I really enjoyed this class! Tausanovitch isn't the most engaging lecturer, but the topics he covered were super interesting and you can tell he is very knowledgable about what he's talking about. Although a lot of info from the first half of class was a repeat of AP US Gov, I liked how in the second half of the class he went into different topics like voter participation, public opinion, campaigning, and political polarization, and I enjoyed how he incorporated real-world examples. Grading scheme consisted of a midterm and final exam in person, one paper, and participation in weekly discussion. Each exam had 5 multiple choice questions, 3 definition/term questions, 3-4 short answer questions, and one essay question. Exams themselves were very fair and you will do well if you paid attention in class and understand the concepts. He gives a list of all the possible terms for the definition part, so if you study those then you will likely do well on the entire exam, because all the terms relate to key concepts. I had Jessica as a TA and she was great at clarifying points made in lecture. Overall, the class is pretty easy if you put in minimal effort, and I would take a class with him again.

Not a bad class to take at all if you want to satisfy either your pre-political science major requirement or GE requirement, especially if you have interest and some knowledge about American politics. Professor Tausanovitch is also a straightforward and clear lecturer. He uses slides and is pretty passionate about what he teaches. In terms of grading, there were: Discussion Participation 20%, Midterm 20%, One Paper 20%, and Final 40%. I took AP Gov back in high school so I got through the class without doing any of the weekly readings alright. Midterms and finals were mix of multiple choices, short answers, and one long essay.

Do not take this class. Midterm and final are trash. Please take something else

not the most interesting class because it was mostly a repeat of ap gov, BUT easy nonetheless. even if you do not have a background, you can get by with an A+. my intnl friend was so scared of failing that she P/NP the class, but she got a 98%. Prof is very well-structured, midterm and finals are always the same layout and the study guides are fairly helpful. There is also a paper that is easily graded as well, dependent on your TA. Sections are so very helpful, again depending on your TA and mine was pretty great. very easy for poli sci majors and for a ge.

I took this class as a major prereq and liked it! I didn’t think I was interested in American politics until taking this, but Tausanovitch really makes the content interesting. He’s an amazing lecturer who does a great job explaining the topics and communicating about the course. The midterm and paper were relatively easy, but I will say the final was really hard, probably the hardest final I’ve taken in my first two years of college. I would recommend this class specifically with this professor! He is very approachable and a great teacher, one of the best I’ve had at UCLA.

Grade Distribution:
Participation: 10%
Midterm: 25%
Take-Home Essay: 20%
Final: 45%
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If you have ever taken AP Government this class should be a breeze for you. Dr. Tausanovitch isn't the most engaging lecturer but his slides are always organized and easy to write down. I didn't do any of the readings for this class (including the textbook) and I was fine. I was also very lucky to have Berdan as my TA who was very understanding about participation. The take-home essay was around 5 pages and about why Congress has limited productivity. Make sure to talk to your TA about your essay as it really helps your score. The midterm and final were also pretty easy, with the final being a longer version of the midterm. They both have a few multiple choice questions, identification questions, short answer questions, and one essay question. Overall, if you are a political science major and need an easy pre-requisite I would recommend this class.
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GEs fulfilled by this class:
Foundations of Society and Culture: Social Analysis

The discussions were very interesting and I feel like I learned a lot from this class overall. Harder to study for due to the content being kind of all over the place and not very structured.

The content of this class was not difficult, but the amount of it made studying for exams challenging. The midterm and final were not easy but not too bad as long as you study a bunch and memorize most of the terms and lectures. Professor Tausanovitch's lectures were not very engaging but the slides were useful. Overall, I learned a lot in this class, but mostly through my own studying.

This is an overall good introduction to American politics and Tausonavitch is a great professor: lucid, straight to the point, inquisitive, and undogmatic. Lots of readings but you don't need to complete them in order to get an A in the class, just make sure you read the abstracts, intros, and conclusions, look at the vocab on his study guides, go to lecture, and you should be all set to go. I barely used the assigned textbook and was fine without it. However, if you want to take a deeper dive into politics, I think the articles he assigns are quite refreshing and insightful.

Professor Tausanovitch is a pretty boring lecturer. It's super hard to stay paying attention to his lectures so most of the time I felt like I didn't know what we were learning. The format of the tests reminds me of AP tests with a multiple choice section, short essays, and long essay questions. The tests are not too hard but do require a lot of studying and are worth a lot, so make sure to actually spend some time studying if you're like me and never took an AP Gov class in high school. The essay wasn't too bad but it was boring, but I thought mine was horrible yet I still got an A.
The class breakdown is as follows
Participation: 10%
Essay: 20%
Midterm: 30%
Final: 40%