Professor Givvin's class was a wonderful learning experience! Her class lectures were thorough and engaging, she always paused to confirm student understanding, and her tests were easy to perform well on if you read the assigned readings (the first two are fully multiple choice, and the final is a mix of multiple choice and short answer). The readings, which are weekly academic articles, are digestible enough to understand, but if you ever find yourself stuck office hours are a great resource. Note that Professor Givvin does use iClickers, so be sure to go to lecture if you want those participation points. Overall, 133F was one of the best, most applicable upper division psych courses I've taken at UCLA and I would definitely recommend to take this course!

I cannot put into words how much I LOVED this class. Professor Givvin is absolutely one of my favorite professors at UCLA so far. I took this class while lectures were in person and exams were ONLINE, so your future experience may be different.

We were assigned readings to do before each lecture, and during lecture we did clicker questions (participation points) and Professor Givvin prepared slides that basically gave a very thorough run-down of the readings. She DID NOT post the slides on Canvas, but I didn't mind this too much, as I took notes on my laptop. (She also had a reading assigned on posting slides for classes, which I found to be very amusing and an interesting read.)

Personally, I was terrified that I would fail the exams because I couldn't do some readings in time, but this was NOT the case. Professor Givvin's lecture slides covered everything you needed to know on the exams (which were a blend of MC and short answers). Our TA, Fran, also had office hours held as a review session, and they ALSO prepared slides as review. These review slides were a LIFE SAVER for the exams.

She is absolutely the kindest, sweetest, and most caring professor ever, and it's so obvious how a professor of education can really change the environment of a class. TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO.

Professor Givvin is really sweet. You can tell she really cares about what she does and for her students. The only homework you have is readings, and these should be done before coming to class. She goes over the readings so much more in depth during class and it's super helpful. However, keep in mind that because you don't have any homework tests are weighed a lot more heavily. There are 2 midterms and one final. There were some questions on the exams that were a little tricky, but as long as you study the readings and have a basic understanding of each one of them, you should be fine. She has two grading schemes, one which includes a participation grade through Clickers and one that doesn't. She'll calculate the higher of the two at the end of the quarter automatically. Overall, I thought this was a super interesting class and that I learned a lot. I'd recommend it!!

Dr. Givvin is a very thoughtful and helpful professor and is incredibly knowledgable. Readings should be completed before every class but it does seem to be the case that many students do not read beforehand. Although she does cover the papers in depth in class, I would recommend that students do the readings for themselves to get the most out of her class. Overall, the workload is very reasonable and it is clear that she wants her students to succeed. One of the best classes I have taken at U.C.L.A. so far!

I absolutely love Professor Givvin! She is one of the sweetest, most caring professors I've had and the course material is super interesting! The course content mainly just consists of 2-3 journal articles per class, but she goes over them during class time. I know some people didn't read the articles, but I did and I definitely found that it helped me do well on the exams. I managed to get 100% on the tests, which were overall really straightforward. I would recommend reading (or at least skimming) the articles and annotating the main findings/methods. Attendance via Zoom is mandatory (she takes participation using iClicker questions), but you have 2 absences that won't count against your grade. I can't speak to how this class is in-person (I took it during COVID so it was online), but I absolutely loved it and I HIGHLY recommend!

Professor Givvin is what every professor should be like. She’s: easy to understand, compassionate about what she’s teaching, actively engaging with students’ questions and most importantly cares about what her students have to say. There are no tricky questions on her exams. Personally, I found all the articles we talked about very interesting, so I did not have to study much for both the 2 midterms and final. I was always excited for lecture. She has been one of my favorite professors in my three years at UCLA so far. Can’t recommend this class enough, please take it! You’ll learn something useful that you can apply to your life as a college student.

Professor Givvin genuinely cares about her students and is passionate about her field of study. The lectures are engaging and the assigned articles are extremely applicable to life. Her exams were always straightforward and taken straight from the lecture or clicker questions. As long as you take good notes and review clicker questions before an exam, you will do well. I learned so much in this class. I would definitely take her class again.

As one of my friends commented earlier this year, isn't it interesting how the teachers who teach about education end up being the best educators?

Professor Givvin is no different. I don't think she could have been more clear in her delivery of class content. There really isn't much I can complain about. Participation in the class requires an iClicker Reef account, which she uses to assess attendance via quiz questions (not graded on accuracy). There is no homework except for readings that need to be completed before the beginning of each class. Exams are clearly not trying to trick you; if you attend lectures, you will get an A. Slides aren't posted, so either watching the lectures live or reviewing them on BruinCast is important.

She has a cool dog, too.

I loved Professor Givvin! She is so knowledgeable and so sweet. I will say that she mentions she won't try to trick you on the midterms... but there have been many times where that's not true. She assigns articles to read before each class and participation is only answering clicker questions. Overall, I think if she made her exams a little less tricky and more straightforward I would 100% recommend her. But, she is a great professor and genuinely wants her students to do well. I found the articles we read very applicable and interesting as well. If you are debating taking her, take her!

Professor Givvin was amazing, I'm so very glad that I ended up taking this course. I loved that it wasn't an overly difficult course and that her explanations were so clear and she was so helpful in case you still didn't understand. I think in general she is just a very kind and compassionate teacher and academic professional. She's certainly well informed and passionate about the material, and she tries her best to impart the same to her students. She was always cognizant of our opinion and genuinely wanted to give us the best experience possible in an active way, which I think is rare for the department. I really liked that the class focused on learning through direct studies, which I think is a much more effective way of teaching an upper div, none of that route memorization of bullet points and definitions. She also took the utmost care and respect to be accomodating given the quarantine and the riots which some professors were not, I so appreciate her! The readings are manageable and I liked that there weren’t a bunch of assignments that were busy work, or an expensive textbook. There aren't any homework assignments beyond the readings or graded material beyond the exams. While I think doing some sort of mini-paper or assignment might have been interesting, its nice to not have to worry about so much in a core course. Gia was an excellent TA, she knows her stuff and her guest lecture was really well put together and interesting. How all upper divs should be!