For all of us, the time must come to take 100B, and we must persevere through the battle. Firstenberg is okay, clever and easy to understand. The class is not THAT hard, but it is a lot (!!!) of work. The lab component is what I think gives most of us trouble, especially since exams are straightforward if you know the material well enough. I'm ranked 1 in my lab right now, and you can be too when your time comes if you
1. study for the lab quizzes - not definitions, but how to apply them
2. are thorough as all hell on your assignments (literally jam pack everything you can in there)
3. follow APA style for the assignments - APA calls for specific things in specific places. Use your SEED article as a standard by which you write your First Submission and maybe even try to get someone else's old stuff (chances are they wont even want to look at it ever again, so this should be easy enough).

Good luck :)

Psych 100B is not that bad of a class, especially with Dr. Firstenberg. She is an amazing lecturer and makes this class fun! (She gave me the impression that she was comedian-like, so I had fun listening to her lectures.) She's pretty friendly, and whatever she says, goes, as opposed to the book. The exams were not that bad. They were 90% of applying concepts to situations, which is much better than pure memorization, for me. People seem to have scored pretty high on the midterms (around 32-35/40 on average).

Your lab TA sort of matters, but because each section is curved differently, it all evens out. My TA was AMAZING! She led the lab really well, for her first time. I even see her around Franz and say hi and all, but I'll keep her identity anonymous for this, since I'm supposed to be evaluating Dr. Firstenberg here, not Psych 100B itself. I ended up with an A-, which just made my quarter :). (P.S. The paper is what makes your grade, since everyone generally does okay on the exams, and APA is a very strict writing style). The class was very valuable as an experience for critical thinking and planning. It makes you really think about things. I highly HIGHLY recommend Dr. Firstenberg!

100b is a horrible class and it is intended to scare students off from the psychology department. Professor Firstenberg is a great lecturer and makes this class enjoyable. She talks fast so you have to really be smart and take notes of every word she says. When you see that the book contradicts with her go and ask her about it, she will be happy to help you. The exams are a nightmare but that is the standard when taking this class.

Your lab TA makes a big difference in what you learn and your final score. My TA was Brian O. and I could have not asked for a better person. I ended up with a B but most people I know had lower scores. It was a good experience. I highly recommend this professor!

She is a really great professor and she always try to make sure that the students got what she wants to teach. However her choice of text book is horrible. From time to time it will go against her lectures and she doesn't do anything about it. I read the readings in midterm and got two questions wrong for following the book's direction instead of her lecture. In the final I just attended lectures and didn't do the readings at all and I did fine on the final. Ignore the book. Follow her lecture, and you can get good scores on the exam. But be sure to do a great job in lab as lab is more important in this course than the exams!

She is a really great professor and she always try to make sure that the students got what she wants to teach. However her choice of text book is horrible. From time to time it will go against her lectures and she doesn't do anything about it. I read the readings in midterm and got two questions wrong for following the book's direction instead of her lecture. In the final I just attended lectures and didn't do the readings at all and I did fine on the final. Ignore the book. Follow her lecture, and you can get good scores on the exam. But be sure to do a great job in lab as lab is more important in this course than the exams!

Good lecturer. Although, the book seems to have nothing to do with lecture at times, I still suggest you read it. The quizzes and test seemed pretty reasonable to me, everyone was complaining about them. I think this had to do with them not reading the book then the actual difficulty of the test. Although, they were a bit tricky, they was a lot easier than I expected them to be. Take good notes and go over them.

She is an excellent lecturer and communicated very well with great examples. However, my Lab TA was completely useless. He was apathetic, unprepared, and could not communicate the material or his expectations very well. I urge you to switch lab sections if your TA is similar. WARNING: the exams are very tricky and almost underhanded (because psych is impacted and this class is designed to weed on the "weak"). Don't trust the practice exams. I aced both on the first try but got Cs on the actual exams. My advice is be sure to read the book in GREAT DETAIL (because the lectures are more general) and switch lab sections if your TA seems like he doesn't really want to be there.

Firstenberg is good, however, this class in general is terrible - especially the lab section. The grading was extremely harsh, and the TA never really answered any of my questions. I honestly think that's the only reason the class is considered more difficult. The class is fairly light on material, and all of it is pretty easy. But the way the exams are written have you unsure on nearly every question. Just stick through it, it'll be over in ten weeks.

Professor Firstenberg was a good lecturer. The class is set up so that you meet once a week in lecture for two hours and twice a week in lab for two hours each section. Her lectures are doable since she gives you a break and the material isn't tedious and she does a really good job explaining the nature of the course. Her exams are a bit different but then again the nature of the course makes them so. Her first exam is the hardest but its due to the different style of question. The exams are multiple choice but are designed to only test you on your comprehension of the material, there is no way to memorize all the vocabulary and expect to spew it out in the exams and get a good grade. The lab sections were an entirely different story. Most of the time for the class will be spent on lab material rather than in lecture even though the lecture grade is worth more than the lab grade. Grading in lab is horrible but its curved around the section so it only matters how good your lab is doing. The class in my opinion is set up so that you either sink or swim. TA's are not allowed to read your papers before hand and they have no idea what the grading rubric is until you turn in the assignment. In my section the TA said that peer editing was the best we could do to catch any errors which was rather useless. The work for lab is very tedious, we would spend the whole two hours "analyzing" research scenarios which nobody cared about, everybody totally hated those sections. The books are rather useless. The textbook is confusing and redundant when you have Firstenberg as a lecturer. The workbook is worse since its not at all organized nor updated to the latest APA manual which make its frustrating when you want to reference it for help.

Prof. Firstenberg's lecture is great. She clearly portrays the material and her exams are straightforward if you attend her lectures. The readings from the book support everything she says in lecture and very occasionally provide some more specifics. The lab section, on the other hand, is tedious. It is not impossible. Just take a deep breath and accept the fact that the course is finicky. I attended lecture, read, and listened in lab and easily got an A. YOU CAN TOO!