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Melissa Paquette-Smith
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Based on 120 Users
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!
This class is interesting and would recommend for non majors. It is pretty easy if you pay attention and go to class. Make sure to study once in the while for the midterm and final. The quizzes are open notes. The attendance is required which is graded. She lets you drop one attendance and one article analysis (meaning it won't count against you). The professor is very nice and kind. She has the perfect balance between reading off slides and adding more on the side. She's willing to clarify any questions you may have during the 10 minute break she gives.
The way the course is organized makes it easy to study for and very organized. Very basic psych information. Very similar content to AP psychology courses. Professor is super helpful and does a good job fully answering questions and making sure students understand content.
Take this class with Melissa! It was very well organized, and the content was really interesting. This was a rare UCLA class where it felt like the professor actually wanted to help us learn and do well. It is easy to get an A if you put in the time and fully do all of the assignments, article analyses, and labs and study for the midterm and final. (There is a lot of memorization). The class structure was straightforward, and she provided helpful practice tests. Lectures were recorded, but there were some group labs that were in person during the second half of class. She also posts her lecture slides and outlines, which are helpful for note-taking and review. I recommend taking this class and taking it with Melissa!
The class content was interesting, but I felt like there was way too much content compacted into 6 weeks. I knew going into this class that it was going to be more intense bc it was a summer session class, but compared to other psych classes I've taken during summer, this class had WAY more stuff to learn and the lecture was super dense. The class was broken up into mini-assignments, discussion section worksheets, lecture participation, 2 quizzes, a midterm, a final, and a written assignment. She offers extra credit through SONA. The professor and TA were nice and they were very approachable though. Just be warned that if you do take this class that it doesn't feel like a 4-unit class and there's gonna be a lot of content to learn.
Honestly take this class with her! I didn't put in the most effort and got an A-. The class is recorded which is nice cause she speaks really slowly so i like to speed up the recordings. What I was flabbergasted by though is that everything all quarter is at home and open book, whilst the final is in person closed book, which literally doesn't match with what we learned about learning in class. So she doesn't apply what she teaches.
Lectures were recorded, so attendance isn't 100% mandatory. However, there was small group projects that required us to be in class to work with those groups. This class was relatively easy and I had an A throughout the entire quarter, but I bombed the exam and ended up with a B :/. Midterm for us was online and open-note, however the final was in-person and closed-note, which definitely was a hard transition for me. I found the material interesting and she tried to keep lectures as engaging as possible. She did not hand out a lot of homework, and when she did, she gave us ample amount of time to complete it. I personally liked this class a lot.
A pretty easy class overall. The weekly reading is optional (I never did it and everything was covered in lecture) and the only assignments are article analyses, finishing labs from class, and online quizzes every other week. Lecture occasionally feels a bit long but she gave us a 10 minute break half way through ands sometimes had interactive activities during lecture which helped keep us engaged. The one issue I had with the class was that all of the quizzed and mid-term were online but the final was in-person so it was kind of a bummer to have the most important test of the quarter be different than everything leading up to it. Melissa was super nice and helpful though!
Overall, this was a relatively easy class. There is some busy work and some group labs, but it's all relatively easy and the material is rather interesting to learn. Paquette-Smith is a good prof too, she kept lectures interesting and is overall a nice person. Would take again with this prof
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!
This class is interesting and would recommend for non majors. It is pretty easy if you pay attention and go to class. Make sure to study once in the while for the midterm and final. The quizzes are open notes. The attendance is required which is graded. She lets you drop one attendance and one article analysis (meaning it won't count against you). The professor is very nice and kind. She has the perfect balance between reading off slides and adding more on the side. She's willing to clarify any questions you may have during the 10 minute break she gives.
The way the course is organized makes it easy to study for and very organized. Very basic psych information. Very similar content to AP psychology courses. Professor is super helpful and does a good job fully answering questions and making sure students understand content.
Take this class with Melissa! It was very well organized, and the content was really interesting. This was a rare UCLA class where it felt like the professor actually wanted to help us learn and do well. It is easy to get an A if you put in the time and fully do all of the assignments, article analyses, and labs and study for the midterm and final. (There is a lot of memorization). The class structure was straightforward, and she provided helpful practice tests. Lectures were recorded, but there were some group labs that were in person during the second half of class. She also posts her lecture slides and outlines, which are helpful for note-taking and review. I recommend taking this class and taking it with Melissa!
The class content was interesting, but I felt like there was way too much content compacted into 6 weeks. I knew going into this class that it was going to be more intense bc it was a summer session class, but compared to other psych classes I've taken during summer, this class had WAY more stuff to learn and the lecture was super dense. The class was broken up into mini-assignments, discussion section worksheets, lecture participation, 2 quizzes, a midterm, a final, and a written assignment. She offers extra credit through SONA. The professor and TA were nice and they were very approachable though. Just be warned that if you do take this class that it doesn't feel like a 4-unit class and there's gonna be a lot of content to learn.
Honestly take this class with her! I didn't put in the most effort and got an A-. The class is recorded which is nice cause she speaks really slowly so i like to speed up the recordings. What I was flabbergasted by though is that everything all quarter is at home and open book, whilst the final is in person closed book, which literally doesn't match with what we learned about learning in class. So she doesn't apply what she teaches.
Lectures were recorded, so attendance isn't 100% mandatory. However, there was small group projects that required us to be in class to work with those groups. This class was relatively easy and I had an A throughout the entire quarter, but I bombed the exam and ended up with a B :/. Midterm for us was online and open-note, however the final was in-person and closed-note, which definitely was a hard transition for me. I found the material interesting and she tried to keep lectures as engaging as possible. She did not hand out a lot of homework, and when she did, she gave us ample amount of time to complete it. I personally liked this class a lot.
A pretty easy class overall. The weekly reading is optional (I never did it and everything was covered in lecture) and the only assignments are article analyses, finishing labs from class, and online quizzes every other week. Lecture occasionally feels a bit long but she gave us a 10 minute break half way through ands sometimes had interactive activities during lecture which helped keep us engaged. The one issue I had with the class was that all of the quizzed and mid-term were online but the final was in-person so it was kind of a bummer to have the most important test of the quarter be different than everything leading up to it. Melissa was super nice and helpful though!
Overall, this was a relatively easy class. There is some busy work and some group labs, but it's all relatively easy and the material is rather interesting to learn. Paquette-Smith is a good prof too, she kept lectures interesting and is overall a nice person. Would take again with this prof