Professor
Jeremy Trott
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - **THIS IS A REVIEW FOR PSYCH 118** This is a notoriously hard class, but was tolerable with Professor Trott. The first exam was difficult as in the exam had more of an emphasis on the textbook than people thought. The average was a 32.6/40. The second exam was significantly easier with the average being a 36/40 and the final was similar to the second exam in terms of difficulty with the average being a 35.5/40. My tip for doing well in the class is to definitely do all the textbook readings as I found this more helpful than lectures. Also definitely make sure to do the study guide and known it in and out as this is basically what is on the exam. Professor Trott was a super helpful and kind professor. He literally answered all the questions people had on the study guide. If you're unsure about a concept make sure to ask on the discussion board or in office hours. Besides the 3 noncumalitive exams, there are 2 assignments. The first is a recorded video on a topic of your choice. This could either be a video of you or a slide show with a voice over. The other assingment is to do a flyer or social media post about a researcher in the Comparative psychobiology filed. Both assignments were super easy and people got 100s on them. He also offers extra credit through sona!!
Winter 2023 - **THIS IS A REVIEW FOR PSYCH 118** This is a notoriously hard class, but was tolerable with Professor Trott. The first exam was difficult as in the exam had more of an emphasis on the textbook than people thought. The average was a 32.6/40. The second exam was significantly easier with the average being a 36/40 and the final was similar to the second exam in terms of difficulty with the average being a 35.5/40. My tip for doing well in the class is to definitely do all the textbook readings as I found this more helpful than lectures. Also definitely make sure to do the study guide and known it in and out as this is basically what is on the exam. Professor Trott was a super helpful and kind professor. He literally answered all the questions people had on the study guide. If you're unsure about a concept make sure to ask on the discussion board or in office hours. Besides the 3 noncumalitive exams, there are 2 assignments. The first is a recorded video on a topic of your choice. This could either be a video of you or a slide show with a voice over. The other assingment is to do a flyer or social media post about a researcher in the Comparative psychobiology filed. Both assignments were super easy and people got 100s on them. He also offers extra credit through sona!!
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - In winter 2025, Neuroscience M101B was split into three modules: Dr. Orkun Akin (Module 1 Neurodevelopment) and Dr. Jeremy Trott (Module 2 Transmembrane Signaling and Module 3 Synaptic Transmission). This review will talk about the class in general and each professor. Overall, this class felt quite straightforward and was definitely easier than M101A. Unlike F24 M101A where exams were taken online from home and were open book and open note, the M101B exams this quarter were taken online, although on Respondus and physically in the lecture hall, and we were only allowed a 1 page cheat sheet (so not completely open book and open note). Like M101A, there were 3 exams. Each exam covered its respective module and nothing else; therefore, the Module 3 exam, which was during finals week, was not a comprehensive final, but rather only an exam on Trott's synaptic transmission material. Class Logistics: 65% for Exams (equally split amongst the three exams, so around 22% per exam), 20% for Discussion Section Attendance and Weekly Quizzes, 15% for Seminar and Clinical Correlation Writeups. There was 2% extra credit offered on each exam for answering a short bonus question quiz on the Respondus software before the real exam. This was participation-based EC; if you answer, you get the 2% boost to your exam score (capped at 100% though). Module 1 Neurodevelopment by Orkun Akin: Dr. Akin's module was all about neurodevelopment, starting with gastrulation and into synaptogenesis, all in six lectures. Dr. Akin is an extremely knowledgable, clear, and detailed professor, taking time during lecture to clearly explain all diagrams, experiments, and figures and answering questions during office hours. His lecture slides were the most helpful that I have seen in the neuroscience core series, as they included enough informative text that clearly spelled out the main results and findings of each slide (as a lot of this module was discussing experiments). While the figures and experiments conducted were often complex, Dr. Akin's summary text on the slides was very helpful to understand the big picture concepts, and his explanations in class were also very clear. Dr. Akin's quizzes and exam were extremely fair; he was straight to the point and there were little to no tricky questions/wording. There is quite a lot of content to remember, but with the one page cheat sheet, this was certainly doable! Dr. Akin was great! Module 2 Transmembrane Signalling and Module 3 Synaptic Transmission by Jeremy Trott: In W25, Dr. Trott taught both Module 2 and Module 3 of M101B. Module 2, which was about transmembrane signalling, felt very similar to Schweizer's Module 1 from M101A. We reviewed a lot of what we already learned about ion channels, Nernst, action potentials, and then added new concepts about ionotropic (ligand gated ion channel) and metabotropic (GPCR) transmission. Dr. Trott was very enthusiastic, lively, and captivating. He is a very nice guy and answers questions methodically and is receptive to student feedback (i.e. A few times, there was confusing wording on a quiz question, so he would accept multiple answers as correct). His quizzes and exam for both Module 2 and Module 3 did feel harder than Dr. Akin's but maybe this is because the material is more challenging to understand. Both exams for Trott were 15 questions: 10 multiple choice questions and 5 long paragraph answers. Once again, the cheat sheet was very helpful for all the different details that we learned throughout Trott's modules. I would highly recommend Dr. Trott; he is clear and methodical with his lecture style. Overall, I thought this class was interesting and engaging, and both professors were fantastic! All three modules focused heavily on discussing pathbreaking historical experiments that revealed important findings that we now hold to be true, so understanding and recalling experimental methodology, the importance of the experiment, and any limitations was crucial for the exam. Other than that, there are a lot of proteins/molecules to remember for all three modules, but having them on the cheat sheet helped a lot. This class was enjoyable and not too difficult! Akin and Trott were great!
