I was apprehensive about taking this class because of all of the reviews saying it was really hard. But in reality, the class was a lot easier than I expected and I actually enjoyed taking it more than I thought I would. I found the material to be really interesting and the lectures to be engaging. The exams are primarily based on memorization rather than analysis, so if that's not your speed I would suggest another class. The grade is made up of a midterm and final exam, along with weekly section quizzes and participation in section discussions. Both the miderm and final are generously curved, and they drop the two lowest quiz and participation grades. The section quizzes were very straightforward (most people get 100% every week) based on the case for that week and the professor often highlighted some of the important parts of the cases in lecture which was helpful. We covered about one chapter from the textbook each week and the lectures directly covered textbook material. She is really adamant about not posting the lecture slides on the class website which is pretty annoying, but they are not super detailed anyway and just outline information from the textbook. While the professor stressed that all textbook material was fair game for the exams, the midterm was focused almost entirely on the topics highlighted in lecture and I think most of the class found it to be easier than they expected. The final exam was a little trickier because there were a few questions that she didn't cover in lecture, but I still found attending lecture to be a useful tool in learning what material was important. The midterm and the final both had the same general format: multiple choice, definitions, short responses, and extra credit. For the definitions, my TA emphasized that we would be graded based on the glossary definition in the textbook and suggested that we memorize them word for word. It was really tedious and time-consuming, but memorizing the terms was a good way to get easy points on the exam. I recommend starting to memorize the terms from the glossary sheet well ahead of the exam because there were over 100 terms for the midterm alone. Other than that, the professor has a website for the textbook with worksheets for every chapter. They are pretty long and I wouldn't say it's necessary to complete all of them (or any of them), but they definitely helped guide my note-taking. All in all, this class has a lot of material and is by no means an easy A. But, it's interesting and definitely doable if you are willing to dedicate a little more time to studying and going to lectures.

This is known to be one of the most challenging classes you can take in the PS department. Professor does not record nor post slides as she doesn't believe in them so going to class is crucial. The average on midterm is 60% curved to 85%, tests are designed for you to fail and then use the curve to bring you up. NOT AN EASY A!!! TA's are excellent (shoutout abbey you're the sweetest :) but you have to speak A LOT in discussion to get full credit. Interesting material just challenging class.

Professor Johns is a good and engaging lecturer, the content is interesting, and generally the TA's were well prepared to help out. Do not take this class if you enjoy getting good grades on midterms and finals, Professor Johns is a pretty rough grader, but does curve her tests. The big problem with her is that she's a self-described hard-ass. If you are sick or need other accomodations, she doesn't really care. She made people with covid come in to take tests in-person. If you don't mind that, she's fine and the class isn't too hard to get a B in without a ton of effort.

This was one of the hardest polsci classes I have taken at UCLA so far. The overall class is based on weekly quizzes and participation in discussion, the midterm, and the final. The overall content was extremely interesting, but be aware there is a lot to cover. You do not have to attend lecture; instead focus on reading all of the chapters in the textbook and take extensive notes. Lecture just consists of verbatim of the textbook mixed with offensive comments from Johns. She also gave 0 clarity on the format of the midterm. We just showed up and found out that it was about 8 short response questions. The average of the midterm was a D, and they curved it significantly. She writes these tests with the intention of her students failing, but being saved by the curve. She told students that if they were sick or had covid, they still needed to come take the midterm because she hated writing makeup exams. At first I did not believe her when she said this, however I had food poisoning the night of the final, and her response to me 30 minutes before the exam started was that I could "sit by an exit and use the bathroom as needed." I did just that. She had 0 sympathy that I had to step out of the exam room to throw up in a trashcan outside of the lecture hall. She is problematic. Do not take this course if you are easily offended or if you are expecting an A. This ruined several of my classmates 4.00. However, if you are interested in international law, this course offered a lot of information. Save your sanity though, and just buy her textbook and read it on your own.

I know that the people who write negative reviews are gonna be real negative about this class but honestly why are we surprised that an upper division class covering an entire field of law is difficult. Yes, there's a lot of information covered. Yes, the tests will sometimes require specific information from the textbook. No, it's not unreasonable or unexpected. (Also, the tests were curved alot. I think I got over 10 points added onto my midterm grade).

Professor Johns is a delight. Both her lectures and her office hours were incredibly engaging and oftentimes fun. I know that another reviewer took issue with her sense of humor, but taking it out of context of what the lecture was discussing is a disservice. I don't defend all her jokes or statements, but it is nowhere near as horrible as this reviewer made it seem. She made a significant effort to create analogies or funny stories which often times were so helpful in remembering an often nebulous concept.

My advice is as follows. If you are in this school to get an easy A, don't take this class. If you are in this school to actually learn something, sign up immediately. Go to every lecture, pay attention in section, actually engage with the readings, go to office hours. You will do fine, is it a guaranteed A/A+, absolutely not, you're going to have to grind for it. But I have never enjoyed or learned as much in another UCLA Poli Sci class.

