POL SCI 40
Introduction to American Politics
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Basic institutions and processes of democratic politics. Treatment of themes such as constitutionalism, representation, participation, and leadership coupled with particular emphasis on the American case. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
3 of 5
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2021 - I took Poli Sci 40 online with Bradley during CSI. He is very knowledgeable about the topic and is good at answering questions. He reuses lectures from the original professor of the class, and he publishes prewritten lecture notes which are literally everything he says out loud, so if you study those, you'll be fine. The exams are two parts each: a multiple choice and an outline of an essay. He is a fair grader. If you read the textbook, pay attention, and look at the lecture notes, you'll be fine. Bradley is very nice and willing to help everyone!
Summer 2021 - I took Poli Sci 40 online with Bradley during CSI. He is very knowledgeable about the topic and is good at answering questions. He reuses lectures from the original professor of the class, and he publishes prewritten lecture notes which are literally everything he says out loud, so if you study those, you'll be fine. The exams are two parts each: a multiple choice and an outline of an essay. He is a fair grader. If you read the textbook, pay attention, and look at the lecture notes, you'll be fine. Bradley is very nice and willing to help everyone!
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Winter 2019 - Dr. Patterson is my favorite Political Science professor at UCLA by far. He really knows how to engage his classes with his informative and entertaining lectures. Often times I find myself spacing out during long lectures, but Dr. Patterson knows how to make his presentations very relevant and even squeezes in interactive Kahoot quizzes for easy participation points. Dr. Patterson is very approachable and easy to talk to, and I am lucky to have been able to take his class two quarters in a row, and I am excited to continue to do so next quarter. He is also open to doing research together if you are looking to go down that path. He is an amazing professor who deserves only the best perks at UCLA.
Winter 2019 - Dr. Patterson is my favorite Political Science professor at UCLA by far. He really knows how to engage his classes with his informative and entertaining lectures. Often times I find myself spacing out during long lectures, but Dr. Patterson knows how to make his presentations very relevant and even squeezes in interactive Kahoot quizzes for easy participation points. Dr. Patterson is very approachable and easy to talk to, and I am lucky to have been able to take his class two quarters in a row, and I am excited to continue to do so next quarter. He is also open to doing research together if you are looking to go down that path. He is an amazing professor who deserves only the best perks at UCLA.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - This class is a fantastic option for a political science prerequisite course and a good social analysis GE. Professor Payson is an amazing lecturer who not only gives great examples and explanations of course content but expands this class beyond a simple AP U.S. Government review by incorporating interesting research into lectures and discussion sections. She is very accessible in office hours and went out of her way to accommodate students during this challenging quarter. Lectures are recorded, but some parts of the slides are left blank as an incentive to attend in person. No attendance is taken during lectures, but discussion attendance and participation (participation meaning a one-sentence statement about what you learned due at the end of discussion section) is mandatory and worth 20% of the grade. This class has a midterm, a final, two quizzes, and a paper. The midterm and final are structured almost identically. The midterm, worth 20% of the grade, had 30 multiple-choice questions and four (you pick these four out of six options) short answer questions of four to five sentences. The final, worth 25% of the grade, would have been nearly identical, but it was multiple choice only due to the TA strike. The midterm and final are both online and open-note with a 2-hour, 10-minute time limit, and they're very easy. Class averages were around 90% for both. The quizzes (one in week 3, the other in week 8) are worth 20% of the grade and cover the material taught in the few weeks preceding each of them. They're 10 questions each, being mostly multiple choice with a couple one-to-two-sentence responses. These were about equivalent in average scores and difficulty to the midterm and final. Finally, the paper, worth 15% of the grade, is basically just a long homework assignment. Having it graded was made optional this quarter, but it seemed to be easy to follow the rubric and get a great score. You simply summarize a news article and show how it relates to course themes in 4-6 pages, and you don't even need to cite any sources besides the article. There was also a four percentage point boost to your grade for writing a letter to a government official about a topic of your choice. I'm not sure if this will return in future quarters, as it seemed rather generous, but if it's offered it's a very helpful extra credit opportunity. I would recommend using the textbook for this class, but mostly just for the exams, quizzes, and paper. You don't need to memorize it word-for-word; just know the key terms and concepts Professor Payson highlights in lectures and the reading guides (these guides are very helpful; using them saves you a lot of time when reading/reviewing!). The aforementioned research papers covered in lectures and discussion sections make appearances in the exams and quizzes, but you really don't need to know much about them other than a basic summary of their findings (once again, for the discussion section research papers, use the reading guides for reading/review!). Overall, this is an easy class that was made even easier by the TA strike. While the grades may be inflated this quarter due to the strike and the extra credit assignment, this is still an easy and interesting class with a great professor. I recommend this class to everyone, especially political science majors looking for their lower-division courses. Even if you took AP U.S. Government, this course is still valuable for its utilization of research and Professor Payson's passion for and expertise on the subject.
