PSYC 2200

I personally liked this class a lot! David Hill is an interesting guy and the material learned in this class is quite fascinating. This class is essentially the biology behind psychology, which is why many psychology majors dislike the class and don't do as well as they want (because it's more biology than psychology). It's definitely not an easy A but if you do the reading and study a good amount you should be able to end the class with at least a B.

I came into this course expecting a low grade based on all the rumors/reviews that I had received. I'm actually pulling through with a slightly higher grade than what I was expecting and though it's not an A or A-, I am pretty satisfied with it. Hill isn't too bad of a professor. The material is hard in itself and the tests aren't as bad as everyone makes them seem. I didn't ever get above an A- on one of the test, but I understand it wasn't really impossible. The book is pretty interesting to read and I felt like it definitely helped on the exams. The lectures aren't too bad (admittedly easy to fall asleep in some), but you really have to pay attention to the opening questions in each lecture. From what I've heard, it's also better to take this class in the fall than in the spring. I'd say, go for it and take it. Most of the people that take this need it for their major anyway (like me). The 4/5 tests thing is cool and if you're satisfied, you don't have to take the final. My suggestion is to do kick-a** on the first 4 tests and not screw yourself over on the final.

This class is fantastic. It is my favorite class that I have taken this semester. If you are interested in Neuroscience, I highly recommend this class. It is broad overview of various topics in neuroscience from a biology focused perspective. There are no homework assignments or psych studies, and your entire grade is based upon 5 large exams that are all equally weighted 40 multiple choice question exams. The lowest exam grade is dropped, which is nice, but the class is still fairly difficult. You will need to do the readings and pay attention in class. The average grade on the exams is about a C+, and they are not curved at all. However, it is not impossible to get an A if you study adequately beforehand and memorize the few important sections that each exam covers. Professor Hill can be a little bit dry at times, however he teaches well. He knows what he is talking about, especially concerning taste. In fact, some of the material in the textbook concerning taste comes from his own research. He makes the material very easy to understand, and makes it very clear what material will be on the exam and what will not be. Although he claims that his lectures are more important than the textbook when it comes to exam material, you should still read the textbook. His powerpoints are very useful and posted on Collab a few days before class, so you can print them out or use your computer to take notes on the actual slides. That said, you need to attend class, since the slides by themselves are not enough to study for exams. Also, the tangents that he makes in lectures are pure gold, so you definitely don't want to miss those. There are few professors who can give you real talk about sex and drugs from a neuroscience perspective and make it interesting. Finally, Rolf as a TA is fantastic. He is very passionate about the material, and his Monday night QA sessions and office hours are very very useful when you get a bit confused about what's going on.

I wouldn't take this course unless you have to for the psych major. While the material is interesting Hill is a fairly boring lecturer, and as the other reviews mention, the tests are confusingly worded to the point where you're tricked into getting the wrong answer most of the time. On top of this he tells you some BS at the beginning of the semester that he'll curve the test grades if the grades are low enough, which never happened even though one of the average test grades was a 72. Though with that being said, its not impossible to get an A in the class. Know the lecture material and the PPT's he posts and the lecture material by heart - this is where he get a majority of his exam material. If I were to take the course over again, I would definitely have recorded his lectures since some of the test questions are based off of little details that he goes over for about thirty seconds in class. There's a ton of extraneous information in the book that Hill won't cover on the test so study only the material in the book that relates to the terms and processes he goes over in class. Last but not least, read the exam questions VERY CAREFULLY. There's really no guarantee you're going to get an A in the class, but these steps will put you in the best position to do so. Good luck... you're going to need it.

This class is extremely taxing. The Professor designs the test to trip you up. You may know the material but his wording will make you second guess yourself. I would not recommend this class to anyone who doesn't want to be a neural scientist. This is not a Psyc course more of a biology course.

Terrible professor. Laughed at me when I wanted to ask him a question. One of the first classes I took after transferring. His discussion on performing experiments was horrific. I would not recommend this class to anyone not 100% interested in neuroscience. Class almost completely focuses on the biology of the brain.

Professor Hill is a very straight forward professor. Your grade in the class comes from your highest grades on 4 out of 5 tests, including the final exam (which is cumulative). He even goes on to say that every test is comprised of 40 multiple choice questions that are intentionally tricky and require additional thought than just straight forward definitions or basic knowledge. Even with all of his warnings, I found the course to be extremely difficult. My performance on the first two tests were very poor, but Professor Hill was open about holding office hours and Monday review sessions to help his struggling students (most of the class). Over time, after focusing more on the lecture material and less on the meticulous details of the book, I found myself in a much better position. This is not an easy psych class nor is it a viable option if just seeking to meet a science requirement. Unless you have an extensive background in biology, you will have to work hard for a decent grade. That being said, it is possible and you will learn a lot from Professor Hill.

The tests are difficult to the point where it does not matter if you know the material. You will get tricked into getting the question wrong and that is the only way he will test your knowledge.

The material was really interesting and I like the book he uses, however, I don't think he does a great job teaching it. The review sessions are helpful and is how I understood most of the material. He puts a lot of trick questions on the exams that are phrased in odd ways and make it hard to answer them correctly. I'd only recommend taking it if you're interested in the material enough to compensate for not so great lectures.

This class used to be relatively easy or if anything, a fair class. . But this year Hill decided to make it harder. He even said after our first exam when our average was 60% he was trying to make this semester more difficult since he didn't like his 85% average. That said, the material is great! I learned so much from Hill and the book. However I would not recommend this class because I felt as if I could not display my knowledge on his exams because of either tricky wording, or random trivia questions and what I mean as random trivia questions I mean questions that came from from ONE sentence he mentioned during class and then told the class we did not need to know that it was just a fun fact. There is nothing more frustrating that studying very hard and knowing the information yet not do well on the exam. I suggest taking it with Brunjes. He taught our class twice when Hill was out of town and I found him a better lecturer and livelier!