I find psychology super interesting as a field; unfortunately, I didn't realize that Intro Psych is a crash course of every single type of psychology there is (and if you take it with Fred Smyth, you'll be responsible for minutia). The minutia in this course is kind of ridiculous. Smyth's test are just minutia taken directly from the textbook, which makes it easy and yet hard at the same time. For his final, I just memorized the textbook because I'm not the sort of student who is really able to understand this stuff. You learn so much, and that's why it is such an awesome class. But taking it with Smyth made it feel like it was a weed-out class because of the level of detail he expected you to know.

Please DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS! AGAIN PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS! This class was so uninteresting, boring, and dull and Smyth does not help either. You would think psychology would be fun and engaging, instead its word for word from a 400+ textbook. At least if the class was much more engaging you would've felt more inclined to do the reading. The reading is dreadful and so is the class. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE IT'LL BE FUN IT WON'T.

Everyone told me to take this class with Dodson, but I didn't listen. Smyth thinks he's the bee's knees, and I found him to have the same type of personality as someone who would scoff at something you did because he did it in a more high and mighty way, or try to shame you for eating meat because they were a vegan. Also, he tries way too hard to be "hip" and "cool", which comes off as cringy. The in-class material is not entirely dry, nor is the textbook reading, but there is a huge amount of reading to do for the class, which you absolutely need to do. On the tests, Smyth will ask you to recall nearly word-for-word long lists or examples that are not pertinent to the class material and are only mentioned in one sentence in one paragraph in one of the asides in the book. He WILL have information on the tests that is not covered in class. The tests have a lengthy short answer section, which is graded harshly, and includes arbitrary questions. Smyth is the type of guy to test you not on your understanding of the material, but on your ability to recall random useless facts that are not emphasized in class. I would recommend taking this class with a different professor. I managed to squeak out an A in this class, but not without significant deliberation. This class is not the easy A that your high school AP Psych class was.

Professor Smyth's section of this course is hands down unneccesarily difficult. His lectures are somewhat interesting but his exams do not correlate with the readings and even the lectures half of the time. Do not take this course unless you are passionate about Psychology and want a rigorous professor. If you are just taking this to get your credit, look elsewhere. Professor Smyth is also not very helpful in office hours.

I really enjoyed this course. I liked Smyth's lectures a lot. He kept them entertaining and it was clear he was having a good time which I always like. The readings are very important especially because there are clicker questions every class. The questions are designed so that they are easy to answer correctly if you have done the reading but are usually a shot in the dark if you have not. There is never any written homework; the most we were ever asked to do was watch a video at home followed by clicker questions about it in class. I found the exams straight forward. If you attend class and do the readings the multiple choice questions are not hard, but the fill in the blank and short answer are a little more challenging. I ended up with an A in the class even though I got really behind on the readings for the last unit. I did make sure to catch up before the exam though because they are absolutely necessary for exams.

I underestimated the time I had to invest in this class because it was just an intro course. Keeping up with reading is crucial because everyday there are clicker questions for credit, which is a pain. They accumulate throughout the semester. this semester our class averaged about a C+ for our final clicker question grade so they're not meant to be an easy booster, more like quizzes, which I didn't realize. However, getting a good grade is achievable by taking good notes for every class. Smyth himself is a pretty good lecturer. He's funny and can be very entertaining, but sometimes he can talk in a way that is a tad dry. His lectures essentially just go over the assigned reading in the textbook. The exams are a combination of textbook and lecture material so you can't really so well without reading. For me the problem was studying the content thoroughly because there was so much content to learn. Exams are multiple choice, free response, and fill in the blank. The free response questions are kind of a pain because they go by a rubric, so you can't just get the essential idea. Overall, I enjoyed learning all the material (which are not hard to grasp, pretty basic i think), but did not do as well as I thought in the beginning of the semester. People say that this is one of the hardest intro courses to take. In my opinion, there is a lot of reading to keep up with (from 15 to 25 pages a class, twice a week) and if you fall behind a day or two it's hard catch up. However, pros: there is no required written homework! I ended up with B, mostly because I was pretty unorganized and constantly behind on the reading. Pace yourself, and be on top of the material and you should be fine!

On the surface, this looks like an intro class that is a good starting point for first years. Wrong. This is a weeding out class. I would have dropped out if I had enough credits, but unfortunately, I did not. He doesn't teach out of the book- his lectures are basically based upon what he wants to talk about. Even though lectures are mandatory (and CLICKER POINTS WILL DESTROY YOU IF YOU DON'T SHOW UP), they will NOT help you for the tests. Expect to study at least a week in advance for the tests. There aren't many opportunities to make up your grade, so make sure that you go to EVERY lecture, and get as many clicker points as possible. Smyth seems like an awesome dude, but his class is just atrocious. Would NOT recommend this class to anyone UNLESS you are trying to be a psych major. If so, wait until your 3rd or 4th year to take it. Save yourself, save your GPA... Don't take this class.

Not a good choice if you just want it to fill up your schedule or get one of the requirements down. Unlike the other psyc 1010 prof, Symth tests you with filling in the blank and short answer questions, and he expects you to know certain details from the book though his lectures are like simple summaries and boring. He curves up the grades by giving bonus score each test along the semester. It's not hard to get an A only if you do the reading, remember to tweet since the beginning and gets most clicker questions right!

Stay away - don't be fooled by the reviews from 2013... Smyth does not drop your lowest exam. The high percentage of A+'s must be residual from an earlier course design. Dodson's test are mc and from what I've heard predominantly pulled from his slides. This course is extraordinarily difficult for an intro level. You will learn a lot (not denying that), but not worth it as a class just to fill your schedule. Look elsewhere unless you need it (required for psych majors).

Very difficult for an intro class. Lots of reading involved, and the tests very specific in nature. The lectures were entertaining, but good notes must be taken on them because test questions come from lecture slides/videos as well. If you're taking psych just to take psych or because you heard it was really interesting, I would not recommend 1010.