This class is a fantastic option for a political science prerequisite course and a good social analysis GE. Professor Payson is an amazing lecturer who not only gives great examples and explanations of course content but expands this class beyond a simple AP U.S. Government review by incorporating interesting research into lectures and discussion sections. She is very accessible in office hours and went out of her way to accommodate students during this challenging quarter. Lectures are recorded, but some parts of the slides are left blank as an incentive to attend in person. No attendance is taken during lectures, but discussion attendance and participation (participation meaning a one-sentence statement about what you learned due at the end of discussion section) is mandatory and worth 20% of the grade.

This class has a midterm, a final, two quizzes, and a paper. The midterm and final are structured almost identically. The midterm, worth 20% of the grade, had 30 multiple-choice questions and four (you pick these four out of six options) short answer questions of four to five sentences. The final, worth 25% of the grade, would have been nearly identical, but it was multiple choice only due to the TA strike. The midterm and final are both online and open-note with a 2-hour, 10-minute time limit, and they're very easy. Class averages were around 90% for both. The quizzes (one in week 3, the other in week 8) are worth 20% of the grade and cover the material taught in the few weeks preceding each of them. They're 10 questions each, being mostly multiple choice with a couple one-to-two-sentence responses. These were about equivalent in average scores and difficulty to the midterm and final. Finally, the paper, worth 15% of the grade, is basically just a long homework assignment. Having it graded was made optional this quarter, but it seemed to be easy to follow the rubric and get a great score. You simply summarize a news article and show how it relates to course themes in 4-6 pages, and you don't even need to cite any sources besides the article. There was also a four percentage point boost to your grade for writing a letter to a government official about a topic of your choice. I'm not sure if this will return in future quarters, as it seemed rather generous, but if it's offered it's a very helpful extra credit opportunity.

I would recommend using the textbook for this class, but mostly just for the exams, quizzes, and paper. You don't need to memorize it word-for-word; just know the key terms and concepts Professor Payson highlights in lectures and the reading guides (these guides are very helpful; using them saves you a lot of time when reading/reviewing!). The aforementioned research papers covered in lectures and discussion sections make appearances in the exams and quizzes, but you really don't need to know much about them other than a basic summary of their findings (once again, for the discussion section research papers, use the reading guides for reading/review!).

Overall, this is an easy class that was made even easier by the TA strike. While the grades may be inflated this quarter due to the strike and the extra credit assignment, this is still an easy and interesting class with a great professor. I recommend this class to everyone, especially political science majors looking for their lower-division courses. Even if you took AP U.S. Government, this course is still valuable for its utilization of research and Professor Payson's passion for and expertise on the subject.

Prof. Payson clearly cares about students' learning. In the unpredictable times during this quarter, she has provided resources, constantly checked in, revised class policies, and welcomed questions. Her lectures were engaging, stressing why the materials are relevant and making convincing arguments based on an array of empirical pieces. While I am a junior, given that this class is mainly taken by freshmen, I saw this class as a great gateway to the rigor of college-level study. This is because she extended well beyond high-school politics class by highlighting consensus and persistent puzzles among political scientists in class and exposing students to some of the latest empirical works. I really appreciated the class structure that assigned an academic paper for the discussion section. The work of competent TAs made it well approachable for students despite its potential challenge for freshmen. The course could have benefited from more structured instruction on how to read an academic paper. I believe UCLA Library and the Writing Center have great resources, and posting those on BruinLearn would be great.

Professor Payson is truly one of the kindest professors I have had at UCLA. She genuinely cares about learning over memorization of concepts. She is super understanding and made a great deal of effort to ensure all of us had a positive experience. All her exams (2 quizzes, 1 midterm, 1 final paper, and 1 final) were all take home open note. She really cared about us actually being interested and engaged with the material and overall I would take this class again. Highly recommend for an easy GE!