The prof is extremely clear and detailed during lectures. He’s really laid back and wants to share his passion/knowledge with you, so he’s very engaging to listen to. We only had 1 midterm (multiple choice with a couple free response questions that can be answered with a couple sentences) and 1 final (only multiple choice questions). There are 2 or so assignments where you discuss a social issue of your choice that the TAs grade but they’re super lenient, and you turn your two assignments into a final slideshow presentation. The prof assigns readings, but you’re fine not doing them as long as you attend class. The exam questions are solely based on the material discussed in class and very few will cover the readings, but the content overlaps so you can usually guess the answer on those questions. Also you get to use any handwritten notes on exams including the final! You are not allowed to print readings or typed notes, but anything written with pen and paper is fair game. The prof is honestly so chill, and he is genuinely informative about the subject so I highly recommend taking the class with him as an easy GE or a way to get extra units

Do yourself a favor and don't listen to the reviews on here. His TA's especially "Campbell" grade very harshly and horribly, they give the same generic "feedback" to all students just to have an excuse to knock off as many points as they can.His midterm and final have the most unclear questions I have ever seen.Reading the questions on his tests sounds like he doesn't even know what he wants to ask you in the first place. And if that was not bad enough he also does not record his lectures...
Would avoid at all costs

I took this class as a GE for my first quarter here at UCLA. I'm a STEM major, so keep that in mind. This was quite literally one of the easiest classes I have ever taken in my life. Not only was it easy, the content was actually very interesting and Professor Sherrer keeps it relevant to the time. You can prepare for these assignments/tests:
-Midterm (Open note)
-Final (Open note)
-One short letter (Graded extremely easy)
-Small slideshow (Graded extremely easy)
-Slightly bigger slideshow (Again, graded extremely easy)
I know hearing that a test is "open note" is intimidating because that means the exam is usually very hard...but not here. If you show up to class, you are basically guaranteed an A. The questions are very easy and very straightforward. If you quickly skim through the slides, that is more than enough studying to get a 95 or above. There are some readings assigned each week, however, Professor Sherrer always goes over it and they're pretty short/easy reads. A couple basic questions on it might pop up in exams but nothing too bad. I stopped doing the readings very early on and just showed up to class and I got an A. As long as you follow the rubric (which is really straightforward) and show up to class, it is impossible to not get an A. Overall, I would highly recommend this class as an easy GE. It is very chill and the perfect class to have. This professor is also excellent and very kind. I do recommend trying to get Lawrence as a TA! He is nice, welcoming, accommodating, and understands a student's workload. Overall, I absolutely loved this class because it was extremely manageable and I actually learned something useful.

The class was pretty easy. I would say if you liked high school history this is basically the same thing. The professor gives readings before class which sometimes were pretty boring but they do come up on the midterm and final so you need to at least have a general understanding of them. Other than that, the midterm was easy as long as you looked over the slides again (most of the questions were pulled from the slides). I got a 100% on the midterm but the final was considerably harder. Overall, if you like history and are looking for a class that isn't too hard with a funny professor, this is the class for you!

I really appreciate Professor Sherrer's method of giving a automatic 100 for participation for homework because it allows students to truly explore a topic and try something new without worrying about scrutinizing for perfect marks. Sherrer's recommendation and incentive to write handwritten notes for open notes is really smart. I personally enjoyed being away from my screen for once, and I was actively helping my future self by providing notes for the open note exam. I really enjoyed this course overall and hope to take another one of Sherrer's courses in the future.

grade breakdown:
discussion attendance: 10%, homework assignments: 10%, midterm exam: 25%, written assignment: 25%, final exam: 25%

class consisted of two homework assignments that felt incredibly relevant and were honestly quite enjoyable to research

my favorite class i've taken at UCLA so far, sherrer is a great lecturer and i feel as though everything i've learned is incredibly valuable, even if quite intuitive and maybe overexplained at times lol

discussions felt incredibly valuable too, i greatly appreciate my ta, conrad. i hate participating in discussions but i never felt uncomfortable to do so.

i would highly recommend this class to anyone regardless of major, the content is incredibly relevant considering today's political climate

super easy class and the class structure was very consistent. We had twice a week lecture and mandatory discussion sections (but my TA was super chill abt attendance). The discussion were helpful because they related class concepts to current events. class basically was about social movements from the 1950s to now--super interesting if you like history or social justice

Assignments:
a super chill research project that essentially consisted of two slideshows. open note midterm and final but it had to be handwritten

this is a super easy and interesting social analysis GE and diversity requirement. highly recommend!

Thomas Sherrer is an angel. He is great at explaining topics and is super nonpartisan in his explanations. The readings he posts for us are super relevant and educational. I really value that he posts up-to-date news, and has clearly engaged with the material himself. He is such a sweetheart, who is clearly passionate about his students and what he teaches. He just overall is a good dude. One of my favorite professors at UCLA. He communicates well, and wants his students to succeed. Sometimes he beats topics to death and overexplains simple topics, but he is never annoyed at questions. I will say, the PA20 material is extremely similar to PA10, which was a little annoying at times. His assignments were explained well, with clearly defined expectations, and were graded fairly. His tests were straight from the material, and incorporated readings, which made them worthwhile. This class is super easy, and his slides are made well and well organized. Overall, I would take this class again, and Thomas Sherrer deserves a raise, he is a great guy and an even better professor. 10/10 guy.

I will say I liked this class, but I barely went to lecture (my fault). A little frustrating because even if you 100% understand the content of the class, there's a good chance that you still might get an A- because of the sole reason that the grade is composed of the midterm and final, and the exam questions are extremely niche (sometimes a multiple choice about a statistic mentioned once the entire quarter). Sherrer is a great professor overall though, while the class content is basic American politics you probably learned in high school or on the news.

Pub Aff 10 with Professor Sherrer was a great introduction to the public affairs major. Sherrer is an eloquent and engaging political scientist and speaker who genuinely cares about the subjects at hand. I went into the class thinking that I was simply going to learn about the same old civil rights, women, and LGBTQ+ movements I had already studied about in high school, but I actually left the class with a new perspective on these movements and the US government in general. Professor Sherrer's love for the class content was contagious, his class is definitely going to be one I will miss having in my schedule.

2 Tips
1. Keep up with the readings their contents will show up on the multiple-choice section of his exams. He only assigns about two readings/videos before each lecture, and they are not very long, the course load was so light

2. To best prepare for exams is to not simply rely on the posted slide decks, but by attending lectures. A good deal of exam content is on information the professor says in class