Spring 2024 - This class is a fantastic option for a political science prerequisite course and a good social analysis GE. Professor Payson is an amazing lecturer who not only gives great examples and explanations of course content but expands this class beyond a simple AP U.S. Government review by incorporating interesting research into lectures and discussion sections. She is very accessible in office hours and went out of her way to accommodate students during this challenging quarter. Lectures are recorded, but some parts of the slides are left blank as an incentive to attend in person. No attendance is taken during lectures, but discussion attendance and participation (participation meaning a one-sentence statement about what you learned due at the end of discussion section) is mandatory and worth 20% of the grade. This class has a midterm, a final, two quizzes, and a paper. The midterm and final are structured almost identically. The midterm, worth 20% of the grade, had 30 multiple-choice questions and four (you pick these four out of six options) short answer questions of four to five sentences. The final, worth 25% of the grade, would have been nearly identical, but it was multiple choice only due to the TA strike. The midterm and final are both online and open-note with a 2-hour, 10-minute time limit, and they're very easy. Class averages were around 90% for both. The quizzes (one in week 3, the other in week 8) are worth 20% of the grade and cover the material taught in the few weeks preceding each of them. They're 10 questions each, being mostly multiple choice with a couple one-to-two-sentence responses. These were about equivalent in average scores and difficulty to the midterm and final. Finally, the paper, worth 15% of the grade, is basically just a long homework assignment. Having it graded was made optional this quarter, but it seemed to be easy to follow the rubric and get a great score. You simply summarize a news article and show how it relates to course themes in 4-6 pages, and you don't even need to cite any sources besides the article. There was also a four percentage point boost to your grade for writing a letter to a government official about a topic of your choice. I'm not sure if this will return in future quarters, as it seemed rather generous, but if it's offered it's a very helpful extra credit opportunity. I would recommend using the textbook for this class, but mostly just for the exams, quizzes, and paper. You don't need to memorize it word-for-word; just know the key terms and concepts Professor Payson highlights in lectures and the reading guides (these guides are very helpful; using them saves you a lot of time when reading/reviewing!). The aforementioned research papers covered in lectures and discussion sections make appearances in the exams and quizzes, but you really don't need to know much about them other than a basic summary of their findings (once again, for the discussion section research papers, use the reading guides for reading/review!). Overall, this is an easy class that was made even easier by the TA strike. While the grades may be inflated this quarter due to the strike and the extra credit assignment, this is still an easy and interesting class with a great professor. I recommend this class to everyone, especially political science majors looking for their lower-division courses. Even if you took AP U.S. Government, this course is still valuable for its utilization of research and Professor Payson's passion for and expertise on the subject.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - I took this during spring COVID quarter (online), so just keep that in mind. Peris seems like a really nice guy, and was super accomodating through all the craziness going on in the world. He lessened our workload, and the midterm was really fair considering all the content we went over. He made the final optional and eased the grading scale a bunch, too. His lectures were engaging and funny at times, and he even connected his lectures to some current events, which was interesting. I really enjoyed his approach to the class. PS he did get in trouble for saying the n-word while reading MLK's Birmingham letter during the George Floyd protests. He obviously shouldn't have done it, and it was hurtful people (esp BIPOC) even though he emphasized that he was saying it for historical context, and not to be malicious. His apology seemed genuine, and if it wasn't for that, I think he would really represent UCLA well as a full time prof.
Spring 2020 - I took this during spring COVID quarter (online), so just keep that in mind. Peris seems like a really nice guy, and was super accomodating through all the craziness going on in the world. He lessened our workload, and the midterm was really fair considering all the content we went over. He made the final optional and eased the grading scale a bunch, too. His lectures were engaging and funny at times, and he even connected his lectures to some current events, which was interesting. I really enjoyed his approach to the class. PS he did get in trouble for saying the n-word while reading MLK's Birmingham letter during the George Floyd protests. He obviously shouldn't have done it, and it was hurtful people (esp BIPOC) even though he emphasized that he was saying it for historical context, and not to be malicious. His apology seemed genuine, and if it wasn't for that, I think he would really represent UCLA well as a full time prof.
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3 of 5
