I just took Psych 115 with Professor Jentsch this past winter (W15) and I really enjoyed his class. i'll break down the class as best as i can.

lectures: they are audiocasted, so you don't have to go to lecture, but if you choose not to go to class you do have to listen to audiocasts, as he does make a lot of points in the lecture that aren't on his powerpoints that show up on the tests. he talks slow, which i personally found really helpful as i like to hand write my notes, and he often repeats points that he thinks are important. but for other people i know in the class they found it dreadfully boring.

discussion: every discussion you'll take a quiz about the topics you just covered in the previous weeks. they are 10 questions each, and fairly straightforward if you look over your notes and the powerpoints a couple of times. theres usually 1 or 2 questions in every quiz that are pretty tricky to see who's actually been to class and who's just glossing over the powerpoints. the quizzes take about 20 mins and the TAs will tell you the right answers right after, at which point you can choose to leave or stay. study for these quizzes as they accounted for 34% of your overall grade

Midterm/Final: i know that Jentsch changed the structure of the class recently from before in which he just had a final. IT HELPED A LOT, the grades shot up cuz you need to remember less stuff, so thankfully now theres a midterm (covers the first 5 weeks of class) and a final (covers the final 5 weeks of class). the tests can still be very difficult as he expects you to understand how the brain system works, so an example of a question would be "if you had a stroke that damaged the left somasensory system where would you lose feeling?" study for the midterm and final as each accounts for 33% of your grade.

Overall: i really liked the class, i studied a lot and got an A, by no means is it easy however, you do have to put in work to get an A. but i thought overall it was fair. and i thought Jentsch was a wonderful lecturer, hes very knowledgale and pretty funny too. he also gives extra credit for filling out the course eval and doing a couple hours of experiments. take this class you'll actually learn a lot

Professor Jentsch is an AMAZING instructor. However, the exams are extremely tough and tricky. I love biology and enjoyed studying for this class, but the exam questions are misleading and must be read carefully, several times over.

I recommend that everyone takes this class, even if you're a psychology major (like me)! It's fascinating and you will learn things that are imperative to know to continue studying psychology.

Just be aware that you'll need to be very careful when taking the exams, and it would be very beneficial to go to office hours and talk with the TAs.

Took psych 115 winter quarter (2014)

I think he was a great professor. Quizzes were 50% worth and the final was also worth 50%.. He's very organized and I liked how his communication skills were very clear and articulate. The final was not that hard either. Although I wouldn't call this class an EASY class but if you put a certain amount of effort into it, it will certainly pay off.

Listen to podcasts (twice, I recommend), don't procrastinate, study for weekly quizzes, go to TA's office hours, and you'll be fine.

* psych major and I took this class. and I ended up with an A+. So those of you who are psych majors and who aren't thinking about going on pre-med track but interested in taking this class, don't be too intimidated.

Dr. Jentsch is one of the best professors I have ever had at UCLA. The topics he chose for this course flows smoothly throughout the quarter. There are weekly multiple choice quizzes that account for 50% of your grade. The final is worth 50%. He gives extra credit to those who fill out the course evaluations and those who participate in experiments.

He was always available whenever I needed him. He responded to my emails within a couple hours to a day. His office hours are usually not busy. Many of the topics that are discussed in this course are illnesses that many students may have (or know a loved one that is sick). Dr. Jentsch provides students with enough information for them to understand complex diseases. He's also willing to go into depth on any of the topics.

The weekly quizzes are pretty easy. I recommend listening to the podcast and taking notes at least twice. The TAs are the ones who make the quiz questions, so go to their office hours!

The final was a lot easier than I expected. I wasn't surprised by any of the questions on the exam. They were tricky though, so you really had to know your material to get the correct answer.

I am a Psych student (Pre-med). My goal was to get an A+ in this class (totally possible), but I ended up with an A. I highly recommend this professor.

If you are a psych major DO NOT TAKE THIS!!! There are easier science classes out there. It is filled with pre-meds and the final was impossible. I have an A minus average and ended up getting my lowest grade ever at UCLA - C minus.
With that said, my pre med friends in the class were split, some thought the final was impossible but some thought it was easy. If you're good at science, give it a go. But again, IF YOURE A PSYCH MAJOR DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS

Excellent lecturer, crystal clear. That said, he put almost 15 questions on the final exam that we NEVER learned about. I hate professors that trip students up after they've spent several days studying. Exams should not be about tripping up students-what kind of professor is this? Hardest final I've ever taken at UCLA and he made it worth half the grade. Result=I worked my *** off and know the material inside out, got great grades on the quizzes but scored horribly on the final. Thanks "Professor"

This is the first upper division psych class as a psychobio major that I actually enjoyed taking. He is an AMAZING professor! He has really well organized lectures and has great communications skills ( a rarity for science majors). If you go to lecture you will pretty much be set. Don't just try to skim lecture slides because he often has questions on his exams that refer to stuff he talked about that were not printed on the lecture slides. Overall he is my favorite professor after 3 years of being at UCLA.

Jentsch is an extremely good lecture. I am a Psychology major and I walked into the class on the first day with pretty no biology background (I didn't even know what an action potential was) and I ended up doing well in the class. The key to this class is to listen to each of the podcasts VERY carefully and slowly, I honestly wouldn't bother going to lecture. The quizzes seem whack at first, but they are actually very helpful when you look back on them in hindsight, without them I'm sure I would have failed. Overall, this is a challenging class compared to other Pysch classes, but put in work, and you'll do well. Take him!

He was a really nice professor and very into providing details, and really explanatory.

However I do have to admit his tests were very specific and sometimes tricky.

I enjoyed his class and do try to understand the material instead of just memorizing it!

I think he ended up curving a little bit for our class!

Don't take this class if you're a psych major. Do take it if you're a psychobio major.

Psych majors: I spent a bunch of time getting the main concepts and then memorized the details, and ended up with a B-. Ordinarily, this strategy would be fine, but a bunch of psychobio majors in the class told me that 2/3 of it was straight repetition from LS2, which most psych majors don't take, so they already have a leg up on the material and don't have to memorize as much as you do. This kills you for the tests, which are mostly on minute details that he will only mention once or twice in lecture, and are not focal points of the slides he makes. I spent about 5-7 hours a week reviewing for the class and it apparently wasn't enough.

What you're graded on:

--Showing up to discussion
--Weekly quizzes in discussion (you need to review for these, the questions are very specific)
--Midterm and final (multiple choice and some fill-in-the-blank questions, which are very hard and count for more, unfortunately)

There is no required reading, which would be nice, except you need to completely memorize the slides and it ends up taking the same amount of time as multiple chapters.

That being said, I now know a bunch about different neurological systems, and the class makes for pretty good background if you want to go into physiologically-based research.