Professor Nall is MEAN. He is so unfriendly and so unhelpful. He gets mad when you don't know as much about a topic as him, that he literally has a PhD in. He said himself that students should be doing 5+ hours of work outside of class for a 2 credit class. He has a condescending attitude and that makes for an unpleasant learning environment. AVOID

It's a lot of reading that you have to do. Some of them were interesting and others were a bore, but the participation in class made it far more engaging. He teaches it like a grad-school level class, so if you're interested in getting a taste of upper-level academia, I would recommend this class. Also the final paper was actually quite interesting

I took POLS12 last year and it was tough! For a lower division prerequisite course, this class was unnecessarily difficult. Lots of reading from two required textbooks (about 1-2 long, multi-sectional chapters) for each class. Lectures are good but he only pulls from the readings for tests which are extremely nit-picky and specific. Wouldn't retake

Good readings and good lectures. The class is really more of an interactive seminar. The policy memo project is good training for future jobs in politics and policy.

Two midterms, a final, and quizzes. There are tons of readings to keep up with. The exams are crazy difficult but he curves.

Nall is a tough professor but he is ultimately fair. The class projects are a great introduction to doing original original research.

Its one of the hardest classes ive had at ucsb, but I learned a lot and he's a good teacher. very hard class though, tests are really hard, ive managed to get As on them by putting in hours into the textbook and making insane notes for the tests (ahead of time keeping up with readings). might be in some bureaucratic lawyer cult but overall cool.

Took this for a pre-req for

Participation for section is required, not for lecture. No laptops allowed in lecture in 2024. Nall is very sensitive, I would not recommend him to anyone, especially taking a lower div polisci pre-req. The coursework itself is not bad, but he is just difficult to work with. Mandatory textbook is $80. Don't take unless you have to.

Nall is difficult. Its nice seeing someone so knowledgeable, but wow this class is impossibly difficult. Expect to read a ton of complex readings. On top of that, you MUST participate in the class. It's a huge part of the grade and there IS cold calling. Also, expect difficult grading on the difficult quizzes on the difficult readings.

His tests are needlessly difficult, but even with a C average on the tests, I still managed to get an A- because of writing assignments and participation. He's got a bit of an ego and will ridicule students for expressing different opinions from his, but if you have a well formed factual argument, he will show more respect. Cares about his students

I don't know why Nall is regarded as a difficult professor on this website, maybe he changed his approach to teaching recently. Yes, there are weekly papers, but they're more time-consuming than challenging (2 1/2 hours a week minimum should be enough). Just remember large concepts and how they relate to readings/case studies and you should be fine