Y'all.. the reviews from last year were lowkey misleading because this quarter we only had one TA (and I would expect this to also be the case in future classes, not sure though) so we didn't have discussion section and therefore also did not have any buffer assignments. Our grade breakdown was 50% midterm 50% final which was personally super stressful for me because I have test taking anxiety. The TA determines your entire grade.

Essays are in total worth 40% and defining key terms was worth 60%. Defining key terms saved my grade because my TA graded kinda ambiguously imo, and it was hard to gauge what he wanted out of some of the prompts. We also didn't get a lot of time to actually do the papers, and they're 5-6 pages (we had like 5 days but these were given out on weeks where we had a lot of other work as well). The class usually isn't a lot of work but like many of the other reviews said, it's periods of super concentrated heavy work loads, especially during midterm and finals. Content was interesting imo though.

I loved Pub Aff 50! As a first-year pre-public affairs major, I was very happy to have the opportunity to take this class. The first half focuses on democratic theory (i.e. what makes a society democratic) and the second half focuses more on social inequality (i.e. racism, classism, sexism). There are two 5-7 page papers, one on each half of the course that account for about 33% of your grade each. The other 34% is participation in section. Your TA determines all of your grade. The lectures are AMAZING! So interesting and engaging. My favorite class I took this quarter and I would 110% take another with Dean Segura if given the chance.

If you are a public affairs major trying to figure out which pre reqs to take, I would not suggest this class in terms of easiness/workload. It was very interesting, however it was a lot of work with not much instruction. For both the midterm and final, we had to take an in class exam where we were given a handful of words/phrases and had to write what we knew about it and how it connected to other topics. There was no list of possible terms, so you literally had to study every single detail of the class. THEN on top of this test, we had to write a 4 page (midterm) and 6 page (final) paper that was due four days later. Basically, it's not a constant amount of work but there is a lot at certain times. For discussion, it is very structured and can be kind of stressful at times. Groups present each week and everyone is graded on their contributions which made up a large portion of the grade. I ended this class with an A but it was not easy and very stressful at times.

Professor Segura was super nice, approachable, and had a great sense of humor. I actually felt comfortable participating and asking questions during class. However, I wouldn't recommend this course if you have very little interest in political theory. The first half of the class covered topics such as democratic theory, pluralism, anti-intellectualism, and deliberation (midterm). The second half covered topics such as racial construction, traditionalism, modern sexism, and class/economic inequality (final). At times the slides felt confusing since the words felt too formal at times?

My section's grading distribution was split into 50% midterm and 50% final with no discussion section. Each exam was comprised of:
• 60%: An in-person exam (you are given 9-10 terms and you have to define 5-6 of them in paragraphs).
• 40%: A 5-6 page take-home research paper where you choose 1 out of 2 prompts (assigned after taking the in-person exam and you have around 5 days to turn it in online).

An important note is that you are not given a list of possible terms that will appear in the in-person exams. The exam content covers only what was on the lecture slides so iykyk. You essentially have to blindly study all of the previous lectures to figure out what terms may show up. I recommend looking at the quizlets online for PA 50 so you can get an idea of what terms to prioritize but make sure to look through your notes and slides!

Additionally, I took notes and wrote notecards by hand and that was what truly helped me retain the information better when revisiting topics. I often would start studying 1-2 days before the in-person exam which I discourage. As long as you space out your studying, you should be set for the exams. All the grading is conducted by the TA and I would say mine was a fair grader. I wished that the rubrics would offer more detailed explanations of what was expected from students. Some of the feedback I would get was to expand on some topics that I mentioned in my essay (but we weren't even sure what topics to research?) Overall, the class was an okay experience and I am happy with the grade I received.

LOVED THIS CLASS!!! Segura is an incredible lecturer and I was excited to go to class every day. Lectures weren't required but discussions were; discussions were basically just the TA going over the readings and you had to do a group project to present on one of the weeks. Your grade is based solely on your TA and consists of participation in discussions (basically just showing up), the midterm, and the final. As long as you pay attention in lectures/look over the slides, the midterm and final weren't that bad.

For lectures attendance wasn't mandatory, but discussion attendance was. It was no big deal if you missed a lecture because he publishes the slides, and the slides have everything you need to know. He says to do a lot of the readings, but I did none and was never lost, so in my opinion they're a waste of time. The midterm and final both have the same format. The first part is in class. You are presented with 10 terms and have to define 5 of them. Then after you turn in the first part you get the essay prompt for the second part and you have about 5 days to write a 5-7 page paper. I thought the grading was pretty fair, and in all honesty would recommend as a GE.

This was one of my favorite classes, if not my favorite class, I've taken at UCLA! Dean Segura was an amazing professor and I would highly highly recommend taking the course with him if you can. I genuinely felt so interested in what we were learning, and was honestly excited about the essay prompts we were given too! Even if some of the readings we got were a little lengthy, Professor Segura did a really good job explaining them in lecture and I felt like I learned a lot! Highly recommend!!

Dean Segura is an amazing lecturer, easy to see why he has the position and acclaim that he does. Even though lecture attendance isn't super important for your grade, I looked forward to going to lecture because he is so engaging and he talks about issues in such an enlightening way. The papers were interesting and kind of fun to write though make sure to know EXACTLY what your TA is looking for before starting them. Also, the readings are good to skim but not crucially important as long as you can persuasively integrate them into the papers.

Dean Segura is a great lecturer! There are no exams, just a midterm and final paper. Doing the readings and understanding the main ideas will help you get through the essays more easily. The readings are interesting and relevant, especially for the second half of the quarter. Section attendance and participation counts for a good portion of your grade so attending that and engaging in section will help you a lot. Its important to ask your TAs for what they're looking for in the midterm and final essays. I think the biggest discrepancy between sections was that there was no rubrics and TAs seemed to look for different things depending on the section. I had Ryan as my TA and he was helpful if you emailed him with any questions! By the time the final came around, the TAs had a rubric which made things more clear for us!

I really liked Dean Segura for his clear and engaging lectures as well as thought. What I disliked were the readings because they were all extremely long and unclear. Many of my classmates also agreed that the readings were hard to get through. Discussion sections were very engaging and fun to attend because we got to hash out lecture material. There is a group presentation that you get to pick during discussion and that was also a good experience. Overall this class was pretty good mostly due to Dean Segura's lectures and the discussion sections. However, some classmates came off as racist during discussions so to those people, shut up and listen. And to my people of color, call them out.