I think that she's a great lecturer, very clear, very knowledgable but it is clear as day that she only likes a couple of people in the class and its people who keep asking questions. considering that a lot of people do not feel comfortable asking questions out loud, i think it automatically puts you at a disadvantage. she also doesnt make grade boundaries clear which is funny to me because i used to think 93% was an A but apparently to be on the border, you need to have a 93%+? however, the class was fun and i think that although she's really smart and a good professor, she's really rude and non-understanding and with upper divs i would rather have a professor who genuinely wants me to learn and wants the best for their students and i dont think that was her

I really enjoyed this class with Professor Izquierdo! This was my second time taking 115, which I really wish I would've just waited to take it with her the first time. I took it with Schein the first time, and he's AWFUL!

Anyway, Professor Izquierdo did cut out a lot of the slides as mentioned below, but that's because this was the summer session! Of course she had to trim down material because we have less time to cover material compared to the 10 week quarter.

Unfortunately I was never able to make it to her office hours, but she is welcoming as far as taking questions in class and after lecture. She is clear in explaining the material in class. She also threw in some extra credit questions on the final, which in my opinion was fair game! If you study the material, you'll be fine! I would definitely take another class with Professor Izquierdo.

First and most important, this isn't an easy class. As mentioned below, the professor cut several slides due to the duration of a Summer class. Nevertheless, I think we learned the most relevant aspects of Behavioral Neuroscience. Attendance matters (it's 30 points), you get these points just by going to class and answering short questions in a piece of paper. Discussion is 60 points based solely on your performance in 6 tough quizzes that worth 10 points each, BUT there are only 5 questions (2 points each)... It's a little bit arbitrary, in my opinion. I think it would be better to get at least 2 of those 10 points just for going to the discussion. There's no place for error with a grading system like that for the discussion section. The final exam was 110 points for a total of 200 for the whole class. It was fair! She included what she told us she was going to include during the lectures. She really cares for her students and she's willing to have dialogues regarding our concerns about grades. I wasn't able to go to office hours, but I can't wait to take another class with her. It was a VERY challenging class, but everything on the final was fair game.
-My only complain: the arbitrary grading system for quizzes.

[redacted]

Unlike the other reviews before me, I didn't think this class was super terrible. Like the other reviews, I was part of the Winter 2020 class, which unfortunately had the whole online final situation.

What the other reviews are missing, though, is that they previously required the use of Respondus on the exam. They later changed it to an open-book exam without the use of monitoring software. Then, the evening before the exam, they chose to make the final optional and warned students that their grade would be hurt should their final grade be low. I think that this was a fair warning, and that they were nice to make the final optional (I had other classes that made us use Respondus). In addition, I am confident that the exam would have been just as difficult in-class and online with Respondus, so I am actually thankful they allowed us to use our books on the final. I wonder if the other reviews would have been this negative if the course finished normally.

I do completely agree though that their communication was terrible. I was part of the group of students who emailed them the evening they made the final optional, and was disappointed to know that they weren't going to explain how the final would be graded before we took it. The final was difficult and I wasn't able to look up some answers, so that sucked too. But, I am mainly comparing the situation we had to if the class finished normally, and I am sure we had it easier this quarter if anything.

The average grade was curved to a 85% (a flat B). The grade distribution was released by Prof. Izquierdo and Adhikari, and the most frequent grade was an A (not an A-). From a quick eyeball, it looks like around 30% of people got a flat A. I don't think that is unreasonable at all for this course. The distribution was better than Schein's and the previous distribution for Prof. Izquierdo.

I sincerely enjoyed this class with Professor Izquierdo. Professor Izquierdo was truly concerned about her students learning and understanding the concepts taught in her class. There was no busy work assigned, and the readings were interesting science papers reviewed in class. Professor Izquierdo was very available and willing to speak with students both about lecture topics and the term paper.

Psych 119A was by far one of the most intriguing classes I have taken at UCLA, and focused on more than just blunt memorization of psychology facts. Professor Izquierdo's class forces you to take concepts taught in class and apply them to conceptual questions for the midterm and final. Although this was tough, studying was far less monotonous than the average psychology class. The questions were given in advance so one could prepare a question based on an investigation of lecture notes and readings. If you work hard and focus on what she says in lecture it is definitely possible to get an A in this class.

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.

Ah Professor Izquierdo is a nice lady. I believe she really does want people to succeed, but the organization of the class is terrible. I hated the fact that she would edit/cut slides out whenever she pleases. So it's confusing what material we needed to know and not know. I kid you not every lecture she'll slip in some comments about her pharmacology class that she also teaches. She goes into extreme detail on the slides, which made lectures brutal and long. Yes, it's summer and she's doing her best to squish all that material into 6 weeks, but we literally have ONE FINAL that determines our grade. Imagine. 10 weeks of material. Into 6 weeks. With ONE FINAL. That is CRAZY! I have discussion with Adam, and his quizzes are tough. Pretty sure most of my discussion class is doing poorly. And these quizzes are devastating my grade even more without even have taken the final!!! (insert Simpsons meme of "I'm in danger.")

Psych 115 is a lot of material to study, but very interesting. I had schism who teaches the lecture as he is very fair and knowledgeable about the subjects. If you are interested in the pdf copy of Behavioral Neuroscience 8th edition for cheap, text me at **********.

I am selling the PDF Version of the textbook required for this class (Behavioral Neuroscience, 8th Edition) for $5. Hit me up if interested and I can send it over to you - **********.