I couldn't agree more with the person below me. The material taught in class is basic, easy to understand for the most part. The exams are extremely difficult. The only material there really is to study comes from old exams, but that doesn't adequately help prepare for exams as they require deep understanding of the material which you can't get from simply having a few old exams (and homework) to study from. In and outside of class Chwe is nice, but I don't feel he helps us learn the material to the extent he expects us to know it. Overall, not a good experience.

I had a very horrible experience with this class but I am going to try and be as fair as possible in my review.
I didn't need this class and only took it to learn game theory for some upper division IR classes I was interested in. The reviews on bruin walk lead me to believe that this was a great class which would lead me to be successful as long as I put in the work. This was absolutely not the case and I am confused by the large amount of positive reviews because so many of my classmates were struggling just as I was. When the class starts out it seems like easy material with engaging lectures that include video clips to help you understand the material. However after a few weeks this class became my worst nightmare. There are homework assignments due every week which I always put hours and hours of work into. However, the issue is that the problems he puts on his homework and tests are much much much more difficult than any examples he does in class. He does the most easy and simple examples in class and then you get home to do homework and the problems have suddenly transformed into very large and complex problems. There is no book to help you and the class is so large that when you get lost its difficult to do anything about it. A lot of times I would watch the lectures over again on podcast but still it did not address what I was expected to do at home. I guess this is where the TA comes in but I had an absolutely horrible TA who could not explain the material to save his life. So this is where you take the gamble... the class really needs a good TA to fill in the gaps but if you are unlucky you may end up with one of the bad TAs. I don't know how Chwe is in office hours to be fair to the guy because I had class during his hours but I tried to go to my TAs office hours which was little to no help at all. The midterm was extremely difficult and a new concept which was to be on the test was introduced only one day before the exam. I feel the students who have reviewed the class in a positive light are probably better with math than me and many other students were. If you are a fast learner and ok with figuring out much of the class on your own then you will most likely be fine. However, if you are a student who needs clear explanations, examples of difficult material done in class and extra help this class could quickly become a problem for you. I honestly put in the time and the hard work but I just didn't feel as though I was offered enough resources to understand what we were expected to accomplish for the homework and tests. The class consists of a homework due every week worth 1 point, participation, a midterm, and a final. If you don't like math or building models I would stick to the other lower division poli sci classes rather than this one.

this was my first ps class at ucla, and i was very impressed by chwe. because there wasn't much to learn, he went very slow and asked if there were questions every five minutes. additionally, he reviews basically the past 2 or 3 lectures every time, so it's hard to forget things. as far as the material is concerned, it isn't very challenging. practice is the key to success in the class, so if you do the homework and a little additional studying for the midterm and final, you should be fine. also mentioned below is the generous curve. over 30% a's is unheard of! he gave 17 a+'s... that's not something you can complain about. if you have the chance, take chwe. he's been one of my favorite professors at ucla!

I don't know what the person below me is complaining about. Yes, the midterm and final are challenging and WILL take you the entire time. But the class is curved very generously; in fact, 48 out of 147 people in the Fall 2008 class got A- or better, which is over 30% of the class. 32/147 got A or above, over 20%.

That being said, Chwe is not the most engaging lecturer and comes off as quite the nerd. He does use video clips to illustrate class concepts so maybe that will help you stay awake. There is no textbook for his class; all the material comes from lecture, and he does post the lecture slides online, but you should definitely attend and be attentive to succeed. He also posted old midterms and finals along with answer keys to help you prepare for the exams. The class is graded based on participation, homework, midterm, and final. Homework is pretty much a 100% if you complete it and turn it in because for Chwe, the point of the homework is not to stress out over what grade you get, but in order to practice the problems and learn the concepts. There are actually not that many concepts to learn in the class so the only way to really review is just to do problems, and Chwe gives you plenty of optional practice problems in order to study for the midterm/final.

P.S. The TA the person below me is referring to is probably Koji, he wrote the most ridiculous questions for the midterm and final...

I would not recommend this teacher for my worst enemy. Learning the material was not bad, but takin his midterm was so difficult. It was 4 questions for an 1hr. 15mins, and each question had about 4 parts each which you have to think about before you start them, and then show all work for each part. The questions were made by the TA's and each TA graded their own question, that seemed fair, but the questions they put on the test were unbeleivably difficult. A lot of people I know did not finish the exam, and there seemed to be problems with one of the TA's questions which may have had to deal with the fact that he could barely speak english. The final, very difficult and long. The final takes the full 3hrs so do not think it will take you 2hrs, 1hr 30mins, no it will take the full 3hrs and even then you are still rushing at the end. He is horrible at teaching, I feel that he is not trying to teach students but he is trying to trick them by making the material as difficult as possible. I understand when a teacher wants you to understand the concept and apply it to questions, but when your not such a great teacher you cant do that.