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
4 of 5
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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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Winter 2022 - I really enjoyed this class! Tausanovitch isn't the most engaging lecturer, but the topics he covered were super interesting and you can tell he is very knowledgable about what he's talking about. Although a lot of info from the first half of class was a repeat of AP US Gov, I liked how in the second half of the class he went into different topics like voter participation, public opinion, campaigning, and political polarization, and I enjoyed how he incorporated real-world examples. Grading scheme consisted of a midterm and final exam in person, one paper, and participation in weekly discussion. Each exam had 5 multiple choice questions, 3 definition/term questions, 3-4 short answer questions, and one essay question. Exams themselves were very fair and you will do well if you paid attention in class and understand the concepts. He gives a list of all the possible terms for the definition part, so if you study those then you will likely do well on the entire exam, because all the terms relate to key concepts. I had Jessica as a TA and she was great at clarifying points made in lecture. Overall, the class is pretty easy if you put in minimal effort, and I would take a class with him again.
Winter 2022 - I really enjoyed this class! Tausanovitch isn't the most engaging lecturer, but the topics he covered were super interesting and you can tell he is very knowledgable about what he's talking about. Although a lot of info from the first half of class was a repeat of AP US Gov, I liked how in the second half of the class he went into different topics like voter participation, public opinion, campaigning, and political polarization, and I enjoyed how he incorporated real-world examples. Grading scheme consisted of a midterm and final exam in person, one paper, and participation in weekly discussion. Each exam had 5 multiple choice questions, 3 definition/term questions, 3-4 short answer questions, and one essay question. Exams themselves were very fair and you will do well if you paid attention in class and understand the concepts. He gives a list of all the possible terms for the definition part, so if you study those then you will likely do well on the entire exam, because all the terms relate to key concepts. I had Jessica as a TA and she was great at clarifying points made in lecture. Overall, the class is pretty easy if you put in minimal effort, and I would take a class with him again.
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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4 of 5
