning history or political theory to be relatively dull, Professor Branstetter does an incredible job of making his lectures interesting and keeping his students engaged.
The framework for the class is as follows:
7 short quizzes (2 of the lowest scores are dropped) - I can not emphasize enough how simple and straightforward the quizzes are, if you watch the lectures you will easily get a 100% on all of them
1 midterm and 1 final - both of which essentially require you to regurgitate the information you have learned in your own words; the professor mainly wants to see that you have learned the important concepts and are able to explain them in your own ways
Overall, I would recommend Professor Branstetter and any of his courses to every student at UCLA

I cannot stress this enough, by far my favorite professor at UCLA. Professor Branstetter is an awesome lecturer, has super engaging materials, and makes you think about political science from a different perspective. He is also very approachable and accommodating to all of his students!

7 short quizzes, SUPER easy. He drops your two lowest quiz scores. One midterm and final "exam": 8 short answers, 1 essay. The midterm and final are however long you think is appropriate to explain the question. I incorporated a ton of memes and examples in my final exam and got a 100! His class truly is a break from my other classes. It's very fun and insightful!

Definitely one of my favorite classes that I have taken here just because of how awesome John is. He makes the material interesting even if you know nothing about it, and is very fair in his grading system. There was only a midterm, final, and then 7 short MC quizzes with 2 of the lowest ones being dropped. He offered a few points of extra credit but not enough to really change anything unless you are about half a percent away from a grade bump. Midterm and final are both framed so that you get to choose 8/10 short answer questions of about 200 words, along with a short essay that answers another longer question. I thought the class was more than fair and would definitely take it again.

I really enjoyed PS119 - Premodern East Asian Political Thought with Branstetter. The subject itself is very interesting, and Branstetter covers a wide range of thought - from Confucianism to Zen Buddhism and beyond. Lectures are very well-paced, and Branstetter always answers questions and keeps students engaged. Even though some of the material can get a bit complex, he does a great job in conveying the important parts of the information in an engaging, helpful manner.

The graded material consists of a midterm, a final, and some reading quizzes. The quizzes are fairly straightforward and easy, and just test whether you've read the material or not for the day. The midterm and the final both consist of a series of short answer questions and a longer essay question. I found that none of the exam questions were out of left field or confusing. While the questions covered expansive topics, they were all explained thoroughly throughout the course. Doing the readings is also very important, and lectures can become bewildering if you haven't engaged with the assigned readings.

All in all, I'd highly recommend this class. Branstetter was a fair grader who consistently engaged with students throughout lecture. The readings, as I mentioned, are important to do even if they can be quite dense at times.