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
Prof Nall is upfront about how difficult this class can be, but he is very nice. Do the readings for quizzes, go to office hours. We had a good TA. Engage in class discussions. I feel like he was lenient because our class was engaged and participatory. The policy memos are a useful writing skill for pols majors, do your best on these and quizzes.
PS170 was interesting but was full of many assignments that made it unmanageable in a quarter system. Two 250-word reading responses a week (not actually responses, had to apply readings in different ways), midterm, final, policy proposal, 8 pg. policy memo, attendance and participation in lecture & section on top of 100-200 pgs of reading a week.
avoid if you are not a polisi major!!! I took this class 3 quarters ago and still get upset thinking about how difficult it was. His directions are unclear. His lectures do not make sense and I got little to no feedback when I would ask. When I did get feedback it was 1-2 WORDS per essay. I had no idea what I was even learning.
he was a very great lecturer and passionate about polysci. however, there were 700 word papers due every week and they were graded pretty harshly. there was also a ton of reading every week.
Professor Nall is very passionate about the subject but he is a tough grader and his lectures are as well. He goes fast and does not give breaks between the midterm week and the weakly assignments. Be ready to read a lot and write a lot.
Nall is a great expert in American politics, and you can expect to learn a lot. 3-5 hours of extra-lecture work per week should be enough. I don't think he did a good job supporting the TAs during the strike, and that's why my rating is a 4 instead of a 5.
Doesn't answer emails. I emailed him asking for zoom office hours when I had COVID, he responded literally 2 weeks later. His response papers are so confusing and we don't even go over them. He like also cries. Once for democracy, he is passionate at least.
Nall is very knowledgeable about American politics and has a lot of experience working on real policy stuff. He really wants his students to learn, and expect them to devout a lot of time to his course. Still, you don't need to spend more than a couple hours outside of lecture in it per week if you follow politics
Literally the worst political science professor I have ever had. It feels like he wants you to fail because the tests are so insanely unreasonable when this is supposedly equivalent to AP Gov. I have spent over 60 hours studying for the final and I am still unprepared. Midterm average was a 68% and there is way way way too much reading always.
Lots of reading yet the answers to his exams barely match what is claimed in the material. The professor was unwilling to help students with personal problems during TA strike. He creates an echo chamber classroom and tends to cry and enter moments of emotional silence if something is presented outside of his preferred political stance.
The average on our midterm was 68%, and he says the final is around the same. Lectures don't even cover what's on the midterm and he has been grading the response papers hard since the strike. Don't take this guy If u have a chance, easily the worst Poli sci professor
Clayton Nall is so well informed on everything he teaches, I find it so endearing how passionate he is about all of his lectures, it makes it easy to learn. Just understand the textbook and you should be good, the class has lots of padding in terms of grading. You can tell he wants to push his students to do better
The type of class you can never go to and still get an A in. 10/10.
I really enjoyed this class and seeing a professor be passionate about issues is refreshing to see and he really cares about what he talks about.While there were some issues, especially the midterm formatting he seems to have listened to feedback and made the final better structured.I found the material very engaging and thought it was a good class
Lots of people complain how he doesn't record lectures, but this isn't unreasonable at all. many profs don't do this and he posts all the slides and links online. response paper system was convenient and I preferred writing six short papers (500-750 words) rather than one long paper. lots of reading but you can skip out on some weeks.