Professor Rissman is a wonderful professor and 120A is one of my favorite classes. The class is extremely doable if you listen to the lecture and read the book. (more emphasis on lecture than on the book). Review your notes and the previous lecture before every class to succeed on the in-class quizzes. And be on time as the class quizzes start at the beginning of class. I would highly recommend this class!

Great lecturer, but hard class/curve: you choose!

I liked this class a lot. You can tell that Rissman truly cares about his students and the class that he teaches, and wants to make you love the class too. His tests are fair; definitely re-watch the lectures and notes if you want to pass them. Honestly, I wouldn't bother reading the book...I did, and that was a mistake, because everything he asks if based on his old lectures.

Overall, I don't regret taking this class, and I say you should take it too.

Great lecturer, but hard class/curve: you choose!

Professor Rissman has been my favorite professor at UCLA thus far. No other professor has been as organized, enthusiastic, witty, and has truly shown how much he cares about student's learning. I absolutely LOVED his course, and how interactive, interesting - and at times, humorous - he always made it. One day in class he mentioned that he felt his office hours were not well attended. You wanna know my theory? He did such a great job of teaching during class that students did not need further help. It was an honor being his student, and taking this class has gotten me every excited about being a Cognitive Science major. I really hope I am able to taken another course taught by him, for he singlehandedly restored my faith in UCLA professors, and caused me to once again realize how incredibly blessed I am to attend such a prestigious institution.

I took this guys because of his great reviews, but hes only great and easy for Psych 85. He's fucking hard for 120A. He makes us remember hundreds of slides verbatim and curves 15%A, 30%B scale. Also, he tends to be more science oriented than other professor meaning that he teaches material above and beyond the scope of the course. I worked my butt off an ended up with only a B+. I was fooled by these Bruinwalk reviews!

This is the best class that I have taken at UCLA. Cognitive Psychology wasn't one of my particular interests, however, he was so fascinating, passionate about the material and engaging in the manner that he taught the class, that I truly enjoyed it. He manages to make the class fun as well as educational (which is a gift to the students).
I highly recommend this professor. I got an A because I was motivated to study after the lecture. I read the chapter before the class, went to lecture, and then carefully outlined the bruincast at home. However, it didn't feel like a burden because of the way in which he delivered the new material. He is very clear in his explanation and drives the points home. He is also very receptive to questions in class and in office hours. Take it. Take him.

Definitely one of the best teachers at UCLA. He's really easy to talk to and puts a lot of effort into his class. He always responds quickly to emails and genuinely takes his students' inputs into account. I feel a little bad for making him go out of his way to help me in the course but am really grateful because I know most if not all professors here do not care about each individual student.

A tip for the class: study the lecture material. Most of the test questions come from the lectures. The readings, including the required ones, don't really give you any new information that isn't covered in lectures.

Professor Rissman's class was the first class I completely enjoyed at UCLA. It was my first psych class here and I was so pleasantly surprised by his enthusiasm and fervent love for cognitive science. He is engaging in all his lectures and the use of iClickers is actually really beneficial. His class is challenging but he provides all the necessary materials to do well in his lectures which are podcasted. He is an amazing professor and it is apparent in every single lecture that he is very knowledgable about the topics and does a lot of preparation for each lecture so that it is as clear to the students as possible

Take this man! He has been one of the best professors I have taken at UCLA. He is so passionate about what he talks about and can answer any question you ask him. I regret not going to office hours for his class and getting to know him.