I took this class as a psych major. To give you some of a background, I have not taken chem or physics, so I am coming from a non traditional "STEM" background. I think this class is pretty challenging, and you are going to have to teach yourself a lot of the material. Having a background in chem,physics, or bio will definitely give you a leg up in terms of getting a good grade. I do not think he is a boring lecturer, but the amount of material can be overwhelming. If you are interested in the more rigorous side of psychology and actually want to learn and not memorize everything, you should take Schein. I honestly learned a LOT, but did not like the attitudes I experienced. You're gonna have to not let it get to you and just keep chasing your success.

I came with not much of a background in hard sciences and spent many hours outside of class teaching myself things through youtube or reddit. It's really expected for you to. He will often say "you probably learned in chemistry... that ..." I was pretty shocked by my grade at the end. I didn't think I could obtain the grade I did, but what's good about Schein atleast for the first and last exam, is he doesn't go into really gritty detail. A lot of his questions are conceptual and big picture, and the more you go to class, listen, rewatch the lecture, you'll start to see the overarching themes he really wants you to focus on. He will say them over and over and back reference stuff he talked about. Those are hints of what is to come. He is crazy about vision, and good at explaining it but trust me he will TEST you for that. Other concepts, he just jumps through and will add in lectures you need to study for a week before the exam cause he is notorious for letting you about 5-7 minutes after the class is supposed to end. He is usually behind in terms of the material. The bruincasts are your best friend. He writes the exams, so he is going to test on what he talks about/what comes to his mind.

If you work hard to be above the class average, (I mean really work, relisten to all the lecture carefully, replay the parts you don't understand, do the examples he says in class, even if they are brief) You can obtain an A, but it's going to give you some gray hairs. The TAs in the class were not confident in their knowledge/had much knowledge about neuroscience, and your best bet is going to a friend that has a background in stem. His email etiquette is.... not there for the most part. Good luck.

Professor Schein is a great professor. He is the most human MD/PhD I have ever encountered. Schein NEVER translates his vast knowledge and expertise into the typical arrogant, "You measly undergraduates are so far beneath me" attitude that we see a lot among science professors. Instead, he **genuinely** wants students to LEARN. He doesn't jumble exams with trick questions but rather tests the major concepts. Neuroscience is a tough course, but he truly breaks it down to make it as understandable as possible. The balance of anatomy and function in his course was perfect, unlike PHYSCI versions, which expect memorization of EVERY single axonal pathway, tract, cortical region, etc. While we are expected to know the systems involved, i.e. dorsal-column vs anterolateral (for touch/pain), the focus of his exams is HOW that particular pathway leads to the larger physiological phenomenon in question. His first lecture, he gave AMAZING advice on a study method for doing well in PSY115:
1. SKIM slides & chapter (emphasis on SKIM!)
2. Attend lecture
3. READ chapter thoroughly
4. Review slides & chapter
5. Watch podcast (if time allots) to refresh important topics he particularly focused on in lecture

I'd say only about the 5-10% of "GOOD UCLA STUDENTS" actually followed his very keen advice, but honestly he hit it right on the nail. I waited until week 5 (or so, around first midterm) to even crack open the book. Even though I was able to cram all the info (do not be put off by my positive feedback, the COURSE MATERIAL IS NOT EASY! This is neuroscience, guys!), I know if I had followed his instructions from the get-go, my stress levels would be <25% of the stress of cramming 6+ DENSE (often unrelated) chapters in a few days. The class is very manageable, if you put some time into it. Again, what truly made the course was Professor Schein. He will learn your name if you show him you give two sh*ts about school and his course. He will want to get to know you aside from PSY115 class. His office hours are very intimate and engaging, as he has students sit in a half-circle, discussing confusing topics (keep on track though! He often does and WILL steer 200 degrees off-track if you spark him with an interesting scientific idea.. And trust me, he knows a LOT and finds almost every phenomenon interesting!). My take-away point is that Professor Schein is truly a gem. He urges us to get involved in research, and his Honors Section is quite interesting (just need to attend, sometimes present, and summarize 10 science-based seminars; meet one hour a week). Stay on top of your reading, and you will do well !! Seriously, Schein has the balance of this class perfected to an art form. Listen to his advice and nobody can take that A from you! I mean, the top 30% gets A's so why put some effort?

Took psych 115.
He is pretty organized in lecture. Be warned that there is a lot of material to cover, so this is by no means an easy class, but since it is a requirement for most psychobio majors it's not much of a choice.

That being said, he is probably one of the best professors to take the class with. He gives a lot of opportunities for extra points, and a generous office hour every week for any questions that you have (since the lecture flies through a lot of material). The exams are difficult but creates a pretty good bell curve--so it really shows when you know your stuff and when you don't. His questions don't reward dry-cut memorization but rather the usage of the knowledge learned--from both the lectures AND the book. Definitely read the book!!

He cares a lot for student learning and the TA that I had was amazing (Tara). The TAs even make their own slides each week for discussion just to make sure that students know the material, and are very very approachable.

