I liked this class a lot. You can tell that Rissman truly cares about his students and the class that he teaches, and wants to make you love the class too. His tests are fair; definitely re-watch the lectures and notes if you want to pass them. Honestly, I wouldn't bother reading the book...I did, and that was a mistake, because everything he asks if based on his old lectures.

Overall, I don't regret taking this class, and I say you should take it too.

Great lecturer, but hard class/curve: you choose!

Professor Rissman has been my favorite professor at UCLA thus far. No other professor has been as organized, enthusiastic, witty, and has truly shown how much he cares about student's learning. I absolutely LOVED his course, and how interactive, interesting - and at times, humorous - he always made it. One day in class he mentioned that he felt his office hours were not well attended. You wanna know my theory? He did such a great job of teaching during class that students did not need further help. It was an honor being his student, and taking this class has gotten me every excited about being a Cognitive Science major. I really hope I am able to taken another course taught by him, for he singlehandedly restored my faith in UCLA professors, and caused me to once again realize how incredibly blessed I am to attend such a prestigious institution.

I took this guys because of his great reviews, but hes only great and easy for Psych 85. He's fucking hard for 120A. He makes us remember hundreds of slides verbatim and curves 15%A, 30%B scale. Also, he tends to be more science oriented than other professor meaning that he teaches material above and beyond the scope of the course. I worked my butt off an ended up with only a B+. I was fooled by these Bruinwalk reviews!

This is the best class that I have taken at UCLA. Cognitive Psychology wasn't one of my particular interests, however, he was so fascinating, passionate about the material and engaging in the manner that he taught the class, that I truly enjoyed it. He manages to make the class fun as well as educational (which is a gift to the students).
I highly recommend this professor. I got an A because I was motivated to study after the lecture. I read the chapter before the class, went to lecture, and then carefully outlined the bruincast at home. However, it didn't feel like a burden because of the way in which he delivered the new material. He is very clear in his explanation and drives the points home. He is also very receptive to questions in class and in office hours. Take it. Take him.

Definitely one of the best teachers at UCLA. He's really easy to talk to and puts a lot of effort into his class. He always responds quickly to emails and genuinely takes his students' inputs into account. I feel a little bad for making him go out of his way to help me in the course but am really grateful because I know most if not all professors here do not care about each individual student.

A tip for the class: study the lecture material. Most of the test questions come from the lectures. The readings, including the required ones, don't really give you any new information that isn't covered in lectures.