PSYCH 120A
Cognitive Psychology
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisites: courses 10, 100A. Designed for juniors/seniors. Survey of cognitive psychology: how people acquire, represent, transform, and use verbal and nonverbal information. Perception, attention, imagery, memory, representation of knowledge, language, action, decision making, thinking. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
3 of 4
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - Falk Lieder is a little crazy. This class is graded on a 1.5 million point system in which 950,000 points are required to receive an A in the class. Attendance in discussions and lecture are graded, but obtaining points occurs through online assignments, such as inquizitive, ZAPS lab simulations, and other things. In the beginning, it's a little hectic to keep up with because random assignments are essentially due every single day. However, I grinded hella up until week 7/8 ish and did well on the midterm, and basically abandoned the last 3 weeks of class and skipped the final exam because I had already gotten 950,000 points. As long as you do are able to keep up with the point earning, getting a good grade in this class is incredibly easy. It's also a really interesting class. Falk likes to speak fast and include a lot of information in his lectures, but it's all really fascinating and truly does translate to everyday life in very applicable ways. At the beginning, I was pretty taken aback by the 1.5 million points, but, by the end, I truly enjoyed the class. He's a great professor who provides an incredible amount of flexibility in terms of grades. As long as you work hard, you could perform incredibly poorly on the exams (or not even take the final like I did) and still receive an A.
Winter 2024 - Falk Lieder is a little crazy. This class is graded on a 1.5 million point system in which 950,000 points are required to receive an A in the class. Attendance in discussions and lecture are graded, but obtaining points occurs through online assignments, such as inquizitive, ZAPS lab simulations, and other things. In the beginning, it's a little hectic to keep up with because random assignments are essentially due every single day. However, I grinded hella up until week 7/8 ish and did well on the midterm, and basically abandoned the last 3 weeks of class and skipped the final exam because I had already gotten 950,000 points. As long as you do are able to keep up with the point earning, getting a good grade in this class is incredibly easy. It's also a really interesting class. Falk likes to speak fast and include a lot of information in his lectures, but it's all really fascinating and truly does translate to everyday life in very applicable ways. At the beginning, I was pretty taken aback by the 1.5 million points, but, by the end, I truly enjoyed the class. He's a great professor who provides an incredible amount of flexibility in terms of grades. As long as you work hard, you could perform incredibly poorly on the exams (or not even take the final like I did) and still receive an A.
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Most Helpful Review
I was worried about this class after I heard how difficult Prof Mcauliffe was for 100A. But for 120A, I cannot say that he is unfair or difficult at all. His lectures can be a bit scattered and difficult to follow if you 'space out' for a second but all in all they are enjoyable - he actually makes it fun! The practice tests are VERY helpful to get a feel for his testing style. Take the practice tests - they provide you with a few 'freebies' for the exams. His questions are pretty straight forward and not too tricky at all. Very fair. I got an A in the class. Another great thing: NO BOOK! Just based on lectures and slides. Definitely recommended.
I was worried about this class after I heard how difficult Prof Mcauliffe was for 100A. But for 120A, I cannot say that he is unfair or difficult at all. His lectures can be a bit scattered and difficult to follow if you 'space out' for a second but all in all they are enjoyable - he actually makes it fun! The practice tests are VERY helpful to get a feel for his testing style. Take the practice tests - they provide you with a few 'freebies' for the exams. His questions are pretty straight forward and not too tricky at all. Very fair. I got an A in the class. Another great thing: NO BOOK! Just based on lectures and slides. Definitely recommended.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Took a chance with this professor as he had no reviews because what could be worse than 120B? I really tried to like this guy since he does care about the class and tries his best lecturing BUT man I really hated coming to this class. He sometimes confuses himself in lecture while I'm already struggling to pay attention. Really the only saving grace of this class was the mandatory section which would go into further depth on topics (get Maureen Gray as a TA or perish). His tests are unnecessarily difficult (and a fan on the cursed E answer choice). While the in-class / online quizzes and essay were easy assignments, the tests just make you feel like you wasted your time going over his 400+ review slide compilation. Perhaps reading the book could have helped but I wouldn't know because I can't read. You're probably better off taking this with someone else.
Winter 2019 - Took a chance with this professor as he had no reviews because what could be worse than 120B? I really tried to like this guy since he does care about the class and tries his best lecturing BUT man I really hated coming to this class. He sometimes confuses himself in lecture while I'm already struggling to pay attention. Really the only saving grace of this class was the mandatory section which would go into further depth on topics (get Maureen Gray as a TA or perish). His tests are unnecessarily difficult (and a fan on the cursed E answer choice). While the in-class / online quizzes and essay were easy assignments, the tests just make you feel like you wasted your time going over his 400+ review slide compilation. Perhaps reading the book could have helped but I wouldn't know because I can't read. You're probably better off taking this with someone else.
3 of 4
