I took prof Mcauliffe during the pandemic where class was online, so our class' experience might not be indicative of most classes .

But for what it's worth, I thought prof Mcauliffe was a good professor w/ clear expectations, and you were capable of getting a good grade in the class if you put in the work. Your grade was broken down by- 78% exams (one midterm and final), 2% participation (free points for showing up to just ONE day of class, the day you presented) and 20% on a presentation.

lecture were all online, and attendance was optional (again, except for the one day where you presented). Prof. Mcauliffe kept things pretty interesting during lecture and he's definitely the king of dad jokes.
The material is pretty simple/straightforward; in fact, if you're a 4th year at least 1/2 of the stuff is straight up review. For me personally, I took this during my last quarter here to fulfill the lab requirement, and I'd say about 75% of the concepts were already things I learned about in detail in previous psych upper divs. You basically just learn a broad overview of various fields in psychology. There is no textbook, all you need are the lecture slides he uploads and the video lectures.
I thought the exams were straightforward as well. It was completely open note, and as long as you took good notes and rewatched lectures, you could get a pretty good grade on the exams. Questions essentially required us to transcribe what he said during the lectures. There was a drawing section that required you to apply some information tho. The only thing was, for the first exam, each question was worth quite a bit of points, some questions were worth as much 3-4% points of your overall grade (for one question) so you really had to make sure you answered every question sufficiently. We had 24 hours to complete it, so that gave you ample time to rewatch lectures if needed. He even gave us extra time for the final (If i remember correctly he gave us about 4 days) due to certain societal events that happened around finals week this year. He also put more questions on the final, so each question was not weighed as much as on the mt, and they were generally simpler.
The presentation was straightforward as well, you just pick any psychological research study and present it to the class. He seemed to be pretty lenient w/ the grading for this, and even let some students go well over the time limit.

All in all, I'd easily recommend this class (based on my experience) to fulfill your lab requirement. A lot of the concepts are review, there is no paper you have to write (unlike most of the other labs), and the exams + project were very straightforward. Again, one caveat is that I took this during remote learning so the class was structured very differently than usual.

This class is good if you're doing it online. I don't know about in class but I will say that I wouldn't have done as well as I did if it was in person. The tests are detail-oriented and short answers. There were answers I wrote word for word from his lectures and still missed points. For this course, it was only 2 midterms and a 6-minute presentation on any article you like (he gives a prompt of what he expects in it). This was perfect for me because I didn't want to work in a group or write a paper like every other lab class. He gave 24 hours for the tests so really its a good deal. The lectures are recorded too and in-class optional. He jokes a lot but you can count on the fact that all the answers to the test questions were mentioned during lecture. Plus he lets you watch the lecture vids while taking the tests. Win, win! The material really is interesting.

Go ahead and take this class online if you can and have a relaxed lab. Any way else? Well, the previous comments can tell you.

It's an alright class if you're a graduating senior and need to get your lab over with. Every week it's a different psychology field we go over. All exams are open response questions. Weekly quizzes and 2 exams. The online midterm study guide can only bring you so far.

To be fair , I must admit I was terrified about taking this class after I read a review here. I could not decide whether I wanted to drop it or take another Psych Lab. A classmate and I decided to dive into the unknown waters because the reviews were so mixed!
Logistically: Read the assigned weekly articles. Prepare for quizzes and you should do well.
Study the midterm practice examples Professor graciously provides!! Take time to memorize AND go over main points in lecture. You should do fine.
Re Professor McAuliffe— please cut the guy some slack for you haters out there. He really does seem to sincerely care for the students by reminding them that there is more to life than to get a 4.0 or above! He shares some wisdom in his lectures— and some personal views I may disagree with, but no reason to hate on him. You know he loves his wife , and daughter and is not ashamed to share it, for that, much respect!
Don’t let other reviews scare you from taking this class.... just enjoy it! I don’t know my grade yet so I wanted to be sure I would be as unbiased as possible.

