There are 2 components to this class: the lecture and the lab. Firstenberg did an amazing job teaching us about research methods in psychology every week, and it was a pleasure to have her as my professor. However, what you learn in lecture does not necessarily help with the assignments in lab. Most assignments in lab are graded by your TA and the grade is also curved based on the grades your section's classmates receive. As long as you follow the TA's directions and ask him or her for clarifications, you should get an okay grade for the lab component of this class. The grading may not necessarily be fair, but the curve in the end does help a lot and evens out your grade. Yes, there is a lot of work involved, but as long as you don't procrastinate and work on your project gradually, you should be fine with time management.

The most important point to take away from this review is to really focus on your midterm and final exam score. You have control over these scores and can really study the lecture and textbook material to secure good grades for your lecture portion of the class. There is more luck involved with your lab grade and like I said before, you may not think the lab grade you receive is necessarily fair, so put more work into the exam scores because they are worth 60% of your overall grade.

So I thought I was going to end up with a B/B- but I guess the curve turned out to be generous or I got lucky somehow. First off, I was really scared about taking this class because 1. it can bring down your gpa if you don't do well and 2. a lot of people dreaded this class. There is a required group project and I think that's the most annoying part of this class. You'd have to meet with your group 2-3 times to figure out your experiment and do assignments related to your project. I guess I got lucky by getting a pretty good lab group because they did everything even though I did try to help but my ideas weren't appreciated. Anyway, it doesn't matter if you have a hard or easy TA because the lab grades are curved in your section, meaning your grade is relative to everyone else's performance. My TA said the average is B-/B so if you want an A, I recommend working on your first submission NOT the night before, attend lectures because quizzes are 100% based on them, and go to office hours if you're confused.
The midterm and final average were both 74%. I got 82% on the midterm and 78% on the final (even though I thought I did really well lol). ALSO tests are tricky af so make sure you read the questions and answers CAREFULLY. I cannot stress this enough; sometimes I feel like she tests more on how you interpret the questions than how well you actually know the material smh. Read the textbook and take detailed notes. Make sure you know about ANOVA and post-hoc tests (that tripped me up during the final).
I wish y'all future 100B'ers do well in this class and end up with a helpful TA/ project group. Unfortunately, the curve is there so that not everyone can get an A but at least not everyone can fail :) good luck!

The worst part about this class is that you don’t know how you stand grade wise throughout the entire quarter! But it was a nice suprise for me, bc I thought I was at the C+/B- range and I ended up with an A-.
Everyone stresses out about the project, but that’s only worth around 25-30% of your grade. What’s important is that you do well on the midterm/final, which is worth 60% of your grade total! What I did was take very detailed notes on every thing the professor said. Never skip class because it’s not bruincasted & the textbook isn’t very similar to lecture. Skim the textbook (abou 10% of the exam questions are textbook based). Also, know what tests to do based on the type of experiment (anova, t-test...). She doesn’t go over that in lecture, but it’s on the exam.
Grade breakdown:
Method section: 78
Project proposal: 81
First submission: 68
Final submission: 86
Midterm: 85
Final: 90

Finally, make friends with your TA! They will help you a lot

100B is a doable class if you take it seriously. BUT this is definitely not the class to take if you have a lot on your plate because its really time consuming! Read over your paper A LOT and use your APA manual all the time because its super easy to lose points over little stuff like italicizing or citations. Your TA is gonna be your best friend this quarter-- go to them for EVERYTHING. Since a lot of them are really particular about what they want in your research paper, go to office hours and email them to be sure of all of this. Tests are very similar to quizzes and not as easy as the practice tests she gives. So just take really good notes in lecture, skim the textbook, and go over your quizzes.

Grade Breakdown...

Method Section: 90

Project proposal: 72

First Submission: 83

Final Submission: 94

Midterm: 93%

Final: 80%

and she offered 1 point of extra credit for participating in a study.

Good luck (:

Selling textbook, APA manual, detailed lecture notes, practice midterms/finals, 2 course readers (workbooks), and quizzes from two different quarters.
Contact *************

So glad this class is over!! Firstenberg is very charismatic and entertaining during her lectures but the group project/final paper sucks big time. The APA Manual is a must-buy, but her other book didn't really help (aka I never read it but idk if that was just a summer class thing). I know psych/psychobio have to take this class and I guess if it is mandatory she would be a good person to take it with. P.S. OH are pretty helpful js

I actually took the class with Amber Ankowski but she isn't listed.
Grade breakdown:
Method Section: 88
Project Proposal: 85
First Submission: 82
Final Submission: 93
Final exam: 80

Grading breakdown: 40% Final (40 questions) x 60% Lab

As you can see the curve actually helps you and you don't need over 90s on every assignment to achieve an A. Overall, this class wasn't as bad as everyone made it seem like. Granted, it was a lot of work, and it was stressful but it was doable. Taking it over the summer is a good idea because you can just focus on this class which does require a lot of attention like rereading over your final paper a dozen of times and making sure you know what your TA wants. Your TA will be your lifeline in this course so make sure to get to know him or her very well (It'll be good if you get a nice one who doesn't get annoyed by questions). Ankowski was an okay professor. She doesn't use slides and sometimes she doesn't go into depth enough. Lecture was only once a week so I didn't really get to know her that well. The final is really tricky in my opinion and honestly I thought it was harder than the final paper. This is because as long as you check religiously for APA errors and include all the conceptual details your specific TA wants, your guaranteed a good grade for the final paper. But, for the final it seems like the purpose of the questions is to try to trick you, so even if you know the material and study it really well, you might fall into some traps that distort your thinking.

Overall, I would say its not an easy class, but a fair one that you'll get a good grade in if you get a good TA and you put in effort.

Selling books required for this class (Methods in Behavioral Research 12th edition, and Publication Manual 6th edition) as well as my notes, practice exams, quizzes, and workbook.
message me at ********** if interested

Liiiiiiiterally the bane of my existence last quarter. Firstenberg isn't the worst professor, I actually liked her a lot as a human other than her desire to never use slides and only write on the board in a super roundabout fashion. BUT, you never know where you stand grade-wise and, like me, can be surprised with an awful grade at the end of the quarter because they're very nitpicky about things. This class, although teaching useful things, really sucks and is 6 units so it largely affects your GPA.

Firstenberg is an amazing lecturer, and the content isn't difficult to understand. Overall as a whole, this class is definitely one of the more difficult classes I have taken, but overall pretty manageable. If you come into the class knowing you'll have to put hours in (for both lecture and discussion), you'll turn out okay. Be ready to revise your paper 2-3x (check in with your TA regarding APA) before actually submitting it and you should be fine. Best way to study for the exams is to literally make your own questions based on the practice midterm and final that they give you, and switch up certain parameters and see how well you know the concepts. Come prepared to put hours in and the class will be fine.