I thoroughly enjoyed Izquierdo's pharmacology course 119A. I have since graduated from UCLA and found that this class is quite relevant to my job researching intellectual disabilities at the UC Davis MIND Institute. This course provided a foundation of knowledge that allowed me to understand the mechanism of action of the investigational product (IP), or study drug, used in UC Davis clinical trials for fragile X syndrome and pediatric bipolar disorder. Additionally I was able to have informed discussions about Parkinson's medication with a neurologist that I shadowed.

Another helpful part of the class was the exercise of reviewing scientific literature. Izquierdo selected interesting papers which discussed the use of various psychotropics such as methylphenidate or tetrahydrocannabinol. She picked apart each paper in lecture and explained her thinking about the results and research methods. This course helped me understand neurobiological changes in the brain's reward pathways following chronic substance abuse.

The midterm and final were challenging but fair because Izquierdo gave the class a study guide beforehand with all the potential short answer and essay questions. There were plenty of choices for the term paper prompt, so I was able to choose a topic that interested me. Overall the workload was very reasonable. I would recommend this class to anyone who is interested in pharmacology or biomedical research.

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I am selling the PDF Version of the textbook required for this class (Behavioral Neuroscience, 8th Edition) for $5. Hit me up if interested and I can send it over to you - 8184808716.

Unlike the other reviews before me, I didn't think this class was super terrible. Like the other reviews, I was part of the Winter 2020 class, which unfortunately had the whole online final situation.

What the other reviews are missing, though, is that they previously required the use of Respondus on the exam. They later changed it to an open-book exam without the use of monitoring software. Then, the evening before the exam, they chose to make the final optional and warned students that their grade would be hurt should their final grade be low. I think that this was a fair warning, and that they were nice to make the final optional (I had other classes that made us use Respondus). In addition, I am confident that the exam would have been just as difficult in-class and online with Respondus, so I am actually thankful they allowed us to use our books on the final. I wonder if the other reviews would have been this negative if the course finished normally.

I do completely agree though that their communication was terrible. I was part of the group of students who emailed them the evening they made the final optional, and was disappointed to know that they weren't going to explain how the final would be graded before we took it. The final was difficult and I wasn't able to look up some answers, so that sucked too. But, I am mainly comparing the situation we had to if the class finished normally, and I am sure we had it easier this quarter if anything.

The average grade was curved to a 85% (a flat B). The grade distribution was released by Prof. Izquierdo and Adhikari, and the most frequent grade was an A (not an A-). From a quick eyeball, it looks like around 30% of people got a flat A. I don't think that is unreasonable at all for this course. The distribution was better than Schein's and the previous distribution for Prof. Izquierdo.

I sincerely enjoyed this class with Professor Izquierdo. Professor Izquierdo was truly concerned about her students learning and understanding the concepts taught in her class. There was no busy work assigned, and the readings were interesting science papers reviewed in class. Professor Izquierdo was very available and willing to speak with students both about lecture topics and the term paper.

Psych 119A was by far one of the most intriguing classes I have taken at UCLA, and focused on more than just blunt memorization of psychology facts. Professor Izquierdo's class forces you to take concepts taught in class and apply them to conceptual questions for the midterm and final. Although this was tough, studying was far less monotonous than the average psychology class. The questions were given in advance so one could prepare a question based on an investigation of lecture notes and readings. If you work hard and focus on what she says in lecture it is definitely possible to get an A in this class.

Overall, one of my least favorite professors. I took this class during a hybrid quarter (due to COVID), and she was very disorganized with lecture uploads and wouldn’t upload them on a schedule or even check to see if they’re current. A lot were obviously from past quarters and had information that was no longer relevant, which felt like lazy teaching to me.
Your grade is comprised of a term paper and a free response final, each worth 50% of your total. The term paper was not that bad, but her rubric is very vague; even if you clarify what you should include in your paper with her, expect tough grading and points taken off arbitrarily without an explanation and a refusal to regrade. For the final, you have a week, but it is very time consuming and not straight-forward. Again, expect tougher-than-necessary grading.
However, what I liked least about this class is how the professor would be very hard to get in contact with and blatantly ignore emails. If you are unable to complete an assignment due to illness, don’t expect her to be accommodating or even respond to your worries; she only responds to emails asking a question about the class.

TLDR: The class material is interesting, but the professor’s lack of caring makes this class one of my least favorites. Find a different professor for PSYCH119A.

Psych 115 is a lot of material to study, but very interesting. I had schism who teaches the lecture as he is very fair and knowledgeable about the subjects. If you are interested in the pdf copy of Behavioral Neuroscience 8th edition for cheap, text me at 661-292-9419.

I took this course my senior year and I think it was one of my favorites in my undergraduate career. The course had a good storyline which made the sequence of topics easy to follow. Professor Izquierdo is very articulate and it makes a lot of confusing topics from the past comprehensible. She also gives good outlines of test material so you have an oriented way to study. I this this class had a good level of accessibility to neuro, psychobio, and psych majors.

I'm very happy I took this course. It has given me a much more holistic view of psychology and a great introduction to pharmacology. Professor Izquierdo has an impressive knowledge and teaches her stuff in a way that makes this difficult subject easier to understand. Being more use to psychology from a social science perspective this course is def. not easy but totally worth the work. I would highly recommend the course to students, especially the ones interesting in Psychiatry/Clinical Psychology/treatment/pathology.

The reviews on Bruin Walk are not consistent in my opinion.
I am a senior with a 3.6 GPA, 4.0 GPA in my major. This class has a very heavy work load. Your grade is basically 50% paper and 50% final. the final is all write out. the paper wasn't too bad. but you have literally 15 lectures worth of brain regions and neurotransmitters to memorize for the final. and its all write out. and she goes through her slides so quickly with so many details that are not in her lecture slides. She always goes over time. She rushes when she realizes she's running out of time. She's generous in that she gives you a study guide, but not all of her questions are from the study guide.
Its a lot of material, and not necessarily material that you have learned or heard of before (unless youre like a pharmacy tech).
Nonetheless, its still a very interesting class. She wants you to learn. She's always welcoming in office hours. but you really have to work for your grade