I took this class based on the reviews BUT be WARNED the professor has changed! He's commented on how people posted reviews on his class being easy and some other reviews that obviously bothered him such as that he looks like a serial killer or speaks too much of his wife, so that is the only reason I can fathom why he'd change his exams to being unbelievably ambiguous and lacking the time to complete them in it's entirety. Apparently, now he does not want to give the illusion that he's an easy professor. He gives 39 questions in 45 minutes (class is 50 min but TA takes 5min to distribute exams)...all of which are free recall with short essay answers for most, but his wording on the tests is probably the worse and why you end up spending so much time rereading his questions and racking your brain even when you've studied sufficiently and gone to office hours for clarification. After the midterm, students gathered in clusters outside of the room to compare and see if they also did not get to finish the exam and how "weird" his wording was on most questions. I hate having to state this part but it may be useful in you understanding what type of student I am so you consider whether to dismiss this review or not. I'm a psych major, transfer student, senior year, with a 3.7 gpa (4.0 at previous school), and I've taken challenging classes at UCLA such as 115 Behavioral Neuroscience, 118 Comp PsychoBio, and Anatomy...received an A in all of these classes. I also tend to like a lot of styles of teaching, accept teachers for their quirks and take a lot of handwritten notes for deeper understanding. So it SHOOK my world when I got an F on the midterm. I couldn't explain it. It felt surreal. I've never received anything below an 80 on a test and that was on an anatomy test that most students thought was savage. Professor McAuliffe lures you in believing he's an easy professor with his outrageous physical humor (eg. waving hands in air, yelling out of nowhere, and funny faces...) and his slides are terrible. But what makes his lectures difficult to follow even though you're enjoying the comedy routine before your eyes is that you don't know when one theory/effect ends and the other begins so it's all a blur since his slides do not delineate or clearly itemize them as he's doing his spiel. And his 2 hours of extra credit add up to just 1 point of your grade in case you think it'll help (it's not 1=1 like other professors give). My recommendation if you do not want to frustrate yourself and actually enjoy the topic (this is to general and broad to initiate any interest) is take one of the specific labs like social, neuroscience, developmental, etc... There may be a paper due at the end, but at least there you get what you put in and it's actually interesting and something new though even in that scenario I feel I would've done better...as opposed to hearing about bits and pieces of things you already know by the time you take 101 with a professor that has something to prove to all previous reviewers even if it's at the expense of your experience and grade.

This class wasn't bad, the professor tries to make lectures interesting (he's a funny outgoing guy). All of the material was pretty basic, stuff you've probably already learned in previous psych classes. Some exams questions could be tricky so you definitely need to study and take lots of notes in lecture/lab. He provides pretty good midterm/final study prep questions. There is extra credit for SONA. Grade consists of weekly quizzes on an article u had to read (in a course reader which is super cheap like $10 i think) and its not bad at all, midterm and final (if u study hard and make sure u pay attention to things he says in lecture/lab you should do okay), and a final presentation that u do with a partner on an article/study of your choice (easy tbh). If you want to get your psych lab out of the way without writing a 20pg paper (like most labs) i think this lab was relatively easy, not boring, and definitely doable to get an A or B if you put in work to study for the exams

The class structure is laid back, we met twice per week (1 lecture, 1 lab). 2 exams, 5 quizzes, and a presentation on a topic of your choice. No research paper required. This is the type of class one should take if they are a senior with senioritis and doesn't want to pursue grad school in psych. However, the exam grading is trash. He gives out study guides for the free response exams with the exact same questions on the exam. Hypothetically, one should get a perfect score if copied verbatim, but the professor changes one word from the sentence in the answer key so you won't get full credit for such an easy question. He is very stubborn about this and won't be willing to give your credit even if you bring up a valid argument. Labs are a waste of time and we were kept the entire lab period (NOT necessary at all for the amount of content). This class should only be taken if you need to fulfill the lab requirement to graduate.
The professor is a cool guy, but it feels like he doesn't take his job seriously anymore. I rate this as my least worthwhile class at UCLA.

Alright, so this professor made a point to make the class easy and it pretty much was I had no complaints besides the fact that the dude tries really hard to be funny when he isn't. He's also pretty rude as well but does so in a covert way which he hides with his "humor". Anyways so I cruised through the class. material, and homework and managed to get 3 (highest score) on almost all my weekly quizzes and did good on the presentation but for some reason I got a C as my final grade much to my amazement. First of all I did all of the readings, went to every single lecture, and studied the study guide (which literally has 90% of the questions that are on the tests). But some how I got a C on both tests which is weird since I answered the questions verbatim and even added more detail to each answer sooo? I don't know how he graded my test but since he puts in minimal effort and had the TA basically do his job for him I wouldn't be surprised if he half ass graded my test.

