This class sucked the soul out of my life. Please think twice before taking this class, especially if you think it will be an Easy A for a polisci upper div fulfillment. The class consists of a midterm 30% final 30% paper (15 pages) 30% and participation/attendance in discussion 10%. This professor assigned about 5-6 books that you have to read throughout the quarter.. 10 WEEKS!! Which is insanely a lot especially if you have other classes you need to focus on. The midterm consists of 4 questions that you need to write a page - 2 pages about. He gives you the midterm and final questions upfront. For the midterm he gives you 15 questions that YOU NEED TO STUDY and he only chooses 4!!! So basically you need to study 15 one page and half to answer the questions that he will choose and for the final he gives you 20 questions that you need to study and again he only chooses 4 which he ONLY gives you an hour and 15 minutes to complete !! The final is hectic especially since there is a book you need to read to start writing your 15 page paper, and the book is a graduate level book which is SO difficult to comprehend. So meanwhile you have to study the 20-25 pages for the final, you also have to get started on your paper because its due a week before your final. No matter how much I read the books, attended class, studied the midterm/final -- I was ALWAYS behind. I would not recommend this class to my friends nor would I ever take a class with him again. Yeaaahhh, he was passionate with the way he taught and provided his lecture slides on CCLE, it was REALLY hard to keep up with this polisci class especially when my other polisci classes required me to write papers/study for tests as well!!! Please do yourself a favor and find another polisci class to fulfill your requirements. I took this class because the reviews seemed doable and I thought since I have the midterm/final questions upfront, I'll be okay. BUT I studied my ASSS off and literally did shitty and so did a lot of my friends, so SAVE YOURSELF because it is going to take SO much of your time to do this class (you will not have a social life, especially if you are taking other polisci class too)!

Class really isn't that bad everyone is just complaining. The readings aren't needed to do well in the class- which is the bulk of the work. Just listen to the lectures and participate in the discussiosn and you will be fine.

If you are a person who prefers classes that have a dispersed course structure with more assignments worth less, then this class is not for you. If you are a transfer student, then this is one of the tougher classes to immediately jump into after coming from a CC. The class structure is the following:

30% Midterm Exam : The midterm is very straightforward. Materials are from week 1-5. The professor gives you a study guide beforehand that is composed of around 14 questions. Only 4 will be on the test. You can find the answer/responses to these questions on Quizlet since this study guide has literally been around since Bill Clinton was president. The themes of the questions usually overlap with each other. So it is good practice to study ALL of the questions before the exam, but you will get a good feeling of which ideas/questions will actually be on the final. In my experience, they are usually a lot nicer about choosing questions that will be on the exam. The exams are also Bluebook. Meaning they are handwritten. You will have 75 minutes to complete all 4 questions and your hand and arm will be very sore in the end. That is only roughly 20 minutes per question so know your material well and budget your time wisely.

30% Research Paper : You will read a book called the Politics Presidents Make by Stephen Skowronek. This man does not know how to write a sentence. The book itself is available through the library for free as a PDF. You will use the concept of political time that Skowronek explains and put the current President into one of the eras. Sounds simple enough. It is 12 pages long and double spaced. This is one of the more tedious assignments you will do. Have a really solid structure and be prepared to yap A LOT because those ~2500-3000 could not go fast enough. The paper is due by the last week of the quarter so right before finals week.

30% Final Exam : Same thing as the midterm except there is a new set of questions and it tests you on material week 5-10. I personally found this exam slightly harder than the midterm to study for but the format is exactly the same. Also handwritten.

10% Discussion Section: This is the most important part of the class. Get to know your TA very well since they are grading all of your work. I had Ryan Guth as my TA and they were fantastic. In my section the 10% was free and attendance was optional but your mileage may vary depending on who you get. But from what I have seen, the TAs are on your side. I did not do as well on the midterm as I would've liked, so I went to Ryan's office hours and was able to gain enough points to bump the midterm grade to a 90. Office hours are usually empty so take the opportunity to get to know your TA. The section itself was the funnest part of the course. I did not particularly gain anything useful academic wise but expectations and tips on how to do well in the course were made very clear during the discussion section. It was extremely chill and I did my best to attend every single one.

Tips to do well on the exams. Despite suggested guidelines, more is more on the exams. Do not try to limit yourself to 'only one page'. Keep in mind you do have a time limit. But if you have a scatterbrain like me then its hard to get the structure down from the start. So write more to give yourself a greater chance to yap into a better grade. The structure will be explained to you by your TA but it roughly follows this. Thesis first paragraph and 3 body paragraphs. The questions can be very long and convoluted but the bottom line is they usually have 2-3 parts to them. So answer those in each of the paragraphs. For my TA, a conclusion was not required but your mileage may vary.

