Dr. Smurda is such an engaging professor and this class is pretty easy. There's a midterm and a final - no papers. Her final isn't cumulative and I honestly only studied for five hours total for the final and it was so easy. Her slides are super clear and just make flashcards for all of the studies she talks about and you're good to go. You don't need to know names or dates for the most part and the studies are so interesting that I remembered them without studying anyway. I had a really good TA too (David Pinsof) and discussion was really fun. The 'textbooks' are just chapter books and they're all super interesting and easy to understand. TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HER

If you are gonna take Psychology 135, take the one with Professor Smurda.
As you expect to learn in a social psychology course, she teaches you lots of things about the social psychology area, and each of pieces of knowledge is really informative and you can really apply what you learned in the class to the reality and lots of situations and moments in your life.

She delivers the lecture in a really clear and organized way that you can follow her with her speech also by reading slides. Because of the fact that she will always give some small surprise during the lecture, the slides would not be posted before the lecture, but after the lecture. You can still review for exam by studying slides.

She is also a nice person that she is very available during her regular office hours and she is really willing to hear from students and talk with students about the issues about the course and more, so feel free to go to office hour and talk with her.
She also personally holds review sessions before the exams, so there are many review sessions you can choose to attend, some from the TAs, some from professor Smurda herself.

The class overall is not very difficult, but prepare to learn a lot because social psychology contends lots of information and it is really broad.
The grading during my Psych135 is: 40%midterm, 40%final, 20%discussion sessions, 1.5%extra credits by participating in 3 researches.
The exams are all multiple-choices, about 40-50 questions. If you do study a lot, you will be fine.

Overall, taking 135 with Smurda is a good experience, and it is both doable and enjoyable.

Dr Smurda is a really nice lady who cares about the content of what she's teaching. She also cares about all the students. Although she reads more (off her slides) than other professors, I didn't find it a hindrance to my enjoyment of the course and materials being presented. She is very relatable, has a good sense of humor and certainly prepared everyone for the exams. Social Psychology is a fascinating subject. There's a lot in it. Like most Psych courses, the subject matter is expansive. This is a great course. Really interesting. I would recommend taking any course with Dr Smurda. Get to know her. Get to know all of your professors. They are all really interesting people!

What a headache. I should have known to not take a 3 hour class on a Friday. She speaks VERY quickly and spends the majority of her time explaining her examples and outside studies but skims over the important material. There is no textbook but you have to read chapters in 4 different books about different aspects of social psychology. The first midterm was very difficult and many students were forced to take the course P/NP or had to drop the course instead of failing. The TA's are excellent and write the questions from the books on the exams. The final was not cumulative and was not as difficult as the midterm. For both exams it is imperative that you truly know and understand the studies she explains during lecture. Most students only listened to the podcast and did not go to class. Good luck, take it with another Professor if possible.
Grade breakdown: 40% midterm, 40% final, 20% section
my final grade: A