I'm honestly stunned the reviews about this class on here aren't better. McAuliffe is one of the best all-around professors at UCLA. He makes a ton of jokes in lecture and is a funny dude. His tests are completely easy if you do the reviews that are online, because he takes literally like 80% of the questions from there. You have a quiz every week on an outside research paper, but they're not hard and he drops your lowest one. Lastly, you have a presentation at the end of the quarter, but you don't even have to write a paper and you can do the presentation on literally whatever you want.

If you're looking to fill your lab requirement for psych and aren't crazy interested in any of the more specific ones (i.e. social psych lab, clinical lab, developmental lab, etc.) this is an awesome alternative that is super straightforward if you put a little effort in.

First, I would like to mention that the whole reason why I am writing this is because some of the reviews on here (if not most) are not a representative sample. And if you took psych 101 with Professor McAuliffe you would know why. So I made it a point (since I really didn't plan on it) to do this class and you (potential enrollees) justice by giving you, both, objective and subjective views. Do with them as you may.

PROS

1. Lectures are organized with slides (available a head of time)
2. Online study guide helps A LOT with exam (I wish all classes had that)
3. Quizzes are not so hard and he drops lowest grade
4. NO RESEARCH PAPER!! (That was a big one for me)
5. No text book (only course reader cost $10 - you could also just look up articles instead of buying it)
6. Offers extra credit (up to 1% increase)
7. One lab is completely devoted to presentation help
8. Exams not cumulative
9. Available to answer questions both in class and office hours
10. Tries to keep students engaged in lectures (does demonstration of material)

CONS

1. Exam & quizzes are short answers (doesn't believe in multiple choice)
2. Missing lecture could mean missing on important information not on slides
3. Quizzes are on the first 10 min. Of class - don't be late
4. Can be picky about wordings for a few questions - pay attention in class
5. Talks a bit fast, can be hard on note taking sometimes (I recorded a couple of lectures

Factual information

2 exams (33% each)
5 quizzes (12% drops lowest grade)
1 presentation (20% + 2% presentation attendance)
Roughly every lecture/lab a different area in psychology is discussed

My own personal opinion (as you can see some may not agree)

I really enjoyed this class! I thought lectures were super interesting. He discussed a little bit of everything, but it also felt like he picked subjects that are interesting and cool to know about. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's an easy A because it's not, but getting an A is doable if you put in the effort (I have a newborn at home that sucks out all my time and I still managed an A with putting a little effort). You just need to want to. Plus, I think he really does care and tries to give all resources possible to help student get good grades (which, unfortunately, I cannot say about all professors ) so utilize his office hours! It seems to me like he is passionate about his job which may be perceived by others as arrogance. But even if that were true, WHO CARES? Focus on things that matter.

Lastly I would like to comment back on some unfair claims:

* "McAuliffe is absolutely awful. His tests are dumb -- he literally copies questions off his study guide, and the rest of the questions are on obscure details that have no relevance to the overall meaning of the topic."

This makes no sense to me! He literally gives his students the to key to succeeding in his class. That makes him AWSOME in my book! And, if you call class material obscure details, then yeah, sure...

* "seriously mcauliffe's condescending attitude and overall lack of self-control makes it unbearable"

What are you talking about??? I have no idea what you even mean. It just sounds like you are mad you have to show up for class...tough luck, this is a university...are you aware of that?

* "On the last day of lecture, he brought his guitar and sang to the class. Is this really the way that professors at one of the top universities in the country should be teaching? "

He didn't do this in my quarter and I'm kind disappointed. I hope it wasn't because of all your mean and unfair comments. I heard that was a learning tool he used to help students remember class material. This is outside of the box thinking. It means he took time to come up with a song for this class to help his students do better on his exams. How is that a bad thing???

My Tip: When you read reviews try to weed out all the angry sounding comments (people can be unjustly mean) or even general positive comments that don't tell you much except that that person liked the class. Look for concrete information. And, most importantly try not to be biased in your own reviews.