Winter 2025 - In winter 2025, Neuroscience M101B was split into three modules: Dr. Orkun Akin (Module 1 Neurodevelopment) and Dr. Jeremy Trott (Module 2 Transmembrane Signaling and Module 3 Synaptic Transmission). This review will talk about the class in general and each professor. Overall, this class felt quite straightforward and was definitely easier than M101A. Unlike F24 M101A where exams were taken online from home and were open book and open note, the M101B exams this quarter were taken online, although on Respondus and physically in the lecture hall, and we were only allowed a 1 page cheat sheet (so not completely open book and open note). Like M101A, there were 3 exams. Each exam covered its respective module and nothing else; therefore, the Module 3 exam, which was during finals week, was not a comprehensive final, but rather only an exam on Trott's synaptic transmission material. Class Logistics: 65% for Exams (equally split amongst the three exams, so around 22% per exam), 20% for Discussion Section Attendance and Weekly Quizzes, 15% for Seminar and Clinical Correlation Writeups. There was 2% extra credit offered on each exam for answering a short bonus question quiz on the Respondus software before the real exam. This was participation-based EC; if you answer, you get the 2% boost to your exam score (capped at 100% though). Module 1 Neurodevelopment by Orkun Akin: Dr. Akin's module was all about neurodevelopment, starting with gastrulation and into synaptogenesis, all in six lectures. Dr. Akin is an extremely knowledgable, clear, and detailed professor, taking time during lecture to clearly explain all diagrams, experiments, and figures and answering questions during office hours. His lecture slides were the most helpful that I have seen in the neuroscience core series, as they included enough informative text that clearly spelled out the main results and findings of each slide (as a lot of this module was discussing experiments). While the figures and experiments conducted were often complex, Dr. Akin's summary text on the slides was very helpful to understand the big picture concepts, and his explanations in class were also very clear. Dr. Akin's quizzes and exam were extremely fair; he was straight to the point and there were little to no tricky questions/wording. There is quite a lot of content to remember, but with the one page cheat sheet, this was certainly doable! Dr. Akin was great! Module 2 Transmembrane Signalling and Module 3 Synaptic Transmission by Jeremy Trott: In W25, Dr. Trott taught both Module 2 and Module 3 of M101B. Module 2, which was about transmembrane signalling, felt very similar to Schweizer's Module 1 from M101A. We reviewed a lot of what we already learned about ion channels, Nernst, action potentials, and then added new concepts about ionotropic (ligand gated ion channel) and metabotropic (GPCR) transmission. Dr. Trott was very enthusiastic, lively, and captivating. He is a very nice guy and answers questions methodically and is receptive to student feedback (i.e. A few times, there was confusing wording on a quiz question, so he would accept multiple answers as correct). His quizzes and exam for both Module 2 and Module 3 did feel harder than Dr. Akin's but maybe this is because the material is more challenging to understand. Both exams for Trott were 15 questions: 10 multiple choice questions and 5 long paragraph answers. Once again, the cheat sheet was very helpful for all the different details that we learned throughout Trott's modules. I would highly recommend Dr. Trott; he is clear and methodical with his lecture style. Overall, I thought this class was interesting and engaging, and both professors were fantastic! All three modules focused heavily on discussing pathbreaking historical experiments that revealed important findings that we now hold to be true, so understanding and recalling experimental methodology, the importance of the experiment, and any limitations was crucial for the exam. Other than that, there are a lot of proteins/molecules to remember for all three modules, but having them on the cheat sheet helped a lot. This class was enjoyable and not too difficult! Akin and Trott were great!
