I'm not exactly sure why there're a few reviews saying that it's not an easy A... It's definitely one of the easiest psych classes I've ever taken (I'm a Senior )
In my opinion, as long as you've taken a few psych classes in UCLA, you would agree with me that it's an easy class. The material are pretty interesting and very very straightforward, but the lectures can be a bit dry from time to time( I think).
I studied the exams by simply going through the slides and the main takeaway points from the readings.
I got 42/45 for midterm, and 60/60 for the final. Yeah, I agree that there were one or two tricky questions in each exam, but overall, the exams are extremely fair!!!!
Guys, I would definitely recommend taking this class!

Dr. Galvan's Psych 161 is an interesting class encompassing many aspects of the human brain's development. Definitely worth taking it as your elective. Her lectures are very engaging, definitely not boring. The exams are very fair. She is not out to trick her students. She doesn't assign a textbook, because she wants to save us students some money. Instead, her exams rely heavily on lecture both what she says and on the slides themselves. Do not underestimate even the smallest detail in the slides. Instead of the textbook she posts/assigns research articles which she find relevant to her lecture material. Definitely read those too. Study efficiently and nothing should come as a surprise on her exams. She is a great professor simply wanting her students to learn and do well.

Psych161

SWEETHEART!

-she really cares about her students and isn't condescending like some professors.
-fair exams
-funny
-overall, fun class.

advice: take her honors section.

HANDS DOWN best class I took at UCLA as a senior. Galvan is incredibly knowledgable and beautiful, too. The concepts are incredibly entertaining and this class made me realize what I want to study post-grad. Take this class and you won't regret it. The tests are very, very doable.

***This review is for 161

161

She literally just reads off of her slides. The class isn't too bad and you can probably get a B without going to lecture. The midterms are short so every question is worth a hefty chunk of points so you have to be pretty careful on the 3 tests. But seriously..she just reads directly off of her slides for 50 minutes, 3x a week.

She is the one of the BEST professors at UCLA hands down!!!!!!!!!
She is very funny and good looking too (I'm a guy lol). I had to take this class as an elective but, it made me want to take more of her classes.
The exams were very easy in my opinion if you have done all the required readings (3 exams, no extra credit assignments). If you are looking for an easy elective class, then take her!!!!!!
Final grade: A+

161

She literally just reads off of her slides. The class isn't too bad and you can probably get a B without going to lecture. The midterms are short so every question is worth a hefty chunk of points so you have to be pretty careful on the 3 tests. But seriously..she just reads directly off of her slides for 50 minutes, 3x a week.

Psych 161

Take this class. It is interesting and not difficult at all. No need to read the articles that she assigns. Study the slides, go to class and memorize the findings of the studies and the important bullet point conclusions. She gives essay questions on the exam and if you don't memorize the summery at the end of lectures, you won't be able to answer them. Very doable class.

For Psych 161:

For a Psychobiology major, this class was super interesting and very manageable. Some of the topics included the stages of brain development, media's effect on the brain, social cognition, etc. All I did for this class was study the outline I made out of her powerpoints. I got an A :) But you have to be careful on the tests because there aren't very many questions, so messing up can cost you a lot of points.

Dr. Galvan is hands-down one of my favorite professors at UCLA! I went to her office hours a few times during the quarter and she is always open to answering any questions I had/expanding more on the ideas in the powerpoints. Honestly, I would recommend that anyone take this class!!!

P.S: I'd like to affirm that she's pretty. (I'm a girl)

**161**

Galvan is very nice, but it sounds like people writing these reviews had time to do LS2-level review of the lectures and notes. Seriously. I think the only way to get an A in 161 is to take two other GE's with this class and just listen to each lecture 2-3 times. There are 3 exams, all with 2 essay portions that require you to have memorized every single study she went over. This sucks because there's no time to do this for a standard student with other obligations. 3 tests in 10 weeks - you're going to have midterms overlap and it's going to cost you. The midterms are all weighted evenly which can be good/bad, but the worst part is the class is entirely based on the exams. Good class, but beware because the time commitment is pretty high.