Haven't even taken the midterm but already feel like the class is shitty... I feel like the professor does not go over material thoroughly and the way he handles class is messy. He also expects so much when he himself does not do such a good job explaining concepts. Totally lowered my interest towards this subject.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I don't know why there are more than 30 percent of people getting As in the previous years...

I’m sorry to anyone who liked this class but I came into this class so excited to learn about psychopathology and I found myself more interested in every other psych course I have taken at UCLA and that’s sad to me because I want to go into clinical psychology. Dr. Lee seems decently nice but he is a boring lecturer and no matter how hard I studied the slides his exams screwed me over because I always questioned if I was right since he had many select all that are correct questions. Overall I would take this class with another prof or just take normal abnormal bc this class is a regret of mine.

If you like this topic or just appreciate the effort you put into studying - do not take this professor. His slides are packed with loads of text, his lectures are not engaging in any way and boring, and he goes off-topic so many times.
There are one midterm and a final (summer) and these are the trickiest exams I have ever taken.
Be prepared to somehow gain more hours a day because 24 will not be enough for this class.
This is the most frustrating and disappointing class I have ever taken, and this comes from someone who wants to be a child psychologist - this class is literally what I want to do with my life. Really, take something else.

Taking the class this spring. We've only taken the midterm so far and I'm honestly confused. Idk if he changed his syllabus or grading scheme when classes went online but I don't understand how so many people have gotten As in the class in the past. The grading scheme is midterm (40 points), final (50 points), 10 points for discussion. Final grade is sum of points earned/100. He tests you on lectures and the textbook and doesn't tell you what material from each you will be tested on and still makes the questions very specific.

I had high hopes for this class but was very disappointed with it. The midterm was comprised entirely of "mark all that apply" questions, many of which were incredibly specific. I was not prepared for nor had I encountered this format previously and it added so much additional stress, confusion, pressure to the exam/(my life for a time). It added some annoyance too because this question format change appeared to be both a deviation from the provided syllabus and the expressed experiences of past students. The final was mixed multiple choice/multiple answer and substantially more straightforward. Overall though, this class felt unduly difficult and horribly stressful.

I really was not a fan of this professor at all. His exam was really inconsistent and subjective, he emphasized all throughout the class that this class would not make u able to diagnose any of these disorders then on the exam that's exactly what he asked you to do, like they were mostly situational based and was like does this kid have xyz disorder. His lectures on eating disorders were downright triggering and I don't even have an eating disorder. Like for anorexia he really put up on the screen a huge picture of a holocaust-skinny girl, and said that "people with anorexia are underweight and have a severe fear of gaining weight" and left it at that. No mention of like actual mental psychology or how anyone of any size can have an eating disorder, etc.

I think his research focus is autism because he gave really in depth lectures on that, and only that and for each other condition he basically just read off the DSM-5 (like i do mean literally, like for some slides he quite literally screenshotted the DSM-5 criteria and just read them).

I think this class had the potential to be super cool and engaging but it fell short of my expectations.

This was the first core Psych class I got to take at UCLA, and I was so excited, even though I was taking it online because of covid. I found the lectures really difficult to pay attention to. They were dull, and people were constantly blowing up the Zoom chat with questions that Prof Lee was *going to answer anyway* if students would just wait, so it could get kind of chaotic and disorganized in lectures. Ultimately, he read off the slides (which were posted), so I ended up taking notes from the slides and rewatching his lectures later. Like other people have said, the tests were very heavy with the "Mark all that apply" questions, so even though they were open-note, I found myself second guessing my answers and having trouble on tests. Further, we had to take the tests on CCLE, so we couldn't even go back and check our answers, and we were timed. With so much going on during Spring quarter, I (and I'm sure many others) had a very difficult time focusing on schoolwork, and honestly, it didn't seem like Prof Lee was concerned with whether or not we were engaged. I get it, professors had to shift their method of instruction abruptly, and were subjected to many of the same external stressors as their students, but compared to my other professors-- in classes I didn't even like-- Prof Lee fell short. He sent an email at the beginning of the quarter that said something like "email will not be the primary form of communication this quarter, email your TAs if anything," and although he was friendly in lectures, I felt like he was inaccessible or unapproachable as a professor. I don't know, I guess this class just really disappointed me, but I think if you have the time, energy, and motivation to teach yourself the material, you'll be ok. It really wasn't the worst class I've taken, just incredibly underwhelming and needlessly difficult at times.

The professor is quite helpful in explaining the bigger, more confusing concepts. Definitely go to OH. There are weekly readings and it is not specified what concepts from the book will be on the exam. I found the test format to be similar to Psych 100B. I'd say rewatch lectures, review book annotations, and focus on the slides!

I like this professor! Although I agree with the first commenter (his questions are not easy) the tests are doable if you read, reread taking notes, and study the slides. There is no curve. I strongly recommend reading the textbook highlighting the important stuff when you read it first, then reread it before midterm to review only the highlighted stuff, and memorize them ALL. Memorization is important in this class!!! Lee is really organized, neat, and his lectures are straightforward.

Not sure why there are so many negative reviews. I literally took notes in class and reviewed the lecture notes the day before the test, skimmed the book throughout the quarter, and I got an A in the class. Half of my class got an A. Either his tests were harder in the past or people are getting smarter...