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.

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!

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.

Honestly a pretty easy class as long as you put in some effort. Tests are pretty much based off the slides so just study those well and you should be fine. Class requires some studying but literally if you just spend a day or two reviewing the slides you will do fine

I would recommend taking this class with Dr. Smurda. There is no text, just a few interesting books which are discussed in sections. I really like the way that it was organized and her lectures were very clear and pretty funny at times too. However, don't let the fact that she's nice fool you. Her tests are pretty tough so be prepared. This is one of my favorite classes at UCLA though.

***Took Psych 137J with Dr. Smurda

Her seminar on Self and Identity was extremely interesting and I would highly recommend taking the class! There are no exams, just weekly thought papers (1-2 pgs) and quizzes. Every student also presents during one class period, leading a discussion on one of the readings. The seminar is mostly discussion based so you have to come to class having done the readings and ready to participate, but the material is pretty easy to get through and I enjoyed reading it.

Dr. Smurda is clearly interested in the material and does a really good job of centering class discussion around relevant topics. Since the theme is the Self, contributing to the discussion isn't difficult and most of the examples in your papers come straight from your own experiences. I also really liked that it was a small class so you get to know the other students, which makes conversation much better.

Take this class!

The material covered in this class is relevant to everyday life. Professor Smurda presents it in a way that is interesting and engaging. It is apparent that she cares about her students' success and she is very easy to talk to and get a hold of if you need anything. If you pay attention to the studies discussed in lecture and read the assigned books, you should do very well on the midterm and final because the multiple choice questions she asks are pretty straightforward. Discussion sections are fun too!

I took psych 135 with Professor Smurda, and she is one of my favorite professors at UCLA. Her lecture slides are concise, and she also provides many examples to help her students comprehend the topics. Additionally, she is extremely helpful during office hours. Her tests are also fair as well because she does not just test you on pure memorization. If you study the topics and understand the concepts, then you will do fine on her tests. She is not out to trick you. I received an A by just studying her slides and making sure I understood the big picture of each concept. If you need to memorize anything for her tests, she also lets you know beforehand.

Dr Smurda is one of my favorite professors at UCLA. I took her for psych 135 in the winter and now taking her lab class 136A. If you want to take Psych 135, take it with her or Lieberman. The exams are very fair if you study and understand the lectures, and read the assigned readings and understand the main points from them. You learn so much from this class that you can apply to your own life! Highly recommended!

Dr. Smurda was fun and engaging. The class was not very difficult - a lot of the material is sort of common sense (that being said, there are still a lot of details that you need to study in order to do well!) There are two multiple choice tests that are each worth 40% of your grade. I thought the final was much harder than the midterm, but both were very doable. The last 20% is just discussion grade which involves reading chapters from four different books and discussing them. This was actually my favorite part of the class - the books were great!