Had her over the summer for 119L. We had two exams, weighted equally and each had 40 multiple choice questions. The questions are very fact based and straight forward, so if you came to class, took notes, and paid attention to the readings they were pretty easy. One of the most helpful study tools was making notecards with the disease/where the damage was located/symptoms since the bulk of the material is based on that.

She doesn't curve, but that doesn't really matter since the class average was around a 90% anyway. Overall class was easy and the professor was totally adorable. She didn't want us recording her lectures, but she spoke slowly and clearly enough that it was easy to take notes and her accent was delightful.

Dr. Zaidel is an extremely caring, knowledgable, and easy professor.
For an upper division elective for neuroscience or psychobiology majors, this class was quite easy and very interesting. The topics of this course included many clinical neurological disorders, such as agnosia, aphasia, apraxia, and dementias.
There were 3 noncumulative multiple choice exams, each with 22 questions. The questions were quite straightforward and consisted mainly of material discussed in the lecture, with a few (3-4) questions per exam about questions from the assigned reading, which was not explicitly discussed in lecture. There was no homework or any assignments for this class other than showing up to lecture, doing the required readings from the course reader, and taking the exams. While the grade for the class was entirely based on the % correct from the 3 exams (percentage out of 66 questions), the averages on the exams were very high and most students did very well on the MCQ tests since they were quite straightforward. In the third exam, there was also 3 bonus questions, which were each worth 1% additional to the final grade if answered correctly, so a total of potentially 3% extra credit to the final letter grade.
The only issue with this class is that the lectures are not recorded and the slides are not posted online, so attending and taking detailed notes at lecture is MANDATORY. During lecture, Dr. Zaidel is incredibly clear, slow, and methodical with presenting the material, and taking detailed notes of what she says is crucial for success on the exams.
Overall, I would highly recommend this class! It is an extremely interesting class about the human brain and many associated dysfunctions, and it is quite easy to get an A. Dr. Zaidel is great!

Don’t take her class

Prof Zaidel is a very good lecturer and kept me and the rest of the class interested and awake for the entire two hours that we were in class. Some of the information can be kind of tricky and over the top detailed but most of it is really straight forward and easy to understand. You must take great notes in her class since 75% of the test is just based on her notes. Also the readings are extremely important as well. Just reread each chapter 3 times b4 each test and you should be good.

professor zaidel is so awesome. this is the most interesting class i have taken in my 3 years at ucla. she is a great lecturer, has amazing stories, and a sense of humor. take this class!!! easy too, as long as you do the readings and go to class, you're set.

I am perplexed as to why this class is not required for the Neuroscience major. Other than Neuroscience 102, this is the most useful and interesting Neuroscience class I had ever taken. I don't regret enrolling this class or attending every single lecture.

In the summer (which is the term in which I took Neuro M119L), there are only two class assignments: 1 midterm and 1 final. I wish there were more exams or other things on which to base the grade, because the midterm and the final are only 45 questions each.

Dr. Zaidel covers a lot of topics in lecture. Even with two hours for every class meeting, we would almost run out of time, because Zaidel is so effective in keeping you interested and curious. She is really knowledgeable in the subject; you will find two very familiar names mentioned frequently in the required readings-- hers and Dr. Arnold Scheibel's (the great neuroanatomist who teaches Neuro 102 at UCLA).

I always wondered why coming to class late after the first warning may cause you to lose points, but not coming at all wouldn't. The TA told me that the rationale was, coming to class late interrupts the lecture; if you're coming at all, you might as well come early. That makes sense.

Meanwhile, in order to do well, you really have to attend lecture and take good notes. You must also do the required readings, because parts of the readings are not discussed in lecture but appear on the examinations. In my experience, I was never asleep in class. Sure it starts at 8:30 am and lasts two hours, but Dr. Zaidel is quite the comic. I would get sleepy doing the readings, however-- not because they are uninteresting, but maybe because of the presentation (font issues, etc.-- I know, shallow ^_^).

The grading in this class is straightforward, though rigid. If you want an A, it's not really hard to get, but you have to make sure you earn enough points out of the 90 total, to secure it. There is not much opportunity to make mistakes; you have to get yourself up and going from, start to finish.

Zaidel is the nicest professor I have ever taken at UCLA. She can come off as strict at times (no tape recorders, come to class on time, no questions during tests), but you really can't help but love her. She gives a barrage of information during lectures (non-stop notes!!), and there's a lot of things you need to memorize. However, her tests are very easy, so if you do a decent amount of studying, you won't have a hard time getting a good grade. Definitely take her course for a Psychobiology or Neuroscience elective.

Professor Zaidel's lectures, while often involving hand-cramping amounts of writing, were always interesting and charismatic. She branded them with her unique sense of humor, adding a personal touch with stories and experiences. The material itself was really interesting as well...I recommend that you take this course as a psychobio elective if you can.
One note: don't bring a tape recorder to class! She once stopped mid-lecture and accused me of tape-recording her, pointing to book in my backpack that looked absolutely nothing like a tape recorder.