This class was conducted asynchronously this quarter, so you had the option of attending lectures and discussion sections live or completing discussion forums and watching lectures recorded via BruinCast. The same questions were asked in both the live and online discussion forums, but if you attended in person, you would only have to participate once (speaking verbally) instead of answering all of the questions through the online forum. There are some materials that you have to read/ listen to (podcasts) before attending your discussion section and I personally never had them done on time, so I always opted for the online forum. PAY ATTENTION TO THE DISCUSSION MATERIAL! There may be a question or two on the exams about them..

The class is out of 200 points; 40 points for completing discussions, 40 points for the case conceptualization, and 120 points for two exams (open-note). Exams were administered through Canvas and you had a 12-hour period to complete it although once it opened, you only had 75 minutes for 62 questions (2 questions were buffers). There are two midterms (not cumulative) and one final that is cumulative and optional, if you did well on the previous two exams. You have one drop exam as each exam is worth 60 points. There are "required" readings but obviously, no one is monitoring you. Some exam questions may appear from the text, so I would recommend that you read it and take notes or at least skim through it. Some questions were never mentioned in the lectures, but they could be found through the text. Her exam questions could definitely be tricky. For example, we had a question about what was the least portrayed symptom of Schizophrenia in media and I swear we never read or learned anything about media and Schizophrenia specifically. I ended up dropping MT2 (52/60) and received a 54/60 on MT1 and 53/60 on the final.

I found the case conceptualization to be quite simple and straightforward and they were lenient with grading. I received a 38.5/40 and I recognized that I did not answer all the questions since there were multiple components to a question, so make sure you thoroughly follow the rubric if you want a 40/40!

There were two extra credit points offered; one for participating in research through SONA and one for completing course evaluations. In the end, I received 186.5/ 200 and scraped by with an A with a 93.3%. As long as you get A- (90%) average on your exams, an A is totally doable if you complete all other assignments and take advantage of the extra credit. Best of luck and I hope you enjoy this class as it discusses extremely relevant issues!

Dr. Ng is very kind and knowledgeable about the material with experience as a research and clinical psychologist. Lectures were clear and had a clear structure to them when going through each disorder. I found the second midterm to be easier than the first midterm; she even said people see the first one as practice. Still, I found the material in the first half of the course to be hard to study for as it is more about the history of psychopathology and how to conduct effective assessments, etc. I really suggest studying more for her exams as they are some of the most challenging I've taken for a psychology course. She should also incorporate way more practice questions in order to engage & apply the material before exams, as I found that helpful in my other psych courses.

Although exams were online, she provides a short time frame to complete 60 questions, which may not give you enough time to check your notes. As long as you take your time to seriously study for the exams, you should be fine. There is one case conceptualization writing assignment that is pretty straightforward; you write about a case and back up your answers with evidence from the class content. We had the option of an online discussion board or in-person discussion participation to earn discussion points. There is a chance of up to 2 points of extra credit with a SONA study and completing her course evaluation. Overall, a good class, and learned a lot!

Overall, I had a great experience with Professor Ng. The class outlines the diagnostic criteria and treatments for several mental disorders. Professor Ng's slides were very organized and provided clear outlines of all mental disorders we covered. At times, lectures were a bit dry because the format of each of them was very similar (go over the symptomatology for a mental disorder, discuss modes of treatment, talk about cognitive/behavioral criteria that could lead to someone developing the particular disorder), but overall I feel like I learned a lot. Tests were more difficult than I thought they would be. They were online and open note, but the time allotted to take them was very short and many of the questions (30%) were based solely on textbook readings. There were two midterms and a final. Only two exam grades counted towards our final grades. Professor Ng also provided extra credit opportunities (maximum of two points added to the final grade) by completing a SONA study and filling out instructor evaluations at the end of the year. Discussion sections were more interesting than the lectures, because we often looked at specific case studies of people who were experiencing a mental disorder. Section attendance was optional, but if you did not attend your weekly discussion section you had to fill out a discussion forum online that was usually a reflection of the weekly readings. This was a nice option to have and provided a lot of flexibility. Overall I really liked this course. If I were to do it again, I would have prepared better for the first midterm, because the questions were deceivingly tricky. But once I figured out how to study for her tests, the class went a lot smoother. I would recommend this class to fulfill a major requirement.

Dr. Ng is a great professor! I took this class during Spring 2021 and along with the honors seminar for this class. I enjoyed both the class and the seminar since the material was interesting. I found the class to be pretty engaging since Dr. Ng is great at lecturing. The exams were fair and I thought that they were pretty straightforward. I would recommend this class!

This is my favorite class at ucla. The topics are so interesting and professor Ng is fantastic at teaching them. Her lectures are recorded and posted in shorter videos so you can catch breaks, her explanations make a lot of sense and her lectures are organized. The readings she assigns are very helpful and it's definitely possible to do well in the exams. She also offers extra credit options through SONA. If I could take this class with her all over again I would. Highly recommend.

I would not recommend taking Dr. Ng. She doesn't care about the students or their success in the class, barely responds to emails and even when she does it takes her at least 3 days, and she's one of the professors who think your world revolves around their class, without realizing that life happens (coronavirus, for example).
This is such an interesting topic and if I could I would have dropped it and taken it with another professor. She's not engaging, you just can't wait for her lecture to be over, and other than her research she doesn't care about anything - she teaches because she has to.