As a Bio major, I loved this professor. His tests were pretty easy and straightforward, the material was interesting, and the weekly quizzes really weren't that bad. For anyone who says that the book was soooooo long and extensive ... you must be an idiot. I'm sorry, but the book was a friggen picture book. We are in college now, get used to reading for a science class. I actually liked the reading and thought the book was very helpful, but psych majors might think differently since this is considered to be the hardest upper div psych class at UCLA ... but for a bio major this was cake. Although you do have to actually come to lecture and pay attention, I never recorded anything and I still got an A in the class. The average for the midterm was a 50/60 and I pulled a 54.

All in all, this was one of the easier upper division classes I've taken, and the most interesting. I think I actually learned a lot in this class, rather than just memorize useless information that I would forget afterwards anyways (hem hem biochem). take this class if youre a bio major!! it will be a nice change from all the bullsh** prerequisites you have to go through for medical school or grad school ...

material is dry, he is old fashion, uses freaking overhead projector. my hot friend always fell asleep in class. tried to pay attention but i couldn't because he was so dry and she was so hot. anyway, hard tests, but he curves it really really well. i think i got B's and C's on the two tests but still pulled out the A- with the curve. if you need to take 115 to get that requirement out of the way i would recommend his class just because of that curve.

Professor Butcher is very stuck in his ways, he makes extensive use of diagrams and slides, but he doesn't post these on the internet at all. His lectures are interesting, some of the stuff you don't really need to know for his exams. However, I agree with the person below me, you must bring a tape-recorder to class and memorize his lectures as well as the reading that he assigns. This is the problem with Butcher, the reading that he assigns is quite extensive and so it is tough to do all of this. Nevertheless, do all of that and you will be fine. All of his tests are multiple choice. I ended up with a 58/60 on the midterm (average 48/60), a 76/90 on the final, and got a 50/50 for the discussion and got a solid A. In my opinion, if you can take this class with Jentsch or someone else, then don't take Butcher.

I heard he's a relatively easy prof for neuropsych, being a graduating senior and just wanting to maintain my grade i happily took his class. I then discovered how unreliable the rumors are. If you want to do well in his class, in all honesty you MUST listen to all his lectures CAREFULLY, bring a tape recorder so you can re-listen to the stuff he says, and practically memorize your textbook from the cover to cover. Because in the final he'll always give about 10 qns that you'll not know unless you ate your 700 pg txtbk into memory. My sincere advice is do not under-estimate this prof. I'm a straight A+ student and I got butch-ed.

This guy is a good teacher. I want to give out my scores because I hate how other people don't tell u what you need to get an A. The average on the midterm which is out of 60 points was a 45/60. I personally got a 49. Butcher said between 50-60 was an A. On the quizes which are 50 points they are extremely easy and I got a 49/50. The final has about 10 detailed questions that unless u know the book by heart you will not get. It is out of 90 points, however Butcher gives an extremely generous curve. I got a 74 out of 90 on his final and got a solid A in the class. He even was nice enough to tell me I got the seventh highest grade in the final out of the class of 94 students. Therefore, if u want to do well in Butchers class, you have to do the reading and go to lecture but especially do the reading. He's a easy teacher if you read but don't except him to be the type of person who will change your grade if you don't do well. He's not like that.

Too much work to do, every week we had a quiz, which was really hard. he test you on the staff that he has not thought you in the class and you have to read them your self from the book. The problem is it is a 600 pages book.
Professor butcher is a nice man, and he will help you if you have any question, his curve though is generous. if you have a strong background in psychology, you should be fine in his class otherwise prepare yourself for a hard quarter.

My first upper division class and I thougt it was pretty easy compared to my chem classes.

The professor is witty and funny. His lectures are very oldschool (ie overhead projector slides & no podcast). Attend ALL of his lectures and read ALL the textbook meaterial even if he doesn't cover them during lecture (unless he says otehrwise). The exams (1 MT, 1 final) were entirely multiple choice and straight-forward, but the curve is relatively high. The discussion section was really enjoyable and I learned alot in this class. :)

Wow, what a generous curve! I felt lost all quarter and somehow pulled away with a decent grade. I feel bad because he's a really good guy, but his teaching methods are just too traditional and outdated for our generation.

People always feel they have to choose between 115, 110, and 120A/B. These three are deemed the three evils of the psychology requisites. Most people, after learning about brain synapses and that type of thing in Psych 10, decide to automatically rule out 115 as an option. I wouldn't be so quick to do that, 115 provides a lot of useful knowledge that I think is more useful than 120A/B. Butcher is a good choice if you just want to get the class out of the way, mainly because of that awesome curve.

butcher was very clear and if you take this during the summer the curve is very generous. read the book and go to class and you will be fine. he gives you pretty clear indications of what he will test you on and he is not out to trick you.

Excellent professor! I learned a LOT from his Psych 115 class. His lectures are great - they are very engaging and he has a wonderful sense of humor. If you've taken life sciences and psych 85 (cog sci), you'll be especially well prepped for this class. The tests are pretty hard, but it's not a big deal because he applies a very generous curve.