This was a pretty difficult but also engaging class. The grade is based on participation (15%), section quizzes (15%), midterm (30%), and final (40%). Each week, we had to read a chapter of the textbook and an additional 10ish page court ruling. Professor Johns can be an engaging lecturer, but she also has a tendency to over-explain simple concepts and not make it through entire lectures. I found the class topics to be pretty interesting and applicable to world events; the first half went over the basics of international law (what is it, who makes it, how is it enforced, etc.), and the second half went over specific areas of international law (human rights, use of force, armed conflict, criminal law, environmental law.) Make sure to memorize the facts of each weekly case reading for the section quiz because you'll be tested on some seemingly random info. The tests were definitely difficult and I felt that the TAs/Johns were a bit misleading about what was going to be on the final. But, they were curved which somewhat accounts for that.

Leslie Johns may not be every person’s cup of tea, but if there was ever a cup of tea made perfectly for me it would be her. The #1 thing I have to say about this class is that it is extremely high maintenance— you will not be able to do well without doing the readings both from the textbook and the section cases. Honestly, you could get by not going to lecture at all and just taking extensive notes on the readings. So then, what is the advantage to going to lecture? Why did I, a student who consistently finds every reason not to attend lectures, go every week? BECAUSE LESLIE JOHNS IS SO QUIRKY AND FUNNY. This rubs many people the wrong way, but to me she is the epitome of authenticity. Not only is she funny, but she delivers the lectures in such an anecdotal way that you may find yourself remembering her silly comments and examples as you answer exam questions.

As far as logistics, the grade is based on 15% participation in section, 15% section quizzes, 30% midterm, and 40% final. Participation is pretty much a given as long as you attend section, and the section quizzes are designed to be super easy as long as you read the case. I would normally find additional section reading annoying and unnecessary, but the cases really helped reinforce topics from the chapter and understand how what we were learning applied to the real world. I was pretty nervous before the midterm as she doesn’t provide a study guide/any sort of direction of what to study, but my word of advice here is anything with a list— study it! Acronyms can help remember all of the lists. Despite my best efforts to prepare, there were a few things I did not know, but she curves so much that I was still able to get an A. Both exams were difficult, but in my opinion fair.
Additionally, since she wrote the book herself she provides worksheets that go along with the textbook perfectly and I found a lot of the exam questions coming from content on the worksheets. This made the class feel extremely cohesive and linear!

Overall, I highly recommend this class if you are taking it during a quarter when you can devote a lot of time and effort to it. It is incredibly rewarding when you put in the time, and I walked away wanting to completely pivot my career plans to the foreign service field.

Not happy about this class whatsoever. First of all, this professor cannot go one lecture without making some sort of offensive joke. Things along the lines of: "you'd have to be autistic to believe this!", or "the Nuremberg Trials were actually not fair." Also, she would literally preface these statements asking if anyone was recording her. During the second half of the class her jokes centered around genocide. So, if you enjoy hearing offensive jokes about serious class material, go ahead and take this class.

Second of all, she ruined my 4.00. Never have I ever studied so hard for a class just to receive a B. She really expects you to memorize the entire textbook and the regurgitate super specific information onto the tests. She gives you these worksheets to study with - which make it sound easy and straightforward enough, but with the amount of questions on these worksheets it is extremely difficult to memorize all the information she expects from you.

Not happy with this class or my grade. Poli Sci classes should not have a class average of 50% on the midterm.

This class is very straight forward, and the professor is incredibly organized. Everything you need to succeed is there (e.g., the textbook). You don't really need to go to lecture for this class because all of the material thats covered in the midterm + final is in the textbook. If you read the textbook chapters every week and take extensive notes, you should be fine for the midterm + final. You need to designate time every week for this class, it's very doable. Many people complained about this class, but I don't think they read the textbook and just thought the professor would hand them a good grade. All in all, if you are planning to go to Law School, this is a good class to take especially if you are interested in international law.

This class can be as amazing or as awful as you make it. It is most useful for those who are interested in international relations and/or going into law. She can be a great resource/ mentor as well as provide rec letters.
The grade break down is 15% participation in section 15% section quizzes (over a case study that applies to the weeks topics), 30% midterm and 40% final. Each week there is a 40-60 page textbook reading from the book the professor wrote.
To succeed in this class you need to do the readings and take detailed notes, I suggest using the worksheets on the publishers website to guide note taking. Each bolded term and LIST is important. Case studies talked about in the book and then also in class will be important.
The midterm was scary because we did not know what to expect. The format was short answer. There were questions with a list of vocab words we needed to define, explain how concepts relate, or list points of a definition. It is entirely memory based, acronyms saved the day for me. In addition, they are in person and you CANNOT miss them.
Class is pretty useless, she just goes over parts of the book. I would suggest going just to reaffirm and ask any questions, but it is not a big deal if you miss some. She does NOT record lectures.
To end, I will say she is quirky and can come off as insensitive or weird to some, but I enjoyed her personality. She is clearly incredibly knowledgeable and a treat to learn from.