I really stressed out about this class for most of the quarter because I did not understand how to spend time on it. I studied my notes from lecture and some of the posted lecture notes and the discussion section content. This got me a 78% on the midterm exam and 84% on the midterm essay. Also, I fell asleep during a lot of the lectures, which contributes to my awfully low scores (compared to the medians).

I then proceeded to miss almost all the lectures after the midterms. However, I ended up clutching the final exam and final essay, because I understood how it worked (luckily). I understood what the graders were looking for for the final essay because one of Schwartz' lecture notes goes over this. For the exam, you literally read all of the lecture notes (starting from lectures after the midterm). Take handwritten notes on every single page, and then study the exams from the SAC test bank. No need to go over discussion stuff. I did this all in four days before the final exam. I ended up getting an A in the class (also thanks to Schwartz' policy which is that if you show an upward trend in your grades throughout the quarter, the finals will be weighted higher).

Thus, my point is study the lecture notes hella, because the exams are based on those. You will also be able to answer "jeopardy" style questions, because the hunks just help with that. This is what the syllabus advertises as well.

Thomas Schwartz is a good professor. His lectures (not mandatory) are pretty engaging for the most part and he tends to engage in friendly banter with the people who sit towards the front. He's a nice old man who loves political science. The class is based on a midterm exam and midterm essay both done in class (20% each) and a final exam and final research paper (30% each). Grading is up to the TA with some guidance from the professor and, if an upward trend is seen in grades from the midterms to the final, your grade actually may get inflated at the end (Very Cool, Schwartz!). Schwartz releases his own lecture notes (the fabled "Hunks") and the exams are 100% based on these. The nice thing is that since notes are published for each lecture, you can skip some if you want. To prepare for exams, memorize the hunks and go to the test bank and memorize as many questions from past exams as you can (he tends to recycle). This class was a fairly easy GE and I would totally recommend taking this class with Schwartz.

I found the material taught in this class very interesting. I never went to lectures, but the professor's hunks, which are basically lecture notes, were actually very fun to read. Maybe thats just me tho. This class was also insanely easy with the hunks and SAC test bank.

Definitely one of the most engaging and insightful classes I’ve ever taken. Prof. Schwartz is a really nice guy and often make fun of USC (cough cough). I am an international student with no knowledge on American Politics and definitely walked out of this class with a lot of stuffs I’ve learnt from Prof Schwartz and the TA. Michael was my TA and he definitely helped me out a lot on understanding the materials in this class and even helped me worked on my assignments. Definitely recommend Prof. Schwartz if you are planning to study American Politics at UCLA.

The material covered in this class isn't anything fairly new if you've already taken some sort of US gov class before. Schwartz is a nice guy and I honestly enjoyed listening to him speak. It's clear he loves the material. However, some lectures are more boring than others. Depends what you're interested in.

Overall grade is made up of a midterm exam, midterm essay (in discussion), final exam, and final essay (outside of class).

Both the midterm exam and final exam are pretty easy. The only thing you have to review for them are the hunks (Schwartz's lecture notes). His past exams are also available in the test bank and he reuses at least 90% of his questions.

As for the essays, it really just comes down to your TA, but I found that most were nice about and tried to help you get the best grade you could on both of them.

Schwartz is kind of boring and I didn't pay attention to any of his lectures, but his tests are straight out of hunks (usually copied directly from the underlined topics) and are really easy to do well on. Discussions were interesting and helpful, and your TA decides your grade so get him/her to like you.

Easy class. Just go to the test bank before exams and use past exams as practice questions. I never went to lecture and just read over the hunks and old exams to study. The only outside of class assignment you have the entire quarter is just a final paper that only has to be 3-5 pages. Overall really easy class.

This class is super easy, especially if you took AP US Government or APUSH in high school. The midterm was based on the US Constitution and a few concepts that Professor Schwartz talked about in class. Frankly, you don't have to go to any of the lectures or get any of the books. He posts all of his lecture notes on CCLE, so you can get away with just reading those before the midterm and the final and you'll get an A. There's one final paper, and the TAs are pretty lenient when it comes to grading. It's a great class for an easy GE or if you want to dip your toe into Political Science.

PS 40 with Schwartz is a relatively easy course if you took AP Gov back in high school and did well. Grading of your exam can depend on which TA you get, but the exams are pretty fair.

My lord this class is easy.