If you've taken any of Groeling's other classes, than you are pretty much set because it's the exact same format. This is a very interesting class and, despite what others say, Groeling has a fun, dry wit that you'll only catch if you pay attention to him during class. He take alot of pride in his class, puts in alot of time for the lecture presentations and is very concerned for students understanding the material. Participation is a substantial portion of the grade, so go to class. It's easy points and you do well on the tests as a result. If you can discipline yourself to review over all the suggested exam questions that students post online, than you'll be fine.

ew! groeling is by far the worst teacher i have ever had at ucla. his lectures are boring and he just reads the slides out loud to the class. attendance is worth 20% of your grade so you can never miss lecture. i went off of bruinwalk and took this class but it was a mistake- im doing okay in it- probably an a- range- but still it was not easy since EVERYTHING is fair game for the exam and the graders dont even know the material themselves, are confused, and dont have a set standard for grading- its so vague! hes incredibly biased politically and lets it be known in almost every class; im a strong democrat and even i get sick of hearing him preach his opinions to the class. he thinks hes correct about everything even when half the class tells him he is wrong and he thinks hes the funniest man to walk the planet- hes not! groeling is just a huge nerd that became a professor. the video project is just a big time waster and honestly- i havent learned anything i didnt already know from it. the video project is also totally biased towards mac users- although im a mac user so im okay with that- and you must be technologically savvy if you even want to try to well on it.

basically, i would recommend you not taking this class as the grading is unfair, the project is a waste of time, you cant miss any lectures, and groeling himself is a pretentious prick. DONT TAKE THIS TERRIBLE CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Groeling is TERRIBLE. He is blatantly biased during class, and he lectures in an extremely dogmatic and condescending tone. He thinks that he is correct about everything. For example, he passed judgment on a debate he didn't watch, and blatantly admitted that he was watching Terminator 2 instead. Then he incorrectly identified pictures from the newspaper that had run in the New York Times the year before, however, he insisted that he was correct. The subject matter has the potential to be very interesting, however Groeling is more concerned with cracking lame jokes and reading verbatim off of his lecture slides. He is very middle school and makes everyone sign in during EVERY class otherwise points are deducted from your grade. In addition, he has undergraduate TAs grade everything, and suffice to say, they have no clue what they are doing. Not only did I hear them talking to their friends telling them that they would "let it slide" and just mark them present on the attendance sheet when they had missed class, but they are idiots when it comes to grading the midterms.

In short DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Groeling is an pompous ass and this is a waste of your time. You can teach the material to yourself and there is no point in even showing up, oh yea, except you have to sign in like middle schoolers.

This was by far my favorite class this quarter! Groeling's lectures were very interesting not only because I like the topics, but becuase he adds life to his lectures. Although the course reader for the class was the LARGEST I've ever seen, they weren't too bad to read and you can even get by with skimming them. The tests are really fairly easy and he lets you post possible questions for the exam so you have an idea what will be on there. There's three exams including the final, and each is worth 15 points. There is a group project. I usually hate group projects, but he lets you pick your own groups and I ended up with a great group! For the project you must make two commercials for presidential candidates. You make a negative and a positive ad. Although it was fun, it was extremely time consuming so start it as early as possible!! This class is an easy A and you learn a lot!

One of the best professors here. A lot of reading, but just keep pace with the class. Very fun class, I had the time of my life. Go Groeling!

I cannot say enough wonderful things about this man. Professor Groeling is by far the best professor I have had at UCLA. I enjoyed his class so much, and hardly ever missed a lecture - even though it was at 3 on Fridays. The material was very interesting, the project was fun, and his sense of humor makes the lectures fly by. There is a lot of reading, but if you stay on top of it, the class is NOT hard. Professor Groeling is genuinely concerned about his students, and it really shows. Take any class you can with Groeling, but I would definitely reccomend Political Communication.

I absolutely love this guy! I took his class over the summer and loved it so much that I enrolled to take another class fall quarter. His course is very refreshing, fun projects instead of boring papers. The reading is very interesting and he is a fair grader. I recommend taking ANY class tought by Groeling!!!

Groeling...ah, I love that man. Nicest prof I've run across in a long while. He is a dorky sarcastic family man, just my style. He and his TA were always willing to help out if you had questions. I asked for a letter of rec, and even though he was completely swamped, he took the time to write a letter, as well as rant about, well, everything. Praising him as a human being aside: PolComm was extremely interesting, however he goes through the material sooo fast it gets overwhelming. SO MUCH READING. But, my friends, there is hope. He expects you to know the main gist of his lectures and the important readings, and he will tell you what he expects about a week before the final. This gives you more than enough time to read the required readings and digest the minimum to do well on the final. BUT YOU MUST GO TO CLASS, you must participate, you must pay attention. You don't have to do all the readings, but if you are interested in the topic, you'll find most of the concepts very enjoyable. Watching CNN and reading the New York Times is much more fun when you understand what stories get printed, when, and why. Just, for the love of god, sign that damn attendance sheet. And give this guy tenure. He gives us a lot to do, but he cares.

Great guy. Very funny and used effective analogies. He reminds me of Conan O'Brien!! HOWEVER, you have no idea what direction the class is going as far as the upcoming exam-the final (no midterm in this class). He keeps you busy with all these assignments that are unrelated to the lectures in their practicality, for example: he has you make 2 commercials that take a about 6-10 hours each on a political candidate using some computer program at the IMPL lab, etc. By the time it gets near the final, you are expected to know about 800 pages worth of stuff altogether on political strategies of the media, different branches of gov't, etc. You are moving in two different directions in the quarter and you have no idea what you're supposed to know or be studying for until he lays it on you about a week before the final. You CAN NOT slack on the reading, there is NO WAY you can catch up at the end of the quarter. If you lose control of the readings, I advise you to drop the class or accept that you might get lucky and get away with a B if you study 24/7 the week before the final. He is very personable and cool but I would not recommend this class unless it's a major requirement you need to fulfill to graduate.

I had this professor for Political Communication. There was one significant problem with this class: too much reading. However, the rest was great. Groeling is a witty professor -- he cracks a lot of jokes and he often had us laughing. He used powerpoint, video, and guest speakers to add to his lectures, and he made all of the notes available on the web. The exams were not easy, but the were reasonable. The assignements were interesting -- especially the video project (wich was also a lot of fun). Overall: highly recommended.