PLIR 3080

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).

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.

This class was by far one of my favorite classes I have taken so far. Professor Sechser was a wonderful lecturer and was super engaging. You could tell he had high expectations but made sure that he also met those expectations. In his lectures he used real world examples unrelated to nuclear politics to help drive his points home and would have us fill out surveys and the results would later be presented to the class. Most classes began with an easy 3 question quiz and he would drop the lowest 2 grades, allowing for an absence or two. The readings took a long time to complete and were a little over my head but were necessary for discussion section and some were graded as part of a "nuclear notebook". The Nuclear notebook was a few required readings that you had to take notes on and it would be collected to check and ensure you're keeping up with the readings- very easy 100. My TA was very intense and expected you to come prepared with all readings done. He would send out questions prior to class but would not be afraid to cold call for new questions. But that did ensure that you learned in his section, so though I went to class everyday anxious, I am glad I had him. There were two position papers that took some time to write but were relatively easy to complete. The Midterm and the final multiple choice questions were extremely easy and the short answer questions weren't too bad. But for both exams you had 48 hours to write an open book page/page and a half due the morning of the exam which were a little frustrating to have to do when you have other classes to study and prepare for. But as long as you put time into this class you will do great and walk away having learned something. I would recommend this class to everyone.

Great professor, interesting content, enjoyable lectures. However, the administration of this class was a headache. First of all, our midterm was returned more than a month after we had taken it, which seemed unreasonable for a multiple-choice exam with two short answers. Grades for the first position paper were so delayed that the instructor had to push back the deadline on the second one so that students could have a chance to incorporate the feedback given. However, the feedback I received on a long, detailed essay was a single sentence. Overall, the speed and quality of feedback in this course made it difficult to understand the grades assigned and more importantly, to know how to do better on future assignments. All that being said, the professor is a great lecturer and I really enjoyed the content. The exams were not too difficult and the weekly discussions provided an opportunity to delve deeper into assigned readings and course material. The position papers were definitely hefty but rewarding.