This class is chill and not too difficult. The midterm and final are essentially an AP test style with multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions. The concepts are not hard it’s just basic American government and politics. I did not take AP gov and had no problems. The discussion sections are also normally quite interesting discussions on different concepts. You don’t really have to do the textbook readings, but I do think they can be helpful in writing the essay on the midterm and final as it goes more in depth on concepts you are learning in the class.

I took this class as major prep and mostly enjoyed it. While the lectures can get boring, Professor Tausanovitch is extremely knowledgeable and the TAs were helpful. This class was harder than expected for me but pretty easy for most people that took AP Gov. The midterm, final, and one major paper make up almost the whole grade and while none of them are too difficult you pretty much need an A on at least 2/3 to get an A overall. Workload-wise this class was light and overall interesting

I really enjoyed this class! I found the content very relevant and engaging and didn't have trouble keeping up with the readings at all. There is very little work to do other than the readings and they could be a rather boring and sometimes harder to understand, but just getting through them made tests and assignments much easier. I went into this having done AP Comp Gov previously, but I didn't think you need much background in politics considering that you go every branch of government pretty in depth. One thing I would say however is the slides are kinda disorganized section wise and don't provide a lot of guide for review considering how little text is on there. So take good notes!

Overall, I found this class to be really easy and the grading to be extremely lenient. For someone that actually did the readings, I will say that the lecture readings were completely useless as they weren't really tied to the lecture (sometimes he wont even mention them) and are not important for the midterm or final. If you took AP gov or an equivalent government course, I would just focus on taking note of the lecture slides to get you through exams (if you haven't taken a gov course before, you might want to consider reading the textbook, but the content is fairly easy for the most part). As for the section readings, I would encourage to read these because you are quizzed on them during discussion (only 3 questions each / 2% of the grade). The section readings were not very interesting, but I found them to get better as the class goes on (more because I figured out what information to avoid reading and what to be more attentive to). In terms of the 5 page essay assigned, the graders are very nice (the mean was like a 93 with the lowest score being a 78) and you could totally do it in a day and still expect a good grade as long as you put some type of effort into it. The midterm and final were really easy (a lot of common sense tbh) and are easy to get good grades on as long as you study the lecture slides. The lectures for the most part are pretty boring. Tausanovitch is extremely qualified in his field, although is not very engaging-would tend to sleep through some lectures. Overall, I found this to a good introductory POLI SCI course and would strongly encourage others to take it for a pre req or GE.

The class has very similar content to APUSH. Make sure you go over the rubric for the midterm practice because they are very particular with how they want the FRQs answered, but they won't tell you until after the midterm (so the average was a C or a D). The essay is an inflator assignment and the final is just a long version of the midterm. There is no rubrics for the essay, midterm, or final, so a lot of it is a guessing game on what him and the TAs want.

Professor Tausanovitch is very knowledgable and qualified and it is evident in his lectures. His slides are really basic and simple but he is a very interesting lecturer to me. The course exams are very well organized and he has a study guide for the midterm that helped me prepare.

Professor Tausanovitch is great, he posts his lecture slides on BruinLearn alongside his recordings of class. This class is very interesting and informative for any Poli Sci majors or anyone who simply wants to learn more about American politics and government.
If you have taken AP US Government it will make this class substantially easier as it is almost identical but simply digs deeper into certain topics. In general this class was not difficult, there are weekly readings with weekly quizzes in the attendance mandatory discussions. Besides this there is only one essay which is not due until late November.
The midterm and final for this class is analytically heavy, it takes critical thinking alongside knowledge to pass, simply studying the lecture slides is not enough as the test asks you to apply your knowledge of American politics in different ways. The midterm is made up of a short MCQ, identification, SAQ, and timed essay, the final is just the same except with a few more questions.
I highly enjoyed this class and believe it is great for anyone who can put in a little more work to apply what you learn in a more critical way.

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