Dr. Smurda is a really helpful professor, but I just found the lectures to be a bit dull because it was mostly reading from slides. The tests were really tricky because there were many questions that had 2 answers that could work. My biggest advice would be to go through all the lecture slides and if you have time listen to the recordings.

This is my second time taking a class with Professor Smurda, and I can honestly say she's one of the best professors I've had so far at UCLA! Her lectures are very organized and interesting, and she does her best to engage with the class. The midterm is based on the lecture as well as some of the book chapters (from 4 books) we read for the discussion, so I'd recommend reviewing the slides/lectures (she uploads her powerpoints to CCLE and her lectures are Bruincasted) and learning the main concepts from the assigned readings. I can't speak much on the final since I opted-out (I did fairly well on the midterm), but it was focused on the second half of the course material, except for some key ideas (the five hypotheses) presented in the first lecture that carry over throughout the entirety of the course. The discussions for this class were alright, they mainly focused on discussing the book chapters we read as opposed to discussing lecture content. Participation also counts towards your grade, which was tracked via iClicker/Reef. Overall, I learned a lot of valuable things from this class and I'd highly recommend taking it with Professor Smurda!

Like the reviewer before me, I took this class because of good reviews and I ended up leaving the class feeling like it was pretty forgettable. Dr. Smurda is nice and her lectures were generally pretty interesting even though they seemed to be largely focused on presenting the results of studies which you really needed to memorize for the tests, although she didn't emphasize that. So many times her slides would only have pictures or graphs, and there were no words explaining them, but then the test questions would be really specific and difficult to answer only using the slides. I would highly recommend listening to the podcast of each class for any slides that don't have words (and there are many). I think people must have complained about this to her because she kept insisting in class that she always had summary slides for each of the studies, and that she never just put a picture, but that was actually not true at all.

Other the final and the midterm, your grade is made up of section, which is mandatory, and participation through iClicker. The four books we have to read for section are mostly interesting, although some are better than others. The amount of reading total isn't too bad either, and I thought all the test questions on the books were really straightforward unlike the questions on the slides. You also have to write short ~175 word discussion seeds on each book which were really easy to get full points on. My TA was Maira, and I would avoid her if possible because she didn't seem to know what she was doing or know how to answer our questions, so I never found section helpful at all.

For participation, Dr. Smurda only required us to answer 60% of the questions for the full grade which I thought was fair. So if you attend section, do the discussion seeds and answer most of the iClicker questions you should get 100% in those areas. You can also get 1.5 points of extra credit added on top of your final grade for doing psych studies which definitely helped me. Overall this class wasn't bad, but I didn't end up enjoying it like I thought I would.

The tests were hard, but she offers extra help and is willing to work with you. The lectures are interesting with real-world examples. There is a lot of reading, but it is important to do it. It is hard, but an interesting class and I enjoyed it. Professor Smurda cares about the students and is often available for help or clarification

This class met all the criteria I look for: material was interesting and easily applicable to my life, tests were fair, Professor Smurda's presentations were clear and easy to study from, discussion sections were informative, and Professor Smurda was very accommodating when covid derailed the final (she allowed us to skip it and make the midterm count for the entire testing category). She also gave us the opportunity to earn extra credit by participating in SONA labs. Overall, a great experience and an instructor who is very knowledgeable about the subject matter.

I hated this class. Based on reviews I thought it would be an easy A, but I think due to the transition to online learning it was HELL. The lectures were so tedious and long with so many details, and the midterm and final literally asked for the most random details from an example experiment mentioned once. The material could have been super interesting but the way it was taught I would rather bang my head against a wall then attend that zoom lecture again. Hopefully it will be better once it gets back to in person learning.

I love Professor Smurda! She has the best personality and is more than willing to offer additional help/ get to know her students on a personal level. This class specifically can be challenging because there was so much information, and tests were open book but very difficult. I ended up taking the class pass/no pass, which was a good option for me as it was my last requirement. If you do not want to take it p/np, be prepared to put in some work. Not an easy A but a great professor and interesting material!

I completely disagree with the other review. This class was my favorite psych course at UCLA. The material was really interesting and the professor went out of her way to help anyone who needed it. I would highly recommend it.

I loved the textbook. It was easy to read and actually applies to your life. The lectures are always interesting, but you do need to study because the test covers a lot of material. Great class, great professor!

Taking this course with Professor Smurda was one of the best decisions ever. She truly cares about her students and is very attentive whenever one needs help with topics or is confused about something. Tests are very well-formed, as long as you study your notes and go through the lectures as well as read the chapter books that are assigned it is a very do able class to do. Professor Smurda does a great job of allowing everything to come together and make perfect sense!