I took this class with an open mind and went in just wanting to do my best. And in the end I feel pretty mixed about the professor. On one hand, it's obvious that he cares for the subject and does want you to learn , but on the other hand his teaching leaves a lot to be desired.

He lectures with a ton of run on sentences - which is fine - except when it completely messes with your understanding. I took psych 135 Smurda at the same time and both teachers have a similar amount of content and weekly structure. Smurda was clear, concise, and gave lots of relevant details. Whereas, Lee went on and on during confusing lectures.

For example, *pulling up my notes* he says and I quote, " the gender that has the lower base rate, meaning it's less prevalent and that gender, often times they have worse outcomes than the other gender who has the same disorder. " This sounds fine at first, except when I heard it, I had to think about it three times to actually understand. I don't know if I'm just slow but I feel like too much of what he means could have been said so much more concisely: the disorder is more severe for the gender that has it less.

At first, I didn't mind it but as the concepts get more involved I spent so much time deciphering what he meant instead of studying. Instead of explaining something, he will give two or three synonyms for a word and ends with "or whatever." ie. from his lecture: "[the relationship] has improved, but it's consistent with the idea that children who are maltreated, abused, victimized, whatever you want to call it." Maybe this is helpful for some people, but his confusing way of talking and surface level "explanations" made this class super frustrating even though the content is so interesting and relevant.

I heavily relied on my amazing TA, although towards the end, there was a section of information that even both the TAs struggled to review because the lecture on it was so unclear. They just brushed it off because it wasn't on the test. And at that point, I also ignored it too.

Speaking of tests, several questions are weird. He does stats on his results, which I really appreciate. However, there were many times multiple answer choices could be true, as in I can point to where to find the answers in the lecture or power points. It's a case of what is most true or more marginally accurate. And these specifics are NOT made clear during lecture. I'll use Smurda again as a counter example - Dr. Smurda always made sure to highlight or reiterate those kinds of weird specifics. It becomes very clear which details are important.

So, Dr. Lee being a great dad (it seems) and a great researcher doesn't necessarily mean being a great teacher. An interesting class with a professor who is definitely knowledgeable but without the clarity I needed.

Also, he has a weird drop policy where you can drop an exam score as long as you get at least 65% on all three exams. I always thought drop policies are for when you mess up badly once but this drop policy says to me it's fine to mess up except you can't mess up THAT bad.

Thank you for reading this rant. Ironically, it isn't very concise, but this class took so much of my brain power even though I was taking two other upper divisions. For context, I got As in those and a B in this class despite the time invested.

All in all, a doable class... but be warned. Good luck!

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.

Mad easy. Content was interesting and effectively conveyed during Lee's lectures. Watch and take notes on lecture, skim the textbook readings, and attend at least 5 of the discussions! Didn't do much studying, just made sure to really understand what is said during lecture! Would take again for psych upper divs.

Prof Lee is a great professor! Honestly, I looked forward to going to his classes because he lectures in a very engaging way and although the content is already interesting, he makes it even more interesting. Your grade is completely based on 2 midterms and a final, and then discussion attendance (but only 5). The exams were relatively challenging but fair. Just make sure to actually study the textbook too in addition to the lecture material. He also gives lots of EC questions on the exams, and the option for SONA study. If you put in a good amount of effort for this class, you will most likely get an A.

