Just dropping in to confirm prior reviews. I came into this class knowing that it would be a lot of work. It indeed was. Studying and memorizing information down to the name of the species was incredibly difficult and tiring. The extra credit project was basically mandatory if you even wanted anything close to an A, but it does offer a huge grade boost so take advantage of that. Although challenging, the class is very very doable, but it requires the time and effort. Take this class with easier classes and start the project asap. Rest assured that the professor is very caring and willing to answer all your questions.

I don't know what the fuss is about Dr. Cox. I agree that she may have a monotone way of giving her lecture, but if you actually listen to her lectures, you can tell how interested and how connected she is with the 'things' she is talking about.
True, the amount of information can be quite grueling, but it's a real 10-week class squeezed into a short 6 weeks. What do you expect?
Honestly, I took this class while studying for the LSAT and another upper division class and ended up getting an A+. But you do have to work hard. I would suggest going through all of the chapters and making outlines of them, and then filling in the holes/adding the extra info. that she talks about in class. you can't go wrong with that.
doing the extra credit project allowed me to also work with dr. cox, and she is clearly a person very dedicated to her area of expertise and cares deeply about animals and their welfare. you gotta give her the chance though.

Professor Cox is perhaps one of the WORSE professors I have had at my four years at UCLA. I dont judge professors harshly, but she is just ridiculous. First off, her reading assignments are way too much, since each lecture a chapter and about 2 articles need to be read. It is kind of sad since they all stress one concept, so I found, like all my classmates to keep up on the reading. Secondly, her voice is MONOTONE, her lectures are EXTREMELY BORING. She is worse than the Visine man Ben Stein. Next, she goes through her lectures by reading off her notes. She then tries to describe different animal species with weird names, yet she fails to spell them for us. However, this which makes no sense to me, she spells the easy words for us. WTF!! I like everyone else in the class, found going to lecture a PAIN, it was so difficult to remain awake and attentive, even with a good night's rest. I found that the only way to do well in her class was to write down every thing she says. Her tests are extremely difficult.....she asks concepts she never even discussed. She expects you to have an example of an animal species for each test question you answer, so make sure you write down all examples she says in lecture.
I earned a solid A in her class, with the help of her extra credit project. She allows students this project...which was a pain in the ass observing animals at the LA Zoo. We would have to go with partners each week, with our own car, drive all the way to burbank, pay for a yearly pass to the zoo, and sit there and stare at these poor animals that are caged in the lowest condition of housing. It is so sad. IF you have to take this course with her, make sure you do the extra credit project, because her tests few do well on. The tests are all written. Just a warning too, she doesnt help a lot when you go to her office hours or ask her for help, kind of sad since she is out there to help students, yet she doesnt.

IN CONCLUSION STAY AWAY FROM THIS PROFESSOR!

Worst class I've ever taken at UCLA. A terrible professor who is totally disorganized, can't word questions correctly on exams (get ready to get dinged on those midterms boys and girls), and poses a ridiculous amount of information that no one in the class cares about. Monotone, whisper-quiet voice+boring/irrelevant lectures at 5 PM = naptime for everyone. And that extra credit project for a full grade bump? Forget it, you have to live at the zoo for a week and finish the project haphazardly during finals week. Take EEB instead to all my psychobio majors, this class might be the worst course offered at UCLA in any department.

Professor Cox does talk very slowly and monotone, that hasn't changed over the years apparently. Sit in the front or record, or don't do either, it doesn't really matter. But, she prints out very organized lecture notes for every student, and makes review packets the day before the exams that summarize the mountains of info. The tests are essay style and are based on both the book and the lecture notes = tons of reading. These tests are really ****ing hard to do well on, and to be frank, the majority of students fail them. It is not that the material is difficult to retain or that people write down the wrong information, most of the time, points are taken away simply because Prof. Cox doesn't like how the sentence was phrased or believes the response was missing a specific word. I can see why many students feel like the grades they received on these tests was unjustified, but she is open to regrading questions. At first I stressed out because of how low the average student did (me being one of them), but I soon learned that she curves her tests heavily so that the average student receives about a B/B-. Still, this is daunting for any pre-med or anyone in general who cares about their gpa. Fear not, she offers an extra credit project that boosts the final grade by a full letter. End up with a B? That's an A now. The catch though is that the extra credit project requires 10 hours of observation of pretty much any animal of your choice.
My recommendation is to pick an animal that stays active throughout the afternoon and isn't boring to watch. No one wants to be melting in the sun for 4 hours watching an animal that sleeps all day, plus that leads to a really boring analysis.

Taking Psych 118 with Prof. Cox is a lot of work with the readings, lectures, and extra credit project, but with the extra credit, you're practically guaranteed to do well in her class. I strongly recommend taking the class with her if you're like me and want to do well and are willing to put in the effort. Another way to phrase it is that I simply suck at multiple choice and true-false exams and can never ace them, so this class was a blessing to me because I could ensure that I did well by putting in a lot of time into the class. However, if you can't stand animals or need to devote time to work or other classes, I would recommend taking this with another professor. Otherwise, take her for the gpa boost and learn a thing or two about your favorite animal.

I had to take a break from studying for this class' final tomorrow...let out some steam, you know? This is perhaps the worst class/professor combo to take at UCLA during the summer. I don't care if she has a monotone voice, I care that she does not give any type of lecture outline or slides to help us follow the organization of what she's saying. the overhead projector she uses, i would say, DEmagnifies the transparencies so that you would need a good magnifying lens to read them (plus the projector bulb is ALWAYS in the way). I read every single f-in chapter in the book except this last one i have to study for, and have (to my hugge surprise) earned solid A's on both midterms after walkign out of the exam feeling like a failure and wanting to burn the book and reader. now i'm trying to secure an A without doing the extra credit project. anyways---the only advice: avoid taking this class/professor combo, and if you have to, read eveyrthing like you have no life, listen to lecture like it excites you, and take ample notes. maybe it's just the class...no wait, i think she just needs to stop torturing us. the exams are way to random, stuff thats emphasized in all three sources (book, reader, lec) aren't even asked about.

Proffessor cox's lecture style is dull. She kind of speaks in a low tone so it can be difficult to hear her. Her exams are essay format and it can be difficult to answer the questions properly but the class is curved. Furthermore, the book does follow along with lecture so buy the book. For my class which was winter 2003 most people fell asleep during lecture because the class was from 5 - 6:15 pm in the evening and the prof. was not that interesting. I got a "D" on my 1st exam, however, after that i found a way to stay awake in class and earned a "B+" in the course. Although I can not reccomend her to other students because I do not like classes where profs have a monotone voice; I really do believe that she does care about students. She is a sweetheart and she was very generous when it came to grades at the end - this was very unexpected. She also made an optional project available where it was possible to raise your grade significantly.