POL SCI 149
Special Topics in American Government and Politics: Presidential Elections: Stories We Tell About Who Won and Why
Description: Lecture, three or four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: course 40, two courses in Field III. Designed for juniors/seniors. Intensive examination of one or more special problems appropriate to American politics. Sections offered on regular basis, with topics announced in preceding term. May be repeated for credit with topic change. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - I hated this class. Lucky to have gotten an A- but the directions are sometimes unclear, can be a harsh/weird grader, and lectures were often pointless. That being said, you only need to attend the first two lectures, where about 30 mins is him taking attendance. After that, I would skip the lectures entirely or only stay for ~30 minutes since most lectures are discussion based and no notes need to be taken. The grade was composed of several writing assignments: two 'author sketches' and four other papers. Lots of writing is required for this class since the lectures are discussion based, but you can skim the readings and do just fine (I think very few students ever really read the entire thing). Lastly, there was a "discussion leader" assignment that required you to select a reading & author and demonstrate your knowledge to the class. Most students waited until the last week to do it, and then there was about 50 students with only 10ish available readings left. DO IT EARLY!! Saves a lot of stress and is a huge inconvenience trying to do it towards the end of the class (and he grades that very easy, I got a 98). Overall, I would stray away from this class, but if you can handle multiple writing assignments, you'll be fine. I'd say effort is required for an A/A-, but any B grade is easy with minimal effort.
Spring 2024 - I hated this class. Lucky to have gotten an A- but the directions are sometimes unclear, can be a harsh/weird grader, and lectures were often pointless. That being said, you only need to attend the first two lectures, where about 30 mins is him taking attendance. After that, I would skip the lectures entirely or only stay for ~30 minutes since most lectures are discussion based and no notes need to be taken. The grade was composed of several writing assignments: two 'author sketches' and four other papers. Lots of writing is required for this class since the lectures are discussion based, but you can skim the readings and do just fine (I think very few students ever really read the entire thing). Lastly, there was a "discussion leader" assignment that required you to select a reading & author and demonstrate your knowledge to the class. Most students waited until the last week to do it, and then there was about 50 students with only 10ish available readings left. DO IT EARLY!! Saves a lot of stress and is a huge inconvenience trying to do it towards the end of the class (and he grades that very easy, I got a 98). Overall, I would stray away from this class, but if you can handle multiple writing assignments, you'll be fine. I'd say effort is required for an A/A-, but any B grade is easy with minimal effort.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Professor Sherrer is such a cool dude and a great teacher. He is engaging and so passionate about American politics. He had great lecture slides and encouraged us to engage in breakout room discussions with our peers every class. This helped us feel a bit more connected to each other during online school. The class was made up of two homework assignments that were full credit if submitted on time, attendance and multiple choice and short answer midterm and final. There was no textbook required and instead, he provided really interesting chapters from books he enjoyed. I would highly recommend taking this class and any class he teaches at UCLA.
Fall 2020 - Professor Sherrer is such a cool dude and a great teacher. He is engaging and so passionate about American politics. He had great lecture slides and encouraged us to engage in breakout room discussions with our peers every class. This helped us feel a bit more connected to each other during online school. The class was made up of two homework assignments that were full credit if submitted on time, attendance and multiple choice and short answer midterm and final. There was no textbook required and instead, he provided really interesting chapters from books he enjoyed. I would highly recommend taking this class and any class he teaches at UCLA.
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