I was looking forward to this class because I was interested in the topic, however, much to what my peers before my have been saying in their reviews, this class is difficult. Weekly quizzes based on pages upon pages of reading - and you are quizzed on the smallest of details. He is not engaging as a lecturer and material is so dense that none of it makes sense.

I liked the course material, but I thought that there were a few issues with the way the class was structured and how worried he was about the reading quizzes. I was personally a fan of the course description and I kind of enjoyed the class, but it was very surface level, meaning that the quizzes that he was so constantly worried about were always a game of mindless memorization. Do the readings/do a study guide, and you will do fine, especially if they are in person. The course grade is 1/3 quizzes but 2/3 midterms and final; he doesn't grade too hard on those so don't worry too much about those. Zaller seems like a nice guy though.

Honestly you really need to pay attention to lectures. There are no real PowerPoints per say. You hear the professor lecture most of the time and there's a lot he goes over. The topics may sound dense if you don't already enjoy it. But the explanation he gives is necessary to pay attention to. There is heavy readings every class. You couldn't skim over this because we had weekly quizzes that would be about the different readings and they were kind of specific. The readings were thick with some being 80+ pages for just one reading.
Additionally, the midterm and final consisted of writing an answer to his question. It was a broad question where you are to use the readings from class and also what was said in lecture and answer the prompt about political parties. It was timed. So grades consisted of midterm, final, and weekly quizzes. No way to get around readings, you need them. Take if you like the subject and can do with the readings.

Despite what everyone else says, I actually enjoyed taking this class. I found the material to be very relevant to today's political climate and the readings to be interesting. I admit that his lectures weren't always engaging but the information given was manageable. Everyone here complains about the readings, but it wasn't too bad. There was almost never 180-200 pages of reading a week, except for the one week where he assigned 2/3 of a book. The book wasn't a hard read as it was written for a non-academic audience. He gives the reading schedule in the syllabus and never deviated from it (except to cut a reading), so students could plan. Personally, I didn't find the quizzes too hard except for one or two. If you actually read the readings (and not skimmed like I imagine most people did) then you should be able to pull the relevant info from them. It is a reading heavy class but so are most upper-division political science classes. The whole class consists of a take-home midterm, take-home final, and then weekly reading quizzes.

I personally felt Zaller actually really enjoys this class and seems genuinely interested in the topic. To those who say he's terrible, well I've taken far worse and have read far worse reviews about other professors. It's not an easy A, but it's definitely not impossible.

he assigns sooo much reading and has weekly quizzes that he says are easy but are not by any means. this class was also super confusing as things were changed all the time, no organization or flow to the class. the material was so hard to follow because of how boring and long it consistently was. would not recommend :/

I don’t think I learned a single thing in this class. Professor would go on to talk about irrelevant things at lectures and the readings are absolutely horrid. He claims that he makes us take reading quizzes in order for him to know we read since the questions are supposed to be general and easy to answer if you read the material. In reality however, the questions are extremely difficult and require close attention to tiny details in a 200+ page reading. The midterm and final are graded super harsh and based on his specific outline of essay writing. I would not take this class if I knew what it would be like beforehand.

His quizzes were way too difficult because they were very specific. Even if you do all the reading, the quiz questions would ask abt things that were only briefly discussed. It wasn't a terrible class, but I would recommend not taking it if possible. His lectures weren't required - but some of the quizzes asked questions on the lecs. The texts - specifically Righteous mind - were interesting. I am selling Act of Congress text **********

I do not understand how Professor Zaller has such high reviews. This class was extremely boring and quite frankly, corrupt. The professor curves his quizzes and exams (midterm and final, both curved). This being said, If you got a 95 on a midterm exam, that grade may be dropped to a 90 depending on how well other students performed on the exam; he only allows a certain number of A's. This being said, the reading/material was interesting, however, the quizzes weren't necessarily an examination of how well you know the material, but rather specific questions to see if or if not you read the material. Overall, if you are able, avoid!

This class was definitely a rollercoaster. Zaller had interesting things to say but his weekly quizzes were sometimes very difficult. It was very frustrating when I would do the readings and still do badly on quizzes which he kept insisting were easy. I remember once he said that the quiz was "extremely easy" and 50% of the class got under a 4/9. However, he does curve quizzes and did not grade too harshly on the midterm and final essays as long as you follow his format. Still, he was disorganized and this class was very stressful.

I seem to be in the minority here but I really loved Zaller and this class. I wouldn't say Zaller's lecture style is the most engaging, but I personally found his method very clear and easy to follow. He uses a lot a historical examples, graphs, and studies to explain what he is saying which helped me follow along. This was a super interesting class about the way parties formed in our country, what role they play, and even covered a little bit of the psychology of groups.

Your grade is determined by weekly quizzes and a take home essay midterm and final. A lot of people complained about the difficulty of his quizzes, but I honestly didn't find them too challenging. As long as you do the readings and take notes during his lectures, I feel they were easy to do well in. I noticed that the quizzes I didn't do well in, I sped through the readings and/or didn't pay attention in lecture the previous day. So just make sure you stay on top of that. Zaller was generous with the curves of the quizzes and he drops two 9 point quizzes or one 15 point quiz. The midterm and finals were graded fairly in my opinion, but it also kind of depends on your grader. Zaller did have an appeal process though.

Zaller himself is a quirky and funny guy, though not always on purpose. At times, he had the whole class laughing but he seemed caught of guard when that happened. He can "snap" at people at times but to be honest, I feel like he was a little bit justified because of just how much people complained about the assignments. All in all, Zaller isn't everyone's cup of tea, but the class itself isn't too difficult and he does have a lot of grace when curving and dropping assignments.