My review for this class is based on a completely revised version of the class for Spring 2021; the grading system is completely different for this quarter than previous quarters.

Let me preface this by saying that I believe Professor Robles is a great person and genuinely wants students to learn and improve. I'm sure if he retained the same grading system in the past or if this class was in-person, it would be ten times better the experience than most people had.

This quarter, Robles moved away from using exams as a gauge of performance and instead based the entire class on a set of requirements to meet a grade. I can't even begin to explain how details and convoluted the class setup was. The syllabus alone was damn near 20 pages long and 25% of the students who originally enrolled in this 200 person class dropped after the first two weeks. That's 50 students who dropped solely after seeing the syllabus. And that was literally just the syllabus. There's also a textbook that (thankfully) was made completely optional, and no sections.

The most basic way to pass this class and earn at least a C was to watch all the asynchronous lessons and answer at least 75% of the polls and answer at least 75% of them correctly. That's a really easy way to pass in itself, but it meant that 1) lectures were mandatory and 2) there were a LOT of asynchronous lessons. As in, in addition to attending 2 lessons live per week, you had to watch 2 asynchronous lessons per week and sometimes these asynchronous, recorded ones lasted anywhere from 10 minutes to over half an hour to complete. The synchronous lessons themselves included a lot of filler activities and though the material was sometimes interesting, unless you're passionate about health there's little "psychology" in this class and moreso just statistics and mind-numbingly dull content. Halfway through each class I'd be asleep bro. Asynchronous lessons were also not easy to sit through and you also had to write answers to essay questions embedded in those lessons on CCLE to complete them.

The biggest issue with the class, though, were the papers. In order to get an A, you must complete 3 reflection papers and 2 Disparities-Inequities papers. Now, the Reflection Papers were not hard at all, you can literally finish them within a day and get decent scores with minimal effort. But all the Papers were scheduled way too close in deadlines, as in they were pushed in the second half of the course so that there was damn near one paper due per week and by the end of the quarter we didn't even have feedback on most of the papers we did. Although Robles tries to take time out of lectures for "paper consultations" it rarely happened and most people in this class said that they came away even more confused sometimes when talking to the professor and TA.

Why? Well, the instructions and requirements for each paper, like the syllabus, also happened to be like 10+ pages long. There weren't even any previous examples since this was the first quarter using such a system, so although grading criteria was provided students didn't have any solid insight as to what constituted good grades on papers. I can't even begin to explain how complicated the grading system was, not to mention the "token" system used to redeem late papers or send papers for revision. If I did, I would literally be writing a 5000 word essay on Bruinwalk because that's how damn complicated it was. So I'm just going to say this: the papers were HORRIBLE to write. Very little guidance, very tiresome research, and I converted from a grading scale to P/NP in week 9 because I couldn't stand writing another Disparities-Inequities Paper. It was absolutely, unforgivingly overwhelming. It was quite possibly some of the worst writing assignments I've ever had and rivals that of 100B. Most students this quarter ended up frustrated, confused, and changing to P/NP if not struggling in week 10 to complete the final disparities paper. Very few people could probably attest to having a positive experience in this class this quarter.

Overall, I regret signing up for this class and ending up P/NPing it. The other Column B classes are SO much better, and no offense to Robles as a person but as a professor there are DEFINITELY better profs for this class and material. Robles, if you're reading this, I'm sorry but the system you used this quarter was not it. At all. So please don't repeat it for the sake of future students, going back to exams would benefit them soooo much more.

As a psych major who has basically no biology background, I found this class to be pretty fair and not difficult. If you are a STEM major and/or have a solid bio background, this class should be a breeze/mostly review for you. We learned the biological basics of cancer, the immune system, heart disease, interpreting data/results of studies, etc. There are 3 midterms and 1 final, and your lowest grade gets dropped, so it's possible to test out of the final. There are also 3 papers, but you can test out of 2 of them by scoring an 88% or above on each of the first 2 midterms. The 3rd paper is about a disparity in a clinical health outcome, and you need to do this paper if you want an A- or higher in the class. Further, there are online, asynchronous modules that you can complete on your own time. He uses poll everywhere questions in class but if you complete 14/15 of the modules it doesn't matter whether or not you answered the poll questions. Also, Professor Robles offers extra credit that you can earn by completing the course evaluation and SONA studies. I really enjoyed his lectures and found them to be engaging and easy to understand. The exams were short (16-19 multiple choice questions) and are not bad if you actually study. He gives a study guide of key concepts for each exam, so as long as you fill that out and actually memorize it you should ace the exams. The textbook is optional and I never read it once and still got an A+. Overall, I really enjoyed this class, found the workload to be very manageable, and would take it again.

