PLIR 3080

I loved this class so much, Professor Sechser is a great lecturer and I found him easy to follow. I had never taken a politics class before but ended up getting an A. There were two papers, a midterm, and a final exam. The discussion sections were a little intimidating but super helpful and reinforced the content really well. We had pretty consistent daily canvas quizzes at the start of lecture but they were no brainers if you listened to the previous class. We had to keep a reading notebook that was checked by TAs which was actually really good for staying accountable with doing all the reading and actually understanding the content.

Sechser is a very good lecturer, I was never bored and class went by fast. It is not an interactive class, but it is engaging. That being said, a lot of the information is repetitive and/or redundant. There is a lot of reading (minimum 2 hours a week), but if you pay attention in class and have common sense, you will be fine. Your grade is extremely dependent on the TA you have. My TA was way stricter/harsher than the other TA's and my work scored much lower than that of my friend's in other discussion groups who had lower-quality essays. There are two 2,000 word papers that aren't too difficult, but frustratingly repetitive. DO NOT do them last minute. The exams are relatively easy (multiple-choice and short-answer). If you are majoring in politics, I would recommend this class for the IR credit, but I wouldn't recommend this class if you just think it will be interesting (cause that's is what I did, but I def think there are more interesting/easier politics classes).