Professor
Alicia Izquierdo Edler
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - The professors (izquierdo and Avi) for this class do not care about you AT ALL. The night before the final they chose to make the exam optional, but were complete unclear about how your grade would work without it. When students emailed them for clarification, they sent out a mass email that they will not be answering emails anymore and to post on the discussion forum, instead of just getting it together and coming up with a grading scheme. They are COMPLETELY disorganized and straight up ignored the discussion forum, so everyone pretty much went into the final blind. I only took the final because I had a borderline A-/A, but instead I got f*cked by these professors. After the final, I emailed them for clarification on the final and i was IGNORED again. These professors are not cut out to teach a lecture as large as this one. They are disorganized and clearly cannot handle it. Also, they made extra credit based on how well the TA’s remember you, but my TA DIDNT SPEAK FLUENT ENGLISH. I don’t have a stereotypical white name, so of course she didn’t remember it, despite asking her questions several times outside of discussion. I feel that I did not have the same opportunity as my peers to get the same grade. Moral of the story: if you’re not white, don’t plan on getting extra credit.
Winter 2020 - The professors (izquierdo and Avi) for this class do not care about you AT ALL. The night before the final they chose to make the exam optional, but were complete unclear about how your grade would work without it. When students emailed them for clarification, they sent out a mass email that they will not be answering emails anymore and to post on the discussion forum, instead of just getting it together and coming up with a grading scheme. They are COMPLETELY disorganized and straight up ignored the discussion forum, so everyone pretty much went into the final blind. I only took the final because I had a borderline A-/A, but instead I got f*cked by these professors. After the final, I emailed them for clarification on the final and i was IGNORED again. These professors are not cut out to teach a lecture as large as this one. They are disorganized and clearly cannot handle it. Also, they made extra credit based on how well the TA’s remember you, but my TA DIDNT SPEAK FLUENT ENGLISH. I don’t have a stereotypical white name, so of course she didn’t remember it, despite asking her questions several times outside of discussion. I feel that I did not have the same opportunity as my peers to get the same grade. Moral of the story: if you’re not white, don’t plan on getting extra credit.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2016 - I was very nervous to take this lab but I'm so glad that I did! If you are looking to take a lab definitely take it with Dr. Izquierdo. The assignments were graded very leniently (unlike 100B), were easy to complete, and were actually fun. I passed the class with an A while putting in minimal effort, would've gotten an A+ if I actually put more effort in.
Spring 2016 - I was very nervous to take this lab but I'm so glad that I did! If you are looking to take a lab definitely take it with Dr. Izquierdo. The assignments were graded very leniently (unlike 100B), were easy to complete, and were actually fun. I passed the class with an A while putting in minimal effort, would've gotten an A+ if I actually put more effort in.
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2020 - This class could probably be really interesting, but the lack of guidance from Professor Izquierdo made it really tricky. In the summer, her grades were based on 50% midterm and 50% final, both multiple choice exams. The midterm was only 25 questions, so each question essentially was a full 2% of your grade. The questions weren't unbelievably hard or anything, and they were all somewhat covered in the powerpoints, but they were very ambiguous and tricky. For instance, answer choice A would have something, and then answer choice C would be "answer choice A+something else" and both of those would seem valid. But it's so tricky to decide between one or the other, and it feels like there's justification to go either way, so it was really frustrating that it would be a whole 2% of your grade if you chose the wrong one, even if it was somewhat correct. Since we took this online, it was open note, and we got a sufficient amount of time, but I truly don't think studying would help at all. It honestly just felt like a guessing game about what Dr. Izquierdo wanted. And if you messed up on her guessing game a couple of times, your grade basically tanks. She does offer a curve at the end, but it still feels like you're not in control of the end result – it's just a matter of luck on what you end up choosing on multiple choice. I felt like I never got a chance to redeem myself after being stuck on a few questions and having my grade knocked down from that. She's also extremely cold and unhelpful in office hours, like she won't go out of her way to help you or guide you to do better in the class. I don't think she took our concerns into account much. I personally think even if you study a lot and make an effort, that doesn't pay off in this class. It really just comes down to which decisions you make on the ambiguous, tricky answer choices, and if you go one way, you'll get a good grade. If you go the other way and get a few wrong even though you understand the material, you've basically lost all chances of getting an A in this class. Content wise, it's basically about NT signaling and different drugs.
