I want to start off by saying, I genuinely LOVE Dr. Smurda as a professor. Her lectures were thoughtful, engaging, and I truly feel like I learned a lot in her class. However, her tests were NOT fair. The class grade is weighted 80% exam scores and 20% everything else. She gave us practice exams and in NO WAY did they reflect the material that was on the tests. There were too many questions placed in the test that were designed to trick you as well... if you like selecting from "A, B, C, A&C, or All of the Above" type questions, you may do well on the tests. All closed note tests as well. I'm an honors student, and I worked HARD in this class this quarter to still only come out of it with a C- (AFTER the 3% extra credit she thankfully offered to us) was factored in to my final grade. I don't feel that my final grade reflects the knowledge I did take away from this course, and it's so unfortunate. I know a ton of other honors students could also agree with me on this. To reiterate - AMAZING professor, AWFUL / UNFAIR EXAMS. I probably would not take this class with her again due to the testing situation alone, but I would if that were to change in a heartbeat. TAKE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

Professor Smurda was by far one of the nicest professors I've had in my four years here at UCLA. She is very helpful and makes research seem fun in a way you'd probably think was impossible (especially after taking 100B). She is very clear when presenting and always willing to answer questions and simply go the extra mile with her students. If you need to do your psych lab, I would recommend having Smurda as your professor 10/10. She was great and there is no way you can't like her.

Not sure if her class changed? Because I took her class based on good reviews and ended up barely passing her class...smurda was great but the material was way too much 60+ slides for every lecture...way too much material. Hated this class and don’t recommend it to anyone. Class is based on only 2 exams so beware

Okay so what's funny is that this class has taught me to not trust the grade distribution. The reason being that I entered this quarter taking this class as well as Cognitive Psychology and I was expecting (based of the grade distribution) to have to Pass No Pass this class and just get the A in CogPsych. But nope, I literally barely scraped by in 120A (CogPsych) giving it a decent amount of effort and got an A in this class giving it the same effort.

So with all that being said, I think it really just depends on what you're good at. If you did okay in 100B, you'll do fine in this class. I got an A- in 100B and an A in this class. It really. isn't hard at alllll if you put in at least some effort. The test was supposed to be hard but I got a 96% on it. It's hard to remember the last time I did that well on it. Literally all you have to know for this class is research methods and you're good.

10/10 would recommend this lab to a friend

I was super nervous to take my Psych lab ngl but I'd taken Psych 135 with Dr. Smurda so I knew she was awesome and she really did not disappoint in this class. We spent the first few classes reviewing research methods (bc tbh who remembers anything from 100b lol) and then we got right into doing our own group studies. I feel like I walked away from this class so much brighter and with a ton of savvy new skills like knowing how to use Qualtrics and analyze and present data.

Prof showed up every class with an empathetic attitude and a willingness to help. Every time she came into our break out room she would help us figure out another aspect of our study.

In all honesty, the material covered in this class is so interesting and Professor Smurda is a great lecturer, but the tests are horrible. I am by no means student that can easily get by with an A without putting in extra effort, but I do study a ton and it has proven to pay off in all my other psych classes. It didn't matter how much you understood the lecture material or how much you studied, the wording of the test questions threw even the smartest kids in our class off. I have heard Lieberman is a great professor who also teaches this course and his course is far more manageable. This class really hurt my gpa and a lot of us felt like our test scores were not reflective of our knowledge of the material. Again its a super fun class because there isn't enough room to redeem yourself if you do poorly on either midterm or final exam.

By far this has been the worse class I’ve taken at UCLA. The readings are redundant, so you better not have anything else to do because they will consume your time. The writing assignment is a complete joke with unclear guidelines, but points will be deducted based on subjective measures such as and I quote “to me it feels to long.” The lectures are a pain to sit through. I’m a senior with a record of As and Bs in all my classes, but I got a C in this class not because I didn’t do well on the exams and not because the material was hard, but because the professor and her TA had to much power and control over my written assignment, so because they both personally didn’t like me they were able to make sure that I did poorly in this class. Dr. Smurda should be sued for unfair practices along with her TA Macrina Cooper-Smith.

I'm a little surprised by the reviews because I actually found this class to be a little challenging but I thought it was a pretty good class overall. I thought it definitely wasn't horribly difficult at all but I also thought the exams weren't very straightforward. I got an A- in it and also got an A- in 100B so I don't know if that says anything... Professor Smurda was a great professor but I also found her lectures/content to be not so straightforward and a little dry at times. But overall a good class!

Dr. Smurda is easily the most approachable and kind professor I have had at UCLA. Her class is incredibly engaging, informative, and honestly a lot of fun. Participation matters, but the lectures are split up so that she goes over the material for half of the time and then she lets you split off into groups to discuss your group project (an experiment you get to create but with guidance). The first experiment you do together as a class and all the funds go toward a charity (collectively decided by the class), it's a great way to learn and give back and speaks to Smurda's character as an educator!

There is only one midterm and if you review the slides and pay attention in class, you will do well. The instructions for the final paper are clear and she is really helpful with helping you compute results. Overall, I had an AMAZING experience in this class and you should 10000%%%%%% try to take it during your time here!!

Dr. Smurda is the best Psych Lab professor! Her lectures are super clear and interesting. If you put in effort, you will see good results. She is also very receptive to feedback in regards to group projects, making sure to spread the workload out as evenly as possible across all group members. Overall, her social psych lab is a great option for meeting the lab requirements!