How to study political science: concepts, theorists and cases

If you're looking up how to study political science, here's the short answer: the major runs on precise concepts and concrete cases, not on opinions. Words you use every day (state, power, democracy, regime, party) have exact definitions in your courses, and every theorist defines them a little differently. Exams ask for three things: define the concept properly, compare theorists or systems, and use that theory to explain a real case. Study to "have an informed opinion" and you'll struggle. Study to argue with concepts and you'll do well.

What makes the major tricky is that it mixes two worlds. On one side there's political theory, with classic thinkers (Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Weber) and long, dense readings. On the other there's comparative politics, with electoral systems, forms of government and party systems from different countries. Lectures are usually slide decks packed with names, typologies and diagrams, and behind each one is a chapter your professor assumes you've read. Most exams are essays, and plenty of courses end with a research paper.

It's not my major: I study computer engineering. What follows comes from looking closely at how political science is studied and graded, and from what we know about how people learn. It also works for the poli sci courses that show up in international relations, sociology, public policy or pre-law tracks.

Define every concept in your own words, with a case

Half of a good political science answer is the definition. When a prompt asks "Is this country a consolidated democracy?", the first thing being graded is whether you know what the readings mean by democracy and by consolidation. Start with your opinion and your professor can tell you don't have the concept.

Make one note card per concept, with these parts:

• The author's definition, as they put it, with the page number.
• Your definition, in one or two sentences.
• A real case that fits it, from any country.
• A case that doesn't fit, and why.
• What it gets confused with, and the difference.

That last line is the one that pays off most. Most mistakes in poli sci come from concepts that look alike: government and state, regime and political system, power and authority, legality and legitimacy. Weber, for instance, separates power (getting your way) from domination, or authority (being obeyed because people recognize your right to rule), and that distinction keeps coming back all semester.

The case that doesn't fit is the one that proves you understand where the concept ends. Anyone can find an example that matches; explaining why another one doesn't is what separates a memorized answer from a thought-through one.

One comparison chart for theorists and systems

Almost everything in political science is learned by comparing. In political theory you compare thinkers who answer the same question (why do we obey the state?) in different ways. In comparative politics you compare systems: presidential versus parliamentary, majoritarian versus proportional, two-party versus multiparty.

For the social contract theorists, for example, the chart has the same rows for everyone:

1. What the state of nature looks like. For Hobbes, a war of all against all; for Locke, a world with natural rights but nobody to enforce them.
2. Why people make the contract. What problem it solves.
3. What they give up and what they keep. How much power ends up with the sovereign.
4. What happens if the sovereign fails. Whether there's a right to resist.

For systems the rows change: how the head of government is chosen, how long they serve, how they can be removed, what happens when the government loses support in the legislature. Fill each column with a real country (the US, the UK, Germany, Brazil) and it sticks far better than an abstract definition.

It's the same format I recommend in how to study history in college, where you also have to line up interpretations of the same process. Build the chart through the semester, one column per lecture, not the week before the exam.

The classic readings: read with a note sheet next to you

Reading Hobbes or Rousseau for the first time is hard. They wrote centuries ago, in another vocabulary, with long arguments. You don't need to read them twice cover to cover: you need to read them once, carefully, and leave yourself a note sheet you can actually use later.

One sheet per reading, half a page:

• Author, work and context. When they wrote and what they were reacting to. Leviathan was written during a civil war, and that explains a lot.
• The question they're asking, in one sentence.
• Their answer, in one or two sentences.
• Three key concepts, with page numbers.
• Who they're arguing with on your syllabus.

Before you read, look through the lecture slides on that author: they give you a map of what you're about to find, so you don't get lost in the chapters. After you read, write the sheet without the text in front of you, and only then check what you missed. That turns the sheet into a recall exercise, which is what actually makes a reading stick.

Practice the essay exam before the exam

The typical political science exam is an open prompt: "Compare presidential and parliamentary systems in terms of stability" or "What does Weber mean by legitimacy? Give an example of each type." You have to write a few pages with an argument that holds up, often in a blue book against the clock.

That's a skill you can train, and it's worth starting early. A method that works:

1. Collect prompts. From past exams if your professor shares them, or made up from the headings on the syllabus.
2. Outline in five minutes. A thesis, two or three arguments, a case for each one.
3. Write one out each week, timed, with your notes closed.
4. Check it against the readings. Which concept was missing, which author you could have cited.

A strong answer defines, compares and applies, in that order. If every practice answer has those three moves, by finals week the structure is automatic and your brain is free for the content.

Use the news as your lab

One perk of this major is that practice material shows up in the news every day: an election, a cabinet reshuffle, an impeachment, an electoral reform, a coalition forming or falling apart. Each one is a case you can run through the concepts you're learning.

A ten-minute exercise: pick a political story from this week, from any country, and answer three questions with your course's theory.

• Which concept explains it? Legitimacy, coalition, electoral system, cleavage.
• What would a theorist from the syllabus say? And what would one who disagrees say?
• How would it play out in another system? If this had happened in a parliamentary country, what would change?

Your own examples are what make an essay answer convincing, far more than the textbook ones everyone repeats. And if a course has an oral component or seminar presentations, doing this out loud is basically the exam; I go into that in how to prepare for an oral exam.

One caution: your professor isn't grading your politics, they're grading your argument. If a case gets you fired up, write that down somewhere else, and on the exam stick to what the concepts let you claim.

Lecture slides, without losing the diagram

Political science slides tend to be typologies and diagrams: Weber's three types of authority, a chart of electoral systems, a flowchart of how a bill becomes law. In lecture your professor walked through them with examples; in the PDF you're left with boxes and arrows.

For that part you can use Filmina, a web app that explains your lecture slides out loud, one at a time, pointing at the part it's talking about. It also looks at each slide as an image, so it explains a diagram or a chart along with the text. If something doesn't click, you ask Mina, the chat that answers from your own material ("how is charismatic authority different from traditional authority?"), and then you can practice with questions built from that lecture. Your PDF readings go in too, so you can read them and ask about a passage, though those aren't explained out loud. It has limits: it needs an internet connection, the free plan has a monthly cap on minutes, and with a scanned photocopy it recognizes the text, which can go wrong with small print or a crooked page. The note cards, the chart and the cases are still on you.

Frequently asked questions

What do you study in political science?

Political theory (from the classics to contemporary thinkers), comparative politics, electoral and party systems, public policy and administration, international relations and research methods. Depending on the program, also American government, constitutional law, history and economics.

Is political science a hard major?

There's no heavy math in most courses, but there's a lot of reading, including classic texts, and you have to write clear arguments. What's hardest at first is separating opinion from analysis and using concepts precisely.

How do you study political theory?

With one note sheet per author (context, question, answer and key concepts) and a chart that compares authors using the same rows. Skimming the lecture slides before each reading tells you what to look for.

How do you answer a political science essay question?

Define the concepts the prompt uses, compare what the theorists or systems say, and apply it to a concrete case. A five-minute outline before you start writing keeps the answer organized.