This class is an easy A for any Political Science major. However, you will not learn anything from it. I took it hoping it would help me decide on a concentration but I am still confused. this course was supposed to be in person but when UCLA decided to be online, prof. Wilkinson turned the class as asynchronous and never returned to in-person (with the exception of 1 weekly meeting where he talked about Ukraine most of the time). His videos were recycled from 2020's online classes, for which they were outdated and talked of Afghanistan as still not taken over by the Taliban. There is also no time frame for the videos, sometimes there's a 15-minute video, other, like on week 9, there are 4 30-minute videos.

This class is what you'd expect from a white professor with two textbooks from white people saying that only Russia, China, and the US are the only countries worth studying. It was disappointing.

In relation to workload, we have to write 450-550 word essays every week on different prompts that he submits based on that week's teachings. If you are on the Friday discussions this makes sense because the deadline is before discussion but if your discussion is on Mondays, you will have to write essays on topics you have not yet learned about.

His final originally was a 4000-word essay, which I think is inhumane given how little you learn in class. People complained so he lowered it to 2000 words.

First of all, it is a super easy and chill GE.

His online lectures were short and easy to understand. If you love politics, I have to say, pol sci is perfect. Even you never read any page of the textbook, you will still have to much things to write down on the weekly paper. Trust me, 500 words is not enough for you.

For me, this class only took me 1 hour everyweek.

I took this Fall 2020 so it was online. This is one of the easier GE's (honestly it was easier than my high school AP Gov class), I stopped watching lectures after week 2 and as long as you skim the book you'll do fine. There are no tests, only ~400-500 word weekly papers, so most of the information you can find outside or by ctrl-F-ing the textbook chapters. I see a lot of negative reviews about Kim (most of them from people who didn't have her) but I had no problem with her -- she was very clear, concise, and generally understanding. She also grades very leniently (I never got below a 90% on a weekly paper and I wrote some where it was very obvious I bs-ing HARD) and I got a 98% on my final paper though I missed signing up for office hours with her. She does say that she rarely gives 100% but don't let that scare you since she often gives 95s-98s. Overall, just know how to write and form an argument and you will be fine.

The class is extremely easy. You don't have to show up - most people didn't in my class - because he just reads from his slides which are posted one hour after lecture ends. Also, the weekly 1 page essays are simple: just say your opinion and back it up with reasoning. The books were cheap, and they weren't dire for success in the class. I only read 2 or 3 chapters out of one just to have quotes for my essays. There's no midterm, just the weekly papers and a final essay graded by the TAs. Lastly, class is usually pretty short. My class was always let out early, and a couple of lectures only lasted about 20 minutes at the beginning of the quarter.

Interesting content (though I'm biased as a poli sci major,) but would recommend it as a GE for sure.
This was a ~400 person class, but if you show up to lecture after like week 3 you could probably count ~20-30 people there at most. Lecture slides are posted and honestly were a lot more helpful/less time consuming. Once you understand the expectations of the class lecture is not necessary.
400-500 word assignments weekly, which (depending on the TA) were easily graded and pretty quick to do. Reading that goes along with them is interesting too, and you can often pick from a list of prompts.
Extra credit (up to 3% of your overall grade!) offered. I don't think a lot of ppl did it bc they grade pretty easily anyway, but it's nice to have the option.
I recommend starting the final paper early if you can, but it's ~2000-3000 words (and became optional W20 bc of corona).
Overall: take it! Professor has been here like 30+ years and is cool and it's an interesting topic.

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I am not a pol sci major and I took this class to fulfill a GE and this class was an easy A if you just do all the assignments. Basically you just have to write a 400 word paper every week on the assigned prompt from the readings. I usually skimmed the reading the night before and was able to get the assignment done in 45 minutes or so. Discussion section was mandatory for participation but take it with Jones if offered - she was so chill and fun and easy. Because of Covid-19 the final became optional but it would have been a 2,000 word research paper (8 pages) . I went to the first day of class then stopped going because Wilkinson posts his lecture slides. Overall, I did everything and ended up with a 100%

This class is both interesting and easy. Take it if you can! You don't have to show up to lecture; his slides are very comprehensive. There are NO exams, just 10 short weekly papers that are 400 words and a final paper. He gives extra credit, so do those when you have the free time - it will literally boost your grade like 3% each and they aren't graded harshly at all. Your grade is completely dependent on your TA so just go to office hours to make them see you try and make them read your papers for tips, especially your final. Start the final early if you can, other than the final this class takes like no time so just start early so you can make a good impression on your TA and keep bugging them for revisions.

Listen, to be quite frank this professor was exceptional and is the ideal professor for most type of students. What I mean by this is that his class is very interesting with simplistic concepts that are very much suitable for the most studious of students to the most degenerate and lazy. If you wish to genuinely learn, do the readings and attend your lectures, if not, then do the contrary. If you wish to get an A in this class, breath and don't go braindead.

Don't go to class, you don't need to. Easy A as long as you can write decent essays and your TA is nice.