I did not enjoy the lectures of this course at all. I personally do not engage well with lectures, and this class was no different. Scott James is a very impassioned lecturer, but he bases most of what he says off the slides, which are posted on canvas. I stopped attending lectures regularly after midterms and did fine as long as you can answer the study guide questions and still go to discussion. Professor James also regularly uses complex vocabulary in his lectures and regular speak, which is understandable since he is an academic, but can get very tiring when trying to unpack new concepts. If you like things explained in a simple manner, you will struggle a bit with his lectures and style.

Many reviews here say this is a tough course. And to a certain extent its true. But it really doesn't take THAT much time to do everything and is very straightforward. Memorize your study guides, make friends with your TA and ask good questions, and yap on your research paper and you will get an A.

Your grade in the class has 3 components:

Section participation: 10%
Midterm: 30%
Final paper: 30%
Final exam: 30%

I thought this class was going to be really bad, but honestly, it was doable. While there is a lot of reading that needs to be done (some midterm/final questions pull from the readings), you can definitely space them out in a way that lets you complete them on time. James is a solid lecturer (although he lowkey reads off of the slides which are posted online), and the class material is usually pretty interesting. It is also important to note that he records the audio from his lectures and post them online. However, he sometimes forgets to post them. I won’t lie the final paper was a bit of a PIA. It is a 10-12 page paper based on this dense Skowronek book read during the course. It’s definitely possible to get an A on it though. The midterm and final were pretty fair. All of the questions were given out beforehand, and he chose four from a pool of around 15 or so for both exams. As long as you know how to answer every question in advance you should be okay. The final being non-cumulative was nice as well. I will say that the TA’s could definitely grade a little nicer on the exams. Additionally, it would’ve been nice if the final paper wasn’t due so close to the final exam. Other than that, this class was fine. Just expect a lot of reading.

I would not recommend this class because the lectures are so boring, and the exams are fairly difficult. The professor is not engaging at all and although I originally thought that I was interested in the topic I ended up hating it. I felt like the exams required a lot more background American historical presidential knowledge than I had and it was very difficult to come up with the required historical examples of concepts on the exam. It was also exhausting to have such a long final paper and a final exam right next to each other. I had TA Giovanni Castro and he was nice but not a great communicator so I wouldn’t recommend him. I was often confused and didn’t get much out of section. This class was the bane of my existence this quarter. On the bright side he uses bruincast to record lectures.

Everyone who says this class was too much is kinda complaining imo. The midterm is like a basic midterm just four short answer questions out of the 15 you study which is kind of a lot but whatever. The lectures are very organized, interesting, and engaging. I felt like I gained knowledge from this class that is useful for not just a Poli Sci major but anyone wanting to understand politics more. The paper is 12 pages and theres a final similar to the midterm. No other homework assignments which I dont mind but its up to each person if theyd rather have more work that averages out their grade, but also have more of a workload through the quarter.

I LOVED this class, and I still use my knowledge of the presidency all the time in my classes and my life. However, if you don't love political science and/or aren't super interested in the institution of the presidency, you will not like this class. It is based off exams which were based off essay prompts we'd already been given (he gave us like 12 and chose 4 at random for the exam). The hardest thing about this class was the final paper (mine ended up being like 20 pages long), which was basically an analysis of our main textbook (super dense, but interesting and not hard if you actually pay attention). Overall, really time consuming but worth it

Don't get me wrong Professor James is extremely likable intelligent and knowledgeable. You can tell he is one of those professor that loves what he does and I enjoyed his lecturing style.His lectures are organized and he even records and posts the audio which is really nice.The TA is great as well.They are helpful and kind.

However overall this class was extremely difficult.The worst part of the class was a 15 page paper on the most fatiguing and complex book/topic you can possibly think of. I always considered myself a good writer, but it took me over a month of thinking, deliberating and writing to finish and by the end I had never been more miserable and distraught over an assignment in my life!!!!

The midterm was fairly easy but the final was once again very difficult.You do get the questions in advance but because the paper and final are due at practically the same time you will end up barely getting time to prepare...

Take with great caution and prepare yourself if you REALLY must take it.

I definitely feel like this is one of the best professors in the UCLA Political Science department, the content is definitely dense and there are hundreds of slides each lecture, but you will learn something important and it is not hard to get an A. Professor James is one of the kindest people Ive ever met, and is super thoughtful. Months after the class ended he sent me emails with links to articles he thought might be of interest to me after talking about the subject in office hours during the course. I would 100% recommend this class, it will give you a great college experience, and you will learn some great stuff!

Although this class was challenging, I did enjoy taking it. Prof James is extremely knowledgeable and passionate. He read directly from the slides and went through over 100 slides per class so a lot of content was covered. He gives potential midterm and final exam questions to study but only chooses 5 of them. You are also required to write a 15-page final exam so the class is definitely a lot to take on. Ryan was my TA and was extremely helpful and honest with his students. Don't take if you don't want to put a lot of effort into this class.