I'm not exactly sure why there're a few reviews saying that it's not an easy A... It's definitely one of the easiest psych classes I've ever taken (I'm a Senior )
In my opinion, as long as you've taken a few psych classes in UCLA, you would agree with me that it's an easy class. The material are pretty interesting and very very straightforward, but the lectures can be a bit dry from time to time( I think).
I studied the exams by simply going through the slides and the main takeaway points from the readings.
I got 42/45 for midterm, and 60/60 for the final. Yeah, I agree that there were one or two tricky questions in each exam, but overall, the exams are extremely fair!!!!
Guys, I would definitely recommend taking this class!

100% do not trust this grade distribution. This is a great class and honestly one of my favorite ive taken so far at ucla but the test are very hard. I studied a lot and still almost failed both midterms.

Selling the paperback textbook for this class, feel free to email me at *************.

I can't believe the bad ratings for this class!
Dr. Galvan is by far one of the best professors I've had at UCLA, she is extremely knowledgeable, and makes the class incredibly engaging. If you have any interest at all in developmental psychology, you will have a blast!
The material is pretty simple and straightforward. Even when it comes to specific experiments that you need to know, she goes above and beyond to simplify them! Tells you EXACTLY what you need to know for the exam, and which details you can skip.
She summarizes the main points of the assigned readings, so you essentially DON'T EVEN NEED TO READ THE BOOK, although it's very interesting and easy to read
Yes, some of her multiple choice answers are somewhat tricky, and getting an A+ in the class could hinge on getting lucky with one of them; but an A is ABSOLUTELY ATTAINABLE with decent-to-minimal effort.
If you put NO EFFORT and expect to get a straight A, you'll probably end up coming back here and be one of the weiners who give Dr. Galvan a bad rating rather than owning up to your lack of effort.

Class changed. Don't trust distribution. GPA fell below 3.90

Like all the other reviews say below: DO NOT TRUST THE GRADING DISTRIBUTION. I am rather conflicted as I write this review, and trying to not weigh in too much of my biases to this review.

PROFESSOR: As a whole, Galvan is actually really funny and very passionate about her topic that she teaches about. She is engaging and adds funny stories and pictures of herself as an adolescent / her children, and it just makes the class enjoyable. She does though, speak very quickly at times. I recorded lectures and would have to listen to them in 0.5x speed (instead of others usually replaying lectures at 2x speed) She also is not very clear at some moments, as she will start a sentence saying one thing, but end the sentence with statements that conflict the first half of the sentence. (i.e. she started a sentence saying puberty starts earlier, but then ended up saying that puberty does not start earlier? I'm sure that's what she said because I recorded the lecture and listened to that part 5 times because I was really confused...)

CONTENT: the content is more so neuroscience. This is a very science based class that is not represented in the course title. If you don't understand brain regions, then this class will be confusing to you / you'll just need to put a bigger effort in studying. The class is cool though because she teaches you a lot about adolescence and I felt like it was relatable because she taught us why adolescence might not be that bad of a stage in life and taught us what happens in the brain that leads to adolescents acting like adolescents do. (It really made sense as to why I was the way I was in middle school and high school)

EXAMS: 2 exams, each 50% worth your grade. This was weird though, because the midterm had less questions (45 questions) than the final, meaning each question on the midterm was worth more than the final (60 questions). The first midterm was super hard, and I think a lot of people didn't do well in it, which is why the second exam (final) was a lot easier.

OVERALL, I felt like this class was very interesting, but do not let the grading distribution trick you. I think most of the class was unhappy with the professor, because they say that 80% of the people got As in previous quarters. But if you just view this as a class with a more normal distribution of grades, you'll enjoy it.

This class was a complete scam. 60-70% solid A's my butt. I bet only like 30% of people got an A this quarter. Her midterm was so poorly worded! She tried to make up for this by making the final a piece of cake, but it didn't make up for the midterm that we essentially tanked. It just does not make any sense that the midterm and final are both weighted equally (50%). This grading scheme does not reward improvement from the midterm, because if you get like a B on the midterm, you're already at a 90.0 in the class, which you would then have to get 100% on the final to get an A-. I have taken numerous south campus classes that have rewarded significant improvement from midterm to final. If you're thinking about taking this class for an easy A, don't. Yes, I'm salty.

Like the recent reviews stated on here, Galvan would ask the most nit-picky question that does not test for understanding, and if you saw key words, that's probably wrong because she doesn't go for the main concept, but rather poorly worded answer choices that are just kind of right nuance restated in the strangest possible way. There is no room for mistake in a 50% midterm and 50% final grade scheme, and it's ridiculous that the midterm was weighed more for each question than the final, since that's usually people's first gauge at her question style. Her lectures are fairly light, but again, it's just frustrating that her tests are so poorly constructed. Even if you go to her OH to ask about the questions, she wouldn't even know what you're asking, and may say something wrong to justify the answer key. She'd also throw in questions that were definitely not remotely close to the focus of the class, such as: "All of the following are similarities of puberty and metamorphosis except... hypothalamus control, sex hormone control, behavior and mood changes, and body structure change," and if you like insects undergoing puberty then by all means take this class, but I still question how they go through mood changes.

DO NOT TRUST the grade distribution on bruinwalk, that's NOT an EASY A. I went to every lecture and put effort into studying the two exams. The questions were not purposely testing on the general concepts, but JUST MINOR DETAILS in the lecture slides. The professor is nice and engaging, but she's not a good at setting questions. The grade is only based on the two exams, 50% each. Missing a few questions already pulled you from the A range.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Do not get fooled by the grade distributions. No this is not an easy A. She is very nice and friendly. Engaging lectures and the material is easy. BUT. She purposely tricks you on the tests, the questions are horribly worded and the answers to choose from doesn't make sense. The tests are so bad and both the midterm and final is 50% of your final grade. No extra credits, no curve, no other points for you to make up for. She asks about the most insignificant things on her tests instead of the seamingly most important concepts. She often justifies the right answer by saying its the best answer out of all these crappy answers thats why its right. This class put me through so much pain as I was expecting an easy A. I really hope no one has to go through this like I did. I studied my ass off my final and yet I think I did horrible. I couldn't have studied any harder for this class and all I wanted was an A. If you are okay with working your ass off and getting a B, take it with her.