This class was interesting, useful, and did not take too much effort. There is no homework, so your grade is based solely on exams and discussion section attendance. Grading scheme is: midterm 1 (about 40 points), midterm 2 (about 40 points; builds on some material from midterm 1), final (about 40 points; mostly on material from the last 1/3 of the course but a few elements from exams 1 and 2), and discussion section attenance (10 points; 2 points per section.) He drops your lowest exam score as long as you get above a 65% on each exam (so you still have to take all 3 exams.) If you get below a 65% on 1 or more exam, then all 3 exams are factored into your grade and none of them are dropped. There are only 5 discussion sections and you get 1 free skip without penalty, so you can still get the full 10 points. There is an attendance google form that you have to fill out at the end of discussion that asks questions about concepts discussd in section so you can’t really leave section early. You can also get 2 extra credit points from doing 2 hours of SONA studies. Exams were about 40 multiple choice/true or false questions total with about 3-4 extra credit questions at the end. I would recommend taking VERY thorough lecture notes, because his EC questions often tested on small details in lecture that are easy to miss. I thought the exams were a very fair level of difficulty, but one con is that they test on concepts from the reading that were not discussed in lecture. Assigned reading is roughly 2 30-60ish page chapters per week. If you don’t want to do all of the reading, I would just recommend memorizing/skimming the vocabulary list at the end of each chapter, because that is what questions on the exam tended to test on. I didn’t have time to do all of the reading for the exams so usually I would just miss or guess on those questions and still got an A in the class. In class, Prof Lee told us that exams would be about 75% content discussed in lecture, 15% content discussed in lecture and reinforced by the textbook, and 10% discussed solely in the textbook and not in lecture. Lectures are also recorded on Bruin Cast. Professor Lee is a good instructor who explains concepts thoroughly and gives many examples to help us understand things better. He doesn’t speed through slides like some professors that I’ve had. He also explicitly says things in lecture like “this concept will be on the test,” which is super helpful. Finally, he provides practice exam questions and solutions, which I really appreciated. I really liked this class because it taught me a lot of warning signs/symptoms of mental illnesses that I now know to look for in my future kids someday. Overall, if you are looking for an easy A, low effort class, I would not necessarily recommend this class. I’ve taken way easier psych upper divs than this class; however, it is definitely doable and not unreasonably difficult.

This has possibly been my favorite course I've ever taken in college. The content is so interesting, and Prof. Lee is an amazing lecturer. He is super engaging and explains things in an easily digestible way. Classes are recorded and he doesn't take attendance but I would recommend going to lecture because you can ask questions. His grading system is very nice too in my opinion. There are two midterms and a final but as long as you get above 65% on all three exams the lowest one will be dropped. So if you do well on the first two midterms you don't have to worry about the final. The exams are relatively straightforward and he always includes at least 4 extra credit questions and will drop a question if most of the class gets it wrong. Overall, it is such a great course, I highly recommend it.

This review is intended for students with any mental health disorders/past traumatic history. As a student who's endured many of the detrimental impacts of the disorders mentioned in this class, I felt incredibly uncomfortable with how material was taught. While the professor aimed to appeal the class with "funny" videos describing some of the symptoms of mental health disorders, and making "comedic" metaphors, I actually found this quite offensive, insensitive, and evidently inaccurate. While I can appreciate professors who do not want to trigger the class, I found Professor Lee's commentary to be disrespectful to not only myself, but also my peers, and the many individuals in the world who could not be in that classroom due to their mental health limitations. I urge all students to remind themselves that while a professor can hold a psychology degree in one hand, it does not mean they will have compassion in the other.

Honestly I was a bit worried to take this class because of the previous reviews, but I would really recommend. This was a fairly easy and stress free upper div psych class.

Professor Lee lectured off of slides, and I found it best to really write up his explanation of each slide - either by coming in person and taking notes or rewatching the recordings (we did have a few technical difficulties though that some didn't get recorded, so I would be wary of not going at all - no attendance was taken though).

Our grade was based on going and participating in 5 discussions (he tells us from the beginning which of the 5 weeks they will be, and you get a free absence too). Otherwise, we just had 3 in person MCQ midterms that were about 40 questions each with 2-3 extra credit questions on each exam. If you score above a 65% on all 3, he drops the lowest one too - so you're really set up for success as long as you try. You could also earn up to 2 points (I think) from completing SONA studies.

I found the exam content to be pretty fair - he also tells us during lecture what will for sure be on the exam, so you knew to pay extra attention to those topics when studying. I went to all lectures, reviewed for a couple hours the night before by going through all my notes and focusing on the stuff he said will be on the exam, and then quizzing myself with the several practice questions the TAs posted.

The only thing I didn't love about the class was the heavy reading - yet you can get around that mostly. Only a small fraction of the exam questions focus primarily on what the textbook specifically said - I just found skimming and trying to take as many notes as I could (as my schedule allowed) - yet if I didn't finish going through all of it before the exam I was usually okay and just ended up missing those questions.

I would recommend this class as a great, interesting Psych upper div - especially if your schedule is pretty hectic otherwise, it's pretty low maintenance.

I was nervous to take this class because of the reviews but honestly it was my favorite class that I have taken at UCLA. Dr. Lee is an amazing professor and really tries to make the content interesting. His lecture style is very clear and there are no surprises on the tests. He also genuinely cares about his students and if you need help go to his office hours!