honestly a pretty solid professor. her classes are really engaging and fun to attend. i would highly recommend taking this class because it is relatively easy if you pay attention in class and take notes during the lectures. there are four quizzes that you can retake until you get the score you like and then there is a midterm and final. homework is pretty light with only one lab per week (most of the labs are completed in class so not really homework) and then there are sona requirements. summary- great professor, easy class, interesting/fun lectures, and not much work.

I loved this class, she was super passionate about what she was teaching so it made the class interesting. Attendance was mandatory which was kind of annoying sometimes, they checked through clicker questions. There were weekly labs that were take home and manageable. Easy intro class.

The professor taught in a cohesive and direct way. Honestly, I feel like you could just pay attention to the slides and memorize everything and get a good grade. The midterm was light, most of us thought the final was more rough. The final got moved online last minute which, in theory, should've made it easier, but damn I think it dragged my grade from a solid A to A-. The labs were a little tedious and basically every other week, but besides that, I actually did really f with the format. With that all being said, I lowkey FUMBLED but it was my fault...I had like a 92.5 and she wouldn't round it up and was kind of mean when I asked her - which, valid, but also, damn. I think in general, you should be chilling, after all, it is intro psych just don't treat it as something you can not study for just because it's an easy class.

I absolutely loved this class! Now, it is somewhat true that the class is an easy A if you put in the time and effort to finish your assignments on time. There are so many opportunities to make up for a bad midterm or assignment grade by focusing on the other graded assignments offered. The textbook is an optional read and honestly, if you paid attention in class to the professor and her slides you should be solid for the exams. I will say though getting an A+ requires a little extra work. I got a 95% on the midterm and a 98% on the final, both of which were relatively easy. The professor is very helpful and considerate too. Her office hours (I only went to the one which was scheduled right before the midterm for last minute doubts) were incredibly helpful. You can really tell she put in a lot of thought into the content and curation of the course. All slides and class recording are also made available for review. You can also miss up to 4 class and still get full points on the iclicker. However, class attendance makes up about 7% of the grade so it would be a good idea to attend class regularly to rack up the free points.
Moving onto the parts of the class I did not enjoy as much, the content (while being easy) is really vast. You should not underestimate the amount of content and pile it up for the very last day before the exams (not unless you took AP Psych in high school). Additionally, the lectures are about 2 hours long so make sure to grab your cup of coffee before class so you don't fall asleep half way through and miss out on the clicker questions (based on personal experience). Finally, some personal tips and points- pay attention to things said in class (that might not be on the slides), the prof is kinda funny and her outfits were very fun, pay attention to the lab reports you submit (especially the question on limitations) and try to go to a TA's office hours before report submissions just to make sure what you wrote is right.

This course was very straightforward but does go over a decent amount of content. However, Professor Paquette-Smith makes the lectures very interesting and gives great tips on how to memorize all the facts and concepts. There was more than enough time to complete the assignments, but there were a couple assignment instructions that I felt were a bit unclear. Paying attention in lectures is super important in doing well in the midterm and finals and she does reference a lot of the examples from class within those exams. If you need help, she is there to help you and is very approachable. Overall, I do recommend taking her class if you need Psych 10.

I loved this class and it's very easy if you take the time to put in the work. I recommend creating a ton of flashcards before the midterm and final. I had a set of over 200+ and that worked for me. The midterm is 35 multiple choice questions and 2 questions of short response. There is also a group portion where you complete the midterm with them again, deciding on all the answers to the questions (kind of like 7A). The final is just 60 multiple-choice questions.

It's a lot of memorization so as long as you memorize all of the important concepts, you can then apply it to the scenario-based questions she asks. The professor is amazing. She's very clear in what she wants and is super nice. There are also in-class labs that we complete and the TAs will walk around the lecture hall so take advantage of that. They are very easy to complete, just follow the directions. There are also some quizzes online and they're timed 20 mins. to complete 10 questions. They're also super easy. Just review the lecture slides and you'll be fine. I really liked the class, the concepts are super interesting.

Professor Smith does a great job explaining the material and making it stick. However, I did not care for this class and found it super annoying. The individual labs and article analyses were completely pointless for an introductory psych class; it felt more like a stats class. They were super time-consuming and very annoying to complete. If you don’t feel confident with these assignments, use ChatGPT because the professor is supportive of you using it to help guide your learning, but not having it do the work for you. In fact, she makes you use ChatGPT for one of the article analyses, which was very easy. Or, use Studocu because you can easily paraphrase other students’ documents. Another thing I found annoying was the group lab reports. They are the worst and are almost worth as much as your midterm grade. The TAs grade them super hard because the professor expects you to be like a little Einstein. I had a 95 in the class after the midterm until I got a 78% on one of the lab reports, and it tanked my grade down to a 92%. About the midterm, it was pretty tricky but I somehow got a 92 on the MCQ by studying the day of, and a 4/7 on the free response since I didn’t study for that; it was free for others though. However, I just took the final and don’t feel confident at all, because I prioritized other finals and studied for those over this one. The final and midterm both have a bunch of lab/article analysis questions, as well as tricky questions on lecture content with extremely similar answer options. To be well prepared for these, definitely study in advance with good retrieval of the material and use the test bank. Some questions on the midterm and final came directly from the test bank and were free points. [Overall, the class is not bad but if you do not have to take it- like how I didn’t have to- don’t take it. Hopefully, I end up doing decent on the final and end up with a B or better.

This class is super introductory, but Packet-Smith does a great job of teaching you the information. There are lots of labs and group projects, overall a lot of info, but I liked the class and would recommend.

Really enjoyed this class. Prof was very engaging and explained concepts very clearly. It was a good intro as my very first psych class. It’s important to take good notes during lectures, review them and make use of the test bank website every few week. The website makes it very easy to do low effort spaced repetion with questioning.

Psych 10 with Professor Paquette-Smith was a great class to take my 1st quarter at UCLA. The class is straightforward and not so much hard - it's more paying attention during lectures to make sure the material sticks, and being able to memorize all the content. However, it's really not bad at all, if you put in a bit of effort studying the material (there's a lot to digest and memorize, especially when the final rolls around). For context, I got a 91% on the midterm, 96% on the final, and ended with a 96.3% (A). I studied pretty extensively for the midterm, but not so much the final, and still did fine - which goes to show getting an A is definitely doable with just a bit.

Tips:
- Make sure you know the article analyses and labs, because they will show up on both the midterm and final. Most questions I missed on the midterm were from these, even though I thought I did the assignments thoroughly.
- Do the test bank questions - they're good practice, especially for the midterm/final.
- Rewatch lectures. I know this is tedious, but I found hearing it a 2nd time (whether I paid attention in class or not) really helped the info sink in. It helped me retain things for the final so I didn't have to go hard core reviewing pre-midterm things (because they did show up on the final).
- Add pictures from her slides to your notes. And make your notes really, really thorough and good. Include examples, etc.

Overall, a solid class and great professor! Very straightforward, engaging, and good person. Would highly recommend this class with Melissa!