Professor Chwe is literally a KING. So sweet, and always engages with the class. Very patient and willing to help when people were having difficulties with material. The course itself was overall good. Some of the material was tricky, but again, he makes himself very available for any questions over email, slack, or office hours. In response to zoom learning, he restructured the course to where we just had to complete a certain number of problems (correctly or mostly correct) for an A, instead of traditional exams. My TA was Soonhong and he was super helpful. From what I've heard, the other TA's were fantastic as well.

Professor Chwe was easily one of the best instructors/ teachers Ive ever had. He’s funny, nice, and is always willing to answer your emails or questions, even before and after class. All the lectures and most of the office hours were recorded and posted which was extremely helpful in learning the content (you could still attend the lectures live if you wanted to). Overall the work load was very manageable. Sometimes the homework and material was rough but my TA was willing to give extensions if I needed it. The professor and TA were also very helpful in explaining the homework problems and course material during office hours. The lectures are also very organized and he usually started it off with breathing exercises and fun things like pet show and tell.

Fall 2020 Grading Policy:
The grading policy during Fall 2020 (online) seems to be much different than the reviews for when this class was in person, so keep that in mind. This is how the class worked in Fall 2020: You are GUARANTEED an A- or better if you turn in all the work. There is a weekly set of homework problems that you have to do (excluding the midterm week) which can take half an hour to a few hours to complete. If you make minor mistake(s) you still get full credit. If you make a major mistake you will be told where your error was and you can resubmit it for full credit. There is no real mid term or final, all you have to do is turn in 12 exam problems by the end of the quarter. Like the homework, if you make minor mistake(s) you still get full credit. If you make a major mistake you will be told where your error was and you can resubmit it for full credit. You can always email your TA or professor about an exam problem if you’re confused, and we went over some of them at the end of the quarter too. Lastly, you also have to turn in video explanations of a few exam problems. The videos were quite manageable as we were given the answer keys for most of them. You also have to turn in one video where you come with an explanation for a situation that happens in real life, a movie, a video game etc. using one of the concepts taught. It doesn’t have to be long though. (note: The exam video explanations requirement might be different in later quarters since our class managed to get in video explanations for most of the past exam problems already. )

There is a cut-off for getting an A- (doing all the 12 exam problems, 8 homework sets, 8 video explanations, 1 personal video) and B- (doing most of the work). So you are guaranteed an A- if you do all the work. To get an A or A+ or B or B+ etc. is a little subjective based on the TA and Professor discretion but there’s a lot of ways to get it like participating in class/lectures a lot, or doing extra exam problem(s), or doing extra video explanation(s), or doing video explanations on difficult problems, etc.

I would definitely recommend taking this class ( at least while it’s online) because the material was very interesting and the grading policy was excellent.

My advice for this class is don’t procrastinate on the problems and don’t hesitate to contact your TA or Professor Chwe if you’re confused!

Professor Chwe is easily one of the most knowledgeable, helpful, kind, and caring professors I have ever had the pleasure of taking in my 6+ years of college throughout multiple colleges. Professor Chwe emphasizes the importance of actually learning and understanding the material rather than getting everything correct. He is funny and extremely understanding of personal struggle in which he remains completely accommodating in any way he can. The workload is quite a lot, but given the load upfront, students are generally free to complete it at their own pace and shouldn't struggle as long as they don't procrastinate and put it off until the last week. Lecture is very friendly and informal with a constant openness for discussion and questions. These lectures are very engaging with interesting material that bolsters/explains the required homework. Homework and projects are graded generously and allow for redo's for full credit. Professor Chwe also has no issues staying after class and working out problems from homework and projects that students do not understand or are having trouble with. Overall, if you're dipping your toes into poli sci or are a poli sci major well into your degree, I HIGHLY recommend taking Professor Chwe at least one time. He is easily one of the most kind-hearted, smart, and generous professors of all time and it is an absolute pleasure to be a student of his.

Amazing class and professor, one of the best I have ever had. He was super helpful and extremely approachable if you had any questions at all. Chwe really cares about his students and wants to see everyone succeed and will make himself available to help you do so. The material is fascinating and truly makes you look at the world in a different way so that's another bonus. I highly recommend taking this class with Prof Chwe if given the opportunity.

No textbook. Sometimes had a hard time with the homework but they give credit for completion so I always got full points even though I am sure I was wrong! No midterm and the final is optional. TA (gloria) was very nice and chill so I recommend him as well. Overall amazing class and professor! Literally gives a guideline to pass his class with an A so you have to TRY to fail.

I went in thinking the class would lean more into the politics rather than strategy, and was surprised to see all the math on the slide show during the first lecture. As someone who has never been great at math, I was intimidated, but Professor Chwe offered set office hours as well as zoom appointments if you couldn't make the scheduled ones. I did well solely because Professor Chwe and my TA, Josh, were understanding and willing to take a long time to help me understand the material. I came out with an A and a newfound assurance in my math skills that I thought would have left me after high school.

The content itself is fairly rough. Homework every week, "p problems" which were harder homework problems, an m problem that you yourself had to make, and a few others that were, for me, complicated. Attending lecture in person for sure helps, but if you have any issues with any problems, the professor and TA would be more than willing to help.

The professor and TA's are all super nice! Still haven't gotten my grade back though and it is the first day of winter quarter classes. I think he really just cares that you are trying and putting effort into your work. The professor and TA's are all nice and helpful when you have questions and problems and can walk you through it. He would even go over homework problems due that day during lecture, but don't just rely on him to do it for you because you should really try it yourself first. For the optional final, he ended up having to cancel so don't know much on that but said you can do extra problems to show more effort and increase your chances of getting a higher A. There are plenty of resources that he provides and gives a lot of past exam problems with answers too. He also did the lectures on zoom and recorded them, but I would really recommend going to class bc it can be hard to see the board on zoom and hear.

the class material is tricky but the professor truly cares about his students and is always willing to help. he is super wholesome lol

I took this class as my first Pol Sci class in the fall and was expecting a more political science based class but don't be fooled this is basically just game theory, Nash equilibriums, and problem sets. The content is not necessarily difficult but it is essentially conceptual math than can take a while to learn. The course is split up into hw and then the final exam/project. Basically if you do the hw every week it will be hard to fail but it is a lot of work at times(going to lecture is essential). overall Mr, Chwe was such a great instructor and really cares about the success of his students. The work that you put into the class truly reflects your grade.

I've never been in a class where how much effort you put in directly mirrors your grade, but this is one in which that's the case. Professor Chwe guarantees that you'll get at least an A- if you do all the homework assignments, the 12 end-of-year exam problems, three videos on those problems, three videos on past exam problems, and a video on a problem you make up yourself. You can get an A or A+ by impressing your TA and professor in some way, including doing extra problems or videos or producing very high-quality work. There's a final that you can distinguish yourself with, too, but it's optional. Only about an eighth of the class took it. Yep, that's just how this class is. This class is supposed to be the most "mathy" of the 10-60 political science courses, but it really doesn't require much beyond basic algebra skills and logic. Homework can occasionally be time-consuming but isn't ever conceptually challenging. Section attendance is tracked and goes into the professor discretion part of your grade, so you should go. Just know that absolutely nothing meaningful is done there. Even lectures seem pointless, and you can do those over Zoom or watch the recordings. Professor Chwe is a nice guy and helpful if you're having any problems with the content, but his lectures are boring and often skippable. If you're a poli sci major, this should absolutely be a lower-division class to target if you're seeking the path of least resistance to A's.