In this class, I got the lowest grade in my life. His class was easy, but the exams were terrible. The questions were ambiguous.

Honestly, I ran this class on autopilot. It was so so manageable and chill. It was the most low-maintenance class I've taken at UCLA and the material was beneficial and applicable to real life.

For Fall 2022, the lectures were podcasted. There are two papers (one is 1-2 pages long and the other is 4-5 pages) and 2 free-response exams. As long as you watch/attend lectures and take notes, they should be relatively easy.

Professor Castel is intelligent and he cares about the subject matter very much. The class is very manageable. Only 2 exams and 2 short papers. The materials are engaging and interesting. Would recommend!

He was an amazing professor who taught a very interesting course. Reading the book and going to lectures and discussions are more than enough to be successful in this class. Use the techniques that you learned in the class in regards to studying in general and see your decision to take this class pay dividends! Awesome guy.

This is one of the most interesting classes I have taken. He teaches very well and you will not be bored at all. His exams are extremely tricky and my class got a C average on the midterm. I am almost sure that he gives too much leeway to his TAs in designing the exams. There were many complaints after the midterm and final regarding the clarity of the questions asked. Professor Castel acted in many occasions as if he had never seen his exam questions before, which indicated that the TAs were writing the exam. The textbook he chose is clear and easy to understand. I really wish Professor Castel would spend some time designing his own exams, but clearly he does not. Otherwise I would HIGHLY recommend this professor, but unfortunately I cannot do so.

Professor Castel is a really nice and interesting lecturer, but besides that his exams are tricky and ridiculously hard. I wish he gave us more time on the exams. Too many detailed questions. Besides knowing the textbook you need to understand the concepts very well from the lecture slides.

I feel bad writing this review because I loved Dr. Castel. He is amazing, a wonderful man, a great professor, interesting, makes material applicable and practical. That said, his exams are extremely hard. He allows the TA's to make them up. There are two right answers to several questions and the exams are unfair and confusing. They don't test direct knowledge. The plus is that he skips all the biology in the entire course which is great. Be prepared to love him, love his class and hate his exams.

He is absolutely awesome. Very passionate about his work and always uses in class demons to really get the points across. You have to read the book in order to get a good grade, he loves throwing in questions from the book. Study hard and you will do well in this class

He taught the second half of the class (Professor Hongjing Lu taught the first half).
He's pretty good. He teaches interesting subject (memory) and you can incorporate some of these memory techniques to score good on your tests! Class was good overall. Two short papers and two exams. During the section meetings, the TAs gave powerpoint slide reviews of previous lectures which was very helpful. There were also review sessions for both midterm and final and they were podcasted as well. You need to study both lecture notes and the book in order to do well on the exams. Professor Castel likes to put many questions from the book. I highly recommend you to take this class!