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.

I like Professor Tausanovitch. Basically going to class and taking decent notes will get you through the tests. The homework assignments, which essentially weigh as an exam when considered together, are pretty easily graded. In this class you have the opportunity to get much more out of the class than what is demanded; the exams often disregard entire weeks of content - particularly the final. However, doing the readings and going to office hours will unlock a breadth of knowledge about Congress. I would take his class again, and would recommend him to others.

Mostly boring class, even for those who are actually interested in the subject matter. A lot of the course focuses on congressional strategy, which is already pretty intuitive to those who remotely pay attention to what tends to happen with major legislation proposals (e.g., congressional moderates have all the power, filibuster and veto points severely constrain the ideological space for any given proposal, etc.). Other subjects touched upon include lobbying, fundraising, committees, procedure, public-opinion, and ideology—with an eye towards political polarization when discussing most of these matters.

Tausanovitch is clearly smart, but doesn't put a lot of thought into how he lectures—which is disappointing. Students who already know a lot about the subject can get a pretty easy A without attending the (super boring) lectures. I think this class is of about average difficulty and workload for those who are less experienced.

Do not take this class. Midterm and final are trash. Please take something else

Professor Tausanovitch has nothing to do with the class besides being the professor it is listed under, it is all based on the TA (Kenton Card for Fall 2019). Kenton was not very organized, and not very helpful- I found the meetings to be a waste of time. It's nice that students can get academic credit related to an internship but do not assume this is an easy A just because there is not lecture - it is a decent amount of work to do the weekly essays as well as prepare the final research paper. I think if I had known the details, I would have not found it worth it to do it while doing my internship and would have rather taken an additional poli sci class where I could have learned a new topic.

Grade Distribution:
Participation: 10%
Midterm: 25%
Take-Home Essay: 20%
Final: 45%
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If you have ever taken AP Government this class should be a breeze for you. Dr. Tausanovitch isn't the most engaging lecturer but his slides are always organized and easy to write down. I didn't do any of the readings for this class (including the textbook) and I was fine. I was also very lucky to have Berdan as my TA who was very understanding about participation. The take-home essay was around 5 pages and about why Congress has limited productivity. Make sure to talk to your TA about your essay as it really helps your score. The midterm and final were also pretty easy, with the final being a longer version of the midterm. They both have a few multiple choice questions, identification questions, short answer questions, and one essay question. Overall, if you are a political science major and need an easy pre-requisite I would recommend this class.
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GEs fulfilled by this class:
Foundations of Society and Culture: Social Analysis