Problem sets are not hard, but are very informative; professor Paschke is spectacular; he's easy to follow and will go out of his way to make sure everyone understands the material. The (somewhat morbid) highlight of the semester I took the course was a lecture on the nature of nuclear weapons and their cultural impact. It was incredibly powerful. Paschke's one weakness (which is also a point of strength) is that he cares a lot about what his students think. While this can result in open discourse about how the course is being taught and how it can improve, he sometimes seems to get inside his own head (unnecessarily I might add; I've never met anyone who didn't like him) which can slow down the course.