Thomas Sherrer
Department of Public Affairs
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4.4
Overall Rating
Based on 13 Users
Easiness 4.5 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 4.5 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 4.8 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.3 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

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Reviews (12)

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Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Dec. 23, 2023

This was def my favorite class this quarter!! Professor Sherrer is great at what he does, making this class an easy and educational experience for his students. First off, all exams (midterm and final) are open note so long as everything is handwritten, which honestly helped me retain the information better. Sometimes the questions on the exams were pulled directly from the slides, word for word, so do take good notes. I'd say around 18/20 of the questions were based on the lectures while around 1-2 were pulled from the readings so make sure to skim them over and take note of the central argument. A tip I recommend is to put a Post-it note on each page of your notes and list all of the main topics you wrote about so you can go through them quickly when taking the exam. 

There is no textbook and you don't need to pay for class materials since he provides scantrons. The midterm average was 90% and the final was around 87%!! The topics you can expect to learn about are the movements relating to race, women's rights, environment, gun violence, healthcare, education, immigration, economic inequality, barriers to policymaking like the filibuster, etc. Super interesting lectures plus he's really funny. I highly encourage attending the lectures in person (he does post the slides after) since he sometimes did state a few things that were not in the slides but were present in the exam.

There were only 3 homework assignments that consisted of making slideshows of a social problem of your choice. The first 2 assignments ranged from 250-500 words while the last assignment (a more research-intensive slideshow) was 500+ words. All of them were spaced out pretty well throughout the quarter and you had an entire week to do them. The first two assignments took me about 1 hour each while the last one took 2 hours.

Shoutout to my TA Selena, she's super chill and made my discussion section engaging. All of the discussions extend to the assigned readings and there's really no pressure to participate but if you can, you def should. Attendance is mandatory for these and is included in your grade. Loved this class and will def take another class with him!!

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Quarter: Fall 2024
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
March 25, 2025

I took this class as a GE for my first quarter here at UCLA. I'm a STEM major, so keep that in mind. This was quite literally one of the easiest classes I have ever taken in my life. Not only was it easy, the content was actually very interesting and Professor Sherrer keeps it relevant to the time. You can prepare for these assignments/tests:
-Midterm (Open note)
-Final (Open note)
-One short letter (Graded extremely easy)
-Small slideshow (Graded extremely easy)
-Slightly bigger slideshow (Again, graded extremely easy)
I know hearing that a test is "open note" is intimidating because that means the exam is usually very hard...but not here. If you show up to class, you are basically guaranteed an A. The questions are very easy and very straightforward. If you quickly skim through the slides, that is more than enough studying to get a 95 or above. There are some readings assigned each week, however, Professor Sherrer always goes over it and they're pretty short/easy reads. A couple basic questions on it might pop up in exams but nothing too bad. I stopped doing the readings very early on and just showed up to class and I got an A. As long as you follow the rubric (which is really straightforward) and show up to class, it is impossible to not get an A. Overall, I would highly recommend this class as an easy GE. It is very chill and the perfect class to have. This professor is also excellent and very kind. I do recommend trying to get Lawrence as a TA! He is nice, welcoming, accommodating, and understands a student's workload. Overall, I absolutely loved this class because it was extremely manageable and I actually learned something useful.

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Quarter: Fall 2024
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
March 12, 2025

The class was pretty easy. I would say if you liked high school history this is basically the same thing. The professor gives readings before class which sometimes were pretty boring but they do come up on the midterm and final so you need to at least have a general understanding of them. Other than that, the midterm was easy as long as you looked over the slides again (most of the questions were pulled from the slides). I got a 100% on the midterm but the final was considerably harder. Overall, if you like history and are looking for a class that isn't too hard with a funny professor, this is the class for you!

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Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: A+
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Feb. 19, 2025

super easy class and the class structure was very consistent. We had twice a week lecture and mandatory discussion sections (but my TA was super chill abt attendance). The discussion were helpful because they related class concepts to current events. class basically was about social movements from the 1950s to now--super interesting if you like history or social justice

Assignments:
a super chill research project that essentially consisted of two slideshows. open note midterm and final but it had to be handwritten

this is a super easy and interesting social analysis GE and diversity requirement. highly recommend!

