Took this class online during the COVID pandemic. Our grading was 40% for a midterm paper and 40% for a final paper. 10% for a draft of each respective paper. Pretty reasonable.

Firstly, wouldn't recommend taking this class if you're not a poli sci major. The material just isnt that interesting and is pretty complicated/nuanced, even with a good lecturer.
W/ regard to Sissa, at first I though she really didn't give a frick. Her lectures will actually put you to sleep in video form. She's very hard to understand and says everything in monotone and uses a complex academic vernacular... and she talks very slowly. In person maybe she's better I'm not sure. But I went to her office hours a few times and it was clear that she does care about the class and teaching the material, and was actually very helpful and nice. I would also argue that the lectures in this class aren't as important as just reading the material and understanding it, as most of her lectures were literally just very long/ detailed recaps of the readings.
On another positive note, the workload for this class is pretty light (if its online), and your TA seems to call all the shots . Think the prompts through, use sparknotes to help explain plato or Aristotle or whoever, and bang out a couple of papers. Bada bing bada boom.

Once again, only take this class if you're a poli sci major who needs to kill a pre-rec not worth your time as a GE.

The key to happiness is found in not taking this class. First of all her lectures are all over the place and her slides are some of the most unhelpful I've ever stumbled upon. Going to class is mandatory since she has an unidentified number of pop quizzes throughout the quarter. T.As are TOUGH graders too, they don't give you that long to address a question but expect you to hit EVERY criterion PERFECTLY. I had a terrible time and I guarantee if you take it, you will too. It doesn't even matter whether what we read was interesting or not because she is so all over the place it is really not worth it. Save yourself the stress and save your GPA by not enrolling in this class.

Professor Sissa does not care. She is here to get her 340k check and that is it. Had her during COVID pandemic. All she did was upload low quality videos twice a week. Was not engaging whatsoever. Youtubers do way more and get payed way less.
Your grade in the class is solely based on what TA you get. Rui and Josh are amazing

I took this class as a GE. Big mistake. I got a C+. My fault tho, I neglected the readings. The professor really cares. Don't take this class unless you are prepared to read and attend lecture.

I took this class in winter of 2021, and let me say that it was one of the most boring classes I've ever taken. Don't get me wrong, learning about Plato, Aristotle, etc is fundamental to political science and can be very interesting, but Professor Sissa's lectures made me fall asleep. The class consists of 2 papers, one midterm and one final... thats it. It's a pretty easy class but the essays are very long and take a lot of effort since they count so much toward your grade. First essay was 2400 words and second was 3000. For me, this format made it pretty stressful.

I took this class during COVID so I'm not sure how the in person format is like. I found this class to be on the easier side but oh my god it gave me SO MUCH STRESS.

Our grade is entirely dependent on two exams - the midterm essay and the final essay.

The midterm essay requires 2400 words while the final essay requires 3000. The topics for both are extremely vague to the point you are literally reaching out into the air for words just to meet the requirement. I spent most of my time trying to fill up the words and staring at my readings during this class.

The lectures are pretty slow and I found it very hard to watch through them.

It is not the easiest to get an A as some of the TA make a 94% an A rather than a 93%.

If you are not a pol sci major, do not take this class. It is not the hardest, but I think that it is not worth the time if you're just looking for a GE.

Via COVID-19 I think this class was BEARABLE. I do not think it depends much on the Professor but more on the TA you get! It required a lot of reading so extremely reading intensive as you have to read about each philosopher. Her accent is a bit rough to understand but via COVID everything was recorded so you could rewatch what you didn't understand. Her lecture recorded were abnormally long though sometimes 2-3 hours which was annoying. But despite all of this I would say the grading was fairly easy we were graded by only 3 papers I think.

This course was not difficult. The readings were extremely long and our grade was based off of two papers. The TAs were helpful with the writing process, and it was overall a fun class.

I had TA Acuna and she was very kind and was very accommodating. Professor Sissa is super sweet too. they made the final optional, so we basically only had to do the midterm (rough draft and final draft paper). easy A and an interesting class in general!

The class is comprised of pop-up quizzes (no midterm) and consists of only the final. There are a lot of readings but honestly, just stick to shmoop and spark notes (that's what I did and was prepared for every quiz). Nonetheless, WRITE DOWN everything she discusses in lecture as they are very well presented and cover what she's going to implement in the quiz. Overall, this class is fairly easy if you can foster a good relationship with you TA (who grades your paper), understand the overarching ideas of the political theorists she covers, and take notes in class.