I want to start off by saying, I genuinely LOVE Dr. Smurda as a professor. Her lectures were thoughtful, engaging, and I truly feel like I learned a lot in her class. However, her tests were NOT fair. The class grade is weighted 80% exam scores and 20% everything else. She gave us practice exams and in NO WAY did they reflect the material that was on the tests. There were too many questions placed in the test that were designed to trick you as well... if you like selecting from "A, B, C, A&C, or All of the Above" type questions, you may do well on the tests. All closed note tests as well. I'm an honors student, and I worked HARD in this class this quarter to still only come out of it with a C- (AFTER the 3% extra credit she thankfully offered to us) was factored in to my final grade. I don't feel that my final grade reflects the knowledge I did take away from this course, and it's so unfortunate. I know a ton of other honors students could also agree with me on this. To reiterate - AMAZING professor, AWFUL / UNFAIR EXAMS. I probably would not take this class with her again due to the testing situation alone, but I would if that were to change in a heartbeat. TAKE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

Not sure if her class changed? Because I took her class based on good reviews and ended up barely passing her class...smurda was great but the material was way too much 60+ slides for every lecture...way too much material. Hated this class and don’t recommend it to anyone. Class is based on only 2 exams so beware

I personally loved Dr. Smurda. She's a very approachable professor, she is very helpful during office hours, and the workload is so light and manageable. However, there are only 2 exams for the whole quarter (plus mandatory section attendance and small summaries on required readings that are super easy). The one you score higher is weighted at 50% and the lower score is weighted at 30% with section counting for 20%. The challenging part for me was the readings because she assigned 4 different books. We didn't have to read the entire thing, only sections of it but for a couple of the books, we may as well have read the whole thing because the chapters were long. The readings are actually interesting though. You definitely need to study on the exams. The content is not difficult, but you really need to know it to do well on the exam. She gives a scenario and you have to pick what concept the scenario falls in line with. I will say that I really hated "all of the above" and "A and C" options on the tests. I would feel like I knew the answer, but then seeing those options often made me second guess myself and threw me off. I managed a B+ in this class while taking 4 other classes. If I had taken less classes, I'm positive I could have pulled off an A. So I recommend this class if you have a lighter load for the quarter and really want an A. Oh and she offered 3 opportunities for extra credit (70% poll everywhere responses, 3 SONA credits, and hand-written notes for the final exam). Each of these was worth 1% of extra credit which was extremely helpful.

I completely disagree with anyone who says that the tests for this class were unfair. The average on both exams was high and as long as you studied the slides and did the assigned reading, you could easily get an "A" on the tests. Dr. Smurda is my favorite professor because she actually cares about her students and spends time getting to know them and she will go the extra mile to help them during office hours. Her lectures were always engaging and interactive and the material was really interesting. I would highly recommend this class.

This class is my absolute favorite class that I've taken at UCLA by far. This class also changed the way I see the world and people around me. Dr. Smurda is an amazing professor and her lectures were highly enjoyable and extremely interesting.

Like the other reviews mention, her grading is a bit unfair. Your entire grade is pretty much based on just the midterm and the final so beware. I have never studied so hard in my life before. I feel like I gained so much knowledge from this class and worked very hardly, yet the B I earned does not reflect how much effort I put in. However, the material is actually very interesting to study so at least you won't be bored!

Dr. Smurda is really funny, accommodating, and truly wants all of her students to succeed. I would highly recommend taking diligent notes and really tuning in to each lecture in order to do well. Her exams were closed note, which is another reason I had to study so hardly. Dr. Smurda offers extra credit opportunities as well, so if you want to boost your grade even more I would do those.

Overall, I would definitely recommend taking this class! Although I am usually a straight-A student and received a B in this class, I am still very glad I took it because I learned so much and see the world around me differently now. Take at your own risk.

Interesting material and great lecturer, would take again. 2 exams, higher score weighted 45% and lower score weighted 35%. 20% for section attendance and discussion seeds, which is a paragraph on the readings. You need access to 5 books for discussion, which can be found online. I didn't read them all and you can get by with reading a little from each of the books for the discussion seeds and attending section to understand the books. Other people have concerns about the tests, but I think they were fair, you just have to review your lecture notes and discussion material again to prepare for the test. They give us resources like practice exams and review sessions so you can get an A, along with 2% extra credit for SONA participation and lecture attendance.

I loved this class! The lectures were super fun and had many demonstrations and the tests were not that hard (got an A- and A+ without studying too much). There's a lot of questions with multiple answers but if you know the material it's not bad and all you have to do is just watch the lectures to do well honestly. Also a lot of extra credit opportunity.

Fine class. Hard exams. Professor Smurda talks really fast.

Good class. The exams encourage dstudents to memorize graphs and studies instead of actually learning the ideas of the course so mastery of the course will be low for most.

LOVED this class with Smurda, took her again because she is such an awesome professor. It is very important you pay attention to her lectures and understand the case studies she mentions and their impacts because that is what you will be tested on. Information can seem ambiguous at times because a lot if it is related to other concepts and it can all seem a little similiar (I know that sounds vague but it is a good representation of the material). Attend lecture, pay attention and go back over the slides and you will do well.