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2023 - Trott is a great teacher, his lectures are engaging and he gives good examples to make the lecture content interesting. However, although Trott is a great lecturer, he is not a great professor. As a summer course the material moves extremely fast, and Trott makes it very clear that he does not care for his students’ time. We are given a 2 day period to take tests, neither of which take up a class, and one of which is a Sunday. There are no review classes, and tests are given outside of test time. One of the tests was assigned to Sunday-Monday, the Monday of which was a Holliday so we were forced to take the test on a weekend or a day off. The material is difficult so this makes this more difficult. In addition, Trott’s tests are written horribly. They are as confusing as possible, each question specifically designed to trick us. He also makes sure that all of the questions are outside of the material we have talked about, making sure that he answers no questions outside of the material that could potentially reflect a test question. So, he teaches the basis of the material and refuses to teach anything deeper. Therefore, the test questions are not only extremely confusing and badly written, but they require a deep understanding of the material which he refuses to provide in class. If you care about your GPA do not take this class, if you do not, the material is intense and interesting, but tests make this class extremely stressful and not fun.
Summer 2023 - Trott is a great teacher, his lectures are engaging and he gives good examples to make the lecture content interesting. However, although Trott is a great lecturer, he is not a great professor. As a summer course the material moves extremely fast, and Trott makes it very clear that he does not care for his students’ time. We are given a 2 day period to take tests, neither of which take up a class, and one of which is a Sunday. There are no review classes, and tests are given outside of test time. One of the tests was assigned to Sunday-Monday, the Monday of which was a Holliday so we were forced to take the test on a weekend or a day off. The material is difficult so this makes this more difficult. In addition, Trott’s tests are written horribly. They are as confusing as possible, each question specifically designed to trick us. He also makes sure that all of the questions are outside of the material we have talked about, making sure that he answers no questions outside of the material that could potentially reflect a test question. So, he teaches the basis of the material and refuses to teach anything deeper. Therefore, the test questions are not only extremely confusing and badly written, but they require a deep understanding of the material which he refuses to provide in class. If you care about your GPA do not take this class, if you do not, the material is intense and interesting, but tests make this class extremely stressful and not fun.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2023 - Professor Trott is a great lecturer. He works hard to make sure his lectures have a narrative-like flow which is really helpful considering we cover so many different experiments. He is very well-spoken and clearly explains each experiment/paradigm without overcomplicating them. All the lectures are also recorded. The class was made up of 80% exams. There were 4 exams throughout the quarter, each being 5 question short answer and noncumulative. Each exam was worth 20% of your grade. The other 20% came from weekly quizzes on Bruin Learn which were multiple choice, had unlimited attempts, and kept your highest score. Your two lowest quiz grades were dropped. He also offered extra credit where your lowest test score would increase by 5% (1% of total class grade) if you attended one of the UCLA neuroscience presentations and wrote a half page summary about it (which he posted the schedule & links to access the talks). This class is super interesting and a great blend of the psychology of learning and neurobiology. You also get to learn a bit of the history of psychology! I strongly recommend taking this class, especially with Professor Trott. It takes work, especially with how frequently you're taking exams, but it is very worth it and doable! Just a heads up, the first unit draws heavily from Psych 110 content (Pavlovian vs Instrumental Learning, S-R vs S-S* associations, etc.) so it may be useful to take this class soon after you take 110, but you can definitely be successful in this class without a strong 110 background.
Spring 2023 - Professor Trott is a great lecturer. He works hard to make sure his lectures have a narrative-like flow which is really helpful considering we cover so many different experiments. He is very well-spoken and clearly explains each experiment/paradigm without overcomplicating them. All the lectures are also recorded. The class was made up of 80% exams. There were 4 exams throughout the quarter, each being 5 question short answer and noncumulative. Each exam was worth 20% of your grade. The other 20% came from weekly quizzes on Bruin Learn which were multiple choice, had unlimited attempts, and kept your highest score. Your two lowest quiz grades were dropped. He also offered extra credit where your lowest test score would increase by 5% (1% of total class grade) if you attended one of the UCLA neuroscience presentations and wrote a half page summary about it (which he posted the schedule & links to access the talks). This class is super interesting and a great blend of the psychology of learning and neurobiology. You also get to learn a bit of the history of psychology! I strongly recommend taking this class, especially with Professor Trott. It takes work, especially with how frequently you're taking exams, but it is very worth it and doable! Just a heads up, the first unit draws heavily from Psych 110 content (Pavlovian vs Instrumental Learning, S-R vs S-S* associations, etc.) so it may be useful to take this class soon after you take 110, but you can definitely be successful in this class without a strong 110 background.
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