This class really is not as hard as its made out to be. For lab, I would say just stay on top of your assignments and make sure you get ample feedback from you TA. For the lecture, watch all the lectures and do the practice exams. If you do the above, you will be fine!

I still cannot believe that I got an A finally. You can see how terrible and unreasonable the class structure is from other reviews, but I still wanna say: don't panic when you mess up with one single assignment. I was really frustrated and uneasy when I found that I got a very very low grade for my project proposal--in fact I believe our group got the worst grade in the section. However, I didn't give up and tried my best to do other assignments. I think my participation grade should be high because I contributed to the discussion every time, and my other assignments are fair (even though for the last assignment I scored below the mean). That's why I got an A in the end I think. Also, don't forget that you have the lecture part to boost your grade. The materials are fairly easy to understand, and the professor is a good lecturer. I scored over 97% for my lecture part. In conclusion: don't panic; don't freak out; try to talk to your TA about your grade and what's on your mind when doing the assignment (sometimes they would change your grade if you really persuade them); do well on your lecture.

this is one of the most useful classes i've taken at ucla so far and im pretty surprised at how well this class went for me bc i was absolutely DREADING it based on what others have said. as you probably already know, your experience in psych 100b will mostly depend on who your TA and who your group members are. the quizzes were about every other week and only consisted of 3 MC questions; they were like a mini version of the exam. the lecture content itself was pretty straightforward and there were only a few concepts i had trouble understanding at first. dr. ankowski is a great lecturer imo. she's so bubbly and presents the material using easy to understand language and examples. i've never gone to her OH but she seems really approachable. in lab, you'll be going over how to write a research paper in addition to reviewing and practicing concepts from class.

tips i have for taking tests and quizzes:
- sounds obvious, but do the practice tests and work on them as if they're the actual exams. give yourself a time limit, annotate the questions.
- look at the question, and try figuring out things like the IV, DV, confounding variables, etc BEFORE looking at the choices. most of the questions are basically formatted like a scenario, and you have to answer questions based on this.
- rewatch lectures if things are still unclear. one useful tip they gave us was when watching lectures, jot down the time stamp of topics so that you can just rewatch that portion if you still don't understand fully
- this depends on your own studying style, but give yourself enough time to study before the exams so that you're not studying last minute. the exams and quizzes were at 8am </3 so definitely get a good night's sleep before
- i didn't have any friends in this class </3 but it might have been helpful to have someone to discuss concepts and test questions with

tips for lab:
- i got really lucky and had an amazing TA and group mates. go to office hours, even if it's just to ask a few clarifying questions. you don't have to be besties, but make the effort to go talk to them
- if you are already a decent writer, the odds are in your favor. but if you're not, you can improve! start on your writing assignments early, and use the writing guides and resources provided. what i did was just outline the day it was assigned, and then worked on it each day leading up to the due date. i found the resources on transition words and research sentence structures really helpful.
- participate. ask questions, answer questions, add on to your classmates' points. but don't be the annoying one that hogs up all the participation opportunities. it was much easier to participate online because people could just type in the chat, so definitely put more effort into this if discussion is in person
- communicate with your group mates. even if you have to pick up the slack, delegate roles. (e.g. _______ is going to turn this in, _______ will write this section, _______ will make these materials). we were assigned our groupmates, and i think it was based off on our individual work styles.
- start on your final paper ASAP. just outline and write as you go.
- have someone read your paper! whether it's your roommate or a student from the writing center. it should be able to be understood by anyone, even if they're not a psych major

i did not use the textbook at all, so there goes my $60 down the drain. don't buy it. just focus on the lecture material itself. i referenced the workbook a few times when writing, but your TA will most likely give you the necessary pages. the workbook was sort of like a guide to writing each section of your research paper.

good luck in this class besties!! you can do it!!

Selling course materials:
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The professor was nice and had good lecture skills, which the tests weren't extremely bad if you're used to tricky tests and practiced a lot. Otherwise, if you fall below the mean once for lab section, your chances of getting an A are pretty low, since it's super hard to pick it back up. They will try to say that the curve can only "help" your grade, and well that was not the case for me or anyone actually. Some tips I would recommend is just don't slack off in any assignment, and just keep trying to stay above the mean for everything, which is the same as every other review. Good luck all :)

Psych 100B assignments require creativity, thoughtfulness, attention to detail, and the ability to understand and apply the course material correctly. It is okay if you feel overwhelmed at times. It takes time adjusting to thinking like a researcher, and the professor and TAs know that. I felt like I grew in confidence throughout the session because we continually practiced the material and did assignments that built on one another. I can definitely say that this course was useful for teaching me the skills necessary for conducting research on campus and in graduate school.