Summer 2020 - This class could probably be really interesting, but the lack of guidance from Professor Izquierdo made it really tricky. In the summer, her grades were based on 50% midterm and 50% final, both multiple choice exams. The midterm was only 25 questions, so each question essentially was a full 2% of your grade. The questions weren't unbelievably hard or anything, and they were all somewhat covered in the powerpoints, but they were very ambiguous and tricky. For instance, answer choice A would have something, and then answer choice C would be "answer choice A+something else" and both of those would seem valid. But it's so tricky to decide between one or the other, and it feels like there's justification to go either way, so it was really frustrating that it would be a whole 2% of your grade if you chose the wrong one, even if it was somewhat correct. Since we took this online, it was open note, and we got a sufficient amount of time, but I truly don't think studying would help at all. It honestly just felt like a guessing game about what Dr. Izquierdo wanted. And if you messed up on her guessing game a couple of times, your grade basically tanks. She does offer a curve at the end, but it still feels like you're not in control of the end result – it's just a matter of luck on what you end up choosing on multiple choice. I felt like I never got a chance to redeem myself after being stuck on a few questions and having my grade knocked down from that. She's also extremely cold and unhelpful in office hours, like she won't go out of her way to help you or guide you to do better in the class. I don't think she took our concerns into account much. I personally think even if you study a lot and make an effort, that doesn't pay off in this class. It really just comes down to which decisions you make on the ambiguous, tricky answer choices, and if you go one way, you'll get a good grade. If you go the other way and get a few wrong even though you understand the material, you've basically lost all chances of getting an A in this class. Content wise, it's basically about NT signaling and different drugs.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Overall, one of my least favorite professors. I took this class during a hybrid quarter (due to COVID), and she was very disorganized with lecture uploads and wouldn’t upload them on a schedule or even check to see if they’re current. A lot were obviously from past quarters and had information that was no longer relevant, which felt like lazy teaching to me. Your grade is comprised of a term paper and a free response final, each worth 50% of your total. The term paper was not that bad, but her rubric is very vague; even if you clarify what you should include in your paper with her, expect tough grading and points taken off arbitrarily without an explanation and a refusal to regrade. For the final, you have a week, but it is very time consuming and not straight-forward. Again, expect tougher-than-necessary grading. However, what I liked least about this class is how the professor would be very hard to get in contact with and blatantly ignore emails. If you are unable to complete an assignment due to illness, don’t expect her to be accommodating or even respond to your worries; she only responds to emails asking a question about the class. TLDR: The class material is interesting, but the professor’s lack of caring makes this class one of my least favorites. Find a different professor for PSYCH119A.
Winter 2022 - Overall, one of my least favorite professors. I took this class during a hybrid quarter (due to COVID), and she was very disorganized with lecture uploads and wouldn’t upload them on a schedule or even check to see if they’re current. A lot were obviously from past quarters and had information that was no longer relevant, which felt like lazy teaching to me. Your grade is comprised of a term paper and a free response final, each worth 50% of your total. The term paper was not that bad, but her rubric is very vague; even if you clarify what you should include in your paper with her, expect tough grading and points taken off arbitrarily without an explanation and a refusal to regrade. For the final, you have a week, but it is very time consuming and not straight-forward. Again, expect tougher-than-necessary grading. However, what I liked least about this class is how the professor would be very hard to get in contact with and blatantly ignore emails. If you are unable to complete an assignment due to illness, don’t expect her to be accommodating or even respond to your worries; she only responds to emails asking a question about the class. TLDR: The class material is interesting, but the professor’s lack of caring makes this class one of my least favorites. Find a different professor for PSYCH119A.
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