This class is quite easy but it depends heavily on your TA (i recommend Soonhong). I only showed up to class the first week and just read hunk notes for the rest of the quarter, read assigned readings, and attended discussion sections. This class would have been hard without the help of past questions from SAC but since things were online we had to scout for them. I am selling the Kollman textbook for $30 and the midterm and final past questions for $20. pm me @ melindayoung6677@gmail.com if you're interested. Happy summer!

i was lazy in this class so i did poor. the way the class is structured makes you be lazy. I would def recommend but schwartz is an old man who doesn't care to learn technology so relatively poor with his remote learmimg.

Fairly straightforward class. Professor Schwartz is not the most engaging teacher but I found him to be a really organized one. This class is one of the most established classes at UCLA.
He does not take attendance and posts his slides (or "hunks" as he calls them) and for the written midterm and final, those hunks are all you need to study from. Most people, including myself, stopped going to class after the midterm. There was also a midterm essay and a final essay. So your TA is the most important factor when it comes to your grade. I had Joseph Perry as my TA and he is literally the best POLSCI TA ever. He's so helpful and a genuinely nice person.
Overall, a pretty popular and easy class that most people take with Prof. Schwartz.

If you are looking for an easy GE, take this. You don't even need to take notes or go to class because he posts his own notes online, called 'hunks', with everything you need to know for the tests. The tests are literally in the test bank and he doesn't change them (maybe one or two questions will be different, but pretty much exactly the same). Attendance wasn't mandatory in lecture or section.
The midterm consisted of an in-class test, which is mostly fill in the blank/short answer, and an in-section test which is a timed essay. My TA was super nice and lenient, so it wasn't hard to do well.
There is a paper you have to write (about 5 pages) which is not hard to do and you can choose from several general topics. It took a bit of time, but I went to my TA before it was due to make sure everything I was writing was right. It's true that the more you interact with your TA, the better grade you'll get.
The midterm was only fill in the blank/short answer, which is also in the test bank.
Overall, this class was a bit boring (exactly the same as AP gov), but an easy A.
And while there are 2 textbooks 'required', I didn't read them. The tests are only based on the hunks, so don't waste your money.

Any student taking this class should be able to earn an A with even basic knowledge of how the US government functions. The lectures very, very closely align with the midterm and final, and we were given weeks for the final essay. The midterm essay is the only assignment that could give anyone trouble, but that is only if you have no background in any of the information that you expected to learn outside of class.

SELLING the Lowi textbook for $40 (rent price is $41!) and Kollman for $20 (rent price is $23!). I honestly think these prices are an amazing bargain. Contact me at (714) 887-4055 if you want to buy the textbooks from me. Both are the currently newest edition and NEW. Now, onto the review:

Honestly, you do not have to go to lecture. This is how you get an A in this class: read the Hunks (just to be familiar with them), read the supplemental readings (from the Kollman textbook), go to all the discussions, go to your T.A. office hours, and work on your final paper early. As for textbooks, contrary to the consensus on Bruinwalk, I think you should at least read through both of them. I bought both of the textbooks and did well in the class even though I never went to lecture after Week 1. The reason this is important is not only for the exams. The final essay requires you to use three sources from class material (readings outside of class!). If you are not familiar with the books, you will be spending a lot of time frantically searching for things to use, and often people use some far-fetched source to fill that requirement...even if it has absolutely nothing to do with their paper's prompt LOL. Your entire grade is dependent on the T.A...go to their office hours!

Lectures online were a struggle so I didn't go to live lectures nor did I watch the recorded lectures very much. Prof. Schwartz has detailed, well-written lecture notes (Hunks) that pretty much cover all there is to know. There is a recommended textbook for this course but I've never used it. The discussion sections depend on TA, but my TA just discussed the assigned readings and was pretty thorough (would recommend, Soonhong Cho). Half the time I didn't even do the readings and just looked at the notes and I was fine. Tests were timed but there was a good amount of time allocated. No homework, but lots of memorizing for tests. Overall, the hunks really got me through this course and they were all I needed.

I loved professor Schwartz!! A lot of the grade was dependent on the midterms which came directly from lecture and his notes. Not a hard class if you keep up each week. Readings are important for essays, but if you get behind it is easy to catch up. Recommend taking this class.

The class is boring, but it's easy. You don't really need to take notes because he posts them word for word after class. The information in his lectures/slides are very useful for the exams. The book for his lecture isn't as important as the book for discussion - my TA asked questions about their specific book. His exams are basically the same every quarter, so accessing the text bank and studying that will secure you an A.

This class was basically just a review of AP U.S. Gov. I took it during Fall Quarter of my freshman year, so I still remembered a lot of the topics covered in class. If you've never taken AP Gov. or if you're taking this class way after AP Gov., you should still be fine because the class is pretty easy in general.

Each week you get assigned some PDF readings , readings from the Ken Kollman book, or readings from the Lowi textbook. Honestly, you don't need to buy the Lowi textbook; it's not that useful because Professor Schwartz goes over all the important concepts from the textbooks in his lectures. You'll need to buy the Kollman book though; sometimes the readings from this book can be dense, so I recommend that you don't wait until the day of your discussion section to go over them. These readings are mentioned on the midterm, so it's important that you actually understand them; your TA will help a lot with that part so try not to skip discussion sections too much.

Also, while he doesn't post his slides online, Professor Schwartz posts really detailed lecture notes (called Hunks) that are super useful when you're studying for the midterm and final; the Hunks are literally like his script during lectures. In my opinion, since he posts the Hunks, you don't really need to go to lecture.

Overall, I highly recommend this class! Easy GE and definitely one of the easiest lower division requirements for Political Science majors!

(I'm selling the Kollman book right now. My book is basically brand new because I'm not an annotator, and I'm selling it for $40. Text me at 714-592-8624 or email me at dhelen139@gmail.com if you're interested!)