The material was very interesting, I just didn't like how heavy the readings were. And the discussion section didn't do too good of a job tying together what we learned in class. If you're a good/fast reader, I recommend taking this course, but if not (like me) I would proceed with caution. Overall, Chavira is a very good professor, her voice is very soothing. I also had the sweetest TA for this class, so she has good taste in people too lol. SELLING THE TEXTBOOK (abnormal psych Pearson, 17th edition) FOR 55$! email: ************* for more info

I honestly really loved this class. Her slides were very straightforward, and she brought in cool examples from her work with actual patients. If you're interested in the topic and learning more about all these disorders, this class will be easy. A lot of it is really straightforward in itself too, most of these disorders are ones you'll likely have heard of before. You can find the textbook online for free through a website if you look. I found it to not be super necessary; it will help you review more than anything (and there might be a question or two on the test about specific stats, but you can usually guess those if you pay attention in class). I really liked the way the tests were done, they're almost fun really. It's a lot of little vignettes/descriptions of people and their symptoms, and you have to answer with what you think they have. I enjoyed that sort of applied style, but if you don't you won't like them. Overall this is class is a great one to take, really not that complicated or a lot of work. Would definitely recommend :)

Being my first quarter at UCLA, I was definitely worried going into this class because essentially your entire grade is worth three exams (three exams worth 100 pts each and a small amount of points dedicated to participation). But honestly, while you have to be a good memorizer/test taker to do well in this class, I found it to be pretty easy. The averages on the first two exams were in the B+ to B range, respectively, so it seems everyone else did okay also. There is no curve tho which was nice in this situation. Also, this was apparently the first quarter where Chavira offered extra credit. It was only two points but it can definitely come in handy, as it ends up being about an extra 1.5%ish bump on your grade. All you had to do was participate in the SONA studies but I'd recommend signing up as soon as the quarter starts cuz it is very difficult to get a spot in a study towards the middle of the quarter and later. I put it off for awhile and I was only able to get 1 EC pt tho I didn't end up needing it.
The questions on the exams were straightforward as someone detailed previously... virtually no trick questions and very few "none of the above/ both C and B but not D" stuff. The questions are framed in a practical manner rather than just asking for plain definitions (tho there are a small amount of those types of questions) so don't just memorize definitions of illnesses. Listen to her examples and watch the videos required for the class.
Also you barely even need the book at all... the book goes into way more depth that what she covers in class. I'd still recommend buying it if you have the $ to spare since it was nice to refer to it if I wasn't so clear on a topic or wanted more context into a particular illness.
Essentially all you need to do to ace the exams is use her slides and write down anything she says that is supplementary to the slides. For instance, she'll read something on the slide and then say some extra things to provide context and/or detail. The lectures are recorded so you don't have to go to class (I didn't show up to any lectures and got an A+) and it's nice because you can really write down everything she says since it's recorded. Tho you don't really need the book, anything she says is in lecture is fair game for the exam so I'd highly recommend using BruinCast to your advantage. Keep in mind tho that the BruinCast for this class is audio only and not video, if that matters to you. Also to even better help you on the exams, I'd highly recommend going to the extra review sessions the TA holds before an exam.
There is a small amount of points dedicated to participation, which are rewarded by attending discussion. The discussion is completely supplementary to the course and none of the material in discussion we're on the exams, unless it was something we covered in lecture as well. And lastly, the "final" is not cumulative and simply covers the material that is taught after exam 2. All in all, Chavira was a great professor and is very clear on her expectations for her students. For the last chapter, we didn't cover all the material that was planned so she chose not to test us on that on the final, unlike many professors who would test on that anyway. I'd highly recommend her for psych 127a

I agree with the other review that said some of the people on here make the class seem easier than it actually is. Personally, I got off to a rough start with this class. I received a 41/50 on the first exam because I underestimated the amount of detail she wanted us to know for the test. When I went to my TA's office hours for the test, she told me that the questions I missed were tiny details mentioned in the lecture slides. From then on, when I studied, I got out several sheets of blank paper and started writing EVERYTHING she mentioned in lecture and EVERYTHING she listed on the slides. After, I memorized everything. That got me a 45/50 on the second midterm and a 48/ 50 on the last test. The material for this class is so interesting, though! It just takes a lot of memorization. Also, Alex is a great TA!

This class wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I love abnormal psych and I understand it very well but Chavira's exams were confusing and often included random material that was 1. never mentioned in class 2. from small charts on PowerPoints that no one paid attention to. I hate that it is entirely based on exams because there is not room to make mistakes. Book is absolutely useless, study her slides to the T. I was lucky enough to get a B- in this class; never received an A on any of her exams.

Really enjoyed Dr. Chavira's lectures as she was very engaging and informational about the material. A tip honestly is just to take good notes when she's giving lectures, even the little details (cough cheese and wine is her favorite food) --> Will be beneficial knowledge in one of your tests in the future. I got a solid 48/50 for the first test but kinda messed up badly in the second one but managed to pull it back up for the remaining which is why I ended up with an A-.

I think you just need to work consistently for this class and you should be fine. If you have time, listen back to the podcasted lectures and see if you've missed anything in your notes because it might be a difference between an A and A- for you. She also offers easy extra credit just by completing the 2 surveys throughout the quarter. Dr. Chavira gives out participation points by using iClicker questions, often 2-3 questions each lecture and you only need to answer at least 1 out of the 2 or 3 to get full points.

