Jentsch is a thorough lecturer. I found some of the material to be interesting. Study ahead of time and you should be fine. His tests are multiple choice with 1 or 2 essays questions. If you suck at memorizing material, then steer clear of his class.

I took Jentsch for psych 115, I attended lecture once the entire quarter, he basically read off his power points (he has an extremly annoying voice), his exams are all multiple choice, 50 questions with a 5 point essay question at the end, first midterm he gave us a choice between two essay questions, on the second midterm only one very vague question was offered, the final was 75 questions with 2 essay questions to choose from. The midterms are not easy at all, the material itself is difficult, dont think because its mulitple choice that its going to be easy, just memorizing didnt help for me, or even a basic understanding, in order to answer the very tricky questions on the exams you have to know the material inside out, and I think a lot of people had his exams, and others just studied like crazy (I only memorized his notes, didnt read the book or go to office hours), for this professor you dont really have to read the book, but you should if it will help you understand his slides better. I got a C- in the class and will be repeating it, but not with Jentsch, I dont know who els would be good to take but I warn you that this guy's tests are difficult if you dont have access to his old exams or if you dont study like crazy.

In regards to the review on 10/4/2003 at 1:39:18 AM:

I rated Dr. Jentsch already; my rating was on 6/18/2003 at 2:31:24 PM. I just wanted to clear a few things up. First of all, I did NOT do badly in this class--I think I did rather well considering you have to know every detail of the class. Like I said, I got an A on the first midterm and got a B in the class--which I am content with. Secondly, I LOVE the material! I am planning to go to graduate school to study NEUROLOGICAL nursing. Lastly, while Dr. Jentsch does seem to know his subject, he severely LACKS good communication skills. Whenever I would show up to his office hours, he would make me feel as if I was intruding and often he wasn't even IN his office DURING his office hours. So, 1.) I am NOT bitter at all about my grade and 2.) I love the subject, and in NO WAY did I let that influence my rating of this priofessor. I am just telling MY perspective of Dr. Jentsch. Yes, not eveyonre will agree--some people will love him and others will hate him--as with EVERYTHING in life. However, just because someone gives him a BAD review doesn't necessarily mean they did bad in the course OR they hate the subject...he just might be a BAD professor!

Very organized, lecture slides that you can print out before class but need to attend class for further explanation (attending class will make your life a lot easier). Memorization skills needed 90% and understanding material 10%. Always there during his office hours,preffers to sit them out alone but don't feel bad interupting his work he has a PhD. and should understand that some people learn better one on one... Intimidating at first but you should be prepared to deal with quiet a few intimidating professors at UCLA. BEST professor for psych 115, recomend him for other psych majors as of Spring '03 (who knows who else new is going to start teaching this pretty intense class).About exams i agree with the person who reviewed at 6/18 2:31:24. Grading is fair, and effectiveness is a 10. This kind of class requires a lot of independent studying and the professor is only there to help you prepare for HIS test, so you don't have to memorize the entire book (and you really don't want to do that because it's an awful book). In addition to Neuroscience you will also learn a lot of new English words (at least I think they were English :)

Professor Jentsch is very intelligent and very knowledgeable, but not a very effective teacher. It might have to do with the barrage of information that he has to present (sometimes 50 powerpoint slides per lecture, no joke), or he may just be too smart to make the material accessible to the common student. He goes through the material at a very rapid rate, and you have to attend lectures, because his tests are almost 100% on the lecture material. He posts his lectures online, but you miss some important info if you only read the lectures. Attending class is usually really boring, even though the material is interesting. His lecture style is very organized and precise, but that leaves little room for making lectures interesting or entertaining. Be prepared to study your ass off for the tests...the questions are REALLY specific and picky.

Professor Jentsch is a decent guy. He only tests on the lecture material, which is quite important for this class (nearly all of a 600+ page book is covered in 10 weeks). He posts all of the lectures ahead of time. However, I'm not sure he'll continue to do so, since very few people showed up to class this last quarter. My only complaint is that his test questions are often not straightfoward.