Let me save you the stress, never take this class. Everyone who is talking about how easy it was took it when the class was online and they probably cheated on every single exam. And also the people who said that they are happy they took this class most definitely spend their free time staring at a wall; this class is WAY TOO MUCH WORK.

Look I will be fair, the class content is very interesting, but the format of the class and the way you are assessed makes the class extremely unenjoyable.

This class is way too demanding. For starters, Michael is the worst lecturer known to man. He is beyond boring and he talks very very slowly. I do not have any issue with his lecture style, it was easy to take notes in class because of the pace and those nights where I struggled to fall asleep I'd rewatch the lectures to help me doze off. It is also worth mentioning that Ross himself is a half-ass professor; every other class he would have a guest lecturer or TA present instead of presenting himself. Whenever you ask him for additional help or to define something from the study guide, he would redirect you to one of the never ending 50 page plus readings. Why am I paying for UCLA if everything is in the readings, what the fuck is Michael Ross getting paid for. The guy is a PROFESSOR not a librarian why doesnt he do some TEACHING instead of relying on the readings. Tbh I don't blame Michael: I would love to get paid a professors salary and do half the work by having guest lecturers and TAs do everything. But honestly its problematic because he also assesses us on the stuff taught by these guests and TAs and they're often unorganized.

Michael’s ineptness really comes to show when it is time for the midterm and exam. On both of the in class assessments, you get 30 points for filling out your name. However, he knitpicks your answers to all questions and uses this 30 point crap as an excuse. For the exams, you have 10 lines to write about certain terms. You can only fill 3 of those lines with relevant facts but if you want a good grade for that question, you have to fill up all 10 lines - a quote from mike himself. So professor basically wants you to write stupid irrelevant little facts and unrelated information to fill up all ten lines. Trust me on this, you cannot fill any of those prompts with more than 3 lines of relevant info. Additionally, some of the terms that he wants you to write 10 lines about are literally titles of readings that he assigned. He literally wants you to summarize the readings as if you are sparknotes or something. These readings are often long, boring, dry and not to forget, stupid. He had us read and write about a 50 page report on how temperature affects conflict where the authors suggested that rising heat makes people more antsy but at the very end they say that there is not evidence to prove that this actually happens, but there is evidence showing a correlation. Like you had me waste my time and read all that crap for what reason?

I am a straight A student and got a 97% in this class, but on both the midterm and the final, I was only getting 8.5 to 9 out of 10 on every single question. The same goes for the essays, him and his TAs are afraid to give high grades for whatever reason, they knitpick your answers and it feels like they are out to get you. When you ask them why you did not get full points, they will bring up something completely unrelated or tell you that they will talk to professor and get back to you on that because they themselves do not even know. They do not have an answer key set, when we got our exams back they used other students answers as the answer key.

Ross definitely has some sort of ego and is very strict and unforgiving if you submit something late. This class is unnecessarily difficult and hard not in the way where it challenges your mind and way of thinking, but because there is just so much stupid content that you have to waste your time shifting through.

The guy does not know how to teach, he is condescending and overall a complete clown. He belongs in the circus, not in our school.

Great lecturer and interesting content. However, his exams are on the atrocious end. Expects you to know a lot and the study guide that he provides you is not at all helpful. With that said, I recommend taking this class because he does lecture in a way that is easy to understand and all of the readings provided are genuinely interesting

pretty average class! most of the concepts were interesting and prof ross really cares about his students. some days were a little slow and there was a decent amount of reading, but it is all doable

I'm really glad I took this class, but it was definitely challenging at times. No homework except for weekly reading, usually 2-4 articles that take a few hours total a week. The grade breakdown was 40% midterm, 40% final, and 20% participation (aka showing up to discussion every week). This made the tests super stressful!! But he does provide a study guide (that's kinda vague and long) for both exams a week or so in advance. You have to have a good understanding of the key terms AND all the readings, which is a lot of info to memorize. That being said, the class averages were high and I personally was super happy with my scores. My TA David was dope, and Prof. Ross' lectures were engaging. I liked how his slides were simple and easy to follow, but I would suggest jotting down notes when he's talking for extra info to help with the midterm/final. Ross is clearly very knowledgable about the subject! Overall, this was a somewhat challenging class but totally manageable if you're someone who can stay on track by yourself (especially with reading).

I loved this class! Professor is very knowledgable and passionate on the subject. He explains concepts well, and his lectures are organized. TA's are also super helpful, and they are all knowledgable on the subject as well. There is definitely a good amount of readings, but both the professor and TA explain them well. We had 3 quizzes, a midterm, and a final. They were all in-person, and most of the exams were on paper as well.

The midterm and final were all IDs. You need to study and memorize the content, but the professor gives out a list of IDs that you need to know for the exam. If you are passionate about climate change and the environment, you should take this class!

This is a fantastic class! I strongly recommend taking it!

Grading weight:
- Section attendance (20%): attend and make a couple of contributions.
- 2 reading quizzes (20%): 15-MCQ quizzes given around Week 3 and 7.
- Midterm (20%): mix of MCQs and IDs.
- Final (40%): six IDs.

The reading quizzes are challenging; don't underestimate them. They draw on very specific points from the readings and themes from lectures, so be sure to pay attention to both.

The IDs are pretty straightforward. Ross gives you a list of possible IDs before the midterm and final, so just study those.

Emma was a great TA, in case she's an option for you guys when enrolling.

I never really much cared for sciences, and entered this class mostly as a throwaway to getting my upper divisions complete. However, I enjoyed the class and what I gained from it. It made me more environmentally concerned and aware of the politics behind it, as well as what we the youth can do to protect the environment. There were 4 quizzes, every other week in discussion that weren’t necessarily hard, if you did the readings you’ll be fine. He did cancel those for our class since someone cheated, so Ross reweighed the midterm and final to be worth more. The midterm, again, wasn’t bad at all. It was four ID’s that we had to remember and write a page worth explaining the ID, citing readings, the usual. The final would have been like that, however it was cancelled due to ICE raids in the area.

Easily one of my favorite poli sci classes I've taken here. Michael Ross is just awesome and clearly very passionate about the material. If you are at all interested in Climate Change, this is the class you want to take.

My favorite class at UCLA so far. If you are interested in climate change and policy this will totally be worth your time.

You definitely have to put in the effort to complete and understand ALL of the readings + lectures. But for the most part the readings were short and the TAs made an effort of structuring discussions to foster deep understanding of the readings.

Ross does a great job of keeping his lectures/slides concise and engaging. I never left class with more than 2/3 pages of handwritten notes (he does not allow computers in class) and I always felt interested in what he was saying.

Midterm was not super hard, but you definitely have to prepare. Ross quizzes on specifics from the readings and lectures (expects you to cite them as well). Didn't have a final because of TA strike (Ross was really supportive and communicative when this was all going down).

If you can get Lorena as a TA do it!

Take this class if you are at all interested in Climate Change. Prof. Ross is one of the few professors where I could sit through his entire lecture and not feel like falling asleep in the middle of it. Readings are lighter than most classes I have taken here, but many of them have some scientific terms that take some time to understand; also doing the readings (and not, like, the night before the midterm and final, but when they are assigned) is vital to doing well on the midterm/final. He will literally just ask you to summarize key points from readings, if not the whole reading itself, on the midterm and final. Don't let that discourage you from taking the class though, it is one of the best classes here.