I LOVE DR PAYSON I LOVE DR PAYSON I LOVE DR PAYSON! One of her first remarks to my class was "Any Huntrix fans out there?" and I knew we were in safe territory. Dr Payson is an amazing lecturer who has so much knowledge but explains things in a way that do not make you feel stupid or out of the loop. The class had some quizzes, a midterm, and a final that were all take-home and open-note. My TA was extremely helpful in preparing for these tests, always checking for ways the questions could be improved. The content was also interesting to learn about in a deeper way than just what you learned in AP Gov. I took this for my major but also see this being a dope GE. Give my queen a high five or something for me if you take this.

If you're thinking about taking this class as a GE, do it! That's what I did and it was a great choice. This class was straightforward, engaging, and Professor Payson was great. Attendance was optional, all lecture slides posted online. All assessments online and she makes the windows long so you can choose when you want to take it. Would recommend to anyone!

Insanely easy class. Barely any HW, online-asynchronus quizzes and tests (lockdown browser annoying, but still easy) and one easy paper about the flaws of AI. I would reccomend taking this class w/ friends or meet people early on in the class. That way, you can take the quizzes and tests together and collaborate on work to make sure you're getting a good score. Theoretically, you could AI the quizzes and tests and still do pretty well, but I only would use it to check answers sometimes and that worked very well.

It's interesting stuff too, but I may be biased as a Poli Sci major. I did learn a good amount of stuff, and rarely got bored during lectures. And the lectures are well prepared, organized, easy to follow, all that stuff. For a college class, it's way above average than most other ones in terms of content.

I went to Payson's OH once, and she is super nice and cares about her students. Super knowledgable prof, nothing bad to say about her. Only complaint I have is that an A+ is hard to get: Payson only gives out A+ for students with a 99% or above in the class. Since I want to go to grad school, having an A+ would've been beneficial for me, but whatever, not a big deal at all. Just weird that a 97 isn't an A+ like most other classes.

Overall, very thankful for the easy A and interesting material this course brought. Made my quarter significantly easier. Take it if it's open, you won't regret it.

Great GE to take. Every quiz, exam, and assignment is online. The midterm and final were a bit tricky and required some actual studying. ChatGPT or other AI tools won’t carry you to an A on the quizzes or exams, since the professor favors checkbox-style questions that can be frustrating. I struggled on the midterm but managed to clutch the final. Overall, the exams and quizzes are based solely on the lectures, so as long as you attend class and know how to Ctrl-F the materials, you’ll be fine.

Professor Payson’s lectures are incredibly engaging and I had an overall positive experience in this class. The course covered all the big pieces about American Politics, and our discussions closed them off with an activity or mini discussion. My only complaint are the style of the questions on the quizzes, midterm and exams. However, I really enjoyed this class and Professor Paysons teaching.

I strongly recommend that you take this course! The professor is excellent, it is very easy to succeed, and a valuable foundation for further POL SCI courses.

If you are looking for an easy pre-major or GE, you MUST take this course!

- Quizzes (20%): Assigns two 10-question throughout the quarter. Very easy and straightforward.
- Discussions (20%): Graded on attendance and bare minimum engagement. My TA Ashley Potter was very easy.
- AI Project (20%): 6-8 page paper towards the end of the quarter where you assess an AI claim made about politics. She gives plenty of guidelines and your paper fills up very quickly. Took me no more than 5 hours.
- Midterm Exam (15%): Take-home, open-note (1 hour exam). Just review lecture slides & assigned readings, and you will do well.
- Final Exam (25%): Take-home, open-note (2 hour exam). Same advise as that for the midterm. Very straightforward.

If you took AP Gov, you will soar through this class. The class relies on peer-reviewed literature as its primary reading and gives an intro to regression and statistical significance. Class had 2 quizzes, one midterm, and one final (all open note and take home) as well as a final paper evaluating AI claims. Rest of the grade is participation in section. Everything is BruinCast (audio & video), and Professor Payson has great, accessible office hours - whether you’re there to discuss the class or otherwise, you’ll enjoy it. Maybe 1.5 hours of reading per week. Lectures are enjoyable, and there are review lectures before major assessments. Really great GE option and easy PS lower div.

Professor Payson is a great speaker, and I really enjoyed her lectures. The workload was light, and assignments were very straightforward. I took AP Gov in high school, and this course was extremely similar. That being said, even though I took AP Gov and lectures were super easy to understand, somehow the exam multiple choice questions were surprisingly difficult given that exams were open-note. Maybe it was just me, but I recommend studying a little harder than you think you should for the exams.

Genuinely my favorite class/GE I have taken at UCLA. Professor Payson is so passionate about political science, yet is so sweet and cares about her student's success. She was an amazing lecturer and made understanding class content very easy. Lectures were always recorded which was nice, but honestly going to her class was super enjoyable and she always made time for in-class activities and discussions on certain topics. The midterm was take home and the final was just a paper. I highly recommend taking it!

payson is the poli sci professor ALL poli sci professors should take note from. this is mainly regarding her reading guides. poli sci is a reading HEAVY major, and payson recognizes that. she literally cuts that reading time in more than half by giving us a reading guide and telling us EXACTLY what to focus on and what to skim briefly and what to skip completely. it made this class such an easy workload.
the midterm was online, open note, and fairly easy. it was mc, short answer, and some "essay" qs but those were really like a paragraph or two. she reviews exactly what she wants in those essay responses, and it should be the most straightforward response, no fluff at all. the best part was that she rotated grading the responses through herself and all the TAs, so your grade was not based on JUST your TA, but all of them combined so it was very fair. the final was also online, and payson made it easier based on the midterm. it was also open note, and you choose 5 terms and write about them and find a connection to another topic in class. it was also easy and i think fairly graded as well.
lectures were super engaging and she was so personal and tried to learn everyone's name. i've never seen a prof ask the class a question, and for every person responding, she would ask their name and write it down. she would try to remember everyone (it was like 100+ people) in lecture and she made it so straightforward and easy to digest. she is def a professor every pol sci major should take.