I kind of regret taking this class honestly even though I did learn a lot of information regarding intimate relationships. The material is useful and interesting and Prof Karney himself is an enthusiastic lecturer. However, there isn't any structure on what important topics you have to focus on in the class to be successful with exams. You have to read a book that's about 1000 pages and for the exams, anything in it is fair game. That's about 7 or 8 long chapters for each exam. Like others have said, the exams can include tiny obscure details from the book. So, you can read the book and take good notes of every chapter and still barely pass exams. The study guides aren't helpful whatsoever. Keep in mind, there is also no extra credit offered in the class. If you want to maintain your GPA and take a course just for upper division credit, then this class is not for you.

Professor Karney is a really helpful professor. He cares about his students and even goes as far to learn each person's name in a 200-300 student lecture hall. His lectures are also very enjoyable and offer you a general sense of what you need to know. All that being said, you MUST read the book, and not just read, you MUST take good notes. And even if you do take notes, you may still get 4-5 questions wrong on the tests as he nit picks from some minor, obscure detail from the book. He says to know the applications of the theory, but when I asked him what I should focus on while reading the book, he said "I think everything is important". Thanks. So basically, you need to know 250 pages worth of material for each test. He also offers no extra credit FYI. Overall, Karney is a sincere, caring professor who gives engaging lectures, even though you could get a good grade just by reading the book and not showing up to lecture. If you care about the subject and having a quality experience, take him. If you care about your GPA, not so much.

Just took his course this last Spring Quarter of 2015. And all I have to say is... God damn.

Okay, well let me just get started on his grading and how it works for people who are -potentially- interested in taking this course.

You have two "midterms", the second one is weighted slightly more heavily than the first one to account for "getting used to how he writes his exams"... yeah. They are both 50 questions, multiple choice, and the second one is non-cumulative. And you have to write a short paper that out of 30 points. So long as you follow the guidelines for the paper and hit all those key concepts, you can easily get the 30/30.

As for the multiple choice... yeesh. So I know people are saying that if reading takes time away from reviewing, then choose reviewing lectures first... but I say, if you want a great grade in the course, you need to read the ENTIRE book and have good notes for them + have good notes for lecture and know every single one of em.

Yes, that's right. You can literally only miss 10 points in this class to get an A. It's ridiculous, but it isn't impossible. You just need to stay on track. That being said, if you're planning to take this course as an "easy" course you can sort of half ass your way through, then DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT take this course.

That being said, Karney is an amazing professor. He is very approachable, outgoing, and makes lecture a fun thing to go to. He podcasts every single lecture (be wary, because sometimes his mic gives out). And he constantly reminds you about deadlines and test dates to keep you informed. He's very honest and will tell how you it is. No bullshit.

This course will definitely inform you a lot about how relationships work. But as Karney told us, fixing relationships is still a very tricky thing to accomplish.

If you are planning to take this class, you ABSOLUTELY need to read the textbook. As long as you actively read and take notes on the chapter, you should be fine for the tests- they're honestly not as hard as I expected them to be, but almost all of the answers relate back to the textbook and not Karney's lectures. Overall, pretty interesting class that I would recommend to anyone interested in the subject matter!

Everyone here is a liar. Okay so the content of the class is great, but the test are confusing af. The only assignments are a midterm, a paper and a final. The only think you get tested on is the textbook. Even if you think you know and understand the concepts, he creates the trickiest questions. For example, "Which one of these answers is the best?" like all of them are correct but which one is the best (this is not the SAT why are you being like this). If you need to do a makeup exam for illness it will be a DIFFERENT FORMAT. So instead of a multiple choice you have to write like answer by hand questions and give examples and such. The professor "seems nice" but is actually super unhelpful.

I loved this class. The only thing is is that you DO need to read the textbook to do well on the exams. I was able to get As on the midterm and final by just reading the textbook without taking any notes on it (since it is a lot of reading) and watching lectures. The paper is easy but the instructions are really specific and you NEED to follow it. I got marked off 4 points which brought my grade down so be careful. Other then that, the material was so interesting to learn and the textbook wasn't a hard read at all.

All I did was read the textbook for 1-3 days before the exams - every single word - and practiced recalling the definitions/concepts listed at the end of each chapter, and I was able to score well! Definitely hard to get 100% since the questions are pretty specific, but by reading the content close to the exam day, the details are fresh in your memory. Really interesting stuff, and the textbook is nicely structured!

TAKE THIS CLASS!! Professor Karney's lectures are super interesting and I've learned so much about intimate relationships from him. By far my favorite class in UCLA. The exams are pretty difficult though, you really need to go through all the textbook reading to do well in the exam.

Do yourself a favor and TAKE THIS CLASS!!

THIS IS THE BEST CLASS I'VE EVER TAKEN SO FAR AT UCLA. Omg I don't even know where to begin. Professor Karney is one of the most enthusiastic professors I've ever had; he's clearly passionate about teaching this course and is extremely knowledgable on intimate relationships. I sort of just randomly decided to take this class as one of my electives for the psych major and I'm so glad that I did. I believe that the things I learned will stay with me for the rest of my life. I may not remember all the nitty gritty details of psychological studies or all the proper vocabulary words, but the overarching concepts about being responsive, validating, caring for, and understanding others will change the way I think, not only about intimate relationships, but all types of relationships!

Lectures: lectures are AMAZING. I'm not even kidding I would genuinely be so excited to go to class and just learn! We learned everything from what makes certain relationships more vulnerable than others, how to strengthen intimacy and promote closeness, what make sex satisfying, intimate partner violence, the effects of stress on intimacy, hook-up culture, how to properly resolve conflicts and stop negative reciprocity. And Professor Karney is so enthusiastic about everything. He really encourages audience participation and goes as far as to remember your name in a lecture hall of hundreds of students if you participate in class. And he's funnyyyyyy too.

Textbook reading: reading the textbook is extremely important and is crucial if you want to do well in this course. The textbook is long. By the end of the course i literally read the entire 500+ pages of the book, but honestly the material was so interesting and engaging I didn't even mind. The textbook is very well written (Karney is a co-author!) and the examples they used were so heartwarming, some of them literally made me tear up.

Test: there is one midterm and one final, both 50 MC questions. YOU MUST STUDY TO DO WELL. I would read the textbook just a bunch and even listen to the audiobook on the way to class before tests and I did really well. I think I got 48/50 on my first one and I am still waiting for the final score to come out. They are definitely doable you just need to know the material. We also have a short paper that was pretty straightforward which I got 100% on.

Office hours: Go to his office hours!!! I would go even if I didn't have questions just to hear other people's conversations and they were so interesting to hear. Sometimes I forget that we go to UCLA and are getting taught by some of the leading researchers/educators in their fields so def take advantage of it!