Professor Dodson makes the class fun and interesting. I learned a lot. You don't even have to read the book if you go to lectures and pay attention and review the powerpoints before the tests. review sessions in the evening with mandy really helped too. it synthesized everything you learned in lecture.
Grade Distribution
106 Reviews
Dobson is clearly enthusiastic about the subject matter, and he tries to lace his lectures with as much excitement as his read-off-the-powerpoint style allows. But since he posts every slide online, he leaves no reason to attend his lectures if you have something else to do at that time. There are several tests before the final exam, and each one covers (guess what!) the slides, which are actually diluted versions of the textbook's information.
Worst teacher ive had at Uva... incredibly boring, unengaging lectures... tests are on the book, not on what he teaches.
The class is very interesting but it does require that you read all the chapters that are covered to do really well on the tests.
The lectures are well organized and the tests straightforward. This is a good grade-booster for those taking science classes, but by the end you may be so bored with the lack of difficulty that you'll never want to take psyc again. Even so, there are many people who do poorly in this class.
He goes through a lot of information in lectures - but posts all of his slides so its ok. He lets you drop your lowest grade on your exams, which are all multiple choice. Tests aren't too bad - some questions are from the book and not lectures (but always same topics!)