Going into PSYCH 100B, I was terrified after hearing so many horror stories.

Professor Firstenberg definitely soothed my worries: each lecture only focuses on a few key concepts, and she illustrates those concepts with several (often funny) examples, so there is time to grasp the content. She also incorporates a 10 minute break in between the two hour lecture, so lecture is never too heavy. She typically assigns a few chapters from the textbook to read alongside each lecture, and I found it was most useful to skim through, and then make note of the vocabulary terms from each chapter. There are two exams, one midterm and one final. They are multiple-choice, and focus primarily on applying the concepts from lecture and a few terms from the book into real-life experiment scenarios. Overall, lecture was not as difficult as I expected it to be, and as long as you review your notes weekly and keep up with the vocabulary terms from the readings, you will do fine on the exams.

In contrast to lecture, the PSYCH 100B lab was much more time consuming and difficult. The first three to four weeks of lab are really easy: you conduct a simple experiment, and go through basic exercises applying the experiment to the different parts of writing a research report. By week four/five, the difficulty ramps up as you start the group project. In my section, we were randomly assigned groups, and for the rest of the quarter, all assignments, besides the writing of your final research report, are made in your group. It is extremely important to actively communicate everyone’s duties in assignments and set early deadlines so you can all check to make sure everything is up to your standards. If not, that’s where a lot of groups start to fall apart and not score as well. The research report isn’t too difficult, you get a lot of practice in your lab, but it is time consuming so start early. As long as you do that, PSYCH 100B should not be too difficult! Good luck!

This was the hardest class I have ever taken in my life. Period. Iris is very nice and is willing to help when needed but the exam logic and the TAs really cause confusion and pain. Yes they did “rework” the class but everything is still the same where your grade is left up to RNG with which TA you receive and who you get as group members. Unfortunately I received an ex-head TA and even after sacrificing almost everything for this class, it wasn’t enough.

Advice I would give: review EVERYTHING. Sure redoing the practice exams over and over again help however there are just enough questions pertaining to the book to make you read it unless you want to end up with a bad grade. Engage with your TA WHENEVER POSSIBLE and get to know his or her specific grading style.

Good luck. You’ll need more than you’d think.

As others have mentioned, your grade/experience of this class really depends on your TA since you spend much more time in lab than in lecture (at least in the Summer class). The material itself is super easy and straightforward, Prof. Firstenberg is a great lecturer. The exams are mainly based on lecture, I didn't even open the textbook (There were a few questions directly from the book - actually marked "Textbook Questions" - that I guessed on). But, unfortunately the class and exams are strictly curved, meaning that only 20% of the class can get an A. To put this into perspective, if you are in a lab of 20 students like I was, the TA is instructed to give the As to only the 4 highest scorers. I think this is the main issue, not the actual difficulty of the material. So if you pay attention, take good notes, and really learn your TAs grading style, you'll do well. Also, TAKE IT IN THE SUMMER, it's so much easier if you can just focus on this one class.

This course honestly was not as bad as other people made it out to be. The work is tedious, but as long as you follow instructions to the T you should be fine.

I took this class along with three other classes(total of 4) and had a part-time job working around 8-9 hours per week, as well as other commitments like clubs and applying to internships for the summer.

It was manageable. I also never went to lecture after the first week because I just knew I was not gonna pay attention at 8 am. I skimmed the book merely just reading over the definitions, nothing serious. I would say your best weapon in this class is a clear understanding of all the terms, considering I noticed a lot of other people struggled to separate their definitions and mixed them up when it came to the test. This is especially important during the test as many questions are set up to trick students, and mixing up a definition can make the difference between the right or wrong answer.

Here are some of my scores I guess.

MT: 36/40 | class average: 30.7/40
Final: 33/40 | class average: 30.1/40

The lab does suck mostly because I hate the group project portion. I might have trust issues but whatever. The group can make a difference, considering I noticed my group was kind of passive about completing work, so I had to take the initiative most of the time and I hate to say this but completed most of the work. What matters in lab is to just score either at the average or above average.

