TLDR: This class is overall somewhat easy and engaging, with a light workload. Your TA determines your final grade so participate and go to their office hours. 2/3 of your grade is essay based so if you are a good writer then it should be easier to get an A. If you aren't a good writer, getting an A is definitely doable if you really grind the midterm and final essay.

The first half of the course is more theory based and more boring to me, the lectures are about democracy, the constitution, etc. The second half of the class is more interesting, with lectures focusing on racism, sexism, classism, and the intersections between them. I took this class completely in person, but Segura posted the slides as well as the recording of lectures on Bruincast and the recorded lectures from last year when it was online. There is no participation or tests in lecture needed so you could miss any lecture and not be negatively affected. There is no textbook, just weekly readings posted so no out of pocket costs.

Discussion is worth 34% of your grade and is basically mandatory to be there (unless you contact your TA). In my discussion, the weekly homework was to post one paragraph review of the class readings to a discussion post . You also had to sign up to lead one discussion with 2 other students. This was a 15-20 minute group presentation with slides about the readings of the week. It wasn't too much work (1-2 hour preparation max). You also had to talk and participate in discussion weekly to get points. I got a 100% in discussion and the mean and median were a 96%, so pretty easy to do well in that. The midterm and final essay were worth 33% each. Both essays were a 5-7 page research paper based on class readings and outside sources. The TA's also grade those essays but you can ask them for help in office hours. You only get 5 days to write the essay once the prompts are released so it is a little annoying that the midterm and final could fall on a busy weekend. There are no other tests, quizzes, or essays, so the workload is relatively easy even though there are a lot of readings.

This class was a major pre-req. It had a lot of reading and required you to be on top of it, and really focus on all the readings and lectures. I wouldn't say it was an easy class since you have no idea what will be tested but I had very helpful classmates and a TA that got me through it. Prof. Segura is great but he is very opinionated which was a bit much to me sometimes. I wanted to learn the facts over the opinions and that was something I disliked. Regardless, you should be fine if you know what to expect. Shoutout to Bella, our TA. She was amazing.

Take this class!!! Professor Segura is an incredible lecturer and this class is such a great opportunity to learn from the dean of the Public Affairs department. The lectures were always engaging and interesting and assignments were relevant and thought-provoking. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in politics or history!

This class is entirely based on a midterm and final, with both tests broken into two parts: an in-class section with short answer questions and a take-home essay. The short answer questions are terms that are discussed in lecture/readings and I believe we had to choose 6 of 9 to define in about 5 sentences each. The take-home essay was a 5-7 page paper that we had 5 days to complete and was definitely the more challenging aspect of the exam. The prompts were fairly vague and we were encouraged to find outside sources to support our thesis in addition to course readings. Professor Segura's lectures were so clear and easy to understand though and he was definitely an approachable and engaging professor. I got a bit behind on readings in the second half of the quarter and hadn't done many of the ones related to material on the final, but Professor Segura's lectures covered the content so well I didn't have any difficulties (though I would still definitely recommend doing the readings). His lectures were also recorded, so missing class due to illness doesn't screw you for the whole quarter. His slides are also great, he outlines all the key points and posts them before lecture so you don't have to type furiously while he talks. The readings could get to be a lot at times and some of them were definitely pretty dense and boring but he really does cover all the major points for exams, so if you get stuck you aren't screwed.

Truly felt like I learned a lot about democracy, voting patterns, and such throughout this course. I took APGov and other elections/history related classes in the past yet this class examined the former in ways I did not learn before. Towards the beginning, the class was a little reading-heavy and lectures were a little confusing but I think it cleared up during the end. We didn't have a discussion section but Professor Segura is genuinely passionate about his work and knows his stuff! I would recommend however grading was 50% for each midterm and final and grading was kinda iffy for our class sometimes but I defintiely overall enjoyed the course.

I adored this Professor and this class. I was pretty hesitant about adding Public Affairs as a double major, but after taking this class I decided I absolutely wanted to pursue a field in it. One of the best classes I have ever taken at UCLA by far. His lectures are extremely engaging, he's funny, and you always walk out of class feeling as if you've learned something that matters. His grading scale was 33% participation, 33% midterm, and 33% final, but I think he has since changed it to 50% midterm and 50% final. The midterm and final are relatively straight forward, one part in person and one part a take home essay (so if you do poorly on the in person it isn't the end of the world). I had an 89.9 and he rounded me up to an A-. This class is super doable as long as you do the readings for section and show up to lecture. I would have probable received a solid A had I not been heinously sick during the midterm. Overall, I would recommend this class to anyone looking to pursue Public Affairs or needing an extra GE!!!