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Quarter: Fall 2024
Grade: A-
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Jan. 6, 2025

I will say I liked this class, but I barely went to lecture (my fault). A little frustrating because even if you 100% understand the content of the class, there's a good chance that you still might get an A- because of the sole reason that the grade is composed of the midterm and final, and the exam questions are extremely niche (sometimes a multiple choice about a statistic mentioned once the entire quarter). Sherrer is a great professor overall though, while the class content is basic American politics you probably learned in high school or on the news.

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Quarter: Fall 2024
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Dec. 23, 2024

Pub Aff 10 with Professor Sherrer was a great introduction to the public affairs major. Sherrer is an eloquent and engaging political scientist and speaker who genuinely cares about the subjects at hand. I went into the class thinking that I was simply going to learn about the same old civil rights, women, and LGBTQ+ movements I had already studied about in high school, but I actually left the class with a new perspective on these movements and the US government in general. Professor Sherrer's love for the class content was contagious, his class is definitely going to be one I will miss having in my schedule.

2 Tips
1. Keep up with the readings their contents will show up on the multiple-choice section of his exams. He only assigns about two readings/videos before each lecture, and they are not very long, the course load was so light

2. To best prepare for exams is to not simply rely on the posted slide decks, but by attending lectures. A good deal of exam content is on information the professor says in class

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 23, 2024

Dr. Sherrer is great. Midterm was very easy exam, final was a bit more difficult but with the research presentation it is very easy to get an A! Good class.

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Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
March 11, 2024

This class is a super easy GE. There’s a midterm and a final which were both really straightforward and open note, along with three homework assignments spread throughout the quarter. Content-wise, Dr. Sherrer is a really great lecturer and lets you know everything you will be tested on for the exam. He keeps the class really engaging with a lot of graphs, photos, and videos. While the first half of this class might be a review for a lot of people, the second half was super interesting and dove into a lot of policy issues that I didn’t know about yet. Would highly recommend!

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Jan. 29, 2024

Relatively easy and simple class. An occasional assignment here and there. Midterm which was based on readings and slides. Final was almost all slide material from lecture that he posts after class.

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Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: B
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Jan. 8, 2024

One takeaway: you have to get perfect scores on everything in order to do well.

Because this class is dependent on very little assignments and those assignment not containing many points, unless you get a perfect score it is very difficult to get a good grade.
Sherrer overall is a good professor who makes lectures entertaining

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Dec. 23, 2023

This was def my favorite class this quarter!! Professor Sherrer is great at what he does, making this class an easy and educational experience for his students. First off, all exams (midterm and final) are open note so long as everything is handwritten, which honestly helped me retain the information better. Sometimes the questions on the exams were pulled directly from the slides, word for word, so do take good notes. I'd say around 18/20 of the questions were based on the lectures while around 1-2 were pulled from the readings so make sure to skim them over and take note of the central argument. A tip I recommend is to put a Post-it note on each page of your notes and list all of the main topics you wrote about so you can go through them quickly when taking the exam. 

There is no textbook and you don't need to pay for class materials since he provides scantrons. The midterm average was 90% and the final was around 87%!! The topics you can expect to learn about are the movements relating to race, women's rights, environment, gun violence, healthcare, education, immigration, economic inequality, barriers to policymaking like the filibuster, etc. Super interesting lectures plus he's really funny. I highly encourage attending the lectures in person (he does post the slides after) since he sometimes did state a few things that were not in the slides but were present in the exam.

There were only 3 homework assignments that consisted of making slideshows of a social problem of your choice. The first 2 assignments ranged from 250-500 words while the last assignment (a more research-intensive slideshow) was 500+ words. All of them were spaced out pretty well throughout the quarter and you had an entire week to do them. The first two assignments took me about 1 hour each while the last one took 2 hours.

Shoutout to my TA Selena, she's super chill and made my discussion section engaging. All of the discussions extend to the assigned readings and there's really no pressure to participate but if you can, you def should. Attendance is mandatory for these and is included in your grade. Loved this class and will def take another class with him!!