I HIGHLY suggest going to office hours for this class even if you feel like you understand everything because it is always nice to get extra practice and know what your TA is looking for in your final paper/assignments. Professor Ankowski does a great job of explaining the material so don't be afraid to ask her questions. I was also lucky to have a TA who was always willing to review concepts and answer any questions.

As for grading logistics, lecture = 40% and lab = 60% during the summer. I thought the lecture material was easy to understand (and we were allowed open notes for the quizzes and final exam during COVID), and we were given four practice exams that were very similar to the questions asked on the final exam. If you feel confident in those and understand your mistakes, you should do well! For lab, a generally high grade is considered one standard deviation above the mean. Work on the assignments early, ask questions, and review the material taught in section thoroughly.

Most importantly, don't lose hope if you get a low grade! Ask for guidance, and utilize that feedback to perform better in the following assignments. This is usually one of the last reqs you need to do before declaring the psych/cog sci/psychobio major -- be proud of yourself for getting through it!

Just a disclaimer that I took this class during COVID when the whole class was online.

Overall, psych 100B has a very bad rep for being an extremely hard class. This stems from the fact that the class is curved and it is based on how people in your lab section do (about 18-19 other students). You always want to do better than the mean of your section and you want to get a standard deviation above the mean as well. The reason they do the curve is that there really is no standard on how TAs are to grade. One lab might have 88% as an average on an assignment, but the other lab might have 68% average on the same assignment. Don't get discouraged if you feel you're getting low grades because chances are everyone in your class is also getting a similar score and the average is low.

In Summer, the class is different from during the school year as 40% of the class grade is lecture and 60% is Lab grade (during the school year it is the opposite). During the Summer, they just have one exam during week 6, but during the regular quarters, there are two exams. Here's a break down of the scores and how I performed on the assignments if you're looking to get at least an A- or higher:

Lecture
Final Exam (40%): My Score: 32/40 (Average: 30.7 / 40 (did not give standard dev))

Lab
Quizzes (10%):
Quiz #1 - 3.0/3.0 (Average 2.47/3.0, SD - 0.84)
Quiz #2 - 3.0/3.0 (Average 2.95/3.0, SD - 0.23)
Quiz #3 - 3.0/3.0 (Average 2.26/3.0, SD - 0.73)
Quiz #4 - 3.0/3.0 (Average 2.58/3.0, SD - 0.69)

Quiz Total - 12.0/12.0 (Average 10.26/12.0, SD - 1.15)

Participation 20%

Study Strategy Proposal (15%) (Individual Work)
92/100 (Average 88.68/100, SD - 3.87)

Project Proposal (15%) (Group Work)
89/100 (Average 86.32/100, SD - 4.71)

Project Final Write-Up + Materials (30%)
86/100 (Average 80.41/100, SD - 3.19)

Discussion Short-Answer Assignment (10%)
Don't have any results on that one :((

A big factor in this class is the partner that you get for your final project. You might get lucky and have someone who will contribute or might have someone who really just does not wanna do anything.

If you're looking for a TA I highly recommend Peter Nooteboom. Great guy.
Goodluck!

This class was online because of corona, and despite the gnarly reviews for PSYCH 100B, this was my easiest class in spring 2020 quarter. The exams were easy, open note and everything, and if you understand the practice exams and questions you should do well. I got a great TA (Kashia) who made all of the expectations clear and was so knowledgeable and helpful. Honestly if you just follow directions, follow rubrics, and put in effort you should do well.

I took this class Spring 2020 (remotely) so my perspective of this class likely differs from most. The class was weighed 40% lecture (midterm and final) and 60% lab (participation, quizzes, group lab report, final paper, and other small assignments). The lecture portion, in my opinion, was fairly easy. The exams were timed and you couldn't go back to questions once you had answered them, but it was open note and i thought that the practice exams were VERY helpful in understanding how to answer these questions, and some test questions mimicked the sample exams almost verbatim. The lab portion is a huge toss up, since the curve is against the people in your discussion which sucks. I scored 1 SD below the mean on my first group assignment and thought it was impossible to get an A in the class based on these other bruinwalk reviews, but I still ended up with an A-. The quizzes were completion only, which boosts your lab grade, and due to the protests, our last assignment was also graded for completion. This class is so time consuming and will make you very stressed for at least weeks 7-10, but know that if you screw up on one assignment like I did, not all hope is lost for a decent grade.

If you're reading this then you probably have to take this class. Psych 100B is an awful class and is designed to weed people out so the tests are very tricky and assignments are graded extremely harshly. Also everything is based on a curve so the only thing that matters is how well you perform against your classmates which honestly sucks. Only take this class when you have the time to put into it otherwise it will be straight up torture.
The professor is actually very nice and explains the concepts pretty well and is also approachable but due to the nature of the course it is what it is :)