<p>Does anyone know how Pol Sci 2 is with Fish (in terms of difficulty, work load, what the class is about, etc)? Please! I really need help :( I feel so completely lost.</p>
<p>If you’re gonna take PS2, Fish is the professor to take it with. The class is decent. Not super difficult, but there are weekly quizzes in lecture so you have to at least attempt to keep up with the readings. Lectures can be a little repetitive but Fish goes off on some interesting tangents sometimes. Some of the readings are dry but a lot of them are really interesting, and at the end of the semester my GSI, who happened to be head GSI, asked us for feedback on the readings because Fish wanted to know. We unanimously panned certain readings and praised a lot of others, and he seemed interested in modifying reading assignments, so the class will probably cut more of the bad readings for this coming semester. Three exams that are noncumulative, no final, no outside papers. A short list of essay exam q’s are given out ahead of time, and then they choose a couple from the list for you to write on, so you can prepare. Also, no laptops allowed in class, and you have to be REALLY sneaky about using your phone unless you want to get embarrassed and kicked out of class.</p>
<p>I loved it a lot! Fish is overrated (he’s still the best professor for the class though), but what made me really enjoy it was my GSI, Jody LaPorte. Overall it’s a moderately difficult course, and the person above me summarized the content/structure of the course really well. </p>
<p>It is difficult to get an A, especially if you have a tough GSI like Jody. I got a solid A, but I worked my butt off for it, and I found it very rewarding. You not only need to know the material inside out, but you also have to be a very strong, concise, and succinct writer. I would recommend taking your R&C courses before this (unless you already consider yourself a strong writer with good high school preparation- but remember, only the top high schools in CA, a minority, would adequately prepare you to write A level papers at Berkeley). If you don’t want to take your R&C courses before, then drop by the SLC for tutoring.</p>
<p>I got 100% on my readings, participated a decent amount in class, and got A minuses on my papers. I also went to Jody’s and Fish’s OH quite a bit to clear up any confusion on misunderstandings I had about the material. But I am a pretty strong writer- most of my section got panned with their essays (in class midterm essays) and got Bs and B minuses. The strong writers received B+s, the great writers received A-s, and the excellent writers (maybe 1 or two people in the entire section) received As on their essays.</p>
<p>The workload isn’t that bad. There aren’t any take home essays, and like the previous poster said, you get the midterm essay questions beforehand so you can prepare before. On average there are 100 pages a week, but sometimes Fish assigns whole novels and you have to read 300 pages. You can still skim over it, since section doesn’t really go into the minute, obscure details of the reading. </p>
<p>Comparative politics basically compares different country’s government structures, policies, economic growth (the policies used by different countries to facilitate growth and what policies fail and perpetuate poverty), the nature of peace and conflict (and how different countries combat ethnic conflict) ect. It’s broad, but it basically compares different countries’ political regimes.</p>
<p>^I had Jody too! Really liked her as well. :)</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the advice! What about Poli Sci with Gurowitz? In all honesty, I can’t tell the difference between Poli sci 2 and 5… at least not specifically.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the advice! What about Poli Sci with Gurowitz? In all honesty, I can’t tell the difference between Poli sci 2 and 5…</p>
<p>Pol Sci 5 is international relations- how different countries’ interact with each other (such as through the UN), and how they join forces to combat shared problems, or conversely, what causes strained relationships between nations that causes war.</p>
<p>Comparative politics doesn’t focus on the RELATIONS between countries, but focuses on COMPARING different countries, to find out which country is doing something right and which country is doing something wrong.(for example it compares how China and India took divergent paths in reaching their modern extraordinary economic growth, but it doesn’t look at the relations between the countries)</p>
<p>I was in PS5 for about two weeks before I decided to drop it in favor of taking less units. A friend that stayed in the class liked it. From what I could tell, Gurowitz is very knowledgeable and a good professor. She does talk really fast, though!</p>