All I did was read the textbook for 1-3 days before the exams - every single word - and practiced recalling the definitions/concepts listed at the end of each chapter, and I was able to score well! Definitely hard to get 100% since the questions are pretty specific, but by reading the content close to the exam day, the details are fresh in your memory. Really interesting stuff, and the textbook is nicely structured!

TAKE THIS CLASS!! Professor Karney's lectures are super interesting and I've learned so much about intimate relationships from him. By far my favorite class in UCLA. The exams are pretty difficult though, you really need to go through all the textbook reading to do well in the exam.

what a fucking guy! love his office hours and lecture, but his textbook is expensive! you need that to pass the exams and class. the lectures you dont have to go to but i suggest bc he is just so funny and cool. one of the best and easiest courses i have taken at ucla. 10/10 professor. if my parents at ucla were karney and bonnie goff, call me a happy child.

Karney is one of the best lecturers I have had & I really recommend this class. His lectures are engaging, and he has the whole class laughing like we are at a stand up comedy show almost every lecture. The topics are interesting. Karney always made sure to learn people's names [either when they answer/ask a question of if you go to office hours], and it is not a small class, which I thought was very considerate and impressive. He is very personable. Most of what you need to know is at least touched on in lectures, but some is only in the book, which he is one of the authors of; usually I think it's annoying when professors have you buy their book, but I purchased a used hard copy online for less than $20, and it was not unpleasant to read. You can tell which chapter he wrote, because his humor comes through, which I found entertaining. I can see how this class would be a lot harder if you are taking it as a random Upper Div class, but I am a Psychobiolo major, and I took it just to fill extra Upper Div units, but found it fun and not to tricky; I would rather have an engaging class that requires some work than one that I don't pay attention to all lecture just because it is an easier A. I highly recommend going to Karney's office hours to talk to him, at least once.

BEST CLASS AT UCLA WITH THE BEST PROFESSOR AT UCLA.

Do yourself a favor and TAKE THIS CLASS! Read the textbook, watch the lectures, and you'll be fine.

Do yourself a favor and TAKE THIS CLASS!!

THIS IS THE BEST CLASS I'VE EVER TAKEN SO FAR AT UCLA. Omg I don't even know where to begin. Professor Karney is one of the most enthusiastic professors I've ever had; he's clearly passionate about teaching this course and is extremely knowledgable on intimate relationships. I sort of just randomly decided to take this class as one of my electives for the psych major and I'm so glad that I did. I believe that the things I learned will stay with me for the rest of my life. I may not remember all the nitty gritty details of psychological studies or all the proper vocabulary words, but the overarching concepts about being responsive, validating, caring for, and understanding others will change the way I think, not only about intimate relationships, but all types of relationships!

Lectures: lectures are AMAZING. I'm not even kidding I would genuinely be so excited to go to class and just learn! We learned everything from what makes certain relationships more vulnerable than others, how to strengthen intimacy and promote closeness, what make sex satisfying, intimate partner violence, the effects of stress on intimacy, hook-up culture, how to properly resolve conflicts and stop negative reciprocity. And Professor Karney is so enthusiastic about everything. He really encourages audience participation and goes as far as to remember your name in a lecture hall of hundreds of students if you participate in class. And he's funnyyyyyy too.

Textbook reading: reading the textbook is extremely important and is crucial if you want to do well in this course. The textbook is long. By the end of the course i literally read the entire 500+ pages of the book, but honestly the material was so interesting and engaging I didn't even mind. The textbook is very well written (Karney is a co-author!) and the examples they used were so heartwarming, some of them literally made me tear up.

Test: there is one midterm and one final, both 50 MC questions. YOU MUST STUDY TO DO WELL. I would read the textbook just a bunch and even listen to the audiobook on the way to class before tests and I did really well. I think I got 48/50 on my first one and I am still waiting for the final score to come out. They are definitely doable you just need to know the material. We also have a short paper that was pretty straightforward which I got 100% on.

Office hours: Go to his office hours!!! I would go even if I didn't have questions just to hear other people's conversations and they were so interesting to hear. Sometimes I forget that we go to UCLA and are getting taught by some of the leading researchers/educators in their fields so def take advantage of it!