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2024
Grade: A
March 25, 2025

I took this class as a GE for my first quarter here at UCLA. I'm a STEM major, so keep that in mind. This was quite literally one of the easiest classes I have ever taken in my life. Not only was it easy, the content was actually very interesting and Professor Sherrer keeps it relevant to the time. You can prepare for these assignments/tests:
-Midterm (Open note)
-Final (Open note)
-One short letter (Graded extremely easy)
-Small slideshow (Graded extremely easy)
-Slightly bigger slideshow (Again, graded extremely easy)
I know hearing that a test is "open note" is intimidating because that means the exam is usually very hard...but not here. If you show up to class, you are basically guaranteed an A. The questions are very easy and very straightforward. If you quickly skim through the slides, that is more than enough studying to get a 95 or above. There are some readings assigned each week, however, Professor Sherrer always goes over it and they're pretty short/easy reads. A couple basic questions on it might pop up in exams but nothing too bad. I stopped doing the readings very early on and just showed up to class and I got an A. As long as you follow the rubric (which is really straightforward) and show up to class, it is impossible to not get an A. Overall, I would highly recommend this class as an easy GE. It is very chill and the perfect class to have. This professor is also excellent and very kind. I do recommend trying to get Lawrence as a TA! He is nice, welcoming, accommodating, and understands a student's workload. Overall, I absolutely loved this class because it was extremely manageable and I actually learned something useful.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2024
Grade: A
March 12, 2025

The class was pretty easy. I would say if you liked high school history this is basically the same thing. The professor gives readings before class which sometimes were pretty boring but they do come up on the midterm and final so you need to at least have a general understanding of them. Other than that, the midterm was easy as long as you looked over the slides again (most of the questions were pulled from the slides). I got a 100% on the midterm but the final was considerably harder. Overall, if you like history and are looking for a class that isn't too hard with a funny professor, this is the class for you!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: A+
Feb. 19, 2025

super easy class and the class structure was very consistent. We had twice a week lecture and mandatory discussion sections (but my TA was super chill abt attendance). The discussion were helpful because they related class concepts to current events. class basically was about social movements from the 1950s to now--super interesting if you like history or social justice

Assignments:
a super chill research project that essentially consisted of two slideshows. open note midterm and final but it had to be handwritten

this is a super easy and interesting social analysis GE and diversity requirement. highly recommend!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2024
Grade: A-
Jan. 6, 2025

I will say I liked this class, but I barely went to lecture (my fault). A little frustrating because even if you 100% understand the content of the class, there's a good chance that you still might get an A- because of the sole reason that the grade is composed of the midterm and final, and the exam questions are extremely niche (sometimes a multiple choice about a statistic mentioned once the entire quarter). Sherrer is a great professor overall though, while the class content is basic American politics you probably learned in high school or on the news.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2024
Grade: A
Dec. 23, 2024

Pub Aff 10 with Professor Sherrer was a great introduction to the public affairs major. Sherrer is an eloquent and engaging political scientist and speaker who genuinely cares about the subjects at hand. I went into the class thinking that I was simply going to learn about the same old civil rights, women, and LGBTQ+ movements I had already studied about in high school, but I actually left the class with a new perspective on these movements and the US government in general. Professor Sherrer's love for the class content was contagious, his class is definitely going to be one I will miss having in my schedule.

2 Tips
1. Keep up with the readings their contents will show up on the multiple-choice section of his exams. He only assigns about two readings/videos before each lecture, and they are not very long, the course load was so light

2. To best prepare for exams is to not simply rely on the posted slide decks, but by attending lectures. A good deal of exam content is on information the professor says in class

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A
June 23, 2024

Dr. Sherrer is great. Midterm was very easy exam, final was a bit more difficult but with the research presentation it is very easy to get an A! Good class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
March 11, 2024

This class is a super easy GE. There’s a midterm and a final which were both really straightforward and open note, along with three homework assignments spread throughout the quarter. Content-wise, Dr. Sherrer is a really great lecturer and lets you know everything you will be tested on for the exam. He keeps the class really engaging with a lot of graphs, photos, and videos. While the first half of this class might be a review for a lot of people, the second half was super interesting and dove into a lot of policy issues that I didn’t know about yet. Would highly recommend!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Jan. 29, 2024

Relatively easy and simple class. An occasional assignment here and there. Midterm which was based on readings and slides. Final was almost all slide material from lecture that he posts after class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: B
Jan. 8, 2024

One takeaway: you have to get perfect scores on everything in order to do well.

Because this class is dependent on very little assignments and those assignment not containing many points, unless you get a perfect score it is very difficult to get a good grade.
Sherrer overall is a good professor who makes lectures entertaining

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 2
4.4
Overall Rating
Based on 13 Users
Easiness 4.5 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 4.5 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 4.8 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.3 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

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