Sherrer is one of those professors where their passion for the topic shines through their lectures.

Class is comprised of readings usually about 30 pages a week, and readings are due before class. They are a good primer for what the professor is going to be talking about that day. The readings are actually interesting and are helpful in understanding the course, so don't skip them.

The grade is comprised of a midterm, written assignment, infographic assignment, and the final. As long as you pay attention in class, take good notes, and do the readings accordingly you should have no problem getting A's on the tests. As for the written assignment, this is a time when you should meet with Sherrer during his office hours, in order to get the best grade possible.

Sherrer always tried to make his slides engaging, whether it be through memorable campaign ads or Taylor Swift quotes. This is a professor who cares about the material he teaches, and overall this is a wonderful class to take if you are a poli sci major.

He is a genuinely good person and very helpful. He wants you to think about your future after graduating and provides resources to help you find a career/next steps. I would definitely take a class with him again!

One of the best POL SCI classes I've taken at UCLA so far. The main thing for me was that the content was engaging and I learned a lot of interesting things in this course. My only qualm was that this class was too early in the morning... ha!

This class is great if you just need something simple to ease your workload. Attendance is not mandatory nor necessary to ace the class. There are only three assignments, and they can be completed very quickly in one sitting.

This class was great and very interesting. Thomas Sherrer is a great lecturer and has really well prepared slides. He knew a lot about this subject and made his lectures interesting and did tell some pretty solid jokes. Overall, he was great but he is pretty slow on returning grades (it's just him and a couple of graders for the whole class so I don't blame him). Overall, there were four assignments total which comprised your grade. The two projects were pretty easy to do fine on and graded very kindly. The Party Platform assignment was definitely a little difficult because it had to include a lot of information, but still be short (200 words a section x 4 sections). The infographic was basically a free 10% on your final grade. The midterm and final weren't too difficult but there were some pretty specific questions on there which made them harder than they should have been. Overall, I recommend this for an upper div poli sci.

Should be illegal for a 4 unit class to be this easy and chill.

While Professor Sherrer is an overall great professor, be prepared for a large sum of commitment and reading in this class. He argues that due to the lack of a discussion section, course material is supplementally taught through assigned readings and articles. Your overall grade is made up of an essay, midterm, and final exam, which is honestly somewhat difficult. All in all, the class is great if you're someone super interested in the content of the way the media shapes elections, however don't take this class if you're looking for an easy poli sci upper div or don't have the time to fully commit to the course.

I thought this was a really good class. It is hard to get during enrollment but you can request a pte through the pub aff department and they usually give out 2 per section. The class is made up of 10% attendance (5% participation and 5% attendance for section), 10% homework assignments (2 of them, one week 3 that is a short memo graded super easy and one week 7/8 that is a short slideshow also graded super easy, 25% midterm (20 mcq and 2 saqs that was super easy and open note), 25% slideshow research presentation (graded a little harsher than hw but still fairly easy and very short as in under 1000 words), and 30% final (20 mcq and 2 saqs and not cumulative and open note). Professor Sherrer is a great professor and lecture attendance isn't required. A few tips: 1) he admitted that the longest answer is usually the right one, 2) attend lecture and take good notes on paper as he only lets you use paper notes on the midterm and final, 3) he posts lectures but doesn't record, so if you miss a lecture right down the slides verbatim and make sure you summarize ALL graphs(no need for numbers just trends) and watch ALL videos because he pulls almost all questions from slides, graphs, and videos, 4) skim the outside readings because he pulled a few questions from them on the midterm but I don't think any on the final, 5) pay attention when he does the midterm and final review at the end of lecture because it helps a lot for the midterm and final. Overall, it was a good class

Professor Sherrer is a highly engaging lecturer, and this is the second course I’ve taken with him. While his teaching style is captivating, his approach to grading and exams has been extremely challenging. His exams tend to determine the entirety of your grade, with no opportunities for extra credit or makeup assignments. I also found it concerning that he discouraged the TA from adequately preparing us for the exam, which felt counterproductive since TAs are typically there to support student learning. In this particular class, the situation was more difficult—he introduced a significant amount of new material just two days before the exam and provided a study guide that did not align closely with what was actually tested. His exam structure could use significant improvement. The questions often focus on overly specific details rather than the main concepts emphasized in class, making it difficult for students to demonstrate their overall understanding.

Dont listen to the person who uploaded for the fall 2025 quarter even though its still spring 2025. You can't blame a teachers grading outcomes based on a harsh TA. I had the same T.A. Campbell, and you could've requested feedback from them for future assignments. The in person exams were literally multiple choice and short answer and open notebook, so if you wrote notes during lecture and from the slides, the answers for the questions were right in your face. If you're that type of person who can't go to class for certain reasons, then what did you expect... If you had reasonable accommodations, you could've actually asked him to send previous lectures he had recorded from other years.