PLIR 2050

This class is great if you're interested in economics and/or foreign affairs. You do not need to have much background in economics to take it. You will learn a lot, Pandya is a pretty good lecturer (can be a bit dry sometimes, but she definitely cares about the success of her students). Make sure to go to lecture and take notes-- lots of notes. Otherwise, readings aren't really that necessary. Assignments include Memos (basically current events that you relate to the class) and 2 exams (including final). Class is averaged to a B-

Get Brenton as your TA. He is the best TA I have ever had, hands down.

If you know about econ or if you are interested in it, this is a really easy but also interesting class.
You don't have to do the readings but I found them interesting so I did all of them.
The memos are easy to write because you can pick a topic of your choosing and you get a structure in advance.

This class is a great intro to economics, especially if you don’t have much background in it. As a foreign affairs major, I really enjoyed how it tied economics to international relations—it made the material feel super relevant and interesting.
The lectures were good and covered key theories with examples, but they didn’t always go super in-depth, and sometimes the professor’s explanations weren’t super clear so the readings were really helpful for understanding the material better and filling in any gaps.

The assignments were pretty doable. The policy memo wasn’t too hard, but we didn’t get much help or guidance on it. The midterm was tricky because what we were told to prepare for didn’t match what was expected... That being said, the final was straightforward and manageable within the three hours if you knew your stuff and paced yourself.

Overall, I’d recommend this class!

Signed up for this class as a first-year, so overall wasn't super sure what to expect. I expected it to be a little more math-based, but it was more policy-based based which was actually quite interesting too. The premise of the class is quite interesting as it is about finding the reason behind why many times countries don't necessarily take the most optimal (from a pure economic standpoint) choices.

For the class, the work isn't too hard. You must take notes on paper, so be prepared to do that. Your notes can be helpful, mostly just writing down any additional examples she might have, it's pretty hard to really capture everything as she moves very fast. Sometimes her explanations can be confusing, and asking her afterwards doesn't really answer your question or clarify, but the TAs are very helpful and also know what they are doing, so just ask them instead. Overall, the slides are helpful, but can be confusing as sometimes they have definitions that are a little oversimplified compared to what the textbook says. The textbook is lengthy, but skimming and reading can suffice. There are also additional readings that can be pretty lengthy, but once again, getting the gist of it should be good, and picking out an example or key ideas is good enough. There are some concepts that can be easily mixed up, but reading the book helps. Grades consist mostly of the midterms and final + policy memo. Grading, like many classes, is dependent on the TA, but should be fine. Midterm setups are words chosen from a preset list of ID terms, and then an essay usually asks to explain something, make sure to include specific examples, and involve relevant terms. Overall, not a bad course; however, Professor Pandya does move pretty quickly, so be prepared.

Have you ever thought about...trade? What's interesting about trade is that countries...want stuff. People...also want stuff. Isn't that strange?

Professor Pandya relies on rhetorical questions, vague generalizations, and a lack of any real answers ever to place herself on a pedestal of erudition from which she can look down on her students. TAs are nice and knowledgable, but discussion sections are a waste of time. Readings feel that way, too, though some of them can be interesting--mostly journal articles and news stories. I don't know how the course would fare under a different instructor, but as is I can't feel like I'm actually getting anything from the 2 hours a week of lecture. Easy to improv your way through if you have some baseline of knowledge and good writing skills, so readings aren't too arduous because you can skim them at best.

Not at all a hard class, but Professor Pandya is insufferable. After about a month I stopped attending class because I disliked her so much. She talks in a way that immediately makes me want to fall asleep, especially because the content is so boring. She could talk about one slide for the entire class and nothing would be taught. It seems like she dislikes students participating because she will just disagree with everything you say (even though I felt some students were more insightful than her) or she will use such a condescending tone that it makes people not want to answer her questions. I would not recommend this class to anyone. It is easy enough, but I hated the class so much that I think I did worse than I should have. My TA was great and I learned so much more from her than I did from the professor, yet you wouldn't know that since Pandya is even condescending to the TA's.

This course was insufferable. I am a third-year student who has taken many more advanced politics and economics courses as a double major, and I may have attended lecture a handful of times. Discussions were a waste as well. The lectures themselves were a complete waste of time where Professor asks rhetorical questions instead of teaching and disagreeing with students who often pose good questions and replies to such questions. If you have taken any comparative politics course and a basic economics course you don’t need to show up essentially. The exams were not based on comprehension BUT how well you could compose an essay in a matter of 50 minutes. Reminded me of high school writing, not so much advanced. TA was great and tried to make discussion fun though. Ended with a B grade in the class due to attendance (it really matters), and terrible essay writing styles (not evidence) however the material is so easy you don’t need to study. Rather brush up on your writing techniques. Good luck

overall this class was pretty easy, but DO NOT take if you do not come / pay attention in lecture, they didnt do any attendence but there was not a lot of online supplementary material to help you if you are a chronic skipper, also the lectures themselves are so boring and you have hand write your notes (some people did computeres and occ she would say something) grading was fair and i finished with an A- but i heard the other TA was more forgiving, essay style exams and weekly complettion grade, i studied harddddddd for the exams but i never really read and attended lectures pretty religously