Discussion sections were fun too and I had an amazing TA, Sarit who would clarify things or get further clarification from Dr. Chavira if we were ever unclear about something. It was a fun class and I'd definitely take another class with Dr. Chavira again in the future!

First I'll just talk about the class's structure, and then I'll go into my opinions.
The grade is based on a point system, with 176 total possible points. To get an A, you needed 164/176 so you can only miss 12 points total all quarter. This was pretty tough considering 150 of the 176 points come from three exams (50 points each). The other 26 points come from discussion section (20 pts) attendance and participation (talking about a weekly article) and attendance in lecture via iClicker (6 pts).

The discussion and iclicker points should be easy and self explanatory, so I'll cover the exams. All three are non-cumulative and only an hour and fifteen minutes long, which helps relieve some stress during finals week when you take the third and final exam. The thing about the exams is you can basically only miss about 12 points throughout the quarter (depending on if she gives any extra credit), which means about 4 points (4 questions) per exam. They are pretty detail-oriented, but luckily basically everything tested is from lecture, so I would highly recommend watching the bruincast and taking very detailed notes on everything she said, and only supplementing with the textbook when you feel like you need more info on a certain topic. I did this for exams 2 and 3 and did pretty well, but for exam 1 I wasn't really sure how to study so that's why I finished with an A-.

my experience with this class was pretty negative. the exams are intended to trick you. they're based off of her lectures (every single detail). clarity is definitely a problem in her material. often times she teaches material that contradicts itself or the text. i would not take her class again if i could.

This is a great class. If you're like me and you're someone whose been through years of therapy and already knows a lot about mental illness, this class will be a piece of cake for you. Don't bother buying the textbook even though Dr. Chavira insists. I didn't buy it and I still got an A-. I also didn't participate at all this quarter! Like not even once. If I had I probably would've gotten an A but I'm satisfied lol. Overall I liked Dr. Chavira as a professor because she explains things really well, and unlike a lot of professors at UCLA she takes it slower and doesn't blow through the lecture material. I took it as an opportunity to take really good notes and that really paid off for the exams. That's all you really need to succeed. My TA was Vivian and she was great, so take her if you can. Discussion section was such a supportive environment for everyone to talk about their mental health, and it was honestly so refreshing because you don't really get that from any other classes at this school. I felt like I learned a lot of valuable information in this class.

I also feel like the past reviews on bruinwalk make this class seem easier than it is. I am still waiting for my final grade, but I am hovering around a B+ or an A- depending on how I did on the final...hoping and praying for that A- ya'll. Anyway with that being said, I feel like if I don't write a review now I never will - so I am going to try and brain dump everything I know about this class and the exams/any tips to help anyone who wants to take this class to succeed.

I took 16 units this quarter and that definitely didn't make things easy either. However, this class by far was the class I devoted the majority of my time to. The chapters are pretty dense. I felt like I did better with the exams when I reread the chapters personally. The first exam was by far the easiest so make sure you do well on it!! The second exam was a lot harder and there was a lot of material, definitely do not try and cram for that exam and make sure you study a week in advance for it at the least because it is a lot. The third exam I thought was easier, but I also studied more for it this time so that could be why. There were some really tricky and weirdly worded out questions too though, so I don't really agree with the last reviewer who said that there aren't tricky questions - there are and they are designed to kind of make you second guess yourself which sucks, so keep that in mind and make sure you understand EVERYTHING.

Now as for study tips...the first exam I would say is more memorization based on the slides, but there are applied questions as well where you have to understand the material. The second exam had a lot of tricky questions based on the substance abuse lecture, so make sure you know that lecture WELL because it is one of the most difficult. There was also some stuff that was brought up in the lecture that came up in the exam that wasn't in the slides or the book - so make sure you listen to the podcasts carefully and pay attention and type it out/write it out. The way I studied for the exams was to make flashcards, listen to the podcasts with the slides in front of me, and going over the slides and explaining things over to myself, as well as making tests for myself to make sure I memorized/understood key tricky things that would show up. Remember that with this class the hardest questions are going to be the ones you wouldn't think would show up - think specific nitpicky stuff, so you really have to know everything inside and out to ensure a good grade. I personally wouldn't skip class because Professor Chavira does kind of get through the slides pretty fast and sometimes the lectures seem rushed because she wants to get through all the material, so I would say definitely try to go to lecture and then relisten to the podcasts. I know someone who never went to class, but they still had to relisten to the podcasts twice, so why not just go to class and avoid all of that? Also, I would try and go to office hours before the exam as the TA's get to see the exam and they know information about it. I personally didn't go, but I am sure it was helpful for those who did.

As for the discussion section...it did not help at all with the exams whatsoever. I don't know what it is about discussion sections at UCLA for psych not having a form of review for the material. I have never experienced this with any classes that haven't been for psych. The readings and class discussions were interesting, but 0 review time for the exams whatsoever.

Overall, take this class seriously. It is not as easy as people have said on here. There are really no "easy" classes at UCLA anyway. But again, I took 16 units this quarter and this class was the one I devoted the majority of my time to. I studied for it every single day and still am not sure if I got away with an A-. If you can't handle the amount of reading and studying you are going to do with this class, I would go with another class. The material is very interesting, but if you care more about your grade and your time - I think the best bet is to take another class.