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.

Selling the textbook!
Reach me at **********

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.

PS 140A: CONGRESS

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

*************