Professor T is very smart but really boring. You'll learn a lot because his class is comprehensive but you'll probably hear some people snoring. I'm not exaggerating, the person next to me fell asleep. He is a fair grader.

Boring and disorganized lectures. Technical difficulties in about 1/2 of the classes. Overall a waste of time. I fell dumber after taking the class!

NOTE CLASS TAKEN WAS 140A: congress

The class way OKAY. It seemed pretty bland for the most part--maybe that was because it isn't the most interesting subject matter (for me at least). His exams cover everything--lectures, reading for lectures, and section reading.

Selling the books required for the course, email me if interested.

I though Tausanovitch was a good professor. His exams were fair, and the grading isn't harsh at all. A lot of people had issues with time on the midterm, but I was not one of them. Even then, he offered extra points because some people thought the midterm was too long.

He's entertaining, and lectures are interesting. However, he does tend to be pedantic at times, and there is a LOT of information to digest. I have to admit, at times it is difficult to stay awake in lectures. But overall, this is a good class with him, and it's easy. Take it!

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.

Took PoliSci40 Spring 2013. Needed the class as a GE, but am not a big fan of politics. Class average for the mid term was a mid 80s, but I got the impression many classmates didn't even do the readings... The reading are crucial for the quizzes and tests. If you do all the readings, the class is really pretty easy and straightforward. I went to all the lectures, but if you needed to miss a couple I think you'd be alright. His lectures themselves were fine, I just dislike politics in general and didn't expect to enjoy them much. I did the reading each week highlighting as I went, and spent a day or two before midterm/final reviewing the study guide and highlighted readings. Overall a fine GE to take and without much effort I ended up with an A+. I'd recommend the class if you're willing to do the 70ish pages of reading a week (not a big deal).

I am not into political science AT ALL but I ended up with an A and overall his tests were very fair.

My TA didn't help that much with grasping the general ideas, but if you go to every lecture and take good notes you should be fine. I didn't read the text book all the way through, but focused on the intro/conclusion and learning the key bolded term which seemed to be enough. When it came to the articles, memorize the title/author and get a good understanding of the main points and you can use those as proof for the essay.

The test consists of term IDs from a REALLY long list so that just requires a lot of memorizing. Then there are two one paragraph answer questions, which require an understanding of important concepts. And lastly there is a debate essay where you have to take a side and use evidence to support your opinion. Thats when memorizing the articles comes in handy.

Overall not too bad, and I feel like I did learn a lot. The professor is new and young, so tries to seem tough, but he also adds funny videos and is a good lecturer.

This class wasn't as interesting as I expected ( I'm a huge gov nerd). Most of the course is like your typical high school American government class. However, Professor Tausanovitch tries to make the class as engaging as possible by showing pretty entertaining videos, like Obama "slow jamming the news." He's a funny guy, too, if you understand his nerdy sense of humor. I really enjoyed how he would tie in current events to the topic of that day's lecture, which made the material more relevant and interesting.

The class was straightforward and fair in terms of difficulty. The readings can be a bit tedious, but section is incredibly helpful in clarifying the main ideas of the texts. Both the midterm and final consisted of a few multiple choice questions, identification terms, short answers, and an essay. He gives you a list of all the possible terms for identification questions and previous midterms, though, so there are really no surprises.

Overall, the class was okay. It's not incredibly hard, but it's also not incredibly interesting.

Class is the easiest lower div poli sci class. You know that from the amount of athletes that are in the class. Have you taken Government in high school? Yes? Don't go to lecture. No need to read the book. You're set and should get an A unless you're an idiot. As for Tausanovitch, hes young and hes alright....

PS 140a with Professor Tusanovitch is a fairly easy class especially if you are a political junkie. The class initially goes over the nuts and bolts of the US legislative branch before delving into deeper theories and concepts regarding policymaking, and legislating. The lectures where clear, but they were quite dry and boring, but Professor Tusanovitch really cares if his students understand what he is talking about.

The class is broken up grade wise like such
30% Midterm
10% Section
30% Assignments
30% Final

Section is mandatory and the professor has an arcane policy stating that you have to attend the section you enrolled in despite other sections being offered. This is like other classes where TAs allow you to go to earlier or later sections if you can't make it. However you are allowed one miss.

The Assignments are two graded "short papers" with one being a research assignment on a obscure/notable congressional race and analyzing media coverage. The other project due during week 10, is an assignment looking at a legislative roll call and analyzing it using DW-Nominate. The assignments are fairly easy but if you don't conduct good research I would recommend starting early.

The exams are four section tests with a with a multiple choice section, identifications, short answers, and a short essay. The professor gives a study guide that shows which IDs are fair game. While the professor was not clear on what to focus on, the tests were fair and focus mostly on the big ideas discussed in the class. Note that the final is cumulative, and longer than the midterm, but was not that bad.

Overall if you are a poli-sci major take this class because while it may not be an easy A if but some effort you should get one. Also I found that while there were many readings, the exams didn't really test on them, and you should be find if you know the main concepts associated with them.