This class was kind of all over the place. It was not necessarily difficult in terms of material BUT the structure was really odd and invoked a lot of stress. Also the title is very misleading. This class should be called US Latino Voting Behaviors. We really just talked about various factors that influence how Latinos engage in the US political system, did not adrdess the sociological or more nuanced elements of Latino identity.

Breaking down the class structure and grading:
- no midterm
- participation in discussions kind of mattered, depended on the TA
- final exam worth 50% (I think) of your grade
- final project worth something like 40% of grade

The final project requires A LOT OF ENERGY, especially if you are unfamiliar with using R or stata. It is basically a data analysis of latino voting behaviors and opinions using HUGE datasets. There is very little support from the professor and TA's in tackling this project.

I did fine in this class, but it was honestly really stressful. Not worth it.

Start your final project early, and ask your TA for help/guidance. If you do well on that project, you're likely to do well in the course, it's 25% of the grade, and section participation is 25%, so actively engage your TA. The professor is incredibly interesting, but it's unfortunate that there's not more room for engagement, but rather just regurgitation of polling information he's acquired over years. This was the least engaging course I've taken in school - and if I wasn't interested in the subject matter, it would have been a total bore.

One of the worst professors I've ever had. You genuinely cannot ask him any questions without him belittling you. I would genuinely never take a class with this professor again.

I think you should take this class. Every Extra Credit assignment you do adds 1% to your overall grade. And you can do as many Extra Credit assignments as you want....I'll let you do the math on that.

However, the exam was actually pretty hard and this is me saying that after I studied 3 straight days for it and only left my room to eat. He said in class that "the exam is super easy and don't worry about it" and so I worried about it, and rightfully so. If any professor tells you that the exam that they wrote, on a topic they spent years researching, and has an answer key for is easy, it probably is not. I would recommend going to ~all~ his lectures because he does not post the slides. I repeat, he does not post the slides. He doesn't even give his slides to his TAs. To prepare for the exam, I would recommend writing down every word that leaves his mouth. Anything and everything he says is fair game to the exam. Every video he shows in class, make sure to write the title down and a summary of what you watched. Every guest speaker he invites, make sure to take notes on what they say and on what he says. If you are an excellent note taker, this is the class for you.

I highly recommend some background in R before taking this class. Please listen to me. LISTEN TO ME. Take POL SCI 6 or STATS 10 before this class otherwise you may struggle on the Final Project. I had to help a lot of my classmates because they had zero experience in R and had I not taken those two classes in the past I know I would have struggled. I am honestly surprised this is not a requirement.

Breakdown:
- Participation: 25%
- Final Exam: 50%
- No midterms
- Research Project with R: 25%

Additional notes if you care to read:
- He is funny and actually quite nice. Just approach him respectfully. He is authoritative.
- I went in on the first day of class with every intention to drop it, but thought, hey I’ll go to one class just to see, and thank goodness I did because I loved this class. The content is so fascinating. You analyze the political behavior of Latinos and their voting pattern and behaviors throughout the century -- if you like statistics, graphs, and data, this is the class for you.
- How to do well in class: Do readings after each lecture, not before. Show up to all discussions because this is a free "A+" in participation. Do as much EC opportunity as possible. Take extensive notes in class because no slides are given.
- Textbooks are hella pricey so maybe find a friend a split cost.