Grading was based on:
1) 3 exams + final (cumulative) exam - a couple of fill-in-the-blank and short answer questions at the beginning, with the majority of the exam being multiple choice questions

The exams can be kind of tricky, since they emphasize application of knowledge rather than just simple memorization.
On the bright side, the learning objectives, aka the study guide questions for each exam, are listed in the syllabus (except for the ones for the final exam because the professor uses the learning objectives that people seemed to have the most difficulty with on exams 1-3 for the final). Honestly, the study guide you make based off of the learning objectives is the ONLY information you need for the exams. Textbook readings are pretty pointless, in my opinion.

2) Online activities - TopHat (at least 80%(?) need to be answered to receive full participation credit); very simple/quick/easy 5 CCLE assignments (of which one can be missed)

3) Extra Credit opportunities (You can get up to 3(?) extra credit points) - course evaluations; Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center events (though it seems that students had a hard time trying to find ones to go to); Psychology Department Subject Pool; and certain Finals Week events (ex. therapy dogs at Powell).

Bonus things to note:
Outlines to be used in note-taking can be found on CCLE before each lecture. :)
Each lecture is Bruincasted. :D
The professor creates his own screencasts at times, with the intention that the students view them and take notes on them (using the outlines) on their own time. :O

Overall, though the exams can be a bit tricky and "having" to take notes on the various screencasts outside of the class is kind of annoying lol, the professor is nice and funny, and the material itself is interesting. Good luck!

This was probably my favorite class I've taken at UCLA so far! The content is super interesting and the professor is great and makes the material easy to understand. The syllabus may seem quite overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of things you'll realize how easy it is to do well in this course. Homework consists of watching pre-lecture videos and answering short questions on them (for participation credit). Lectures are recorded and he posts the slides on Canvas beforehand. Attendance in lecture is not required, but there are polleverywhere questions (like clicker Q's) for participation credit, but I honestly didn't even go to lecture most days and just answered the questions from home. There were 3 midterms (19 multiple choice questions, 2 reflection papers (you only need to do these if you get less than 17/19 on M1 and M2), 1 disparities paper (2 pages max), and a final. You have the entire lecture time (1hr 15) to finish the midterm, but most people finish in ~30 minutes. Also, if you pass the 3 midterms you don't have to take the final. There are tons of extra credit opportunities as well! I highly recommend this class!

This was definitely the easiest class of my four classes this quarter. A lot of the reviews here about his weird grading system scared me when I first enrolled. However, I'm here to say that the grading system is not bad at all. In fact, it works well to your advantage and makes the class a lot easier. You only have to score 75% of three out of the four exams, and you can use one of his tokens to add a point to any of these exams. There is literally no advantage to you if you score higher than that, accept that if you score higher than 80-something percent on either of the first two exams you can skip writing one of the reflection papers.

The material covered in class is definitely interesting. It's extremely manageable and a lot less material per lecture than any of the other psych classes I was taking at the same time (115, 127B). He has online modules that also cover a lot of the same material and are supplementary to the lectures, which are nice cause they're asynchronous and you can just do them real quick before each exam.

The disparities paper is the one at the end that determines if you get an A-, A or A+. Its only really two pages long though, and if you don't pass it you can resubmit it for one of his tokens. Also, I didn't agree with the grading on mine and I talked to him on office hours and he revised some things so he's extremely accommodating and nice in that way.

Overall, definitely recommend taking this class, especially alongside a more packed class like 115.

Easy A! For a core class this is seriously the easiest A for a psych major. He's super nice too! He might lecture a little fast but its podcasted anyways! you wont regret it, i promise :)

Quarter Class Taken: Spring 2011
Teacher Evaluation: Among my friends, I have mixed reactions on whether Professor Robles is a good professor or not. Personally, I enjoyed him as a professor. I thought his lectures were engaging and informational. He is very approachable and punctual in his e-mails.
TA Evaluation: Patricia Voege had greater review sessions for the exams that basically prepared you for them. Do not miss the opportunity.
Homework Evaluation: There is a paper due in the class which is graded very strictly to the criteria given in a paper handout. Follow them, and spend extra time proofreading your paper and making sure it is coherent and clear. There is homework in the class, do not skip any. 1 Point could matter greatly in this class.
Test Evaluation: Tests were easy and straight off lecture, but study hard for them. Emphasize recall rather than long-term understanding.
Grading Evaluation: The curve is set difficult, so that only those who do very well in the class will do well. I guess that is fair, you get what you put in.

He is an awesome guy. Even his ringtone was awesome (Super Bass by Nicki Minaj hahaha). Taught his lectures in an effective manner by not posing the slides online to just print and not go to lecture. Was a good teacher overall.

Very caring & a great lecturer! I really enjoyed his class! Not difficult & you don't need the textbook! Just watch the screencasts & lectures. He posts a video podcast of all lectures. I recommend psych 150 with him!

Very nice and approachable. The information is very enjoyable and highly relevant to everyday life. If you attend the lectures and pay attention, you should receive an A. I hate to break it to the person below, but this isn't a core class.