I actually enjoy learning (most of) the topics in this class, but it is definitely a LOT of assigned reading that isn't always relevant to the material learned in class. The first two papers aren't too bad (2 pages) but it did take them about 6 weeks (approximately) to grade the first one and I didn't find my TA's feedback on it too helpful. Discussion sections are mandatory and while they are long and difficult to stay focused in, they do offer a nice summary of lecture material. Lectures are not mandatory and are recorded with slides posted; all the professors are very responsive in the zoom chat window though and are willing to answer your questions as they come up. Not a terrible class, but definitely can be hard to stay engaged, and the readings get exponentially longer halfway through the quarter.

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Overall, I feel that Professor Merkin did a great when running lecture in this cluster. I remember when we went through all of the social policies, which is a very tedious subject. She made the main points of each policy clear, and grouped similar and contrasting ideas in a way that made it easy to mentally organize and apply during exams.