I would recommend him for this class--especially to psychobio majors who NEED THIS CLASS anyway; but do not take this class with more than two or three other classes because it requires a lot of work outside of lectures and discussion!

In short:
1. Heavy reading
2. Moderately difficult exams
3. LOTs of extra credits
4. Great teachers and lots of help available.
5. Highly recommended for psychobio majors.

It's a class that one can ace for sure if you put enough effort into it. Like an hour after every lecture to read the book every week to keep up. DO NOT FALL BEHIND.

Dr. Schein is extremely knowledgeable and really does his best to convey the content of the course in his lectures. If you have a bent for biology/ neuroscience, this is your class. I admit I struggled with it, (mostly because of time limitations) but I learned so much that I don't care. His tests are very difficult, so no slacking allowed. His TA's for this quarter were par excellence-shout out to Alex and Tara. I don't know if he'll have the same ones again, but they put on really good review sessions and were extremely competent in the discussions. Overall, I rate this class very highly. We're at UCLA after all, aren't courses supposed to be demanding? Suck it up, whiners.

If i had to use one word to describe my experience in this class, it would be horrible. Hands down the worst class I've ever taken at UCLA. The professor obviously doesn't care if you learn anything as he rushes through lectures, cramming as much information in without explaining very much of it. His tests are on your time, not during class, and he lectures on information you have to know for the test a few hours before you take it! He's rude, annoying, and just plain ridiculously difficult. Without my TA, I wouldn't have passed this class (thank you Brandon!). AVOID THIS PROFESSOR IF YOU CAN.

Dr. Schein is a very intelligent, well-organized lecturer, at least for Psych 115. HOWEVER, his exams are ridiculously hard, and I say this as a student with above a 3.7 GPA. The average for the 2 midterms and final floated between a D+ and a C-, with less than a handful earning an A. If you want to maintain a high GPA, or even a decent GPA, definitely avoid this class at all costs.

This class was brutal. I took it with 3 other classes and I did not do well. If you take this class with Schein, you need to live and breathe the material for 10 weeks straight. It's not something you can put on the back burner. I studied so hard for the midterms and final and still got around the average. Take it with anyone else!!! Don't believe the people who say it's easy.

Professor Schein is an interesting guy. This class is extremely informative for anyone who has not taken a related neuroscience/bio class but this also makes it pretty difficult! As a psych major, this was the first “bio” like class I had taken for the major and I found it to be pretty challenging. However, although it was hard I definitely learned a TON and it has changed my perspective on how biology influences psychology. As for Professor Schein, I think he is is good at explaining the material but be aware that he SPEEDS through many lectures!

Here’s how I succeeded in this class:
-Take notes! He advises you to not take notes in class and then rewatch his lectures at home and take notes, but I took notes in class because I honestly had no time to do his method. The only times I went back to bruincasted lectures were if my notes didn’t make sense or if I really did not understand something.
-His tests are pretty challenging! They are multiple choice but he does the thing where pretty much all the answers sound the same and then he throws in an “Oops! All of them are correct!” to throw you off. You need to REALLY UNDERSTAND the material to do well on his tests so study hard.
-Go to lectures! He gives you points for attending and honestly I think going to lecture helped me get a good grade since my test grades were average.
-Score above the average! Each time I barely got above the average which saved me since I’m pretty sure he curves so do your best to do this.
-Study hard for the weekly quizzes in discussion! Honestly I feel like this really helped me because it forced me to review the material for the class constantly. They only drop one quiz grade out of the 8? I believe so you need to do well on them. Also they are NOT that easy since the TAs make them and try to make them similar to Professor Schein’s exams.
-I read the textbook because I thought it would be helpful but honestly looking back I think I only should have read it for chapters that I found challenging, ie: action potentials, vision, memory, muscular system. I probably could have skipped the other chapters and been fine, but if you find you really do not understand the lectures I would definitely read the book it explains some things much better than the slides and Professor Schein follows the book super closely (expect for Vision he goes all out with random info not in the book since it’s his research).

LOL I feel like this is so long but overall I would recommend this class!! Good luck!

Objectively, the hardest class I ever took. Lots and lots of material and memorization. He will tell you to read the textbook because otherwise you won't succeed. This is not true and I found textbook to be the biggest waste of time for this class.
Watch his lectures multiple times and take NOTES. If something is not clear, then look it up in the textbook.

I followed his "formula" for my first exam and that is the one I did the worse at. He is really nice when it comes to answering questions and won't make you feel dumb about asking.

Finally, he likes to memorize people so I would suggest to make a good impression. It will make him more helpful.

Professor schein is truly brilliant! The work he's done is amazing. However, his tests were so hard. This was my first "B" at UCLA, the material is so dense. He would say "i'm not testing on this"... but then test on it. If you understand vision or have a heavy background in biology + neuroscience you will do well without studying hard. My friend is pre-med and didn't really have to study that much to get an A-, meanwhile I had to study often just to get a decent average grade. This professor is very knowledgeable but I feel very dumb. Wait to take this class with other professors if you can & are like me.