My group usually scored at least within 1 or 2 standard deviations above the average, but we did have an early assignment(wasnt worth that much) where we scored a little below average.

Another helpful thing I did is looked over someone's work from a previous quarter and basically tried to see the style in which they wanted various assignments done. They usually mark up assignments so I assessed what they did wrong and what they did right and used it to tweak my work. So I'd find a trusting friend that doesn't mind you reading their work that probably got dragged and torn apart. This will make your life easier considering they often do not have specific examples of how they want work done, and its nice to see an example even if it isn't perfect.

This class is doable, you are capable, and in the end, don't let this class scare you. Cause even if you do get a C or whatever at least you passed or even if you failed that grade will not matter within a few months. Good luck :)

This class wasn't honestly so tough, not because of the lectures, but because of the lab that you are in. It really depends on the TA that you have and the group that you are put in for the entire group project. A lot of the TA's are absolutely horrible and make it their mission to give you scathing reviews and a hard quarter. They focus on all of the details that are insignificant because they want to give you bad grades. Make sure to be proactive about each lab assignment and talk to the TA a lot because if not you will not get a good grade right off the bat. Go over the lectures and textbook a bit for the midterm/final and you will be fine.

The class was a ton of work, but the curve helps a lot.

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I believe Prof. Firstenberg deserves a way better review rating. I think she has this rating mostly because the course can be pretty challenging in general, but she definitely does a great job in teaching the class. She's very engaging as she tries to use questions and humor to keep students' attention. She's also very organized with her teaching, so the content she teaches naturally falls into clear sections. She doesn't use slides but she writes on the blackboard which gives students enough time to jot notes.

*My advice is to focus on doing well on the exams because they account for 60% of your overall grade, with 30% each (mid-term + final). Even though most of the work and attention are directed to the lab, and you may feel that the lab is really important, lab session only accounts for 40% of your overall grade. Like I made a mistake of submitting my first submission of the paper late and got quite many points deducted, I still get an A+ because I did well in the exams.

I don't know why everyone is complaining, and apparently they took it in the same quarter I did. I was so scared to take this class but it ended up being just a class with a lot of busy work to do. Everything is dependent on your attitude. I had an AMAZING TA (Sandra, it was her last quarter TAig), and a great, hardworking group, so that may have made the difference for me. I had a really good experience with this class. To earn an A, here are my grades:

Exam 1; 37/40
Exam 2; 33/40
Final Paper: unknown, but must have done well
First submission: 72/100
Proposal: 83/100
Quizzes: 12/15

I honestly thought I had earned a B but the curve and extra credit helped me. Firstenberg uses the chalkboard to write and lectures are not recorded which was annoying, but she was very clear and helpful. Practice exams and quiz questions are structured EXACTLY like the exam questions. Those are your best study tools. Dont stay up late cramming because it wont be helpful and you really need to be alert for the exams. Exams were worded in a tricky way, and questions were very very nuanced, but this is the class that distinguishes your GPA from everyone else's for psych majors. Every UCLA psych major can't graduate with a 4.0, then it wouldn't mean anything.

Just have a good attitude, and dont be so scared. It's just a class. For me that made ALL the difference in my experience.

Everything you heard about psych 100B is semi right. The exams are extremely hard and no matter how much you think you get the material, you probably don’t. I got a 80% average on both exams (64/80) and did average on the practice first submission which is worth 20% of your lab grade so do well on it! I’d say that the exams for this class were a lot like LS 7B and I received the same grade in both. Therefore, if you did well in the 7 series then you will probably do well in this class. I was lucky to have an amazing TA who is unfortunately retiring so there’s no worth in putting their name. My group was also great, the best thing to do is just assign each member different parts of the project. In the group review you have at the end of the quarter, you can write how so and so did this part which is why it’s horrible and shouldn’t impact your grade. Overall, I am happy to receive a B+ in this class and it is achievable for everyone. It will be pretty hard to get an A but if you did in the 7 series and love multiple choice exams then it is totally doable.