Ross is an amazing lecturer and the class overall is great and well organized. Definitely A LOT of readings, even compared to other PS upper divs, but not too overwhelming. Final is optional or no-harm. I would recommend all PS majors take at least one course with Ross.

Really loved taking Prof Ross' class. There were many readings but if you did them all when they were assigned, you didn't have to do much studying for the midterm or the final. The midterm and final had 2 sections: one multiple choice relating to specific questions about the readings and the second being an essay answering a question prompt.
I found this class super enjoyable and would recommend anyone to take classes taught by Prof Ross. His uploaded lectures were super concise, clear, and directly tied into the readings assigned which made doing the readings seem to actually be worth it as opposed to other classes.

this class is well structured. his lectures are easy to follow and interesting. 85% of the readings were definitely long and dense but the information was worth studying. we had weekly group assignments that accounted for 30% of our grade but these were very easy to do. professor ross is one of the professors that care about their students learning

professor ross is an amazing teacher! he is so clear and structured, and he is incredibly passionate about what he's teaching. i enjoyed going to office hours just to chat with him, and he's more than happy to clarify concepts covered in lectures. he's very knowledgeable and did interviews with guest speakers, so it was cool seeing what potential careers related to ids/gs/ps looked like. he accommodated the class with the covid-19 and blm situation and made the final optional/no harm. i did think that the readings were kinda heavy though and got overwhelming sometimes, but they were interesting! i would take another class with him.

Such an amazing class and professor, would highly recommend.
I feel like we didn't really go deep into any of the themes or topics, but I still learned a lot. Prof Ross is really good at making the materials clear and have really structured, easy to follow lectures. He really cares about your learning and is super accommodating. I really enjoyed a lot of this class, even the readings, which were difficult at times. Overall a great time.